[theebak86]

Hi,

I have moved to Germany with a UK car and in order to pass the TUV inspection am being asked to adjust the beam direction from LHD to RHD for EU

BMW Germany seem clueless. They are quoting me 3k to change the LED lights. I'm surprised a car of this age does not have a simple/cheap solution to switch the beam direction between LHD and RHD

Given the LED technology I'm not sure the switch is even required.

I'm in a sticky situation. I need an MOT done on the car, or a TUV, very soon, in order to have valid insurance. Travelling back to the UK under Covid is difficult and I'm reluctant to listen to BMW and spend the 3k EURO changing the LED lightset.

Ideally I would like to keep the car here in Germany, registered and insured here.

I would really appreciate some expert advice here

Thanks
Theebak

[victorngcm]

you need a RHD set of headlight.
the cheapest way to do that is buying a RHD set of second hand led and code it at local garage.
the RHD and LHD projector has different light patten reflectary parts. it is impossible to chage that unless you can open up your set of headlight without damage, which most of the car factories do not want you to do that...

[victorngcm]

seems there is a good news for you man.
see a thread in this forum about LHD for EU
you 2 may help each other

[theebak86]

thanks victorngcm

which thread please?

[oakey46]

Have a look at your Drivers Handbook for 'Left-hand/right-hand traffic', which covers what I think you are looking for.
If you have LED headlights you may find that making hardware changes isn't necessary because of the way the light units are designed as against the more usual halogen headlights. That's what my X1 Drivers Guide indicates.

[theebak86]

thanks oakey46

i did believe that too

i have tried showing this to the TUV inspection guys, two different sites, both strict on fact that lights need changing/adjusting in order to pass the TUV

[victorngcm]

see "RHD headlight for EU driving" in X1 F48 forum

[///Makis]

Originally Posted by theebak86

Hi,

I have moved to Germany with a UK car and in order to pass the TUV inspection am being asked to adjust the beam direction from LHD to RHD for EU

BMW Germany seem clueless. They are quoting me 3k to change the LED lights. I'm surprised a car of this age does not have a simple/cheap solution to switch the beam direction between LHD and RHD

Given the LED technology I'm not sure the switch is even required.

I'm in a sticky situation. I need an MOT done on the car, or a TUV, very soon, in order to have valid insurance. Travelling back to the UK under Covid is difficult and I'm reluctant to listen to BMW and spend the 3k EURO changing the LED lightset.

Ideally I would like to keep the car here in Germany, registered and insured here.

I would really appreciate some expert advice here

Thanks
Theebak

I doubt there's any need to change, there should be adjustment screws on the headlight assembly under the bonnet.

I did the opposite from you and had my e82 shipped to the uk and registered and plated there. They changed the headlight assemblies unfortunately which I had to pay for. I say unfortunately because I found out there were screws to adjust the beam patter in the headlights.

What I also learned is that the us headlights only had vertical adjustments but specifically the UK ones had vertical and horizontal adjustments on the headlights.

There should be plastic Philips "screws" on the headlights somewhere on the top or behind to adjust them. If you know someone with an X1 or similar suv park both in front of a wall the same distance from the wall and adjust the screws to match their beam pattern horizontally, if the distance of their headlight is slightly higher or lower from the ground than yours than you may have to get a bit more creative to match up the vertical angle.

This is assuming you don't have self leveling head lights which might be a bit trickier and require coding.

There's no reason you should be required to change the LEDs so long as they're TUV approved and if they're bmw LEDs I would find it hard to believe they're not approved. I believe you just need to have the beam pattern in spec and get the certification for it. Which I think is also done by tuv.


Let me know if you need anymore info or help or how it turned out

[Rickardg]

I think the light pattern is different on RHD and LHD car’s , so its not only a matter of height adjustment. If you look at the light pattern of a headlight there is “wedges” of light towards the curb, they are on the opposite side on a LHD car from a RHD.

[mattiaghera]

Hello all, I have the same issue, moved to Germany with my 7 moths old M340i and got the TUV has failed due to the headlights. I have contacted a BMW service in Frankfurt and they told me that is not possible to solve this issue. Any ideas?