"Daniel J. Stern" > wrote in message
n.umich.edu...
> On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 wrote:
>
> > My 97 accord has about 140K miles. I recently replaced and upgraded my
> > headlight bulbs.
>
> What "upgrade" bulbs did you buy? There are a lot of claimed "upgrades" on
> the market that are actually downgrades.
>
> > The lighting patterns still seems subpar.
>
> It's not super terrific on those cars, but it's not awful, either --
> assuming the headlamps are in good shape and you installed good (and not
> just hyped-up) bulbs.
>
> > Several people have recommended that I also re-tweak the aim of the
> > headlights
>
> Don't "tweak" anything -- aim them properly.
>
> > especially since I keep some heavy stuff in my trunk.
>
> Have your heavy stuff in the trunk when you're aiming the lamps.
>
> > The service manual shows a horizontal and vertical screw adjust for each
> > headlamp. However, there are no specific instructions to aim them,nor is
> > there a bubble guide for the vertical aim adjust.
>
> Technically, the only proper way to aim those lamps is with a mechanical
> aim device that interfaces with the three pips on each lens. Assuming the
> beam pattern isn't too munged up by whatever bulbs are installed or wear
> is present in the headlamp optics, you can use the VOR procedure at
> http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html
>
> DS
I must say, Daniel, that I've never seen this technique before. I have
used walls as a reference for trial-and-error; but, thanks for the info--I
like it. sdlomi2