Whether you feel you can’t see as well at night, or you feel you’re lighting too low, or too high, in all these circumstances, there’s only one part of your vehicle at fault – your headlights, also named high beams. Although this adjustment might seem easy thanks to the thumbwheel on your dashboard, a complete adjustment is much more complex than this simple manipulation, and in this article, we are going to find out how to adjust the headlights of your BMW 3 Series? To achieve this, first we will find out why you need to adjust your high beams, and secondly how to adjust the headlights of your BMW 3 Series.
Why adjust the headlights of your BMW 3 Series?
So let’s start our content page with the interest of adjusting the headlights of your BMW 3 Series. For many of us, our headlights are adjusted well enough, and they seem to light up enough after dark. Regrettably this is not always the case and checking this setting, either because the headlights on your BMW 3 Series are not bright enough, or because you have the impression that they are too weak is a good idea .
Adjusting the high beams of your BMW 3 Series for safety
First of all, the headlight adjustment of a BMW 3 Series must be finished for a basic security explanation. Whether it’s for you, or for the other users you come across during your night trips. Obviously, if you don’t see enough, the risk is to ignore an obstacle while traveling, or to anticipate a curve badly. Alternatively, if your headlights are too powerful, regardless if you are supposed to switch to low beam lights when you pass a car, the time needed to make this switch will most of the time expose the driver in front of you to the headlight beam of your BMW 3 Series . It is consequently necessary for others as well as for you to have an optimal adjustment of your headlights.
Adjusting the headlights of a BMW 3 Series for legal reasons
In addition to security, there is a law that regulates the power, the adjustment of car headlights (articles R313-2 of the Highway Code), here is what it suggests: have between 2 and 4 headlights that illuminate at least 100 meters. Another legislation regulates their use, the European one (directive 76/756/EEC), which stipulates that there is no maximum height for the adjustment of the headlights, but that the maximum width of the beam must be equivalent to that of the dipped headlights and that the maximum luminosity must be 225, 000 cd.
How to adjust the headlights of a BMW 3 Series?
We will now move on to the part that interests you the most in this article, how to adjust the headlights of his BMW 3 Series? This adjustment might seem a bit complicated, but by simply following the instructions you should be able to perform it without too much issue.
Preparations to adjust the headlights of a BMW 3 Series
First of all, you’ll need to prepare your vehicle to adjust your high beams in good conditions, here are the preparations to executed:
- Place your vehicle on a surface in front of a white wall for example, about 4 or 5 meters from the wall.
- Verify your tire pressure carefully.
- Verify that the height adjustment knob for the lights is set to 0
- Try doing that with half a full tank.
- Take out all unneeded weight from the automobile, only one person should be in the driver’s seat.
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The headlight adjustment of his BMW 3 Series
Once your car is in place, you will turn on your dipped beam and make a cross-shaped mark (one horizontal and one vertical section) in the middle of the beam that will be projected on the wall. Verify with a level that both parts of the cross are straight. Then back your vehicle up to a distance of between 7 and 10 metres. For the rest of the procedure here are the steps to follow:
- Open your bonnet, identify the screws for horizontal and vertical adjustment of the headlights of your BMW 3 Series (they are generally designated, and those on top must adjust the verticality and the one on the side adjusts the horizontality of the adjustment).
- Use a cloth or another thing to hide the projector on which you are not making the correction.
- Using the screws to make the horizontal correction, you should have the most intense part of the beam which should be a little to the right of the vertical line noted on the wall
- With regard to vertical correction, you will have to use the screw to try to position the upper end of the beam at the level of the horizontal marking on the wall, or slightly down below.
- Once finished, check that the headlights setting of your BMW 3 Series is logical, do not hesitate to check it after you have driven it, in some cases it may move.
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If you want to adjust the fog lights on your BMW 3 Series, please read our content page on this subject.
To find more tips on the BMW 3 Series, take a look at the BMW 3 Series category.
