http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/H4-2-VIRTUAL-DAYLIGHT-XENON-HID-KIT-SKODA-OCTAVIA-/390282143372?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5adea0e68c

Anyone fitted a kit like this in an Octy II with projection lamps? My Octy has the lamps but standard bulbs. Also if anyone can recommend some LED sidelights (to stop the car looking twin temped!)

My mate had a Honda Integra Type R and we fitted a similar kit on that...

same as above

however i am interested in finding out how he coded the car to take non canbus lights

@ OP, the HIDs in your link won't fit a mk2 Octavia as they require a H7 bulb, and tbh I think they are over priced! These are the ones I have fitted and with a further 10 quid off they are a real bargain. Look at the 35w 4300k for the OE look, or if they are available I went for 35w 5000k as imho this is the 'whitest' light.

I have a similar kit in mine, but a non CANBUS friendly one. There is a difference of opinion on whether you should go for the CANBUS friendly type to avoid the bulb failure warning on the dash, but with VCDS coding, that doesn't happen even with the type I have in mine.

Points to remember -- strictly not road legal, though with projector lenses you haven't got the same problems of glare. Projector lights are designed to take HID/Xenon bulbs in the first place. However, because of the difference in the length of bulb over halogen, you will certainly have to have the beams realigned properly once the HID kit is fitted. For the maximum amount of light output, a white light rather than blue, and for the police to leave you alone, don't go for any temperature higher than 4300K or 6000K at the outside. Mine are 35W, 4300K, always on as day running lights, and they have never once attracted any unwanted attention from the police

Is it worth it? Yes, definately, the difference over halogen is tremendous.

LED sidelights - don't bother. Only CANBUS friendly bulbs will work, and although some folk on here have got these to work, I haven't been able to keep mine working for more than a couple of weeks. And I've tried 3 different brands of them. To get a whitelight to match the HID's, go for Philips Bluvision W5W - they are a filament bulb, which don't cause any CANBUS errors, and although they are blue coated, give a white rather than a yellow light. Plenty of these on eBay for very little money.

Hope this helps

Mike

I concur with everything that Mike says with the exception of the comment in bold, maybe I've been lucky but I have been running LED sidelights for a few months now and so far they have been faultless, and compliment the HIDs and DRL's perfectly.

same as above

however i am interested in finding out how he coded the car to take non canbus lights

To fit non CANbus HIDs you will need controller 9 recoded to 'xenons without shutters' by doing this, the car is set up as it would be with OE xenons fitted. It takes approx' 5 minutes with VCDS.

My friend has after Market HIDs fitted to his car by the dealers itself ..!!!When I was running a scan via VCDS on his car I realised there was no xenon options in the installed list .!!Also in the CAN gateway the xenons weren't checked ......He has no bulb failure warning light on his car ...!What does this mean .... Do the options need to be checked or any other coding changes to be made .?????thanks .!

And what are xenon shutters ??

Edited 10 May, 201115 yr by pz1811

On the link shown by Pagey, there are three different H7 bulbs. Which one is the correct one for our cars?

On the link shown by Pagey, there are three different H7 bulbs. Which one is the correct one for our cars?

Standard H7 is fine

The standard one does not appear to be available as 5000k, I wondered how Pagey got his bulbs if they are standard length.

The standard one does not appear to be available as 5000k, I wondered how Pagey got his bulbs if they are standard length.

4300K is fine-you won't notice much difference tbh. Or, do a search for 'H7 HID 35W 5000K'-you can even buy the lamps seperate if you want. I have 5000k in mine at present.

My friend has after Market HIDs fitted to his car by the dealers itself ..!!!When I was running a scan via VCDS on his car I realised there was no xenon options in the installed list .!!Also in the CAN gateway the xenons weren't checked ......He has no bulb failure warning light on his car ...!What does this mean .... Do the options need to be checked or any other coding changes to be made .?????thanks .!

And what are xenon shutters ??

My friend has after Market HIDs fitted to his car by the dealers itself ..!!!When I was running a scan via VCDS on his car I realised there was no xenon options in the installed list .!!Also in the CAN gateway the xenons weren't checked ......He has no bulb failure warning light on his car ...!What does this mean .... Do the options need to be checked or any other coding changes to be made .?????thanks .!

And what are xenon shutters ??

The shutter part refers to BI-xenons iirc, basically a single HID bulb is used for dipped and main beam, the 'shutter' alters the light beam pattern.......or something along those lines.

On the link shown by Pagey, there are three different H7 bulbs. Which one is the correct one for our cars?

Afaik, all 3 bulbs will fit, iirc the H7R is more suited to cars without projector lamps as the beam is dispersed differently so as not to dazzle.

The standard one does not appear to be available as 5000k, I wondered how Pagey got his bulbs if they are standard length.

When I got mine from this seller standard H7's were available in the 5000k, it may be worth emailing them to find out. However, as Skodaphile says you may not notice much difference between them and the 4300k - personally having compared a mates OE xenons, not only are mine visibly whiter, they also seem brighter.

43k is the one to go for white light is the brightest above that and you go blue, and attract the attention of plod

Why would "attracting the police" be any kind of issue?

You all claim these aftermarket kits are 100% legal - so nothing really to worry about?

Hmmm! Mine car passed its MOT with HIDs.......and I come across Police on a regular basis in my job, and they haven't slapped my wrist yet!

I would be interested in seeing accurate legislation regarding this just to finally put an end to the debate. :wonder:

EDIT: Just had a quick search and found a fact sheet produced by the DFT -

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 part in bold makes for interesting imho, as the Octavia headlamp is a projector style across the range and afaik isn't changed at all when OE xenons are fitted.

I also like this quote as it basically says that due the Road Vehicle Light Regulation not being updated to include xenons etc, then technically they are illegal also, even factory fit.....

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.

I stark reality is that as of midnight on 1/1/2012 aftermarket HIDs WILL be illegal, so to those guys out there (myself included) with them fitted, enjoy the next 7 months..... :(

Why would "attracting the police" be any kind of issue?

You all claim these aftermarket kits are 100% legal - so nothing really to worry about?

not with 6k and above

Why would "attracting the police" be any kind of issue?

You all claim these aftermarket kits are 100% legal - so nothing really to worry about?

All aftermarket HID kits are illegal if they are used on a public road and fitted to cars without headlight washers and self leveling headlight adjustment. This is also stated on the eBay listing linked at the beginning of this thread.

You are more likely to get away with it on the Octavia due to the projector type headlight set up which helps them to look OEM. Also quite a few of the Octavia's come equipped with headlight washers as standard (Elegance, L&K, 4x4, Scout etc.) On these cars if it wasn't for the manual headlight adjustment next the headlight switch it would be difficult for a copper to prove otherwise at the side of the road.

The Police are struggling to get up to speed with the recent introduction of DRL's (daytime running lights) so I suspect that as long as you don't draw attention to your lights (i.e. going too blue – which shout to every other road user “I’m non standard and illegalâ€) then you'll be OK.

It is rumored that the MOT test will soon be amended to include a check for aftermarket HID's, which without the headlight washers and self leveling will result in a fail. This can be simply overcome by removing the kit for the test and replacing it afterwards. I retrofitted OEM xenon’s to my previous car without the washers or self leveling and had no issues come MOT time...

Invalidating insurance? Who knows? Life's too short!

All aftermarket HID kits are illegal if they are used on a public road and fitted to cars without headlight washers and self leveling headlight adjustment. This is also stated on the eBay listing linked at the beginning of this thread.

You are more likely to get away with it on the Octavia due to the projector type headlight set up which helps them to look OEM. Also quite a few of the Octavia's come equipped with headlight washers as standard (Elegance, L&K, 4x4, Scout etc.) On these cars if it wasn't for the manual headlight adjustment next the headlight switch it would be difficult for a copper to prove otherwise at the side of the road.

The Police are struggling to get up to speed with the recent introduction of DRL's (daytime running lights) so I suspect that as long as you don't draw attention to your lights (i.e. going too blue – which shout to every other road user “I’m non standard and illegalâ€) then you'll be OK.

It is rumored that the MOT test will soon be amended to include a check for aftermarket HID's, which without the headlight washers and self leveling will result in a fail. This can be simply overcome by removing the kit for the test and replacing it afterwards. I retrofitted OEM xenon’s to my previous car without the washers or self leveling and had no issues come MOT time...

Invalidating insurance? Who knows? Life's too short!

Can you post a link to the actual black and white legislation to show that HIDs are illegal now? As all I have found is details in my previous post.

By the way, couldn't agree more with the comment in bold!

Check out section 1.7

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/technical%20pen%20picture%203%20-%20lighting.pdf

This is VOSA's addition to the MOT test applicable from 1st January 2012 which will mean that vehicles fitted with HID's but without headlight washers and self leveling should fail.

Here are the current requirements for fitting HID's from the Department of Transport that states they are not legal when retrofitted...

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

Edited 10 May, 201115 yr by silver1011

Check out section 1.7

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/technical%20pen%20picture%203%20-%20lighting.pdf

This is VOSA's addition to the MOT test applicable from 1st January 2012 which will mean that vehicles fitted with HID's but without headlight washers and self leveling should fail.

Here are the current requirements for fitting HID's from the Department of Transport that states they are not legal when retrofitted...

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

The second attachment is where I got the quote listed in a previous post, if you read through you will notice that as HID's/Gas Discharge bulbs or Xenons are not listed in the current legislation which means they are technically illegal even if OE fitted!!

Food for thought until its amended.

Yes, it makes for interesting reading when the DoT admits that OEM HID's are technically illeagal in the UK.

Perhaps this makes their clamp down on aftermarket HID's a little rich

Thanks for all the advice; mike - can i ask where you sourced your kit?

Yes, it makes for interesting reading when the DoT admits that OEM HID's are technically illeagal in the UK.

Perhaps this makes their clamp down on aftermarket HID's a little rich

Indeed! Which is part of the reason I started a HID rant topic in the general forum! :wonder:

Thanks for all the advice; mike - can i ask where you sourced your kit?

Mikes kit,------ me Simbo and I got same one, ignore about it been for a fabia it fits. I ordered mine 10.10 am, and it was here at 11 next day!!

H7 HID Xenon Conversion Kit For Skoda Fabia VRS 2003-06

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...:EOIBSA:GB:1123

Mikes kit,------ me Simbo and I got same one, ignore about it been for a fabia it fits. I ordered mine 10.10 am, and it was here at 11 next day!!

H7 HID Xenon Conversion Kit For Skoda Fabia VRS 2003-06

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...:EOIBSA:GB:1123

Interesting that the picture in the ad is of an Octavia!

@OP, the link from bluvrs is from London Colour, the same company mine came from, but the ones I have - here are currently cheaper........ :p