Just buy a bloody bulb (or 2) !
Discussion
Amazing how many cars have a headlight out and I just saw a belter, a young lad in an old Honda Civic and the only light on the front of the car was one rather dim yellow sidelight, nothing else, I was pulling out and could see him but as it is dark and raining I had to wait as I wasnt sure whether it was a cylist or something, it really does screw with the visibility and perception, people were flashing him but on he went, what goes through these cretins heads, he must be aware things are a bit dim. I had to do a double take the other week with one car unlit on the left and one on the right behind it, it looked like one car.
Cool story bro etc but its really annoying, what is the legal position for someone driving round in a car with duff lights ?
Are things going to improve as OEM Leds come in ?
Why doesnt this country mandate a spare set of bulbs like other countries do.
What is/should the penalty be for bulbs out, sliding scale for how many, anyone can have one go, but if your main source of light in the front of a vehicle is your TomTom then you are an arse and deserve to be banned !
Cool story bro etc but its really annoying, what is the legal position for someone driving round in a car with duff lights ?
Are things going to improve as OEM Leds come in ?
Why doesnt this country mandate a spare set of bulbs like other countries do.
What is/should the penalty be for bulbs out, sliding scale for how many, anyone can have one go, but if your main source of light in the front of a vehicle is your TomTom then you are an arse and deserve to be banned !
Designers fault. It's no longer a 10 minute job on many cars to change s bulb. Loads need more or less the whole front end removed. Not something you can do in the dark when you've just got back from work.
All the stupid rules we have to put up with in life and not one to make changing a safety item easier. The lunatics are truly in charge.
All the stupid rules we have to put up with in life and not one to make changing a safety item easier. The lunatics are truly in charge.
I did the sidelights on my CLS, I was warned it was a pain in the arse but it really wasnt that bad, I think it doesnt really have any consequences and could cost money and is a bit tricky so just wait until summer/MOT time, Halfords provide a service for bulbs but its all just a bit too much like effort to bother.
Used to see some old bloke in a Mondeo on the way to work, his only light was the tip of his fag, for months, some people are too stupid to be allowed a car.
Used to see some old bloke in a Mondeo on the way to work, his only light was the tip of his fag, for months, some people are too stupid to be allowed a car.
trickywoo said:
Designers fault. It's no longer a 10 minute job on many cars to change s bulb. Loads need more or less the whole front end removed. Not something you can do in the dark when you've just got back from work.
All the stupid rules we have to put up with in life and not one to make changing a safety item easier. The lunatics are truly in charge.
^^Nail, head etc.^^All the stupid rules we have to put up with in life and not one to make changing a safety item easier. The lunatics are truly in charge.
Quick release or slidemount light clusters should be mandatory IMO.
One of the headlights is out on my 02 Corolla, it has Halfords Extreme Brilliance bulbs, so I tried to get a replacement but the store had none, so I had to order them online which meant a 2 to 5 day delivery time, they arrived today and of course are totally the wrong shape, so now I've got to return those and attempt to find out what the right one should have been.
Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
This week's headlamp thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
JimSuperSix said:
One of the headlights is out on my 02 Corolla, it has Halfords Extreme Brilliance bulbs, so I tried to get a replacement but the store had none, so I had to order them online which meant a 2 to 5 day delivery time, they arrived today and of course are totally the wrong shape, so now I've got to return those and attempt to find out what the right one should have been.
Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
So you drive about for at least a week with one headlight because you want a matching Bulb!!!!, I'd have thought it would be better to stick a normal bulb in and be legal , not the brightest are you?Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
Jim AK said:
trickywoo said:
Designers fault. It's no longer a 10 minute job on many cars to change s bulb. Loads need more or less the whole front end removed. Not something you can do in the dark when you've just got back from work.
All the stupid rules we have to put up with in life and not one to make changing a safety item easier. The lunatics are truly in charge.
^^Nail, head etc.^^All the stupid rules we have to put up with in life and not one to make changing a safety item easier. The lunatics are truly in charge.
Quick release or slidemount light clusters should be mandatory IMO.
The end.
JimSuperSix said:
One of the headlights is out on my 02 Corolla, it has Halfords Extreme Brilliance bulbs, so I tried to get a replacement but the store had none, so I had to order them online which meant a 2 to 5 day delivery time, they arrived today and of course are totally the wrong shape, so now I've got to return those and attempt to find out what the right one should have been.
Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
So you drive about for at least a week with one headlight because you want a matching Bulb!!!!, I'd have thought it would be better to stick a normal bulb in and be legal , not the brightest are you?Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
Went to a garage today to talk to the owner about some work he is doing for me, he said come here have a look at this showed me a parts receipt for £90 pound for a bulb, Hid for a BMW, which is one cost. The other was the half hour labour for removing the front wheel, the inner arch liner and something else I forget, and obviously putting it all back together. Not something I would like to try if I only had on street parking.
And don't get me started on the Halfords fitment service. On my old Passat you had to remove the air intake inlet for the drivers side and unhook and move the power steering reservoir for the passenger, they offered to do it at the till, it was pissing it down so I thought sod it why not. Spanner Monkey comes out to the car looks it over, refers to a book and says it can't be done as requires dismantling things which they aren't trained to do.
So why offer the fitment service, how many modern cars have ample access to the bulb holders without removing something any more, my guess not many.
This doesn't absolve the drivers who have had a light out for a week or more and can't be arsed to take it to a garage or do it themselves but it is my theory as to why there are more on the roads now.
And don't get me started on the Halfords fitment service. On my old Passat you had to remove the air intake inlet for the drivers side and unhook and move the power steering reservoir for the passenger, they offered to do it at the till, it was pissing it down so I thought sod it why not. Spanner Monkey comes out to the car looks it over, refers to a book and says it can't be done as requires dismantling things which they aren't trained to do.
So why offer the fitment service, how many modern cars have ample access to the bulb holders without removing something any more, my guess not many.
This doesn't absolve the drivers who have had a light out for a week or more and can't be arsed to take it to a garage or do it themselves but it is my theory as to why there are more on the roads now.
bigvanfan said:
JimSuperSix said:
One of the headlights is out on my 02 Corolla, it has Halfords Extreme Brilliance bulbs, so I tried to get a replacement but the store had none, so I had to order them online which meant a 2 to 5 day delivery time, they arrived today and of course are totally the wrong shape, so now I've got to return those and attempt to find out what the right one should have been.
Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
So you drive about for at least a week with one headlight because you want a matching Bulb!!!!, I'd have thought it would be better to stick a normal bulb in and be legal , not the brightest are you?Took me 20 minutes in the rain with a variety of screwdrivers and a torch to get the old bulb out too, with the loss of a few lumps of skin on my hands.
Sometimes just changing a bulb is not as simple as it should be.
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 5th February 20:36
I usually buy a stock of bulbs.a pack of 10 at my local motor factors costs less than 1 at halfrauds.my old mk 3 Mondeo work hack was a piece of cake to change bulbs,2 twist locks on the grille,2 pins on the lamp unit and you could take it out and fix it in comfort.i don't know why other manufacturers cant do similar
civicduty said:
Went to a garage today to talk to the owner about some work he is doing for me, he said come here have a look at this showed me a parts receipt for £90 pound for a bulb, Hid for a BMW, which is one cost. The other was the half hour labour for removing the front wheel, the inner arch liner and something else I forget, and obviously putting it all back together. Not something I would like to try if I only had on street parking.
And don't get me started on the Halfords fitment service. On my old Passat you had to remove the air intake inlet for the drivers side and unhook and move the power steering reservoir for the passenger, they offered to do it at the till, it was pissing it down so I thought sod it why not. Spanner Monkey comes out to the car looks it over, refers to a book and says it can't be done as requires dismantling things which they aren't trained to do.
So why offer the fitment service, how many modern cars have ample access to the bulb holders without removing something any more, my guess not many.
This doesn't absolve the drivers who have had a light out for a week or more and can't be arsed to take it to a garage or do it themselves but it is my theory as to why there are more on the roads now.
I'm reasonably sure on some BMWs it's actually plenty to just turn the wheel to the side to access the bulb. It is however not something you should carry - HID bulbs work in a totally different way to regular ones, and if you had a spare by the time you needed it then it probably would have gone bangAnd don't get me started on the Halfords fitment service. On my old Passat you had to remove the air intake inlet for the drivers side and unhook and move the power steering reservoir for the passenger, they offered to do it at the till, it was pissing it down so I thought sod it why not. Spanner Monkey comes out to the car looks it over, refers to a book and says it can't be done as requires dismantling things which they aren't trained to do.
So why offer the fitment service, how many modern cars have ample access to the bulb holders without removing something any more, my guess not many.
This doesn't absolve the drivers who have had a light out for a week or more and can't be arsed to take it to a garage or do it themselves but it is my theory as to why there are more on the roads now.
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