MoT Headlamp Beam Deflector question

maz

maz

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This is actually for the car rather than the van but the principle is the same. As we now spend more time in continental Europe than the UK, the car (RHD) has headlamp beam deflectors stuck on (now quite firmly). As they are going to be a pain to remove (and we don’t really want to), will this be an issue in getting an MoT? Does anyone know, please?
 
My car was MOTd by a previous owner with them on, as it appears as a comment on the test result - so certainly a few years back it was OK. I'd ask the MOT station you're using. A lot is still down to the tester I find (Amongst other vehicles I have a kit car, which always throws up odd queries at MOT time!)
 
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As long as the beams are fairly flat should be OK.
Problem is with the defectors is they are only designed to be left on for a few weeks at most. Any longer and the adhesive migrates into the plastic and does permanent damage.
 
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Lenny HB said:
Problem is with the defectors is they are only designed to be left on for a few weeks at most. Any longer and the adhesive migrates into the plastic and does permanent damage.
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Yes. The deflectors have been on for 9 months now so we really don’t want to try and remove them.
 
Best to remove the adhesive with a dab of windscreen liquid got all my off even thou they were on for a long time
 
I have a set but dont fit them. If anyone insisted I could stick them on. Has anyone ever seen any euro vehicle over here with beam deflectors?
 
I had a Rhd vw fitted with left hand drive headlamps .
Both had beam deflectors .
Passed every mot for 10 years.
Occasionally they would comment on them and every so often put an advisory down stating lhd lights fitted.
 
dazandandrea said:
I had a Rhd vw fitted with left hand drive headlamps .
Both had beam deflectors .
Passed every mot for 10 years.
Occasionally they would comment on them and every so often put an advisory down stating lhd lights fitted.
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That is the other way round though, I think, as your beam deflectors were to bring it in line with UK requirements so there shouldn’t be any problem with the MoT. Our car has beam deflectors to make it fit European requirements.

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Reallyretired said:
I have a set but dont fit them. If anyone insisted I could stick them on. Has anyone ever seen any euro vehicle over here with beam deflectors?
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Uk lights dip down & to the left, whereas lh drive vehicles dip down & that is it.therefore they do not need them.
 
maz said:
This is actually for the car rather than the van but the principle is the same. As we now spend more time in continental Europe than the UK, the car (RHD) has headlamp beam deflectors stuck on (now quite firmly). As they are going to be a pain to remove (and we don’t really want to), will this be an issue in getting an MoT? Does anyone know, please?
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I had them on the van. They’d been on for years and when I actually managed to shift them, the adhesive has burnt a hole in the lenses ☹️

I never had an issue with the MOT while they were fitted, if they weren’t legal, we wouldn’t be allowed to use them.
 
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The posh way to do it.
My mh is on a transit and the headlight unit is easily removed. Just two screws and a plug. You can buy a set of second hand
LHD headlights on ebay for about £30 and just swap them over as required.
Just make sure the correct set is on for the MOT.
 
Reallyretired said:
The posh way to do it.
My mh is on a transit and the headlight unit is easily removed. Just two screws and a plug. You can buy a set of second hand
LHD headlights on ebay for about £30 and just swap them over as required.
Just make sure the correct set is on for the MOT.
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Before we stuck the beam deflectors on, we looked into getting headlamp protectors for the car but they don’t do them. On the previous van we had this set up and just removed the protectors for the MoT. Current van has adjustable headlamps so not an issue.

We have also looked into replacement headlamps for the car, but unfortunately secondhand units are close to £100 each.

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I’ve a LHD MH with LHD lights. I bought (from a breakers) a complete set of RHD lights which I swap over (10 min job) for the MOT.

The old boy I used for years as a tester has sadly died now and ‘the test’ is becoming ever more ‘computer says no’ as opposed to tester discretion. I’d say you may struggle.
 
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gus-lopez said:
Uk lights dip down & to the left, whereas lh drive vehicles dip down & that is it.therefore they do not need them.
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They did in the 60's but in the real world UK ones kick up to the left to help illuminated pedestrians & LHD ones kick up to the right.
 
Thanks to everyone for your input. We’ve used a few MoT stations over the years as we’ve moved about a lot while fulltiming. I have just phoned one of the smaller ones (in fact, a one-man band) and he said he has no problem with the beam deflectors. So that is a relief. :Smile:
 
gus-lopez said:
Uk lights dip down & to the left, whereas lh drive vehicles dip down & that is it.therefore they do not need them.
Click to expand...
hi- i have been refused an mot approval- because "headlamp :dipping in the wrong direction".
my van is 1989 mercedes hymer s555,with lhd headlights.
it passed mot for many years as is.
this is the first mot in northern ireland and when i saw your post i did wonder if all left hand headlights just dipped down?
 
Our beam deflectors (lhd) were installed by the MOT people. They set them up on their light machine so ours are ideally placed. They told us to just leave them on all the time as it would be acceptable on all roads, even in europe.

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I had lhd lights fitted on my 1984 vw T25. Had beam deflectors and never had any issues with MOT.
 
Our LHD van just passed it's 3rd MOT with flat beam headlights, adjusted to UK setting, by moving the switch for this purpose, located in the back of Hymer headlights.
I was a bit anxious because we used a different MOT station this time, but all was fine and no comments were passed.🙂
 
Reallyretired said:
I have a set but dont fit them. If anyone insisted I could stick them on. Has anyone ever seen any euro vehicle over here with beam deflectors?
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The euro vehicles don't dip the same as UK thay dip flat uk vehicles dip to the left therfor it is not a requirement to put deflectors on euro lights
Bill
 
Wildbill said:
The euro vehicles don't dip the same as UK thay dip flat uk vehicles dip to the left therfor it is not a requirement to put deflectors on euro lights
Bill
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Sorry - wildbill, i do not understand , are you saying that my 1989 hymer with left hand headlights - dips flat and therefore it does not need beam deflectors?
 
glastry said:
Sorry - wildbill, i do not understand , are you saying that my 1989 hymer with left hand headlights - dips flat and therefore it does not need beam deflectors?
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Yes

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