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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

HID after market headlamp conversions on MKIV's not legal?


Chris Wilson

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I have been asked by some MKIV Supra owners and a few Skyline and other car owners to try and adjust after market HID headlamp conversions to stop people in other cars "flashing" them through dazzle. I have often wondered the legality of these bulb conversions, and been dazzled myself by suspect headlamps on older cars. Here is the legal stance on them:

 

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps

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Surely the Facelifts would be even closer to legal due to no reflection from the insert?

 

I have them and i haven't once been flashed (by lights, i have been shown various bodyparts though). They are really bright but i'm pretty sure i have them set a little lower than they need to be just to be safe.

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... Here is the legal stance on them:

 

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps

 

I'm no lawyer but, IMO, that statement is not 'law' (it starts by saying it's the DoT's view). Therefore, until a precedent is set (for example by a 'test case' - where somebody who has been stopped by the police and charged for having HID conversion bulbs fitted - has been heard by a court and judged) this is still a gray area.

 

Remember how 'speed camera (radar) detectors' were once considered to be illegal?

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I have the 4300k HIDs on my J-spec, but they are UK glass lights with the matt black inserts done by gzaerojon, and I haven't had any issues whatsoever.

 

I've even had them adjusted at the MOT to full legal height, and no issues there either. :)

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Some of the newer BMW's have servo controlled headlamp levelling via a pot on the front struts sending a front ride height signal to a headlamp ecu. Such were the problems with lamp oscillation (the dithering the lights seem to make as they adjust) that there were many software upgrades. To me the whole thing seems very complicated!

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In Denmark the law says a max of 4300K, and that you need auto leveling lights as well as washers. The last is needed to make sure the light doesn't scatter.

May UK's more or less the same?

But again it is quite easy to switch between the two, right? I always carry my stock bulbs in the car.

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