Fitting these lights to my Scirocco?

[Chrisc_91]

Asked this question before but seemed to have been looking at the wrong lights, would these be fit for my rocco?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/281415470130" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers guys

[Paddy_R]

Unless you have projector lenses on your car then these will be illegal and may not be any better than uprated bulbs as you'll have no beam pattern.

[T33beh]

No they're not illegal at all. I have them on my rocco and they're so much better than the halogen bulbs. Just make sure you get the bulb holders otherwise they won't fit. If you need any help fitting them let me know


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[T33beh]

I also recommend 6000k as they're the closest to white you'll get


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[Roy_01]

I also recommend 6000k as they're the closest to white you'll get


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4300k white/yellow has the best visability in my opinion
5000k white with a blue tint and almost same visability

I would not go higher then 5000k if you care about visability and prefer projector lenses.

[Chrisc_91]

No they're not illegal at all. I have them on my rocco and they're so much better than the halogen bulbs. Just make sure you get the bulb holders otherwise they won't fit. If you need any help fitting them let me know


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Brilliant cheers buddy, yeah these come with bulb holders aswell, I should be fine fitting them myself, thanks for your help dude will get back to you if I need help.

[uklee]

No they're not illegal at all. I have them on my rocco and they're so much better than the halogen bulbs. Just make sure you get the bulb holders otherwise they won't fit. If you need any help fitting them let me know

Oh yes they are illegal ! , besides which when used in a reflector / lense designed for a halogen bulb they create a ridiculous amount of glare which blinds other road users.

Clarification from the Department for Transport below ..........

Fact sheet: Aftermarket HID headlamps
December 2006
In the Department's view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

The following is the legal rationale:

The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 regulate the situation in the UK.
Under these Regulations, HID/Gas Discharge/Xenon headlamps are not mentioned and therefore they are not permitted according to the strict letter of the law.

However new vehicles have HID headlamps. This is because they comply to European type approval Regulations. The UK cannot refuse to register a vehicle with a European type approval. These are to ECE Regulation 98 (for the HID headlamps which are tested on a rig in a laboratory) and ECE Regulation 48 (Lighting Installation on the vehicle).

For the after market, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because it is only applicable for new vehicles. However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles. It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.

Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the after market should:

1. be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component.

2. when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with (although no government inspection will take place).

3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned.

In practice this means:

1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.

2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

3. The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.

In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.

If you require any further information regarding the regulations covered by this fact sheet, please contact the DfT at the address below:

Transport Technology and Standards 6
Department for Transport
Zone 2/04
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR

[Paddy_R]

No they're not illegal at all. I have them on my rocco

Just because you have them fitted doesn't mean they're not illegal. I can assure you that they are most definitely illegal if fitted into a normal Scirocco reflector lens.

To make them legal your either going to have to have a) already have projector lenses and if you do you'd no want to fit these as the OE Volkswagen stuff is 100 times better or b) fit a set if projector lenses, headlight washers and some sort of auto leveling device (headlight or suspension) which let's face it nobody is going to do as it's way to expensive.

[Chrisc_91]

No they're not illegal at all. I have them on my rocco and they're so much better than the halogen bulbs. Just make sure you get the bulb holders otherwise they won't fit. If you need any help fitting them let me know

Oh yes they are illegal ! , besides which when used in a reflector / lense designed for a halogen bulb they create a ridiculous amount of glare which blinds other road users.

Clarification from the Department for Transport below ..........

Fact sheet: Aftermarket HID headlamps
December 2006
In the Department's view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

The following is the legal rationale:

The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 regulate the situation in the UK.
Under these Regulations, HID/Gas Discharge/Xenon headlamps are not mentioned and therefore they are not permitted according to the strict letter of the law.

However new vehicles have HID headlamps. This is because they comply to European type approval Regulations. The UK cannot refuse to register a vehicle with a European type approval. These are to ECE Regulation 98 (for the HID headlamps which are tested on a rig in a laboratory) and ECE Regulation 48 (Lighting Installation on the vehicle).

For the after market, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because it is only applicable for new vehicles. However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles. It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.

Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the after market should:

1. be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component.

2. when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with (although no government inspection will take place).

3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned.

In practice this means:

1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.

2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

3. The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.

In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.

If you require any further information regarding the regulations covered by this fact sheet, please contact the DfT at the address below:

Transport Technology and Standards 6
Department for Transport
Zone 2/04
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR

Thanks for the heads up!

[blower]

I'm glad you posted that uklee - i was going to do a similar thing but sometimes it's like banging your head against a wall when you try to explain to people that a HID in a normal reflector is an offence that makes your car not road worthy.

If you have a hid (xenons), you must have projector based headlights that are type approved (e-marked) with a hid leveller system and headlight washers.
If you don't have all those things, its an offence.

In addition to this MOT stations usually fail any hid headlight that doesn't have headlight washers - some do, some don't...the ones that don't are simply not doing their job.

I looked into this a couple of years ago - as wanted better than the crappy stock headlights on my golf mk6. I went to the expense of fitting genuine VW xenon headlights, with the AFS hid leveller. I already had headlight washers though.
I did the same install on a friends car - and in addition had to change the front bumper to install the whole headlight washer system - not cheap! - but makes the car legal without worrying about MOT failure or having your insurance completely invalidated and you ending up with nothing if you crash your car.
All it would take is the other party to say your headlights blinded them and bang goes your insurance.

[T33beh]

Okay how about this. As this is what I have done and when it went for an MOT it passed. When you have the HID fitted, take it to an MOT station and tell them to set the level of where the light will shine, they will adjust the headlight accordingly, which will result it you NOT blinding other road users.


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[blower]

Level is not the issue - glare from the light reflecting in an unfocussed fashion is the issue with retrofitting HID's into standard halogen reflector housings.
The optics of a reflector housing don't have the sharper focus of a projector lamp - and hence the cut off is more blurred, and light is present well outside the 'cut off' area.
Not an issue with the lower output of a halogen lamp, but when you crank up the lumens by using a xenon hid - the light spred outside the cut off is too much and will dazzle oncoming drivers.

Combine this with the lack of hid levellers - so that when you have rear passengers or a boot load of stuff the back of the car is lower down and the front raised up...making your xenons hit the eyeline of oncoming drivers.

The regulations are there for a reason - xenon's have as much as 5 times the light output of a halogen lamp...with this output far better optics are needed to focus it tighter in a more defined pattern to avoid blinding other drivers, you cannot get away with a crappy chromed plastic reflector housing to do the job.

You can pass an MOT with them - as the MOT station is crap. No MOT station should pass them, the ones that do are not doing their job - which should make you think just what else are they not checking on.