swap the RHD headlight ??

hi, everyone, i am new in here

I have a question about the headlight, i am trying get a UK spec headlight (RHD) to swap with my original EU spec HID headlight(LHD). Is it jsut plug and play? Is there is any problem with it?

if there is anyone done the same swap! let me know your suggestion!

thank you so much

Hi Grilchia, it will be a straight plug and play swap, so long as you replace it with 'like for like'. For example, you say your current lights are EU HID, so you would have to replace it with UK HID. If your car has HID AFS (adaptive) lights, the replacements would have to be AFS also. One thing I will say however is that if you fit RHD lights to a LHD car, it is very unlikely that your lights would pass your country's vehicle test regulations. The user manual for our cars states that the lights are suitable for use on either side of the road, but they are still biased for either RHD (lights dip to the left) or LHD (lights dip to the right). I have LHD Black Edition AFS lights on my RHD car and although I have never once had an oncoming driver flash his or her lights at me, I will have to swap my lights back to the original RHD items before my car's first MOT test (UK Ministry of Transport annual test for vehicles over 3 years of age), otherwise it will fail. I believe this will be the case regardless of global region.

I would ideally suggest that you try and source some LHD black edition HID lights from Dan at Duckworths (site sponsor), as the light distribution when using lights meant for the other side of the road is not very good. If you do a lot of night time driving, I would say it is essential. I very rarely drive at night, so the fact that my LHD lights do not light up the verge side of the road too well doesn't bother me too much, but if I was to do lots of night driving I would definitely want to change back to my RHD lights. I will also answer your email now, but I hope this helps in the meantime. Best regards, Paula xx

I thought the nature of the beam from the projectors meant that there was no 'RHD' vs 'LHD' lights - that they were effectively universal?
I haven't paid to much attention so am probably wrong, but thought the beam pattern was basically a straight line rather than having a kick to the nearside?

(27-02-2014 12:01pm)RacingSnake Wrote:  I thought the nature of the beam from the projectors meant that there was no 'RHD' vs 'LHD' lights - that they were effectively universal?
I haven't paid to much attention so am probably wrong, but thought the beam pattern was basically a straight line rather than having a kick to the nearside?

Both halogen and xenon beam patterns have a slight elevation to the left for RHD or to the right for LHD. I believe this is road sign illumination.

Attached picture shows:

Top: xenon projector (LHD)
Middle: halogen projector (LHD)
Bottom: halogen projector (RHD)

Wow, huge difference for Halogens (as I would expect in any other car) - I know with mine (xenons), I just do not see a huge difference - and this was another reason for no adjustment needed when travelling abroad due to the universal nature of the lights.

(27-02-2014 09:23am)dynamicgirl Wrote:  Hi Grilchia, it will be a straight plug and play swap, so long as you replace it with 'like for like'. For example, you say your current lights are EU HID, so you would have to replace it with UK HID. If your car has HID AFS (adaptive) lights, the replacements would have to be AFS also. One thing I will say however is that if you fit RHD lights to a LHD car, it is very unlikely that your lights would pass your country's vehicle test regulations. The user manual for our cars states that the lights are suitable for use on either side of the road, but they are still biased for either RHD (lights dip to the left) or LHD (lights dip to the right). I have LHD Black Edition AFS lights on my RHD car and although I have never once had an oncoming driver flash his or her lights at me, I will have to swap my lights back to the original RHD items before my car's first MOT test (UK Ministry of Transport annual test for vehicles over 3 years of age), otherwise it will fail. I believe this will be the case regardless of global region.

I would ideally suggest that you try and source some LHD black edition HID lights from Dan at Duckworths (site sponsor), as the light distribution when using lights meant for the other side of the road is not very good. If you do a lot of night time driving, I would say it is essential. I very rarely drive at night, so the fact that my LHD lights do not light up the verge side of the road too well doesn't bother me too much, but if I was to do lots of night driving I would definitely want to change back to my RHD lights. I will also answer your email now, but I hope this helps in the meantime. Best regards, Paula xx

thank you so much for your help. I might try to find if there is a LHD lights for me!

---

(27-02-2014 12:38pm)funguf Wrote:  Both halogen and xenon beam patterns have a slight elevation to the left for RHD or to the right for LHD. I believe this is road sign illumination.

Attached picture shows:

Top: xenon projector (LHD)
Middle: halogen projector (LHD)
Bottom: halogen projector (RHD)

thank you for your helpful infomation!
I think mine is Xenon and it might not be make huge different!

---

(27-02-2014 01:09pm)RacingSnake Wrote:  Wow, huge difference for Halogens (as I would expect in any other car) - I know with mine (xenons), I just do not see a huge difference - and this was another reason for no adjustment needed when travelling abroad due to the universal nature of the lights.

same as mine(xenons), according to the image, i did not see a huge difference. By the way, thank you all for helping me. After i finish my mod project, i will let you know the outcome.