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Fitting Hids


t422roberts
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Hey all.

I was just wondering , I know hids are illegal but I was thinking of putting hids just in main beam.

What do you all think??

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unless your going to install headlamp washers, self levelling and have them all working, you will fail an MOT, and be presented with a rectification notice from the police at best, if not, you could be fined for driving a vehicle other than in a roadworthy condition.

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Put some cree LED Bulbs in your fogs,

Cree t10 bulbs in your parking bulbs,

Osram cool blue instance low beam,

Osram night breaker plus bulbs in your high beam,

Look much better, still under budget compared to a good HID Kit,

The cree look just like 6000k HID but the light output isint great,

The orams will make up for them on the road but you will look sweet cruising the road HID replica fogs and 6000k matching parking bulbs.

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you will look sweet cruising the road HID replica fogs

Just a word of warning about driving with fog lights on...

When I was 18 I was pulled over and got fined £30 for driving with my fog lights on when it wasn't foggy.

So the lights wont 'look so sweet' if you are pulled over by the police. :)

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Not to mention all the times he'll get stopped by the old bill for driving with his front fog lights on Lenny ?

Different bulbs or not, they will still be operated by the fog light switch, so personally I'd say this is a bad idea lol.

And my personal opinion on the HID's,,,, if you have a projector lense in your headlight, fit them if you want, I'm a lover of them. Stick to a 35w set, with 6000k bulbs.

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Just a word of warning about driving with fog lights on...

When I was 18 I was pulled over and got fined £30 for driving with my fog lights on when it wasn't foggy.

So the lights wont 'look so sweet' if you are pulled over by the police. :)

Not to mention all the times he'll get stopped by the old bill for driving with his front fog lights on Lenny ?

Different bulbs or not, they will still be operated by the fog light switch, so personally I'd say this is a bad idea lol.

And my personal opinion on the HID's,,,, if you have a projector lense in your headlight, fit them if you want, I'm a lover of them. Stick to a 35w set, with 6000k bulbs.

I don't do it personally since fitting drl's

However I was never stopped for it, and I knew it was a no no at the time.

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To be fair, Lenny is over in the land of Guiness, and over there I don't believe the offence's carry the same weight as we enforce in the UK.

The only thing I have heard though is that Cree's in the front fogs are not as effective when they are actually needed, but between osram's or phillips xtra brite or whatever they are, should do nicely.

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I've fitted 5000k HIDs and the look ace, never been stopped with them as they don't have that blue tinge.

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do you have the washers and auto levelers?

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do you have the washers and auto levelers?

No he won't have,,, or anyone else that owns a mk7 fiesta, unless they have been retro fitted, hence deeming them illegal. But as with most mods,,, such is life lol.

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To be fair, Lenny is over in the land of Guiness, and over there I don't believe the offence's carry the same weight as we enforce in the UK.

The only thing I have heard though is that Cree's in the front fogs are not as effective when they are actually needed, but between osram's or phillips xtra brite or whatever they are, should do nicely.

+1

The crees look like hid but don't perform,

I've go them in my fogs and f I switch on parking&fog only. Its like a bicycle on the road at night.

They only get you for italic style reg plates or if your front reg plate is 4" long by 1" high :lol:

Also do you for having a decay pipe or too loud exhaust if your stuck in a stream of traffic at there checkpoint they will smell you have no catylist.

Other than that if its modified tastefully they never bother you at all

They don't seem to clamp down on HID over here as much from what I'm seeing crushing the streets some glanzas and GT starlets with blinding HID fitted,

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I have 6000k HID's 55w on my ZS 125ps. I have the projector styled headlights so it's more controlled. I've never been stopped and they're not dazzling at all, I'd recommend them to anyone the difference is just mind blowing and not forget to mention looks a lot sweeter. Also to mention I thought the 6000k would have a tint of blue but there's barely nothing just pure white, spot on.

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I'm currently carrying out a mod for retrofitting legal HID including washers n self leveling to my mk2.5 focus if your interested check my build thread for progress. Thus far I've calculated an estimated cost. Roughly around £700/£800 if you have the HID loom already installed in your car if you don't the cost will require another £400 for the wiring. There is no really not much of a cheaper option retrofitting legal HID. £40 for an eBay kit that has the potential for a fine plus points

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unless your going to install headlamp washers, self levelling and have them all working, you will fail an MOT, and be presented with a rectification notice from the police at best, if not, you could be fined for driving a vehicle other than in a roadworthy condition.

well that simply isnt true. you can retro fit HID's as long as the output and beam pattern are set correctly they will pass and MOT as plenty of people I know have done. As for washers and self levellers...if your car came out of the factory with them or you have retro fitted them they must work, however they are not required to be fitted,

Hate to post a link to the dark side but this post on the corsa forum may be useful...

http://www.corsa-c.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?358783-New-MOT-law-regarding-HIDS-April-2012

http://www.astraownersclub.com/vb/showthread.php/723827-HID-kits-MOT-The-Law

I have them, rang up my insurance ( last month : sept 13) and declared them no problem and no insurance premium increase!!

hope that helps!!

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How many HID threads does one forum need??? It's second only to 'Which bulbs do I need for <insert location>.

The OP didn't even ask about the legality (which always end up being the talking point).

well that simply isnt true. you can retro fit HID's as long as the output and beam pattern are set correctly they will pass and MOT as plenty of people I know have done. As for washers and self levellers...if your car came out of the factory with them or you have retro fitted them they must work, however they are not required to be fitted,

Welshy, some of what you say is true but levellers and washers are still required to be fitted aftermarket (along with a new headlight housing). Its just that the MOT doesn't check for them...

I agree that MOT stations WILL generally pass a car with HIDs. I haven't tried it but their test requirements in this area are so wooly that they would have no choice to pass what is an illegal mod.

The MOT information which relates to this:

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_170.htm

The important bit is "Vehicles equipped with High Intensity Discharge (HID) or LED dipped beam headlamps may be fitted with headlamp washers and a suspension or headlamp self levelling system." The wording "MAY be fitted" insinuates that these items do not need to be in place so I can understand why HID conversions get through an MOT.

The MOT guidelines are not the bible of roadworthyness though. The Department for Transport clearly state that fitting HID lamps aftermarket is illegal without also:

- Changing the headlight enclosure for one designed for HIDs.

- Fitting self levelling to the headlights or suspension.

- Fitting headlight washers.

See Link:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120606172804/http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/dft-information-sheets/aftermarket-hid-headlamps.pdf

The headlamp housing must be changed because of the way that the light is produced by HID lamps. Have a look at this website:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

It explains why retrofit HIDs should not be judged soley on the beam pattern cut-off. (I suspect this is what the MOT test looks for?)

The MOT test is therefore not doing it's job in keeping vehicles roadworthy but it's something we all have to live with until the government gets its act together. The police are not guided soley by the MOT rules so if you come across a clued-up copper, you might still have a problem.

Insurance companies agreeing to insure HID conversions only serves to muddy the waters even further. So an MOT pass does not mean HID lights are legal to use but you will probably get away with it.

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well that simply isnt true. you can retro fit HID's as long as the output and beam pattern are set correctly they will pass and MOT as plenty of people I know have done. As for washers and self levellers...if your car came out of the factory with them or you have retro fitted them they must work, however they are not required to be fitted,

Hate to post a link to the dark side but this post on the corsa forum may be useful...

http://www.corsa-c.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?358783-New-MOT-law-regarding-HIDS-April-2012

http://www.astraownersclub.com/vb/showthread.php/723827-HID-kits-MOT-The-Law

I have them, rang up my insurance ( last month : sept 13) and declared them no problem and no insurance premium increase!!

hope that helps!!

I would not bother arguing this point Welshy. It's already set in stone and def on a gov.uk site i've seen it before just can't find it.

Many people are confused about two things with HID of what part is legal. The sale of HID is legal the fitting of HID is also legal HOWEVER it is now required that aftermarket HID MUST meet the same requirements as factory fitted HID. No factory car with HID comes without washers or self leveling.

The requirements of factory fitted HID is that:

They must be used with projector type lens

They must have a self cleaning system, wipers with washers or jet powered washers

They must have self leveling either done by the headlight unit using sensors or with self leveling suspension usually on the rear.

The light emitted must be white or yellow this goes for halogen too. (Although HID may have a slight blue look as far as light emitted colour goes it's still white)

Second part that confuses some people is projector type lens, although this is the type of lens use for HID it can also be used for halogen bulbs too (If designed for it, HID bulb holders are different from halogen)

You can also fit them with xenon looking halogen bulbs, these are normal halogen bulb filled with a a type of gas to give a "xenon" look, these are still just ordinary halogen bulbs and don't require any washers or self leveling.

On the subject of MOT's and so on many garages will pass it and many will also fail it, not everyone is upto date on the changes not every tester is fussy.

Your insurance company isn't going to hassle you for declaring what is a legal mod, if you have an accident though your insurance company may put your car through test to see if it was road worthy as it's the responsibility of the driver to ensure the vehicle is road worthy, not the insurance company nor is it the MOT tester's responsibility.

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I would not bother arguing this point Welshy. It's already set in stone and def on a gov.uk site i've seen it before just can't find it.

Look no further:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-safety-standards-information-sheets

Link 2 of the download information sheets section is the one you're after.

Its what I already linked to in my previous post. :)

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Look no further:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-safety-standards-information-sheets

Link 2 of the download information sheets section is the one you're after.

Its what I already linked to in my previous post. :)

Nice one bro, it's always good seeing it directly from gov.uk rather than another car club site. saved it to my favourites this time :D

Just to add to my previous reply, points are given for this offence btw hence the reason why i am retrofitting HID the correct way with washers and self leveling

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Nice one bro, it's always good seeing it directly from gov.uk rather than another car club site. saved it to my favourites this time :D

Just to add to my previous reply, points are given for this offence btw hence the reason why i am retrofitting HID the correct way with washers and self leveling

No bother.

I had a quick look at your build thread after your earlier post. Nice to see someone doing the HID thing properly!

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HID kits aren't e marked, which I believe they must be in order to be legal or something >_>

I have them though and have had no problems.

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