HID Light Conversions

[tony wright]

Son has just bought a T5 VW van and he’s not happy with the lights. He’s thinking about buying a HID conversion kit from E bay as they seem pretty cheap (between £16 and £40). I googled them and it’s a little confusing wether they are legal or not. Anybody have first hand experience with them, are they any good, are they legal etc?

[denzilpc]

MOT fail if not original equipment

[tony wright]

I suppose he will keep the original bulbs etc and could always re fit them if necessary.

[Retroman]

It's not legal and won't pass an MOT either.

However....

I've noticed that if have projector style headlights and a good HID kit with bulbs between 4000k and 6000k you're very unlikely to ever be pulled over as long as they are aligned correctly.

[otolith]

MOT fail if the man notices them.

[caelite]

As others have pointed out, it's a construction & use reg offense, fine is fairly minor and I believe non-endorsable (unless they are bad enough that they do him for driving with disregard). Whilst a minority of them perform well, a lot of these kits are badly designed and really don't work with halogen lights causing a really dazzling beam pattern.

Has he considered a set of high powered halogen bulbs? These are fully legal, and can be a night and day (heh ) improvement over an old halogen. My recommendation would be for osram night breaker lasers, or Phillips racingvisions.

[otolith]

I’m not sure to what extent the kits are variable versus some lights working better with them than others and some being properly set up.

[sim72]

caelite said:

Has he considered a set of high powered halogen bulbs? These are fully legal, and can be a night and day (heh ) improvement over an old halogen. My recommendation would be for osram night breaker lasers, or Phillips racingvisions.

This. T5 lights are indeed poor (as are the ones on T4s - I have left my full beam on accidentally before and not been flashed by anyone coming the other way) and the usual advice amongst the T4/5 community is to go for Night Breakers or similar, they do make a hell of a difference.

[Alucidnation]

As above.

A decent lamp will improve things drastically, and if you know someone with VCDS, they can code out the lamp life extension.

And they won't look st either.

[Joe5y]

denzilpc said:

MOT fail if not original equipment

Not true

[Joe5y]

Retroman said:

It's not legal and won't pass an MOT either.

Not true

[SVS]

caelite said:

My recommendation would be for osram night breaker lasers, or Phillips racingvisions.

^ this.

Also, I’ve found the motorcycle versions are better in the car too, because they last longer.

Osram Night Racer Motorcycle or Philips X-Treme Vision Moto are very good.

These are identical in fit and size to car bulbs, but the motorcycle versions are far more vibration-resistant. Vibrations are probably the main thing that reduces bulb life.

[rxe]

I would have no qualms in fitting HIDs to projectors - the beam pattern is fine, as long as they are levelled correctly, you're not going to be blinding anyone. Swap the bulbs for the MOT. I've checked the pattern on the MOT man's tester - he agreed it was spot on, but had to fail it.

HIDs in standard reflectors are st and to be avoided.

Yes, it's naughty, and will probably cause the zombie apocalypse, whatever....

[grumpy52]

Another vote for the Osram bulbs , also the Halfords version which often comes up on a BOGOF promotion .
I have fitted them to several cars and had huge improvements especially if the lights were given a thorough cleaning inside and out alongside being properly set up .
It's not just hid kits that give illegal light patterns, I have found many of the high output bulbs from the far east give very poor light patterns . They also don't seem to last very long .

[tony wright]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You must be a very angry person Question was quite simple and if your inferring that my second post meant he won’t care well you would be wrong. The next reply could of said they were the best thing since sliced bread and he may of gone ahead and purchased them. As it stands, thanks to all the replies he is now purchasing either a set of Osram or Phillips bulbs.

[longblackcoat]

Not sure if the van has projector type headlights. If so, consider LED bulbs rather than HID - the Philips ones are expensive but absolutely excellent, and I've had no issues with MOTs.

[xjay1337]

otolith said:

MOT fail if the man notices them.

Incorrect, at least it was a few years ago

We actually went to VOSA on this issue several years ago on the ukmkivs forum.
This was around 2013/4, and I don't have their exact response to hand

But basically it was along the lines of that if the headlights produce less than 2000 Lumen of output then auto levelling and washers are not required.
However since most (nearly all) MOT garages don't use the equipment to measure the lumen output they must assume they are under this limit, if the HID kit is fitted.

Headlight washers and/or levelling systems must work, if fitted.

Anyway I certainly had no problems with HID so long as the high beams work immediately and not like the HID dipped

[gareth_r]

Joe5y said:

Retroman said:

It's not legal and won't pass an MOT either.

Not true.

The latest MOT regulations say:
"Existing halogen headlamp units shouldn’t be converted to be used with HID bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.".

https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/m...

[otolith]

xjay1337 said:

otolith said:

MOT fail if the man notices them.

Incorrect, at least it was a few years ago

If I had written it a few years ago, it would have been.

Law changed in 2018.

[xjay1337]

otolith said:

If I had written it a few years ago, it would have been.

Law changed in 2018.

Just seen the above link :-)