Big Car Club - MPV and SUV Forums

I just want to start by saying that I understand these kits are illegal and that it will possibly fail an mot. I also understand that self levelling headlights with headlight washers are necessary for hid's Please don't flame me for what I have done. :-\

I went up the a7 in Scotland last weekend in the sharan in the pitch black, I realised then what a load of cr@p the dipped headlights are.

I started my research for a pair of halogen bulbs and was going to buy the philips xtreme bulbs to shed a bit of light. That was until I stumbled across the plug and play hid kits.  I did a bit of digging and found a kit from hids4u that have the kit but with the bulb shielded so doesn't glare other drivers.

Well I have installed the kits tonight and blimey, I can now see in the dark. :) The beam pattern is perfect just like the halogens and with no glare whatsoever.  Very pleased. No bulb failure alarm as well.  The ballasts installed inside the headlight itself so you cannot tell hids have been installed by looking under the bonnet. Its also very hard to tell by looking at the headlight as well.

I may swap them back to halogens for the mot, but may also leave them in to see if it passes as I have read a few people with these particular kits sailing through the mot.

I went for their lowest k rating of bulbs which are 5000k to keep it as white as possible without turning blue. Oem are 4300k. Hids4u reckon that their 5000k bulbs are practically the same as oem.

Anyway, I thought I would share my experience.   ;)

I'll be very blunt here - if you want hid's, get a car with factory hid's there are many good reasons why these kits are illegal and why levelling is required.

These add on junk kits do nothing but blind and dazzle other road users, shielded or not. I'm not trying to be rude here but you aren't the one facing them coming the other way. Installing them is just plain ignorant to other road users.

Finally just to point out your insurance is now void, there was a case on the golf forums last year where he'd had a collision in the day, the hid kit was found, the insurance was voided and he got a Ã,£2800 fine, 6 points and a 12 month ban.

It wasn't enough in my opinion... you can probably tell these are a pet hate of mine and I'm sorry this will come across so negative, I just think you should reconsider installing them...

... On the plus side at least you can see why I like my factory xenon's so much.  ;D

i bought a passat with an aftermarket kit the lights were brill but I got stopped by the police and given a vehicle defect notice. its not worth it these days and mirex is right they do blind others

Came across this on another site, http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html makes interesting reading if contemplating fitting xenon upgrade kit

Think I will go back to carbide lamps
after reading that lot ;D

Tony