Z4 Came out to find this! - Headlight Alignment

As I walked around the Z4 today I noticed that the headlight alignment seems to be getting worse and now the ring is laying in the headlight housing. Is there a way to line up the lights with the housing? I believe I know what it would take to fix the drivers side headlight so I hate to put an aftermarket set in the car.

It looks like the whole housing is loose or fitment is way off. I think you have to remove the nose of the car to get to the headlight bolts. Check the how-to forum I think there is something there to tell you how to remove the the front clip. Good luck.

My biggest worry is if the headlights internal components can be aligned with the housing properly. Its as if the projector and halogen components are not aligned with the housing first off and of course the housing itself needs to be aligned the body of the vehicle!

Looking at the picture, your projectors and housing are degrading.. time for a new headlight.
The headlight assembly on Z4's are a complete and sealed unit, with the exception of a small hatch in the rear for bulb replacement. They are VERY hard to get apart and most of the time you just end up destroying the assembly.

There are two types of headlamps. Halagon and Xenon. There are also two different internal colors, dark and silver.
You have to remove the bumper fascia to access the mounting bolts (4) to remove the headlamp. Your best bet is to canvas local wreaking yards to see if a Z4 is there.
Or you can go the Ebay route. I have bought a headlight assemble from Ebay for the roadster. No issues.
And finally, you can go to the dealer and order one. Most expensive route. I needed a new Xenon headlight (minus the xenon parts) for the Coupe' and it cost me $890.00.

You also need to update your profile with what year your Z4 is. I am going to assume its a pre-face lift model based on the headlight reflector.

I think the alignment is horribly wrong because the projector and halogen reflectors don't actually attach to the housing because of the self-leveling part of it..once the housing is re aligned will the adjustment screws put the inside components back into place? I'm not sure how it even got this way to begin with. Also if I put new headlights in it I might go after market and end up with a set of angel eyes although I'm not sure how good they will look in a Z4.

I don't understand or you are not clear. From what I am getting from all this is that the mounts for the lenses are broken so re-positioning the housing will not fix your issue.. There is very little adjustment in the housing mount. If you take off the bumper fascia you will see.

You say you have the self leveling so I am going to assume you have Xenons's. The leveling only happens in one axis. UP/DN. In your picture it looks like you have a left/right issue also with lends credence to the internal mounts being broken.

Of course I am working with limited and incomplete data.

You can try to use the adjustment screws to see what happens. Can't make it worse.

The housing will not move so the tabs shouldn't be broken on it. The gap around the housing and the body of the Z4 are too big so I'm thinking the housing needs to be taken off and adjusted first before the internal components are aligned to match it. Yes they are xenon although they won't ignite as of right now. I need to take the passenger side headlight off and get all of the water out of it before I put a new bulb in it and I believe it will ignite although the passenger has a new bulb and it won't do anything besides level and the igniter will click but still won't ignite.

Originally Posted by 3seriesbmw

The housing will not move so the tabs shouldn't be broken on it. The gap around the housing and the body of the Z4 are too big so I'm thinking the housing needs to be taken off and adjusted first before the internal components are aligned to match it. Yes they are xenon although they won't ignite as of right now. I need to take the passenger side headlight off and get all of the water out of it before I put a new bulb in it and I believe it will ignite although the passenger has a new bulb and it won't do anything besides level and the igniter will click but still won't ignite.

If the gap between the headlight and the bumper is/has gotten excessive, then one of the four mounting points is broken. Are you sure someone did not hit you in the parking lot?

Look, I don't mean to sound mean but,

just remove your bumper and start investigating. You are doing paper troubleshooting with NO data so you don't have any idea what you are talking about.

We will help you all day long but you have to take the first step and give us GOOD data to go on.