Hi Guys,
i have purchased a HID kit from the US and was wodering if i will get tugged for them every 5 minutes? also will they cause issues regarding my MOT?
what are your experiences?
As it came from the States, it does dip to the left rather than the right I assume?
If the thing is set up for alignment to the U.K. requirements, why should there be a problem?
IVE FITTED LOADS TO ALL SORTS OF BIKES IVE GOT MEGA BRITE PURE WHITES IN MY R1 NEVER HAD ANY PROBS MATE
With HID kits you replace the bulb not the reflector, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
thanks guys, i have heard that they are illegal due to the fact below.
when a car etc comes with HID from the manufacturer the projector in the headlight is not the same as a normal halogen headlight. thus putting a HID setup into a halogen housing makes the light blury or something. bottom line is they say its not the right match …not a technical descritpion but there is a vid on you tube which explains it.
"With HID kits you replace the bulb not the reflector, so it shouldn’t be a problem."
On one of my bikes, you change the bulb (“Lamp” is the correct term) to change from left to right dipping. The other seems to be a bit complex with moving the lamp or changing it for a right dipping lamp.
On all the cars I’ve owned for the past 25 years, at least, you blank off bits of the lens to stop refraction to the left.
Never had to change a reflector to alter the dipping arrangement.
I stand by my post. I assume the lamp (bulb) dips to the left?
My bike has one, it’s got projector headlights as standard so an HID bulb fits in perfectly and the cut off line is very sharp. Made a huge difference to country lanes and motorways.
Can’t see an issue with legality, surely if we can see better at night then that’s good for our safety 
From what I understand it is illegal to put HIDs in a non-HID light.
You may be able to see better at night, but what about the oncoming vehicles?
There is nothing illegal about putting HID lamps into non HID units.
You can stick a smoldering demon in there if you like, providing the results conform to the Vehicle (Construction and Use) Regulations.
Assuming you meet the minimum requirements, these are written to give you the best driving lights available providing they don’t cause problems for other road users.
It’s all about height, cut off lines , scatter and other variables and for different lights in different weater and so on. Not just the front things, all of the other bits that light up are covered by these Regulations, including your speedometer and dash warning lights.
Put simply, it doesn’t matter what the light source is, it just has to be set to conform to rules.
My reading of this:http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps
says that only headlights specifically designed for HID are legal and conversion kits are not.
Wether that means the OP will get pulled by the Law or fail an MoT, I know not.
Not seen that one before, nor can I make sense of it.
I notice that it is the DfT “opinion” that it is not legal, so not yet tested in law.
I seem toremember the same sort of stuff about Xenon lights when they first came out. Once tested in lawthe authorities “opinions” were found to be unsound.
As I recall, I’m happy to be corrected, the case came down to the Vehicle (Construction and Use) Regs and the definition of white light.
Who wants to be the test case then?
There are too many out there for them to be made illegal. What is illegal is driving with badly adjusted headlights or a headlight that dazzles oncoming traffic, I’d guess plod would quite rightly have you for that.
That’s why I mentioned the projector headlights on my bike, I think most newer cars and bikes have them, they have a very well defined cut off line so a brighter bulb doesn’t just cause dazzle. Try a HID bulb in an old style round headlight with an H4 base and it’ll be terrible, probably dangerous.
Having ridden behind the old 7" round headlights with H4 lamps for 30 something years, “no thanks”.
Compared to modern lighting they were bloody dreadful no matter what lamp you put in them.
Test case? No thanks. The lights on my bike are better than the bikes performance just as they are.
I have the HID kit on my K5 Gixer and it passed the MOT without any problems whatsoever. As long as the beam pattern was within the guidelines set out by VOSA they said they had no issue with it.
Ripped from another site but amswers enoug of your questions…
(on way to work, no time!)
http://www.pbmagforum.com/forum13/7313.html
thanks for all your responses guys - i think im going to go for them and get them fitted.
does anyone know if on an 04 r1 if both the dipped and beam can be adjusted, ie point down lower to avoid it hitting the cars review mirrors?