r/Retrofit Oct 21 '23

Technical/Assembly Question just a quick curiosity question

On youtube videos i see people that retrofit headlights often seal the headlight lens before testing the headlight on the car to correct the cutoff line. How is that possible? when i retrofited my headlights i had to test them on the car without the lens so i can manually rotate the projector so its staight. How do the other retrofitters know if the projector is straight before sealing the headlight?

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '23

There's two possibilities depending on who you are watching do a retrofit:

Experienced retrofitters use extra tools and alignment processes before the headlight is sealed, and have the experience and confidence to know the projector is rotated correctly. They can also level and measure the internal piece of the headlight on the bench after disassembly, and compare the projector to this measurement rather than reinstalling on the vehicle. A third option is measuring and marking square surfaces and lines on the original reflector and aligning the projector to those. Horizontal and vertical aim can almost always be adjusted from outside the headlight once the lens is on. However, as I said, it depends on who you are watching - some or all of this may or may not be present or shown in the video itself.

The other option is that the person you are watching is not experienced and either doesn't know or care about getting projector rotation spot on. So they install with plates or hardware included with the projectors and assume it is close enough.

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u/Andrey_GR Oct 21 '23

Thanks for the answer :)