Hid conversion kit?

[RK1975]

Hello everyone.  Has anyone got experience of getting a HID conversion kit put in to their car or any advice?  I have a 63 plate CT200h advance which I've had for nearly 4 years. I'm mostly happy with it but I am struggling being able to see roads at night clearly.  I have been to my optician and my vision is fine.  She suggested it maybe being blinded by cars with bright lights that aren't adjusted properly (a bugbear of mine).  I've also tried night vision glasses which don't help.  So I'm thinking, if you can't beat em, join em! Thanks in anticipation.

[holiday]

Rather than doing that. You can try fitting Toyota optilights to make it brighter. I hope this helps. Or you can try to wash the lights with soap and water or Colgate toothpaste and electric toothbrush to scrub it in

[NemesisUK]

43 minutes ago, RK1975 said:

a HID conversion kit

Illegal for on road use and an MoT failure in the UK.

If you lights are poor try fitting upgraded halogen lamps such as the Nightbreaker from Osram

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, RK1975 said:

Hello everyone.  Has anyone got experience of getting a HID conversion kit put in to their car or any advice?  I have a 63 plate CT200h advance which I've had for nearly 4 years. I'm mostly happy with it but I am struggling being able to see roads at night clearly.  I have been to my optician and my vision is fine.  She suggested it maybe being blinded by cars with bright lights that aren't adjusted properly (a bugbear of mine).  I've also tried night vision glasses which don't help.  So I'm thinking, if you can't beat em, join em! Thanks in anticipation.

I do not think that you can legally fit aftermarket HID kits Ray.

[LenT]

1 hour ago, NemesisUK said:

Illegal for on road use and an MoT failure in the UK.

If you lights are poor try fitting upgraded halogen lamps such as the Nightbreaker from Osram

Good advice.  I replaced my main/dip with a pair of Osram Next Generation Laser Xenarc (!), D4S in my case, and am very impressed with the results.  Range is certainly improved, but even more impressive is the superior dip beam that gives far better illumination of the verges of our narrow, pot holed country lanes.

 

[Herbie]

Just to put a bit of flesh on the bones of what Peter said above, the MOT Inspection Manual states that the light source and lamp unit must be compatable. In other words, if the headlamp fitting/unit/housing/whatever you want to call it is designed to take a halogen bulb, then it has to be halogen or it fails; if it's designed for Xenon and it has anything other than Xenon in there, it fails.

[Barry14UK]

There was a time when you could get away with this and a good many did and found the lights improved for them.  However, with the wrong reflector for HIDs this results in a less tight beam and more scatter, much to the annoyance of oncoming drivers so more recent lighting regs ruled against this so an MOT failure.  I found the halogen lights on my 5 series BMW appalling but retrofitted BMW Xenons which was an option.  My car already had wash wipe and I got the level and aiming sensors off eBay and also Xenon headlamps.  I had an electrical specialist do the wiring using BMW retrofitting instructions.  This was a very expensive and involved exercise but made a vast improvement.  If HIDS were an option for your car, you could do the same but with the cost of new headlights as well as all the other parts, you are likely to find this very costly.

[NemesisUK]

14 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

This was a very expensive and involved exercise but made a vast improvement.  If HIDS were an option for your car, you could do the same but with the cost of new headlights as well as all the other parts, you are likely to find this very costly.

I did this on my Mercedes C class, using OEM parts, cost me nearly £3k but, my word, the improvement was fantastic and IMHO well worth it for my 20-30k  annual miles...

Much cheaper to buy a car with xenons already fitted!

[Barry14UK]

1 hour ago, NemesisUK said:

Much cheaper to buy a car with xenons already fitted!

This is something that should be carefully considered.  The guy who originally bought my car had every extra/upgrade option including TV, other than screening curtains and Xenons.  I bet he found out the hard way after purchase as I did how poor the standard lighting was and in need should have forgone a different option for the xenons.  Maybe somebody can go to school on this.  I will say that I have found Xenon dipped lights to be near enough as good as LED.  However, LED seems to be longer lasting which is just as well bearing in mind what is involved if the LED headlights fail.

[RK1975]

Thank you all so much for your replies, much appreciated.  

I didn't realise it would be illegal, so that's out then!  I do clean the headlights, but I'll give the toothpaste one a go.  I'll look at upgraded halogens as well and let you know how I get on.

Another question if I may - is it just me or is anyone else finding themselves being blinded more often by other cars headlights?  

Thank you all again, much appreciated.

[mikey2001]

22 minutes ago, RK1975 said:

Another question if I may - is it just me or is anyone else finding themselves being blinded more often by other cars headlights? 

I've found this seems to be more from the increased number of SUVs on our roads, with the headlights mounted higher up. Not noticed it as much since I've started driving one myself!

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, RK1975 said:

Thank you all so much for your replies, much appreciated.  

I didn't realise it would be illegal, so that's out then!  I do clean the headlights, but I'll give the toothpaste one a go.  I'll look at upgraded halogens as well and let you know how I get on.

Another question if I may - is it just me or is anyone else finding themselves being blinded more often by other cars headlights?  

Thank you all again, much appreciated.

Happens to me too Ray. Think twice now about driving later in the evening.

[Inazone]

I fitted LED bulbs to my wife's ct200h as the halogens were terrible. Cost about 30 quid on amazon. Light's are much better now plus passed it's mot without any problems. As long as the beam pattern is retained and the headlights are adjusted correctly you shouldn't have any problems. In point of fact the wife's headlights are probably as good if not better than my HIDS on my IS300H, and they have the latest laser 2 bulbs from osram.

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[RK1975]

Cheers again.  I did a full scrub on the lights as suggested and not really a seen a difference.  Cars being MOTd and serviced today so I've bought nightbreaker lasers for them to fit.  Can't wait to try them out (but could do without the extra £190 for worn brake pads 😭)

[Moleman]

What mileage is your 2019 CT to need  new brake pads already? 🤔

[Moleman]

Just noticed having an MOT so not a 2019 car. 

[Herbie]

On 11/20/2020 at 1:47 PM, RK1975 said:

I did a full scrub on the lights as suggested and not really a seen a difference.

A full scrub how? Toothpaste?

I'm afraid that just won't cut it. You're not just getting rid of road grime which would be on the surface of the lens, but rather actual damage to the lens caused by the UV radiation of the sun. You need something like the 3M or Meguiar's Headlight Restoration Kits that include cutting paste and sanding discs of various grit levels to cut through the yellowed (damaged) polycarbonate.

Once they're clear and looking like new again it's very important to spray them with either some sort of UV-resistant clear coat or to give them a good coating of wax, otherwise the UV will start to yellow them again within as little as a month or two.

[Herbie]

On 11/17/2020 at 6:11 PM, RK1975 said:

Another question if I may - is it just me or is anyone else finding themselves being blinded more often by other cars headlights? 

This is the very reason (or at least one of the major reasons) why the MOT lighting regs were changed, because a huge proportion of blinding/dazzling was coming from cars with badly fitted HID/LED conversions into lighting units that were never designed to take such bulbs.

[RK1975]

Herbie, it was toothpaste, followed by a long scrub with microfibre cloth. I'm not a car person as might be gathered but I'll try what you suggest.  Milena, it's a 13 plate with just over 200k on the clock (130k by me) and going like a dream still.

I've had the nightbreakers on and, while they are definitely brighter, I'm still struggling seeing in the dark!  It's mostly on roads lit by LED streetlamps I think.  I went down a country road with no lights at all... Absolutely fine.  Then on an A road with yellow streetlamps.  Fine, but not as clear.  Then on my road that has LED streetlamps... I can't see a difference, but when I look at the road in front of other cars with their headlights, there's a marked difference.  When a car approaches, I can't see a damned thing in front of me and have to slow down.  

I'm wondering if I'm just getting paranoid or if there's something wrong with my car, but the garage have assured me my lights are fine.  My optician tells me my eyes are fine, so why am I struggling driving in the dark recently?  I've tried waiting for 10 mins or so for eyes to adjust before setting off.  Windscreen is crystal clear, no lights inside car.  I've tried looking slightly to the left, night vision glasses (waste of money).  I'm an essential car user for work and not driving at night isn't an option unless I change jobs. But I'm really struggling with this now.  Is it just brighter lights elsewhere?

[Inazone]

Herbie, it was toothpaste, followed by a long scrub with microfibre cloth. I'm not a car person as might be gathered but I'll try what you suggest.  Milena, it's a 13 plate with just over 200k on the clock (130k by me) and going like a dream still.
I've had the nightbreakers on and, while they are definitely brighter, I'm still struggling seeing in the dark!  It's mostly on roads lit by LED streetlamps I think.  I went down a country road with no lights at all... Absolutely fine.  Then on an A road with yellow streetlamps.  Fine, but not as clear.  Then on my road that has led streetlamps... I can't see a difference, but when I look at the road in front of other cars with their headlights, there's a marked difference.  When a car approaches, I can't see a damned thing in front of me and have to slow down.  
I'm wondering if I'm just getting paranoid or if there's something wrong with my car, but the garage have assured me my lights are fine.  My optician tells me my eyes are fine, so why am I struggling driving in the dark recently?  I've tried waiting for 10 mins or so for eyes to adjust before setting off.  Windscreen is crystal clear, no lights inside car.  I've tried looking slightly to the left, night vision glasses (waste of money).  I'm an essential car user for work and not driving at night isn't an option unless I change jobs. But I'm really struggling with this now.  Is it just brighter lights elsewhere?

Try adjusting your seat height, you may be at a level where you are being dazzled by other cars. If your seat is in the low position, try it a bit higher... May help...

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[Barry14UK]

As regards, loss of light through modern lenses, this is largely brought about by the amount and intensity of sun on them.  I have seen some badly affected ones in the UK but ones in part of the USA so bad that they look opaque.  In fact some people have developed a business visiting dealers as well as private customers there restoring headlights to near original condition.

There are materials and guidance on how to do this on the net.  Care should be exercised in doing this though because many of these lights are coated with a film at the factory.  If you remove too much depth of this protective film as I did on a BMW (to remove  a deep scratch in this case) you can go right through this film leaving an obvious difference where this has happened).  It is then possible to get a uniform appearance by removing all of this coating but this is hard work and by removing this protective film completely, the lights will become more readily affected by the sun.  Therefore great care should be taken in restoring these headlights not to go through this film.