Lee, we need to talk......Xenons? you mean HID lights, totally different thing, and yes a car must have headlight washers and self levelling suspension if fitted with HID lights, or it will not pass an MOT.
Now just wait for all the D/H's that say it will..............wait till your next MOT.
When I say Xenons I mean Xenons as in on a Clio 172 or 182. These have washers and can't be adjusted manually. As far as I know they have the adjuster at the rear which compensates for the load in the car to keep the lights pointing where they shound and not into the faces of other motorists.
As for HID headlamps, I was under the impressive this was the type of system used on something like a facelifted Civic Type R for example. They look similar but aren't requried to have the washers.
It's probably me getting my terminolgy wrong, as I said I don't know a great deal about this sort of thing, only that the Clio has Xenon headlamps and is required to have the washers and self leveling. This isn't a problem for me now as the Trophy has cheapo lights.
If you can shed some light on this Brian that would be good?
I guess I'm D/H number 2.
Hi Lee,
No, not counting you or Greg, The D/H,s are the ones that know its wrong and do it anyway.
The difference between HID lights and Xenon lights was the subject of a post I put up a while ago,......
Its simply the case that the commonly used words to describe these lights has become confused. Its like saying you have a Hoover when in fact its a Dyson.
HID is, High Intensity Discharge lamps. They use exactly the same technology as street lights and the bay lights in shops and sports halls.
They use a mixture of gas and metals to produce a plasma when a high current is struck across the terminals.
The gas they use is either Mercury vapour which produces a yellowish light or Sodium which produces a white light more suitable for use in a car.
Xenon bulbs are just high output lamps using Xenon gas instead of Halogen as the blue tinge achieved with Xenon gas has become fashionable as a look-alike for the HID lamps that first appeared on expensive cars but are now common on all cars as an option or top line version of some cars like the Clio.
The easiest way to tell them apart is when they switch on. Xenon come on straight away. HID flicker to life then get up to full brightness in a about 15 - 20 seconds. Thats why they are unsuitable for main beams as the don't "strike" fast enough.
Clio's that have the HID dipped beams have Xenon main beams in a separate reflector.
Some cars, like my 911 have a single HID lamp behind a lens, which produces the oblique cut off for dipped beam and has a mechanical shutter round the bulb which changes the focus on high beam and is also supplemented by a Xenon bulb in a separate reflector on high beam and H/L flash.
The reason this has become so confused is because the accessory market is swamped with Xenon lights marked HID in order to capitalise on the desire for the later.
It is perfectly legal to upgrade a cars lights provided the whole headlight assembly is changed for an e.marked equivalent, and the car is fitted with self levelling headlights and washers.
take a look at this, it explains a bit more..........hope this helps.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/videos/featuresvideos/204742/xenon_test.html
