Whilst in Czech last week I met up with a guy who has a Fabia with OEM Xenon Headlights - Nothing odd there you may think.

They weren't fitted at the factory.

The guy showed me that it is a simple case of mounting the ballasts and plugging them in - nothing else to change. The beam height is adjusted as per normal by the roller potentiometer next to the headlight switch.

Presumably there won't be any autolevelling on this though? Maybe I'm missing something here but I don't quite see the advantage of paying for OEM xenons if a non-OEM kit could be purchased and fitted for considerably less. :confused:

I wasn't saying it was a viable idea simply that it could be done.

I have answered many posts telling people that it wasn't possible due to the extra sensors required.

The chaps on UKMKIV's have been retro fitting OEM xenon lights for a while this way. Not sure how legal they are. I think the auto leveling and wash only needs to be fitted on factory options.

IIRC the law changed recently (basing this on a recent post somewhere, not 100% if it was on brisky or not).

Still, it's not a bad idea

IIRC the law changed recently (basing this on a recent post somewhere, not 100% if it was on brisky or not).

Still, it's not a bad idea

Yes, that what I had read as well, ie auto levelling is required now on all HID headlights - shame but maybe they are playing safe (I'd love to fit them to my wife's Polo 9N).

From the horses mouth, Concerning legality of aftermarket HiD kits, Hope this helps:really:

The Department cannot provide an authoritative interpretation of the law; that is a matter for the courts.

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 Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 (RVLR) 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.

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;

3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned. In practice this means:

(a) 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 (NB a headlamp originally fitted with a halogen bulb will not have ECE 98 approval so a HID bulb cannot be installed in these lamps);

( 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 cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

© 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.

Yours sincerely

Jillian Smith

DfT - Transport Technology and Standards

Ah well that's that then!!!!

I could never work out why some people ever thought that you could use the standard reflector system - I would have always expected the convertion kit to include changing to projector lens + washer + auto levelling.

The strange thing is that a lot of the "Xenons blind you", in my experience comes from people that have driven past a car with projector lens only and not necessarily HID - quite a few Puntos etc have projector lens but are fitted with filament bulbs. Anyway my Passat's factory fit HIDs are excellant - maybe the traffic police should stop these ***** that are using high wattage bulbs - now that might be a good idea?