AbnormallyAspirated

Well, I decided to try to adjust my headlights tonight and I discovered something - My right headlight does not seem to have the same brightness and "throw" as the left. The left has the sharp, distinct step pattern projecting on a wall at about 20-30 feet.
The right only has a faint version of this. It points at the ground more but projects forward and up less. Adjusting didn't change this.

I think my right headlight might be screwed up, but I just wanted to verify that. Can anyone confirm if the left and right beams are similar or significantly different?

PGAudi

so you dont blind on-comming traffic... even my aunts 238i is that way.

NASA racer

the line that the headlights make are NOT straight across...the driver's side is lower than the passenger's side...they are designed to point as far ahead as they can but the driver's side has to dip slightly so as to not blind oncomming traffic so IS set lower than the right one.

This is true for all new cars but is most noticeable on ones with the distinct cutoff, like the Xenon headlights.

AbnormallyAspirated

I wasn't asking about the step.

If I cover up the right light, the left light is bright, shows the distinctive "Step" in the middle of its pattern, and is otherwise "clean"

The right has a faint "step" line but somewhat lower to the ground, but has a lot of light pointed down more and a more difuse and less clearly defined pattern.

In order to answer my question you need to cover up one headlight at a time and compare the beams they cast.

Esfore

a while ago several people I know driving in front of me said that when they look back...the passenger side light isn't nearly as bright as the driver's side. I tried adjusting it up, but like you said, it didn't work. I sort of assumed that maybe the light housing itself was screwed up, but I've just put off because I wanna get the euro housings and I figured that would fix it. Do you think its normal, though? If you look at just the passenger side light while covering the other light up...you can see the sharp cutoff, but its on the ground about 6 feet in front of the car as opposed to the driver's side, which has the cutoff that everyone is used to. Does anyone else known what I'm talkin about?

WhiteRabbit

If you ever learn to adjust headlights, you should point the passenger side light higher and outwards to allow clear visibilty along the side of the raod. The driver's side headlight should be pointed lower and more forward to avoid blinding the oncoming cars. Xenon lamps focus the beams better and the adjustments are distinctly visible in the patterns projected. I am pretty happy that Audi (as opposed to many other cars I see) had the good sense to adjust the beams so as to illuminate the car in front at about bumper level, but on dark roads this limits the range, but then thats what brights are for.

Jim De Arras

Your projector platform may have come loose, too, or the auto-level motor may have popped off.

The two patterns should match exactly, with the steps converging to appear as one at 50-100 feet +-. But the flat lines should be lined up so you cannot tell one from the other!

Jim De Arras

Wrong, on the S4, at least, the aiming for each headlight is identical.

AbnormallyAspirated

My car is rebuilt (no factory warranty), so I need to get the rebuilder to fix this (he gave me a warranty). It would help if I could show him something, so he doesn't say "It's supposed to be that way".

Help? Bentley Manual screen?

AbnormallyAspirated

My car is not under warranty. I assume yours is. You should have it checked out by the dealer and fixed under warranty even if you plan to swap housings - That way you can sell your old housings (maybe even to me!)

Let me know what you find out.