new F150, no L-R headlamp adjustment

[meep]

Brought home the 2018 F150 in my sig a couple of weeks ago. Very pleased with the truck overall.

The headlights came from the factory illuminating the squirrels. the hot spot was entirely off the road, nicely blasting the street signs and everything above light height. They did actually aim up above horizontal. So I lowered that to get them on the road and out of people's eyes. Now, the manual is kind enough to show how to set beam height for adjusting to different loads. It also says there is no L-R adjustment, which confirms what I'm not finding on the back of the housing... and both point to the right. The Driver's side starts rightward in the middle of the lane, and the passenger side hot spot is off the road to the right. It's too far right to finagle the whole assembly, I think.

My thoughts were
1. avoid the dealer - the local one is bad, and the one I bought this from is out of town
2. try to slightly shift the whole assembly
3. replace bulbs? Once I replaced factory bulbs and the aim improved notably. is this common?

Any thoughts?

-Mike

 

[Trav]

I cant believe they are so confident in the fit that they don't have an adjustment of some sort for L-R, it may be hidden or the housing it self gets moved.
Take it back to where you bought it, if it was out of warranty it would be different and I would start taking things apart.

 

[PimTac]

This new truck doesn’t have adaptive headlights?

The dealer should be able to adjust under warranty.

 

[SZR48207]

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

The new F150s are absolutely blinding at night for who knows how many reasons. Your experience explains why all of them seem to be misadjusted from factory.

Can you shim the mounts to adjust L/R?

 

[Kira]

UNBELIEVABLE!
Go back to where you bought it and HEAR THEM SAY "It's unadjustable sir."

How far out of town did you go to avoid the dealership you do not like?

Please provide their names. This goes double for the dealership when they cure your vehicle's ill.

 

[oldhp]

Could you use some small shims to get the headlight mount aimed better? I don't know how these mount, but maybe will help.

 

[CT8]

Did you read the owners manual?

 

[Food Scientist]

Originally Posted By: CT8
Did you read the owners manual?


Originally Posted By: meep
Now, the manual is kind enough to show how to set beam height for adjusting to different loads. It also says there is no L-R adjustment, which confirms what I'm not finding on the back of the housing... and both point to the right.


Did you read his post?

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: SVTCobra
Originally Posted By: CT8
Did you read the owners manual?


Originally Posted By: meep
Now, the manual is kind enough to show how to set beam height for adjusting to different loads. It also says there is no L-R adjustment, which confirms what I'm not finding on the back of the housing... and both point to the right.


Did you read his post?
I read the post twice. Is that ok with you?

 

[ffhdriver]

I've never had a car that I could adjust the headlights L&R.

 

[wallyuwl]

I also have a 2018 F150, just shy of 1000 miles. I noticed that the headlights aren't that great, and the "brights" make almost no difference. I will check at the adjustment and see if I need to aim them down a little.

I have had some vehicles before without a R-L adjustment.

 

[Balrog006]

Originally Posted By: wallyuwl
I also have a 2018 F150, just shy of 1000 miles. I noticed that the headlights aren't that great, and the "brights" make almost no difference. I will check at the adjustment and see if I need to aim them down a little.

I have had some vehicles before without a R-L adjustment.


Wasn’t there just a CR article posted here noting how terrible the standard and LED headlights of the current F150 are?

 

[meep]

So, yes, there was an article. And to the above, yes the owners manual and a lot of googling happened. Ford's apparently not had L-R adjustment for a while, BUT there is a generous section in the manual devoted to height adjustment and how-to. I thought that was very nice of them, though in practice I don't think many pay attention.


It's not worth my time to mess with the dealer. The one I like is over an hour each way, plus wait time, and I know how it will go, I mean, really... If the parts are not precise from the factory, what's the dealer going to do? With the beams lowered, it's not "bad," it's just not great. It's very driveable, and I can be picky.

Thanks for the thoughts. I will try to shim it or see if there are any service caps which can be removed to reveal adjustments.

-m

 

[nthach]

Is there a body shop or any place in town that has a optical headlight aiming system? The lights should be marked VOL/VOR but that might be of little use if the x-axis(left and right) aim can't be adjusted. The best you can do is get the y-axis(vertical) aim dialed in.

 

[Silverado12]

FWIW the SN95 New Edge Mustang (1999-2004) doesn't have L-R adjustment either. They are aimed well, though with both beams intersecting where I can see ok.

 

[buck91]

F150's have been vertically adjustable only for at least 2 generations.

 

[meep]

^^^^ that's what I saw too.

Well, I'll give Ford credit here, the headlamp assembly is solid and well-mounted to the vehicle. Shimming is not going to be practical.

BUT, with the lights lowered even a little more, they are mostly now on the road. Most drivers probably wouldn't even notice now. I can live with it. I may at some point try different bulbs; once before I bought a car with bad headlight focus and 3 years later when I replaced a bulb realized that the oem bulbs were the problem; new bulbs resulted in a beautiful distribution (Subaru legacy 1997).

-m

 

[buck91]

Almost 100k on my 2011 F150 and other than reaiming vertically when I purchased (looked like P.O. never reaimed after leveling kit) I haven't had an issue. Horizontal is dead on and broad enough that I believe it doesnt need to be perfect. This is the reflector style halogens.

 

[NYEngineer]

My Suburban doesn't have left or right adjustments either. This is my first vehicle that hasn't had em.

 

[delaware74b]

FWIW, the '01-'12 Rangers had no left/right adjustments as stated in owners and service manuals. I recently replaced the cloudy headlights (Ford OEM's) and they have -no- provisions for horizontal adjustments. The new housings did line up to the original left/right pattern, only a slight vertical tweaking on the right side.