HEADLAMP AIM BEAM RESOLUTION

[RyanK60]

2005 VW golf, my car failed its MOT on the below:

Nearside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.A.1b)
Offside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.A.1b)

Could you please let me know which of the below you think would be the reason?

A) INCORRECTLY FITTED BULB - The car has never failed an MOT before, would the car not have always failed all previous MOTs if it was due to an incorrectly fitted bulb - can I rule this out as a possibility? If not, how much would a garage charge to fix this and how long would it take to fix?

B) THE REFLECTOR IS CORRODED, how much would a garage charge to fix this and how long would it take to fix?

C) HEADLAMP NOT CONFORMING TO NORMAL DIAGRAMS, HAS A BEAM IMAGE DAZZLING OTHER ROAD USERS? how much would a garage charge to fix this and how long would it take to fix?

Thanks a lot for your help in advance, really appreciate it.

[TallPaul]

The easiest thing would be to ask whoever did the MOT, I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you. Otherwise it could easily be any of those reasons, there's no way of knowing without seeing the car. Most likely I'd say, very cloudy lenses which you'd be able to spot yourself, possibly wrongly fitted bulbs (common mistake), or maybe left hand drive headlamps (unlikely).

[E-bmw]

I think the issue will be the following.

RyanK60 said:

Nearside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.A.1b)
Offside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.A.1b)

[imagineifyeswill]

headlamp beam image obviously incorrect is ussually down to an incorrectly fitted bulb, fitted slightly squint or upside down.

[Little Pete]

Are the lenses glass or plastic? The plastic type go cloudy so the beam pattern loses definition. A body shop can give them a polish if this is the case.

[wildoliver]

I bet it's cloudy lenses as above. Polishing them will usually scrape them through one more mot, I managed one "save" with my old Passat I had some years ago but eventually I just bought some new headlamps they weren't a lot for aftermarket ones off eBay. Pretty rubbish quality mind.