2012 GX460 Premium HeadLights (1 Viewer)

[GXer2012]

Hello All,
I just got a 2012 GX 460 Premium and am having a unique issue with which I hope someone here could help. We recently took the car on several holiday road trips, I noticed that the headlights are pointed very low. I can only get about 50-75 feet of illumination on dark highways. I live in Texas so at night you will encounter everything from deer to coyotes. I bought the truck used with 58k miles, the truck is equipped with AFS which is the system which does the auto leveling of the head lights. I recent took my complaint to Sewell Lexus in Dallas and they were not able to find anything wrong with the headlights and said they are functioning to spec. I have two questions for the community:
1. How do you adjust the headlights? I know they are adjustable but I cant seem to find a "how to guide" specific to the 2012 GX460.
2. If I cant get the headlights to point properly I was thinking of installing some RIGID light cubes behind the lower grill (on either side of the license plate). But this job is a bit out of my comfort area so I was wondering if anyone knows a good shop where I could get them installed. I have tried 4 wheel parts but they wont touch the lexus.
Thanks.

 

[hobbes]

Did your vehicle come with an owners manual? If not, might be handy to pick one off eBay or somewhere. My wife’s Lexus manual has instructions on manually adjusting headlights on the RX. Just takes a long screw driver for hers.

FWIW, I think hers are too low as well. It’s on my list....

 

[Virgilus11]

You are going to have a hard time finding something specific to the GX. Not that many on the road.
After I installed the lift on my truck I had to do a minor adjustment. This how I did it on a 2016. Yours may or may not be the same.
Remove the plastic cover that you have on top of the radiator. Be patient with those plastic clips.
Park on a flat surface with a full tank of gas and aprox 10' away from a wall, night time.
Behind each light assembly you have two adjustment screws.
The screws that is close to the fender adjust the height and the screw that is inside adjust side to side movement.
You can adjust them with a 10 mil socket or a long large size philips.
When you look on the wall you will see a center cut line and a small focus. More like an upside town V. Mark on the wall those line and
start adjusting the height. Using a marker that is none permanent would be a good idea.
I adjusted the height about 1" on my truck. Yours may require more or less. I raise the right side a little higher to help with the dears at night.
Toyota suggest that you adjust both, the side to side and vertical in the same time. Perhaps the center focus would move a little bit to the side when you adjust the up down only.
Take it for a ride and see how different is from where you where. You may have to go back to the wall if you see that you blind people or is not as high as you would like.
I know that this may seems like a lots of things to do but is not. If you are not comfortable with ?? then try to meet some guys from your area that can help you and show you how to. Installing additional lights and basic maintenance is really easy and I enjoy working on my truck.
Good luck buddy.

 

[GXer2012]

You are going to have a hard time finding something specific to the GX. Not that many on the road.
After I installed the lift on my truck I had to do a minor adjustment. This how I did it on a 2016. Yours may or may not be the same.
Remove the plastic cover that you have on top of the radiator. Be patient with those plastic clips.
Park on a flat surface with a full tank of gas and aprox 10' away from a wall, night time.
Behind each light assembly you have two adjustment screws.
The screws that is close to the fender adjust the height and the screw that is inside adjust side to side movement.
You can adjust them with a 10 mil socket or a long large size philips.
When you look on the wall you will see a center cut line and a small focus. More like an upside town V. Mark on the wall those line and
start adjusting the height. Using a marker that is none permanent would be a good idea.
I adjusted the height about 1" on my truck. Yours may require more or less. I raise the right side a little higher to help with the dears at night.
Toyota suggest that you adjust both, the side to side and vertical in the same time. Perhaps the center focus would move a little bit to the side when you adjust the up down only.
Take it for a ride and see how different is from where you where. You may have to go back to the wall if you see that you blind people or is not as high as you would like.
I know that this may seems like a lots of things to do but is not. If you are not comfortable with ?? then try to meet some guys from your area that can help you and show you how to. Installing additional lights and basic maintenance is really easy and I enjoy working on my truck.
Good luck buddy.

Virgilus,
Thanks so much for the info. I will give it a try, turning a screw driver is certainly within my comfort level.
I have the owners manual, I will check it again on how to adjust the headlights.
Thanks

 

[Tadbyd]

Any pics of these locations?

 

[Acrad]

10-13 HID aiming instructions

2010-2013 AFS HID headlight adjustments,conversions,component replacements - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

GX - 2nd Gen (2010-2023) - 2010-2013 AFS HID headlight adjustments,conversions,component replacements - For those of you that have had a OEM HID bulb fade or burn out on your GX 460, at how many miles were you? I know it can vary a lot based on use, but I'm curios anyway. I've got a replacement...

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