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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / September 2006

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What should I expect to pay to get headlights aimed

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ben - 23 Sep 2006 16:29 GMT
on a 1987 Honda Accord?
Don Bruder - 23 Sep 2006 17:23 GMT
> on a 1987 Honda Accord?

Last time I had mine done (on my '82 Mazda 626) I "took it out in trade"
- A large Pizza Hut Supreme and a large Hawaiian. :)

But cash-wise, I'd expect fairly cheap - $20-30 would be pushing the
limits as far as I'm concerned.

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=?x-user-defined?Q?=AB?= Paul =?x-user-defined?Q?=BB?= - 23 Sep 2006 18:54 GMT
> on a 1987 Honda Accord?

If all the parts are good, not broken, not corroded, then it should not run more
than 30 minutes.
OTOH, you could do it yourself if you had a flat area, wall, masking tape,
darkness, and adjustment tool (usually phillips, torx screwdriver, or nut driver).
HLS@nospam.nix - 24 Sep 2006 16:00 GMT
"« Paul »" <"« Paul »"@houston.rr.com> wrote in message

> OTOH, you could do it yourself if you had a flat area, wall, masking tape,
> darkness, and adjustment tool (usually phillips, torx screwdriver, or nut driver).

Exactly right.. You can do a rather good job of it with just those items.
(Last time
I did it, I had a cheap laser pointer which helped me mark off the wall.)

Everybody ought to try this once in his (or her) life.  Helps understanding
the
process .
Lawrence Glickman - 24 Sep 2006 18:59 GMT
>"« Paul »" <"« Paul »"@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>the
>process .

I ran into a problem with this DIY once when I was moving to Illinois
from New York.  The weight of the *stuff* in the trunk forced the low
beams higher than normal, and I was getting a lot of negative feedback
from people coming from the other direction on the highway.

It's a real problem if you don't have adjustable shocks.  My Renault
R8 didn't.  My *solution* was to park in a rest area with concrete
rather than asphalt, and lower the beams by sighting where on the slab
the headlights *hit.*  No tape, levels, lasers needed.  I just lowered
the beams out to where I thought they should be, by going back and
forth between the driver's seat and the headlamp adjustment brackets.

Right lamp goes straight out and down, or a cunair to the right so you
can see the curb/edge of shoulder, driver's side lamp goes toward
=middle= of vehicle ( that is, inward ) and out to the same range.
Range being determined by what *looked right* to me from the driver's
seat.

All of this took a maximum of 20 minutes.  Of course, when I unloaded
my trunk at Illinois, I had to readjust them again, but once you do
it, it doesn't take long and is pretty easy.

Lg
John S. - 23 Sep 2006 20:49 GMT
> on a 1987 Honda Accord?

About $10.00 a light max assuming the adjusting screws are not corroded
in place.
Nate Nagel - 24 Sep 2006 00:42 GMT
> on a 1987 Honda Accord?

about 1/2 hour labor, whatever the going rate is in your area.

Odd that this should be asked today... was just hooking the lights back
up on my Stude and somehow, ALL but one of the little brackets that were
riveted to the passenger side headlight bucket had come loose.  I'm
amazed that the headlight didn't just fall out of the fender; not only
was the bracket that held the chrome trim on completely loose from the
housing, but also two of the three metal tabs that hold the headlight
retaining ring on and also hold the little floating bucket to the
housing were floating loose.  One good panic stop and I would have been
very embarrassed indeed.  A handful of pop rivets made it all right
again, but I guess a mechanic would have charged me more than the usual
on that job :/

No, nothing was corroded; but all of the little aluminum rivets that
held everything together were neatly sheared off.  Weird.

nate

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Steve W. - 24 Sep 2006 02:46 GMT
>> on a 1987 Honda Accord?
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> nate

Nate, Just looked at a Stude Hawk this afternoon. It was at a body shop
in W. Springfield MA. Was complete and body was in decent shape. Needed
an interior makeover and a coat of paint. Had a for sale sign but
number. They also had a real nice Jag XJ for sale.

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Steve W.

Knifeblade_03 - 24 Sep 2006 20:01 GMT
Lawrence brings up a very valid and often overlooked point, if the rear
of the ride is "squatting down", naturally the lights aim high.  Poor
rear suspension system, heavy weight in the rear posibble reasons.

But, generally, like the others said, having someone do it shouldn't be
more than $30 max.  Most manuals describe the procedure for DIY aiming,
it not a big deal.  And, it'll keep some weight in YOUR wallet, lol.

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Knifeblade_03

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