What do these levels numbers mean? Headlights

photome

red_eye wrote: »

set to and leave at 0. assuming that the beam is set correctly, it can be an MOT failure if you present the vehicle with it set at anything other then 0.

Interesting but probably wrong

I do change mine as I drive an estate which is usually full, I change it when car is empty

mattyprice4004

red_eye wrote: »

set to and leave at 0. assuming that the beam is set correctly, it can be an MOT failure if you present the vehicle with it set at anything other then 0.

Leave it to 0 when you have a boot full of heavy stuff, and blind everyone? Awesome advice! Read your handbook.

Hadrian

Incorrect alignment of any light on a car will fail the MOT. Have you seen the recent handbook for MOT testers? Before you do I suggest you take a stiff drink as its quite different (joke) from my 1961 days when the turned the headlights on, kicked the tires and pressed the brake pedal while the car was stationary.

Iceweasel

Kicking the tyres has not moved on at all - as they don't check the pressures even now. LOL

Strider590

neilmcl wrote: »

Standard position with no load in the car should be zero.

Should be unless the headlights have been re-aligned with the knob in the wrong position

alastairq

If I have such a device [that works] on a car, for daylight usage of headlights, I turn the switch to set the beams at their lowest possible level.

No chance then [or rather, little chance.....I could always present some dazzle if negotiating a brow, for example]...of blinding some poor beggar coming the other way.

At night, I will re-set the beam to suit my needs....strangely I often have found that the zero setting cha still be more than I need...and my light beams are set correctly for MoT anyway.

On my old Skoda Felicia, the headlight beams were set by the height adjuster, which relied upon a tube filled with some sort of liquid.
This system would fail [the liquid leaks out]....so the beams would often end up at their highest or lowest setting.....this was/is known to be an MoT failure point on these cars....cure for which the uninitiated would be told, to replace the system at the costs of mega bux.....[the fix, was to rip out the pipes, enter the headlamp backs, and adjust a hidden adjuster nut....problem solved, MoT passed.]