20 hours ago, ScoutCJB said:

 

I pass about 5 cars on the way to work daily that have HID kits in reflector lights and the amount of glare they give off is shocking.   They arent road legal for good reason.  The HID kits in the projector lamps whilst again not legal for road use are no where near as bad.

 

Likewise - I encounter the same thing on my commute. Really bad recently on unlit roads with rain lashing down. Actually it might be the same cars as you - I'm also in East Yorkshire!

Edited 22 November, 20196 yr by bigjohn

13 hours ago, TonisT said:

I have read that some new cars have low power hids installed from factory.

As I have understood the mandatory self leveling and lamp washers are tied to amount of light the headlamps emit. So if they are under certain brightness, they do not need self leveling and lamp washers and can still be factory fitted hids.

Normally halogen head lamps are under that brightness level and come with no leveling or washers but some cars come from factory with low power xenons and do not need them either. 

Maybe that's why the MOT guidelines are so vague because there are factory xenons on the market that are not surpassing the brightness requirement?

Of course it is marketing BS so that sales people can say oh, this car have xenons but they are actually not on the level people expect them to be.

The Skoda Rapid has Xenons that fall under the threshold to need self levelling and washers.

 

I also *think* the threshold is 2000 lumens...

Edited 22 November, 20196 yr by PetrolDave

My new Passat has 'IQ' LED headlights, all singing, all dancing - but no washers. What gives? 🤔

 

On 06/12/2016 at 23:18, Gerrycan said:

Not so much melting the plastic as the damage it does to UV protection and they get that 'lovely' cloudy look.

I put some cheap 100watt bulbs on a Hyundai I owned (with the worst headlights I've experienced since 6 volt systems and flap indicators were in vogue) and they soon misted and required constant cleaning thereafter.

Moral is to get good quality and efficient replacements to minimise risk of damage.

I had this with a motorbike where I replaced the bulbs with higher wattage items, the silver reflectors (made of plastic) went a golden colour due to the increased heat and UV of the uprated bulbs.

@pist0nbr0ke - At a guess, it's because the output is 2000lm or below.

 

Current ECE regulations state that:

- cleaning systems are mandatory on anything above 2000lm

- levelling systems are mandatory on anything above 2000lm and all LED headlights

 

I believe some groups are trying to change the levelling requirement on lower powered (2000lm and below) LED headlights to make them cheaper to install.

3 hours ago, pist0nbr0ke said:

My new Passat has 'IQ' LED headlights, all singing, all dancing - but no washers. What gives? 🤔

 

 

If you have adaptive / matrix high beam (partial shielding) then the dipped beam can be lower powered as a proportion of the main beam can be active most of the time. It is the dipped beam strength that mandates the washers.  When I was looking at a Tiguan SEL, that was the same.

On 22/11/2019 at 10:16, pist0nbr0ke said:

My new Passat has 'IQ' LED headlights, all singing, all dancing - but no washers. What gives? 🤔

 

 

Yet my A6 has LED headlights and washers ....