Renault Clio UK car fitted with WRONG lights!?

[johnny c]

Hi there
I have just been for my 2nd MOT here in N.I. I went to the test and the headlights were off the scale - so i failed. I went to a local independent garage - not one who might be a chancer, :) and he said my headlights were FRENCH !? , i.e. the beam was going the wrong direction and could never be properly aligned! He sold me a 2nd hand UK spec light for £25 quid fitted and it and it DID line up OK on the chart. I haven't yet gone for the MOT re-test, but it was clear that the 'UK' light actually registered on the scale where the other 'french' one hadn't. The chap said that the reflectors in the light were different between UK and French lights. Is this a lie? Are there UK spec and French spec lights for a CLIo? And how come I got one becasue this car was bought new in NI and has already passed last years MOT with these alledged FRENCH lights!? thanks

[goldspanners]

this is true,uk headlights beam head to the left (nearside) in europe or other countries where they drive on the right thier lights got to the right (thier nearside).
this is to assist the driver so you can see the white line at the side of the road and also so you dont dazzle oncoming vehicles.

have you owned the vehicle from new? did you MOT it last year?

sometimes MOT stations over look alignment and just check to see they work,i knew i had a headlight out of line in my van but it came back from MOT the exact same and passed. to be honest i would have preffered them to note it or fix it,it makes you wonder what else they didnt check.
sell the french lights on ebay,someone will buy them.

[vikingaero]

If it's a secondhand car then the lights could have been incorrectly fitted/replaced by the previous driver.

[tomstickland]

Is this a lie? Are there UK spec and French spec lights for a CLIo?
Yes, he was lying when he magically made the lights go from "off the scale" to "on the scale". Typical garage! If you look at the border between France and Spain you'll see 100s of motorists swapping from French lights to Spanish lights. Some units are multilingual though.

Sorry, he was right!

[Inactive]

:rotfl: They have even bigger problems at the Spanish/Portugese Border, the Portugese are on UK time, so they all have to wait an hour before changing their headlamps over.;)

[lauren_1]

Can you not change the setting of the lights yourself?
Hubby had a 04 and a newer 07 clio and on both im pretty sure he could change the the height of the beam and the direction.

I hope not but i reckon you got scammed

[vikingaero]

The car could have had a minor frontal prang and the lamps were incorrectly supplied and no-one noticed.

My dad bought a set of rubber mats for his Merc last winter to protect the interior better. He found them to be irksome and poor fitting. About a month after he got them he mentioned it to me and I checked out the packaging that he had kept. On it it stated that the mats were for a LHD car!

[tomstickland]

I believe that RHD cars will have different lights from LHD cars.

[Keith]

I believe that RHD cars will have different lights from LHD cars.

This is true and why light deflectors must be fitted whilst driving in Europe

[Inactive]

I believe that RHD cars will have different lights from LHD cars.


Indeed they have, if you look closely, most headlamps are marked accordingly.