Bi-Xenon Headlamp Adjustment

[garrad]

Hi All,

I've got a Passat B6 with Bi-Xenon headlamps which feature the dynamic corner lighting (they swivel as the steering turns!). I'm off to France in a week and with good time (I thought) I phoned all the dealers for a price to adjust them.

One dealer said to go to Halfords for a mask kit, one dealer would sell me a special mask kit and one said they could make an "adjustment". Having read all the other threads on here I opted to take it to the dealer offering to adjust them however when I arrived the technician said he'd neved seen such complicated lights and he didn't know how to adjust them.

I left the car and phoned VW customer service who, armed with my chassis number, insisted that I would need a special mask and that the dealer had access ot the same computer and would draw the same conclusion.

I've now picked up the car and have an invoice which states "Adjusted headlamps to drive abroad" and there is no mask on the lights.

A quick trip in the dark seems to indicate that the lights aren't bending any more butI have no way to know what they have done or if it is legal.

Has anyone any experience of having their lights modified for use in Europe and can you tell me exactley what was done?

Many thanks for your help

Garrad

[james_tiger_woo]

Have you contacted the dealer for a specific breakdown as to what they've done? More importantly, is it reversible?

[gamichea]

Some years ago it emerged that temporarily adjusting Golf mk.4 Xenons for europe was expensive, requiring some dismantling of the front of the car before and after the trip at a cost of up to £150 each time. That put me off Xenons big time.

A pair of one time masks for standard B6 headlamps cost £16 two years ago. The only use they've been put too is to make cardboard templates from which I make inexpensive one time copies from my stocks of old Lucas sticky masking material

[garrad]

Have you contacted the dealer for a specific breakdown as to what they've done? More importantly, is it reversible?

Yes - I did manage to get to speak to the technician yesterday and he said the headlamp range setting in the computer has been set to LHD, again I was told that these lights are new and complicated! He couldn't tell me if the LHD setting made them dip to the right or if it stopped them dipping totally.

The car is booked into the dealer for the lights to be reversed when I get back from France - both operations are FOC as I also had the service done on Tuesday.

As I'd still like to find out if the lights are legal for France (and the UK for that matter) I have purchased a workshop manual from ebay (there was a link on this forum recently) and I have emailed Ross-Tech to see if they think VAGCOM will set the lights.

Finally Honest John has asked VW if they can clarify the situation as I'm worried that there is no clear information on this.

Thanks for your replies, I'll update the post when I get any more info!

[Quatrelle]

Can't see why the lights should not now be turning with the steering, or do they think that all the roads in France are straight.

Without wishing to sound flippant, 10 mins with some black electrical tape would be my answer. I toured France many times before I moved here and it was always enough.

Because cars in France are only mot'd once they are four years old and then only every two years, badly adjusted lights are commonplace.

[garrad]

Hi Quatrelle,

I think there are rules banning active cornering lamps in France (which is strange as I through many early Citroens came with them) but the passive ones are OK and still seem to be enabled.

My concern about the black tape idea is that with the autolevelling lamps the light pattern is never going to fire through the same part of the lens - we'll travel fully loaded and then unload and tour round nearly empty. I also read recently that the lens in the HID lamps produces a beam that inverts a short way in front of the car so I'm waiting for a foggy day to look at the beam pattern.

Cheers

garrad

[Quatrelle]

Hi Garrad

As you say, many Citroens had cornering lights, and the new C5 has "Projecteurs directionnels xénon bi-fonction - comprend les feux d'angle", which with my limited knowledge of French brochure-speak suggests lights that corner with you. I would also have thought that any such ban would be EU-wide (not that such things seem to bother the French that much).

The point I was trying to make is - are you worrying too much? I appreciate your desire to be a responsible driver, but small differences in the direction of your beams, coupled with the amount of driving you are likely to do at night really wouldn't concern me much, and I like to feel that I am a responsible driver....I appreciate also of course that I have no idea of how much night driving you are likely to be doing!

Anyway, have a good holiday.

Best wishes

John