I don't understand the desire to darken any lights. Why try to hide from someone who is not paying enough attention? It will end in tears.

At least those that add stuff to the outside of their cars allow us to make an assessment and adjust our space accordingly. Occasionally I find one driving well!

My Mother used to say that the size of the large exhaust tailpipe represented the size of the hole between the ears of the driver. Sadly often apparently true.

You should see it over here Portland - in the sunlight we get, you just cannot see the brake or indicator lights of these 'mentally deluded' people. But, you are quite correct, just by looking at the vehicle and it's 'cool' 'additions' a driver can make a very imformed and usually very accurate decision as to the abilities of the driver of said vehicle (or what once was a vehicle). Then you can get well out of their way.
I think when you 'find one driving well' it will most likely be their mother / guardian or nanny

portland_bill said:

My Mother used to say that the size of the large exhaust tailpipe represented the size of the hole between the ears of the driver. Sadly often apparently true.

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Just remembered another of her gems.
"Fog lights in daylight represent fog between the ears"

They are annoying granted but in the big scheme of things pretty minor.

portland_bill said:

I don't understand the desire to darken any lights. Why try to hide from someone who is not paying enough attention? It will end in tears.

At least those that add stuff to the outside of their cars allow us to make an assessment and adjust our space accordingly. Occasionally I find one driving well!

My Mother used to say that the size of the large exhaust tailpipe represented the size of the hole between the ears of the driver. Sadly often apparently true.

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I hope my mind never becomes that narrow.

I thought that HID's have to have a headlight cleaning system and be either self levelling or the car have self levelling suspension to be legal?? I know every car I have owned or seen with factory HID's has these.

griff74 said:

I thought that HID's have to have a headlight cleaning system and be either self levelling or the car have self levelling suspension to be legal?? I know every car I have owned or seen with factory HID's has these.

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That is I understand it too. When the manufacturer's first proposed these, EU legislators were rightly concerned about dazzle, so included the above restrictions. Aftermarket HIDs are therefore not legal unless they also include the above. I would doubt the validity of the E marking, unless it only refers to the lamp meeting the regs, not the installation.

portland_bill said:

That is I understand it too. When the manufacturer's first proposed these, EU legislators were rightly concerned about dazzle, so included the above restrictions. Aftermarket HIDs are therefore not legal unless they also include the above. I would doubt the validity of the E marking, unless it only refers to the lamp meeting the regs, not the installation.

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lol - I think most of the 'drivers' - to use the term loosely - are not 'legal' either... - by a long way...

If the car does not have auto levelling and headlight washers your hids are not legal, so everyone posting theirs are just as illegal as mine

captainslarty said:

lol - I think most of the 'drivers' - to use the term loosely - are not 'legal' either... - by a long way...

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Certainly a few sweeping generalisations in this thread today.

griff74 said:

I thought that HID's have to have a headlight cleaning system and be either self levelling or the car have self levelling suspension to be legal?? I know every car I have owned or seen with factory HID's has these.

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Correct

MattCTA said:

If the car does not have auto levelling and headlight washers your hids are not legal, so everyone posting theirs are just as illegal as mine

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Mine have those though :slayer:

Demi said:

If it has ballasts then it is an illegal mod. It has to have a correct projector lens to correctly direct the beam because the stock reflector will just scatter it and blind every one ahead.

I did my research and bought RHD HID projector lens kit that came with wiring, bulbs and ballasts.... and most importantly is legal.

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I don't want to get into the technicalities of the rights and wrongs of HID kits or legalities but I must say these lights look really good. And if they don't fog/mist up, does a everything the standard headlamp does then I am very impressed. No bodge job here. Great stuff ?

GunMetalPo said:

I don't want to get into the technicalities of the rights and wrongs of HID kits or legalities but I must say these lights look really good. And if they don't fog/mist up, does a everything the standard headlamp does then I am very impressed. No bodge job here. Great stuff ?

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there were fogging up, had to open them up, take old sealant off, clean and use new seal. They misted up a bit again but due to having warm air trapped after oven baking . So I took it to my mates garage and used air line to blow moisture out. Now they OK.

So Demi, do your lights have a cleaning system?

Rooflessdriver said:

So Demi, do your lights have a cleaning system?

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Rain and a rag...

captainslarty said:

Rain and a rag...

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Hmm. Sure that wouldn't pass an MOT!

Rooflessdriver said:

So Demi, do your lights have a cleaning system?

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Was this not a new MOT requirement a few years back. What was a situation with cars built by manufactures with HID but not cleaning system ??

GunMetalPo said:

Was this not a new MOT requirement a few years back. What was a situation with cars built by manufactures with HID but not cleaning system ??

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That's why I asked, as someone else mentioned it & I thought HID had to be self levelling and cleaning, but I don't see any washer jets on Demi's pic.

So the projector lenses he has maybe legal as he says but without the other bits...

Rooflessdriver said:

That's why I asked, as someone else mentioned it & I thought HID had to be self levelling and cleaning, but I don't see any washer jets on Demi's pic.

So the projector lenses he has maybe legal as he says but without the other bits...

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I concur, also with the lens tinting, I do not believe the flyeye stuff is legal either. It is a grey area - parden the pun....

Its like clocking your car, that is perfectly legal !.. it only becomes illegal if one tries to pass it on as the true mileage. As Matt said earlier, a lot will get pulled and done when they blind a cop with illegal hids or pull up in front of him with a barely visible or non visible indicator or brake light. FLyeye website seem to have trouble displaying there 'legality' info ...
There are lots of things that are illegal but tolerated, then they get jumped on - letter spacing with personal reg plates - I had C11 OGT on my 172 Turbo - as CLIO GT , this - at hte time, was tolerated by the cops but technically wrong.. now it is really jumped on depending where you are... the trouble with lights though, is, as has been pointed out, the danger to other road users.. apart from that I dont really care what they do..
I would ban black wheels lol, - but that might be going tooooo far .

captainslarty said:

I concur, also with the lens tinting, I do not believe the flyeye stuff is legal either. It is a grey area - parden the pun....

Its like clocking your car, that is perfectly legal !.. it only becomes illegal if one tries to pass it on as the true mileage. As Matt said earlier, a lot will get pulled and done when they blind a cop with illegal hids or pull up in front of him with a barely visible or non visible indicator or brake light. FLyeye website seem to have trouble displaying there 'legality' info ...
There are lots of things that are illegal but tolerated, then they get jumped on - letter spacing with personal reg plates - I had C11 OGT on my 172 Turbo - as CLIO GT , this - at hte time, was tolerated by the cops but technically wrong.. now it is really jumped on depending where you are... the trouble with lights though, is, as has been pointed out, the danger to other road users.. apart from that I dont really care what they do..
I would ban black wheels lol, - but that might be going tooooo far .

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Why?..

And to be honest i'd rather the police spent their expensive and precious time pulling up drivers with no insurance /bald tyres /no mot etc ... in other words things that actually are dangerous and take money from your pocket, like I said earlier HID's are annoying but that's about it as far as i'm concerned.