Converting Headlamps for trip to France

[Martin S]

Do VW do any specific masking kits or templates for the headlamps on my 1.9S '07 Estate or is it a case of using beam benders ?

[Stevef.]

My car has beam benders on it they are clear in colour and look quite discrete they are about 2 1/4 inches 56mm in diameter, ive just left them on as it went through the last mot with them on ok:D .

[Martin S]

My car has beam benders on it they are clear in colour and look quite discrete they are about 2 1/4 inches 56mm in diameter, ive just left them on as it went through the last mot with them on ok:D .

Obtained from where ?, VW genuine or other source ?

[RickT]

You can get the beam benders from the like of Halfords for next to nothing .. ie £5..

I used them with my HID's.. iknow you shouldnt but it was ok!!

Stevef.

Why have you left them on if back in the UK?

RickT

[Stevef.]

Hi, they were on when i got the car, they are made by eurolite I left them on because i`m possibly driving to spain later in the year.:burnout:

[RickT]

but for the sake of a tenner.. do you perfer to dazzle UK motorists in the mean time??

RicKT

[Huweth]

I've never seen any beam benders which actually bend the beams. They only seem to cut off the sloping to the left in the UK which would dazzle drivers when you are driving on the right. When you have 'beam benders' fitted park your car facing a wall with the lights on. You will notice that the lighting pattern is flat, so will not dazzle drivers in the UK or abroad. It does mean that it's safe to drive with the fitted in the UK, but you are limiting the amount of light that falls onto the hedges or illuminates road signs. While you can do it, it's best to only use them when they are actually needed.

[Stevef.]

Yeah whatever Rick T.

[Eshrules]

Yeah whatever Rick T.

a bit more tact in future please mate :) this is a public forum and people are trying to help :beerchug:

[Stevef.]

The post didnt seem like help just a dig.

[Eshrules]

The post didnt seem like help just a dig.

i am sure this could have been clarified and i highly doubt Rick meant to cause personal offence

lets leave it at that and move on :beerchug:

[Stevef.]

Ok maybe I bit a little easy, sorry everybody!:o :o

[RickT]

Yeah whatever Rick T.




Originally Posted by RickT
You can get the beam benders from the like of Halfords for next to nothing .. ie £5..


In regards to these beam benders...

I purchased some for driving in France and i found after messing around with them and fitting them correctly, (took a bit of messing around) that there was an increase of light sent to the right hand side of the car where the beam normally would not illuminate.
I will be going over the channel in the next 2 months, so when i fit these again i will take some photos.

These can be purchaed from Audi for £9.99 - (or a simliar set can be purchased from Halfords, like i advised.)

Thanks

RicKT

[Ben]

I too am planning a trip to france this year and I am going to opt for a slightly more pricey soloution. using ebay locate a set of headlamp protectors, (i got some for my dads treg from a vw place in crewe) and attatch the conversion stickers to them, ask the seller to do it that way you know they are in the correct place. i find that the new in fashion clear lenses make applying these stickers tricky at the best of times. this way they can be reused as often as possible.

Ben

[Martin S]

I have just collected the proper VAG headlamp masks from my local dealer. Very good service arrived the day after and not expensive - less than £4 incl VAT.

When I got them home I realised that there were no instructions as to where to stick them. (they are two black trapeziods one slightly smaller than the other ~ marker LH & RH).

So I called the dealer and asked why no instructions and they said.

"They have to be fitted by a dealer or someone with a headlamp beam setter (MOT test station type equipment), because they set the car up on the machine and move the mask around until they acheive the right pattern"

Now this sounds like complete twaddle to me, are VW really saying that their headlamp systems are so haphazard and inconsistent that they cannot identify where to put the masks !!!

This sounds very much like collusion between the dealers and VAG to find another way of getting you into their workshops for £60/hr just because they can't be bothered to put a datum point on the headlamp glass.

So I am going to do what I should have done in the first place, point the car at the garage door tonight when it goes dark and play around with a peice of card, mark up where the mask needs to go with a crayon and then use some black gaffer tape to mask off the appropriate area.

[Fettler]

My car has a feature built in where at the slide of a lever behind each headlight the beam is re-aligned to suit continental driving.:D :D :D

[Quatrelle]

My car has a feature built in where at the slide of a lever behind each headlight the beam is re-aligned to suit continental driving.:D :D :D
Had them on my Renault back in the 60s;)

[Quatrelle]

I always used black gaffer tape when I came over here for my holidays. The thing to remember nowadays when sticking things to headlamps is that they're often not glass but plastic (polycarbonate) which can be scratched, or damaged by certain chemicals:(

[Rob Fletcher]

I travel to France about 4 times a year. in my old Passat there was a switch behind the head light, in my new passat 2.0 tdi sport 2006 this switch is not there(talk about progress) I bought head light protecters intending to stick the beam benders on and then take the protectors on and off as needed. BUT the head light protecters do not fit - I have tried three sets. In the end I bought eurolite deflectors, only about £6, and leave them on. The instructions are clear about were to put the stickers and they are hardly visable when on.

[GerryMonty]

My car has a feature built in where at the slide of a lever behind each headlight the beam is re-aligned to suit continental driving.:D :D :D

Fettler - do you have an image of this switch you could send me? I'm struggling to find if my A4 has the same feature.

:beerchug:

[devonutopia]

I had someone on my trip across Europe last year with convertors. I simply copied the pattern with two small squares of duck tape. :D Did the same job. ;)

[Fettler]

Fettler - do you have an image of this switch you could send me? I'm struggling to find if my A4 has the same feature.

:beerchug:
Will look in handbook tomoz, if there will post pic
;)