HID'S

anybody fitted hid's to there mk1, i was thinking about fitting these off ebay. what are your thoughts

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XENON-HID-Headlight-Conversion-Kit-H4-VW-GOLF-MK1-MK2-/200637329103?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2eb6eaaecf

Aren't they illegal, MoT failure etc?

They look to modern on an old car.

I have them on mine, the difference is like night an day (excuse the pun), but unfortuately they are now a MOT failure, as they are not self levelling or have washers.  So will have to come back out come MOT time

Do it. Also LED side lights. easy to take out for mot  

LED side compared to normal:


With 8k HID at night:


HID with Led side lights in the daytime!!:




Ive not leveled these up yet but i wil do. Really easy to change over for mot. Just disconnect the Hid and pop in normal bulbs. same with sides.

Led sides won't fail a mot and hids will only fail if your mot tester spots them or even knows what he's looking for.
My merc sprinter just passed with 12k hids in the main beam and 10k in the dipped. The tester said, "the lights worked so they passed. What are hids?". He does all my mots.

how do you find your beam patern though?

So they're good for you because you can see better, but as a result you blind the crap out of everyone driving towards you?!  :roll:

There's a good reason why you only really see HID's on boy racered cars.   

Don't know about beam pattern yet as only just fitted them. Will have to get them set up right when it's on the road.

I won't be blinding people thank you very much! :-)

 I'm not a boy racer……completely the opposite in fact.  Hence me needing bright lights for my poor ageing eyesight. Lol

caddymandean said

 I'm not a boy racer……completely the opposite in fact.  Hence me needing bright lights for my poor ageing eyesight. Lol

   Trust me, it bloody hurts my eyes when I see HIDs heading towards me on an unlit country road. There's been many a time I've had to slow right down because I can't see where I am going because of the oncoming cars HIDs.

You might think I can see so who cares, but it wouldn't take much for a blinded driver to cross the white line into your path due to loss of visibilty.

Each to their own, but my objection isn't based on taste or personal preference but is based on consideration for other road users.

 :angel:  

I may be wrong but i dont think they can be set up correctly.

They do however blind the hell out of ALL oncoming traffic.

Ask you self why they have been made an MOT fail……

Dazzling beyond words when coming towards you.  I run an MOT station and while I am not a tester when we had them last year, you could never get a beam pattern, just a splatter of bright light… Hence they are now non MOT compliant!!

Kerbside-Timbo said

Led sides won't fail a mot and hids will only fail if your mot tester spots them or even knows what he's looking for.
My merc sprinter just passed with 12k hids in the main beam and 10k in the dipped. The tester said, "the lights worked so they passed. What are hids?". He does all my mots.

I can't believe an MoT tester doesn't know what HID lights are. Even if that's the case, he probably will now, seeing as the 2012 MoT has been updated and they get info sent to them in plenty of time on the updates, etc. The test on headlights is somewhat more sophisticated than "they work so they passed"!

paul_c said

Kerbside-Timbo said

Led sides won't fail a mot and hids will only fail if your mot tester spots them or even knows what he's looking for.
My merc sprinter just passed with 12k hids in the main beam and 10k in the dipped. The tester said, "the lights worked so they passed. What are hids?". He does all my mots.

I can't believe an MoT tester doesn't know what HID lights are. Even if that's the case, he probably will now, seeing as the 2012 MoT has been updated and they get info sent to them in plenty of time on the updates, etc. The test on headlights is somewhat more sophisticated than "they work so they passed"!

I know the tester was wrong, this was just my experience. My lights make my ability to drive at night a much safer one and I can honestly say I never get flashed by oncoming drivers, nor do people vere across the road into my dazzling lights.

The new mot test says that if HIDs are fitted then washers and auto levelling devices must be fitted. So I reckon most will just switch back to bulbs for the test.
I still think that you can get just as good an output with a conventional setup as long as the bulbs are fed off the battery via a loom upgrade, the headlight reflectors are in good order and you choose some decent bulbs. I use some 100/130 Watt ones in my tin top (1983 so it is still legal), in the mrs cabby we use some high brightness ones from Halfords.

The lights on a Mk1 are a bit marginal but I don't believe HIDs are the solution, yes they're great but to be a legal install, needs the levelling & headlamp wash so it becomes a more involved/expensive install. I never drive my Mk1 much at night so I just got on with the standard headlamps.

Eat a few more carrots, that should help things!

theres defo some passionate feelings here about using Hid's!

I certainly wouldnt want to be an "inconsiderate" road user and blind people. I have been running a mk3 vr6 with hid's on for 6-7months and i bought it off a mate who ran them for well over year. They definately do not dazzle oncoming traffic at night. I know this as ive seen this car coming towrds me many many times when my mate had it.

If I really cant get a decent beam pattern and it does dazzle people I will just go for the loom upgrade option. But im gonna give it a go first.  

and considering most new cars come with the manual headlight adjustment in them which it seems 98% of van and 4x4 drivers havent got a clue how to use them…..you get blinded by others whether they got hid's or not!     

Shame no one does a self leveling xenon kit for the mk1. I got a spare xenon kit for my gf polo gti in the garage…….anyone know if you can take them apart?

HID's really need a clear lense, with the pattern in the reflector. old mk1 lamps just scatter the light everywhere.

sorry all but since nearly all new cars and van use HID, ive switched too. im sick of not beeing able to see where im going as i live in a rural area. ive been very careful to use a lower temp kit with clear lenses and they have been properly adjusted. they are no more dazzleing than any other modern car head lamps. best upgrade ive done, and wont be going back.

as from the 1st of april the mot is being tightened although lots wont affect the mk1 a few will (hids being one) http://uk.autoblog.com/2012/01/04/changes-to-mot-rules-in-2012-are-you-ready/