UK legality of LED/HID headlights?

  • Thread starter G.T
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G.T

G.T

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Paganisterr
Ak Paganister
Hey all,

I wish to buy new headlights for my UK Honda Type-R (EP3), but want them to have a white (6000k) look.

I am not sure if this is possible, as from what I read they require a LED or HID fit? There is such a mixture of online opinion about fitting such a mod to a halogen-designed headlight. Of course I could just ring a garage to see if it's good but they might just be out there to make a quick buck.

Can anyone help? Cheers!
 
It's possible. You will either spend a lot of money to get it done properly (which means a full retrofit with a quality supplier); or your car will fail MOT, you will have greatly diminished nighttime visibility, and you will blind basically every other person on the road. HIDs in halogen housings, sometimes (but not always) even when those halogens are in projector assemblies, are the devil. Looking cool when you have your lights on in the daytime are about all they are good for. LED swap ins for halogen bulbs are also useless for low beams for very similar reasons; and rarely any good for high beams either. I've been chasing a good set for high-beams for nearly 6 months now and I've only found a couple that didn't basically just throw light sideways; and I'm still looking for ones that work with DRLs.








What you might be able to do, if you buy ceramic hplugs, is get tinted bulbs that run higher wattage to try and make up for the lost light due to the tint. Then you'll have your color but not lose your beam aim and hopefully too much light output.
 
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LED headlights are a bit of a wildcard, some actually come with decent optics that work well enough in halogen housings. HID's don't work worth a damn in halogen housings though.

Phillips LED headlight bulbs actually comes with decent capping on them which reduces glare, it's still not legal but it's far less irritating to other drivers. I used a set in my truck until I moved out west and had to pass an inspection. I was never once flashed by a pass motorist and the cut off line wasn't atrocious like HID's would have been. Now I have a set of retro fitted HID lights for my truck that use proper optics and high quality bulbs.

If you want to still be legal with your halogen housings, I'd look at something like Phillips Diamond Vision bulbs, I had them in my Volvo and they were fairly close to white (5000k). 6000k will still have a slightly blue tint and won't be pure white, I actually think 4300k is considered "daylight" which will be way better for night time viability. The high temperature you get the harder it will be to see anything. I made the mistake with my Focus of buying 8000k bulbs (I didn't read the package) and couldn't see a damn thing when it got dark.
 

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