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Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

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Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby motorhomer2018 » Sun Dec 08, 2019 12:31 pm

Morning all.

I have a 2018 mk8.

Can anyone point me in the correct direction on how to temporarily alter my headlights so I can drive legally in France.

Thanks
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby ME » Sun Dec 08, 2019 4:48 pm

Beam deflectors are the only way.
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby ned » Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:06 pm

Just blind the french :lol: :lol:
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby motorhomer2018 » Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:41 pm

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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby ME » Sun Dec 08, 2019 6:44 pm

motorhomer2018 wrote:Thanks

I'll order some of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eurolites-He ... V997y#rwid



That's the ones.
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby ME » Sun Dec 08, 2019 6:46 pm

ned wrote:Just blind the french :lol: :lol:




Strange thing is when the Europeans come over here they don't bother with beam deflectors, but it's law for us to have them when we go over there :? I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble for not having them though.
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby motorhomer2018 » Mon Dec 09, 2019 6:42 pm

Might not get it into trouble.

But if you were going round a left hand bend at night and a French driver crashed into you they could argue that they were dazzled by my incorrect headlights
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby ned » Mon Dec 09, 2019 6:44 pm

motorhomer2018 wrote:Might not get it into trouble.

But if you were going round a left hand bend at night and a French driver crashed into you they could argue that they were dazzled by my incorrect headlights


If that happens offer the Frenchman some wine then when the Garda turn up you can tell them he's drunk :lol: :lol: or just slap the Frenchman :wink:
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby DynamicAV » Thu Dec 12, 2019 1:08 pm

So far I haven't found a way to change the beam even with deflectors, ive had the van in front of a MOT beam thingy and we couldn't stick deflectors anywhere that made any sense.

A phone call to the local service / parts department and all they could suggest was changing the unit to a LHD unit........not helpful.

Currently i just lower the beam a bit and put up with the odd person flashing
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby motorhomer2018 » Thu Dec 12, 2019 8:33 pm

That's interesting

Thanks for the heads up.
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby ME » Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:12 am

DynamicAV wrote:So far I haven't found a way to change the beam even with deflectors, ive had the van in front of a MOT beam thingy and we couldn't stick deflectors anywhere that made any sense.

A phone call to the local service / parts department and all they could suggest was changing the unit to a LHD unit........not helpful.

Currently i just lower the beam a bit and put up with the odd person flashing



Maybe not helpful, but true. You can not change a rhd headlamp to a lhd headlamp. They are a totally different animal, all you can do is deflect the beam from going to the n/s.
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby Frag » Sun Dec 15, 2019 7:45 pm

In the lighting section of ETIS,there are template details to mask headlamps,using opaque black adhesive tape. (these are for a RHD van,there are also templates for LHD)
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby Mike » Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:46 pm

motorhomer2018 wrote:
But if you were going round a left hand bend at night and a French driver crashed into you they could argue that they were dazzled by my incorrect headlights

Do you often follow him around?
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby straydog » Mon Dec 16, 2019 9:28 am

My Mk7 is a UK van that's now French regestered.
I don't beleive beem deflectors are a legal requirement, but driving with correctly adjusted headlights is.
So you can get away with deflectors, or turning the adjuster right down might work.
I drove mine for almost a year without deflectors, without problems.
But didn't drive in the dark so wasn't an issue.
If you get stopped for headlights by the Gendarmes expect an on the spot fine.
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Re: Altering RHD headlights to drive in Europe.

Postby bambi mk 1 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:28 am

ned wrote:
motorhomer2018 wrote:Might not get it into trouble.

But if you were going round a left hand bend at night and a French driver crashed into you they could argue that they were dazzled by my incorrect headlights


If that happens offer the Frenchman some wine then when the Garda turn up you can tell them he's drunk :lol: :lol: or just slap the Frenchman :wink:

Ned you will be in some trouble if you get pulled by the Garda in France ,all you can plead is Insanity :lol:
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