the "late" Tavia RS made them (beam defelctors) out of sticky tape... but he was a bit of a cheap ass......

I made some out of black cloth tape too for my visit to Holland this summer. They weren't very effective; the tape didn't like the sun and high temperature and wrinkled and shrank; and the glue didn't want to come off the headlight when I pulled the tape off. Next time I will use Halford's plastic stick-on deflectors.

I am the opposite, I used Halfords ones last time (

I have always used black 'fablon' material for making masks - you can buy a minimum quantity in B & Q. It seems to be unaffected by heat and water and stays on for years if necessary. Insulating tape is useless in my experience.

Originally posted by ncarring in this post

I've heard it said, but never had the chance to prove it, that it's much easier to forget which is the "right" side of the road if you take a RHD car over there. If you're in a LHD car it seems more natural to be on the right side of the road anyway.

Very true, Nick! When I drove in Spain in February being in a LHD (disel bizzy) felt perfectly natural - the worst thing is being so used to throwing left hand off the wheel in search of the gearstick. Not a good idea in a LHD

Am very likely off to France for 5 days this month - already planned on flying out and hiring a LHD car, rather than taking my fabby over on the ferry. Wouldn't feel right driving it on the 'wrong' side of the road!

As I live near Harwich, it's always fun to share the A120 with lots of LHD cars heading for the ferry - watching them drifting out to see if its clear to overtake is breath-taking! (Usually when you can see something is coming the other way and they can't!)

Originally posted by Jim Timpson in this post

Insulating tape is useless in my experience.

Even for insulation

Gaffer tape! Works well, even with the angel eyes/xenons

Who resurrected this thread then ??

I got the damn beam deflectors, but the trip never happend :(

Oh well, there's always next year

Originally posted by Real Skoda in this post

Gaffer tape! Works well, even with the angel eyes/xenons

You use gaffer tape on xenons? No probs with the heat generated ? It's all getting very confusing for me now. :confused:

:confused:

I still don't understand why everybody is banging on about the heat generated by HID lamps!

Every technical note I've read about them says that they run cooler than filament lamps.

They use less power than filament bulbs. They are more efficient than filament bulbs - more of the power is converted into light instead of heat. They can't run hotter - "You canna change the laws of physics, Captain!"