[Eljefe25]

Anyone ever had this issue before? My headlights aim seem to be abornormally high. As they are insanely bright I get flashed by everyone. It’s to the point I don’t even want to drive the car at night.

I’ve taken it to two different dealers but since it was daytime when I took it in for another issue, they scanned the car and said they see no errors.

I assume the headlights are obviously adjustable, even though the dealer told me they have no manual adjustments, but I can’t believe that’s true. I lived in Germany before and I know to pass registration they do check your headlights so by law they have to be adjustable.

I have another appointment in another few weeks to take it back to a different dealer and hope they can diagnose and fix this issue.

See video below for how the beam looks at night. When the auto high beam kicks on it’s aimed so high it seems to be up in the trees.

https://youtu.be/ApmcvK6PlWE?si=VTRk6o-9_KzUVuRe

[davidmct-M3]

Looks pretty normal to me. You shouldn’t have high beams with oncoming traffic unless you have lasers or other headlights that divert the beam. You’ll blind the oncoming cars.

If you see the same issue with dipped lights then might be an install issue. Have you tried parking near a wall and looking at beam height and pattern for both dipped and main? Can you compare to a comparable BMW?

[Gaviatrix]

Originally Posted by davidmct-M3

Looks pretty normal to me. You shouldn’t have high beams with oncoming traffic unless you have lasers or other headlights that divert the beam. You’ll blind the oncoming cars.

If you see the same issue with dipped lights then might be an install issue. Have you tried parking near a wall and looking at beam height and pattern for both dipped and main? Can you compare to a comparable BMW?

Try the old fashioned method: pull up on a flat pavement/driveway facing a blank wall, put a chalk mark on the wall in line with the centre of each headlamp, reverse a few car lengths and see if the cutoff for the beams is around the line you've marked. If it's noticeably higher, there's a problem.

[Eljefe25]

Originally Posted by davidmct-M3

Looks pretty normal to me. You shouldn’t have high beams with oncoming traffic unless you have lasers or other headlights that divert the beam. You’ll blind the oncoming cars.

If you see the same issue with dipped lights then might be an install issue. Have you tried parking near a wall and looking at beam height and pattern for both dipped and main? Can you compare to a comparable BMW?

When you say dipped lights do you mean low beam? I am referring to the low beam, although the issue applies to the high beam as well. The high beams are on auto and switch off when it detects oncoming traffic. That system works really well.

To me it’s not normal since I’ve been driving the car daily and often the beam was never tilted this high.

I’m hoping this dealer can compare it to 3 series they have in stock.

[Eljefe25]

Originally Posted by Gaviatrix

Try the old fashioned method: pull up on a flat pavement/driveway facing a blank wall, put a chalk mark on the wall in line with the centre of each headlamp, reverse a few car lengths and see if the cutoff for the beams is around the line you've marked. If it's noticeably higher, there's a problem.

I’ll try this later. Thanks for the suggestion.

[davidmct-M3]

Originally Posted by Eljefe25

When you say dipped lights do you mean low beam? I am referring to the low beam, although the issue applies to the high beam as well. The high beams are on auto and switch off when it detects oncoming traffic. That system works really well.

To me it’s not normal since I’ve been driving the car daily and often the beam was never tilted this high.

I’m hoping this dealer can compare it to 3 series they have in stock.

Sorry I meant dipped. If so sounds high

[Eljefe25]

Originally Posted by davidmct-M3

Sorry I meant dipped. If so sounds high

No worries. It’s more annoying than anything because I know I’m blinding everyone since I get flashed all the time.

[Redditor9000]

I think people also see 4 headlights and assume we have our brights on. So maybe that’s partially it?

[Sushimaster]

Might be crazy but is the front of your car raised up more than normal for some reason? High front tire pressure, low rear tire pressure, mal suspension adjustment?

[Eljefe25]

Originally Posted by Redditor9000

I think people also see 4 headlights and assume we have our brights on. So maybe that’s partially it?

The thing is because the headlights are so bright, on a poorly lit street like the one on my way to my apt, you can see exactly where the cut off for the low beam is and it’s above oncoming car’s roofline.

Again that’s why it’s so frustrating. I can visibly see the beam angled way too high.

[Eljefe25]

Originally Posted by Sushimaster

Might be crazy but is the front of your car raised up more than normal for some reason? High front tire pressure, low rear tire pressure, mal suspension adjustment?

Car is completely stock. No mods, other than some basic BimmerCode 5x turn signal, remove startup disclaimer etc. I even reverted those just incase.

The last dealer I took it said they checked the ride height sensor but it was normal.

[a.summers86]

The dipped beam does look slightly high.

Just pop the bonnet open and give each headlight adjuster a turn to lower them slightly. 20 second job and problem fixed.

[jedpause]

Hi , yes the low beam looks higher than you'd want and higher than my G20.
Also, I would't turn on auto-high beam in an urban area like that, I could see you were blinding a vehicle from right that was not detected and high beam stayed on...

[liam_]

I had the same issue, although my lights weren't a high as yours appear to be.

Car went in for its MOT and failed on headlight beam being too high, which is odd considering the lights haven't been touched since it come out of the factory...

The guy at the MOT station adjusted them way too low so they were barely lighting up the road. I then had to manually adjust them back to where I 'thought' they were originally.

Fairly simple to do so - there are small white (I think) screw tabs on the back/top of each light unit, just adjust them with a screwdriver up or down. I made sure to mark a line across the tab and the main headlight casing so I knew how many turns, etc. I had made on each light, in case they were too high/too low after I had toyed with them.

[Eljefe25]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I just adjusted them down manually for now. I still have an appointment on Friday to take it to the dealer. I guess I will still take it in and they can check if it’s in spec.

However, I am going in with no expectations since the last dealer told me the lights had no manual adjustment.

Like the previous poster mentioned, this is still a bit strange since the car is stock and I never adjusted the headlights myself since factory. Not sure how it got to that point.

[Eljefe25]

To close the loop, the dealer recalibrated my ride height sensor and adjusted the lights, now I feel like they are way too low. Frustrating chain of events to be sure. Will probably just adjust them up slightly instead of going back to the dealer.

[motionsick]

I had the same issue. I had to get the front suspension re-done and they damaged the adjustment arm/sensor so the headlights were not raising properly.

After the repair, the headlights were ridiculously high. They were lighting up overhead signs down the road.

You could see the the pattern angled upwards if you drove beside a traffic barrier on the driver’s side.

Taking it to the dealer “it looks correct to us”.

Here’s before and after (self adjustment).
Note: the door panic bar/exit is over 3feet above the ground on the right.

[Eljefe25]

Yeah the dealer checked my ride height sensor and they said it was fine. They adjusted the lights down but adjusted them way too low. Had to adjust them up slightly.

I feel like they’re still a bit out of wack but I don’t know anyone in my vicinity with the same car to compare.