Today I got up early enough to see how the new headlights worked in the dark.
Just like the ones that I removed; they were pointing too low (only about 25 feet ahead).
I read somewhere that the low beams should shine about 160-200 feet ahead. Thats like 3-4 telephone pole (if they are still called that) distances if they are 50ft apart. The longest adjusters on the old headlights were broken, made sense seeing that they were pointing too low.
The Halo headlights I installed in my 98 two door Explorer back in 2009, had adjustment screws with either 8 or 10mm heads on them (can't quite remember). If I recall correctly there were two adjustment screws on each light, one for horizontal and one for vertical.
To adjust them you had to remove the headlight assembly, so it was trial and error to get them just right since you had to remove and re-install them to make adjustments. Also, the halo rings didn't light up very much, they were kind of dim. I think the old halos were lit up by a led and the ring kind of acted like a fiber optic wire if that makes sense.
The new headlights are an improvement over the old design halo's, the CCFL's that light the rings are really bright and very white in appearance.
You can see the halo's from pretty far away, I'm sure.
I was wondering how to adjust the aiming of the low beams; I didn't see the old hex headed adjustment screws like what was on the old ones.
There was a gear looking thing with a screw through the middle of it near where one of the adjusters would have been, that turned out to be the adjuster for vertical (up and down). I still don't see one for horizontal adjustment, but I don't need to adjust that angle anyway.
The gear looking thing allows you to adjust the vertical pointing with the headlight still installed, this is a great enhancement over the old halos.
I had to back the screws out quite a bit to get the beam to point out about 160 feet, but it got there. And it can be done with a Phillips screwdriver with the headlights still installed. I will continue to drive this vehicle this week and make another adjustment if needed.
Here are some pictures of the adjuster for vertical pointing, circled in red.
