After market HID's

[milnei]

Retro fitting a full OEM setup, with headlamp wash and self levelling you be virually impossible but it depends on the car you're fitting it to.

I have seen a German website selling a complete OEM self levelling setup for aftermaket fitment for the Octavia II, but that would be a big job to fit. I think the OEM Xenon headlamps are a straight swap for the standard ones, however I would expect there to be some VAGCOM issues to resolve....

TBH I agree with most of the comments here that aftermarket Xenons are great and if you follow these guidelines you're unlikely to get into any trouble:-

1. Use 4300k bulbs which are OEM temp rather than 6000k+ that look blue.

2. Fit them to a car that can have Xenons as standard. Plod knows that Mk1 Corsas never had OEM Xenons......

3. Keep your beam correctly adjusted, and be consious when you've got a full load on board to turn your leadlight adjustment down a notch or two.

4. Keep your lenses clean (especially in this sort of weather). Get into the habit of giving them a wipe when defrosting your car in the morning and when filling up with fuel.

I would have thought the mug that got caught on the M42 probably didn't follow numbers 1 or 2.........

I guess I must be lucky with my cheapo 35W ebay kit. It was originally bought and fitted to my non canbus Mazda 6 (which passed an MOT with no problems), but now work fine in my Octavia with no canbus errors either.

[vRS Carl]

You could but you will need to add auto levelling sensors & headlight washers

Carl

[GeorgeL]

Guys I've been going mad the past month trying to fit HIDS. A �60 kit from HID's Direct was not great - too blue at 6K and was concerned about the quality. I swapped it for a �160 Wideview kit only to find that while the ballasts were nice and small, they had seperate ignitors and seperate canbus error cancellers. Basically a bit of a rats nest of little boxes and connections. After suffering bulb out errors and lights going on and off on the motorway I contacted HID's Direct only to be told that the kit was unsuitable for the Skoda so back they went. I now have an "Ultimate" kit from HIDS - 4 - U however to be honest it just doesn't feel like �190 worth of kit. The ballasts are also too big to fit into the OEM ballast covers and hence fitting would be a pain in the backside so........they are goin back!I'll find a good kit sooner or later but it will need a smallish ballast and be Korean made not chinese crap like 90% of those available on ebay.

Be very very careful - fitting �50 hid kits to the wiring of your �15K pride and joy is risky. Chinese quality is poor and the ballasts tend to die quickly leaving you with no choice but to replace the lot. The more expensive kits appear to be better quality but not massivly so and there are still issues with later cars canbus systems.It might be worth getting a sticky list together of known good systems that can be fitted int he OEM ballast covers for ease of fitment and neatness.........

Did you find a kit that you were happy with in the end?

If you want a decent kit get the 50w Kit from HIDs Direct

I had a 35w kit from HIDS 4 U and it was good ( i had the original version which everything Fit inside the oem cover of the headlight) but when i went to the 50w kit i was amazed at how much extra light it gave out.

The kit cost £75 delivered and took me all of 10 mins to fit. Because its 50w no bulb error cancelling stuff needed and works perfectly. It also fit inside the OEM cover JUST.

Basically ring HID's direct tell them what car you have and they will send you the correct kit. Don't buy the Slim kit though as wardth says or you end up with lots of little boxes to hide away.

Carl

Carl are you still happy with your kit? Is 4300k the same light colour as OEM Xenos then? Do you know of anyone or company that would retro fit the kit you bought?

Cheers

George

[wardth]

George

No I didn't find a kit in the end so gave up. I had quite a "difficult" discussion with the boss of HIDS DIRECT at one point who started to get arsey with me because I'd bought a kit, it didn't work properly, I called them up, they said it was a faulty ballast, sent me another one which turned out to be incorrect with different plugs and then I had a fair amoutn of trouble getting them to actually beleive me until I sent pictures and eventually they accepted the kit back after quoting "oh it appears the original had incorrect connections which sounded like a right load of bull to me.

Overall a right pain on the arse.

HIDS 4 U are IMHO ripping people off - the kits are WAY overpriced and quality is not really any different to the cheaper aftermarket ones on FleaBay. That went back too because it would have been a pain to secure the ballasts.

Another member Hauptmann has identified a way of doing this without nasty capacitors disguised as "error cancellers" but it involves recoding with VCDS. I'm going to try this option as the guy obviously knows what he's on about.

Oh and both the 6K kits I've tried were way too blue in colour and just shouted "aftermarket"......

Look, there is a load of bull on the forums about legality of these kits but as long as you get 4500K or thereabouts and remember to use your manual leveller if your car is loaded then there is no issue. I have to say that I had the original kit alignment checked at two different MOT centres and it was spot on. One I went back to standard bulbs I got it checked again and there was not difference so those who keep stating they were blinding people must have been doing something odd because I did a fair few miles with the first kit fitted and I wasn't flashed once.

Edited 10 April, 2010 by wardth

[GeorgeL]

George

No I didn't find a kit in the end so gave up. I had quite a "difficult" discussion with the boss of HIDS DIRECT at one point who started to get arsey with me because I'd bought a kit, it didn't work properly, I called them up, they said it was a faulty ballast, sent me another one which turned out to be incorrect with different plugs and then I had a fair amoutn of trouble getting them to actually beleive me until I sent pictures and eventually they accepted the kit back after quoting "oh it appears the original had incorrect connections which sounded like a right load of bull to me.

Overall a right pain on the arse.

HIDS 4 U are IMHO ripping people off - the kits are WAY overpriced and quality is not really any different to the cheaper aftermarket ones on FleaBay. That went back too because it would have been a pain to secure the ballasts.

Another member Hauptmann has identified a way of doing this without nasty capacitors disguised as "error cancellers" but it involves recoding with VCDS. I'm going to try this option as the guy obviously knows what he's on about.

Oh and both the 6K kits I've tried were way too blue in colour and just shouted "aftermarket"......

Look, there is a load of bull on the forums about legality of these kits but as long as you get 4500K or thereabouts and remember to use your manual leveller if your car is loaded then there is no issue. I have to say that I had the original kit alignment checked at two different MOT centres and it was spot on. One I went back to standard bulbs I got it checked again and there was not difference so those who keep stating they were blinding people must have been doing something odd because I did a fair few miles with the first kit fitted and I wasn't flashed once.

Hi thanks very much for the reply. I've been looking and I've decided I don't know what the heck I am doing so I won't be fitting them. However, a member has contacted me offering to fit a kit and recode for me. I am definately tempted by this and will look into it further.

I'm yet undersided whether to go for 4500k or 5000k. I just don't want the light to appear yellow.

George

[Rincey]

Take no notice of the legalities and nay sayers... If you have projectors, you are fine - its when you don't have projectors that the problems start because all you get is a nasty glow that does dazzle. I asked my testing station if mine would pass and he said, well why wouldn't it! He looked at the hids, the beam pattern etc and said all was fine and had no idea why I was worrying.

I have had a set from Hids Direct (I think) in for the last few months and only ever been flashed once in over 3000 miles. I paid £72 I think - I did have to send one canbus back originally but other than that, they have been rock steady and dead easy to fit - I mounted the canbus outside of the headlight though and just drilled a hole for the grommit with the wires to pass through. Worked like a charm and all were in and running inside of an hour

[ChrisRs]

Having read this..I have had a quiet chuckle to myself.

As a new Octavia buyer and previous Fabia vRS (with HID's) owner, I paid the extra to get this lighting system, which is far better than standard Halogen bulbs.

I did the financial sums and decided to pay the extra.

It has turned out to be a great investment..They are simply superb.

However, if I hadnt been in a financial situation to pay the extra £600 for OEM Xenons, then I would NEVER buy aftermarket HID units.

They are illegal!!

If you have an accident, the insurance may not pay out.

Any modifications like this must be declared.....They wont be accepted will they?

There may be warranty issues...will Skoda pay up if there are electical problems associated with fitting a HID unit?

Some of you might want to risk it..I do not

They require self levelling..very very expensive to retrofit

They require washers...very very expensive to retrofit.

So the chuckling at the attempts to get these bulbs fitted into your cars continues .....Sorry...Youre asking for trouble

Seriously guys..Just get some decent bulbs like Philips Xtreme or Ring Max +100

Be careful out there!!

[Rincey]

They are not illegal Chris, you really need to check out what the DOT say about them. My insurance company have them on my insurance with no problem and no increase in premium. I am sure they wouldn't allow them on if they were illegal now, would they

The ones that are illegal are the ones you see on Corsa's and such likes that don't have projectors and you just have that nasty glow that blonds everyone. And if you keep your lights clean, then you don't need washers either. Just wipe them over with a cloth every few days is all you need!

I still giggle at those uninformed peeps

[wardth]

Guys

Please check out this posting;

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/157668-hid-kit-is-it-really-worth-the-conversion/

[ChrisRs]

Sorry. You are wrong!! In fact TOTALLY wrong!!

The DOT states that here:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps

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.

So where does this DOT statement say they are legal?

[Hauptmann]

The DfT does not make the law. The paper that you link to expresses their VIEW on aftermarket HID's. I am not away of any case law which states that HID conversions are illegal per se - i.e. the DfT's view has not yet been tested in court.

The Octavia light units are designed to work with HID's and since the correct aftermarket kit will place the burner at the correct location within the light unit then there should really be no issue in day to day driving if the lights are correctly aligned. Overspill/scatter is no different to the factory HID's because the 'cut off' is actually the projected image of the metal shield within the light unit.

The requirement for self-levelling & cleaning is not related specifically to HID's but comes about as a result of legal requirement for light sources above 2000Lm to have these features fitted (would also apply to very bright halogen bulbs, for example).

As far as the law stands right now the aftermarket HID's would pass the MoT and could not be legitimately failed on a car like the Octavia or Fabia with projector units (provided the colour is correct - i.e. 4300K or possibly 4700K bulbs) nor could the Police pull you over and stop you (assuming the alignment is correct - including when the car is heavily laden).

Incidentally, HID's are not actually 'three times brighter' than halogen bulbs. They do emit three times as much light as a typical halogen, but because the retina responds logarithmically to light intensity (Weber's Law) they appear much less than three times as bright.

Aftermarket HID's generally put out a little less light than factory ones of the same power because the burner is 'remounted' onto an H7 base. This means that the return wire (and its ceramic sleeve) is on the 'wrong side' of the burner and so appear in the projected image and actually obstruct a small proportion of light coming from the bulbs.

[milnei]

Ahh, relief, someone talking sence (and science).......

[vRS_Pagey]

Tryed searching but it seems to down :( Any way, I want to do something about the poop lights in my 08 vRS Combi. Either better bulbs http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=81 or HID's What are peoples opinions about after market HID's? Worth it? Do they actually work?

I would go for these personally;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RING-H7-XENON-MAX-HEADLIGHT-BULBS-up-to-100-BRIGHTER_W0QQitemZ120533044837QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item1c10544e65

[hoggy a]

after reading this iam more confused than ever,i want to put a hid kit on my 10 plate vrs but can somebody tell me what i need,i dont want any problems with warning lights and want some very small balists and something that not meg complicated to fit,any help would be great on this matter thanks.