NCT Failed - Foreign Car

eoc74 · 22-09-2008 1:57pm #1

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody here has any idea what I need to do to pass the NCT with a foreign car.

The car failed on Saturday because of the headlights pointing into the middle of the road(normal for a Left Hand Drive). But I have just been to a garage and the guy said he had no idea what needs to be done as its not a simple re-alignment!

The NCT guy told me I could buy a "kit" but I have looked and nobody seems to know anything on that! Would anybody here have any idea please?

Thanks!

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 2:04pm

What type of car is it??? Make & model?

cantdecide · 22-09-2008 2:05pm

I think you can get a little plastic thingy that blurs out some of the beam??? If it's your car and you plan to keep it, you're better off getting a pair of RHD headlamps off ebay or the local scrapyard. You can always keep the LHD ones or sell them on ebay to recoup you money.

ondafly · 22-09-2008 2:06pm

its probably some form of black tape that goes over a part of the headlight. The same stuff you use when you bring your RHD car over to France

mcwhirter · 22-09-2008 2:34pm

eoc74 wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody here has any idea what I need to do to pass the NCT with a foreign car.

The car failed on Saturday because of the headlights pointing into the middle of the road(normal for a Left Hand Drive). But I have just been to a garage and the guy said he had no idea what needs to be done as its not a simple re-alignment!

The NCT guy told me I could buy a "kit" but I have looked and nobody seems to know anything on that! Would anybody here have any idea please?

Thanks!

I am sure that when you import a lhd into Ireland then you have to change over the lights to the rhd type. The tape is only for visitors only.

Anan1 · 22-09-2008 2:56pm

The right way is to replace the headlights.

eoc74 · 22-09-2008 3:00pm

Darragh29 wrote: »

What type of car is it??? Make & model?

The car is an 04-D Ford Focus. I called Ford and they said that even changing the headlights will fail the NCT! They suggested getting "beam benders" which are stickers but there was no guarantee! Need to see where to find them now!

Its not very well thought out considering there are loads of left hand drives in Ireland!

ardmacha · 22-09-2008 3:06pm

Its not very well thought out considering there are loads of left hand drives in Ireland!

And these all have their lights pointing out into the middle of the road, which is exactly the sort of thing the NCT should check for.

cantdecide · 22-09-2008 3:07pm

That can't be true. Maybe they thought you wanted to change the bulbs only?

Alun · 22-09-2008 3:08pm

eoc74 wrote: »

The car is an 04-D Ford Focus. I called Ford and they said that even changing the headlights will fail the NCT! They suggested getting "beam benders" ..

I'd say they were talking out of their posteriors myself. If you fit RHD headlight units into a LHD car then I reckon the lights will be just fine and pass the NCT. The beam benders are only a temporary measure, meant for occasional tourists.

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 3:09pm

eoc74 wrote: »

The car is an 04-D Ford Focus. I called Ford and they said that even changing the headlights will fail the NCT! They suggested getting "beam benders" which are stickers but there was no guarantee! Need to see where to find them now!

Its not very well thought out considering there are loads of left hand drives in Ireland!

Well the problem is that LHD car designed to light up to a greater extent, the margin of the road to the left and a RHD car is designed to do the same on the margin of road to the right. I don't see why changing the headlamps to suit a LHD car wouldn't resolve the problem...

eoc74 · 22-09-2008 3:13pm

Darragh29 wrote: »

Well the problem is that LHD car designed to light up to a greater extent, the margin of the road to the left and a RHD car is designed to do the same on the margin of road to the right. I don't see why changing the headlamps to suit a LHD car wouldn't resolve the problem...

Nor can I but Ford were adamant. Maybe its got to do with the angle they go in at or something.

Anyway, Im still stuck because the car needs to do the NCT. If it cant be done, the test would not comply with European law as it would effectively bar foreign cars from the country. Beam Benders is what I have been advised to get.

cantdecide · 22-09-2008 3:15pm

Well, this will be the first car in history that has completely different LHD an RHD lamps, then. Better organize a press release

Alun · 22-09-2008 3:19pm

Still sounds like rubbish to me. It's purely down to the shape of the reflector surely? Why not just try getting hold of a pair of 2nd hand headlight units from a scrapped RHD car and replacing them. I'm not sure how the units are fitted in the normal Focus, but on my C-Max they're pretty easy to remove (you have to effectively do that to replace any of the bulbs!).

Cookie_Monster · 22-09-2008 3:21pm

eoc74 wrote: »

Beam Benders is what I have been advised to get.

They are useless. We had them on the coach we got over to Switzerland. Melted to the light covers by the end of the first day!

eoc74 · 22-09-2008 3:22pm

cantdecide wrote: »

Well, this will be the first car in history that has completely different LHD an RHD lamps, then. Better organize a press release

Well Ford have advised me not to do it so Im hardly going to go out and spend €100 on new lights just in case theyre wrong! Again, the guy at the NCT said to buy a "kit". I assume he means these "Beam Benders". Im going to contact the NCT people to see but I cant see them giving a straight answer!

Alun · 22-09-2008 3:28pm

eoc74 wrote: »

Well Ford have advised me not to do it so Im hardly going to go out and spend €100 on new lights just in case theyre wrong!

Wouldn't be the first (or the last) time a car manufacturer's head office has got it wrong either! As I said, try getting a second hand pair from a scrap yard or something .. will cost a lot less than €100 I'm sure. Try calling them again and try calling their bluff by asking exactly why replacing the headlight units won't work.

Beam benders are just specially shaped bits of sticky black plastic that stick on to the headlight lens. They work, kind of, but they're not a long term solution. They'll peel, fall off and need replacing, plus they reduce the amount of available light as well. Not good.

Heroditas · 22-09-2008 3:35pm

Johnny Foreigner coming in and failing our NCT tests. Should throw the car in the bin. :P

Mr. Presentable · 22-09-2008 3:38pm

If you bought the car here, surely it has to be fit for the purpose intended and in this case it is not. But I presume you imported it, in which case a call to a vehicle importer should clarify whether replacing the lights would be sufficient

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 3:50pm

eoc74 wrote: »

Well Ford have advised me not to do it so Im hardly going to go out and spend €100 on new lights just in case theyre wrong! Again, the guy at the NCT said to buy a "kit". I assume he means these "Beam Benders". Im going to contact the NCT people to see but I cant see them giving a straight answer!

Well maybe you should revert back to Ford and ask them to explain to you how it can be that when the light pattern that is emitted from your headlamp is specific to the headlamp design, your headlamp obviously having been designed for a RHD vehicle, that this would not be corrected when a headlamp with the correct light pattern for a LHD vehicle would be fitted to your car??? At the end of the day, you have two problems here:

(A) On your car, the light pattern on the right hand headlamp unit is angling up at approximately 15 degrees from the horizontal at the right hand side when this should be happening on the left hand side, (see image attached with red line pointing to where light should angle up at 15 degrees).

(B) Beam benders will remove the angle of light at the right hand side by simply blocking the front of the lens, just as you would do this by putting your hand over the glass on the headlamp unit!

You can resolve problem B with black tape or some masking gadget to eliminate this angle of light. But you cannot resolve problem A without replacing the headlamp. If you were very lucky, you'd have an NCT tester who would be happy enough with you just resolving problem B above and wouldn't get too hung up on problem A, but if you want it fixed properly, them you need to solve A and B above.

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 3:52pm

Apologies, I forgot to attach the diagram to the last post. This diagram is from the NCT (National Car Test) Manual 2004, downloadable from:

http://www.ncts.ie/nctmanual.pdf

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 3:56pm

What the tester is seeing when he looks at the machine for your car is an exact mirror image of what you see in the diagram above, with the 15 degree sloping line on the right side of the image and the horizontal beam of light on the left side of the image.

The idea of the light beam angling up like this is to illuminate the ditch or the side of the road nearest the car and obviously any person or object that might be positioned there. because your car is highlighting the right hand side of the road, this will cause oncoming drivers to be blinded by this section of light coming from your right headlamp.

You can see all this in action if you drive your car up close against a wall at night and turn your dip beams on...

eoc74 · 22-09-2008 4:00pm

Darragh29 wrote: »

Well maybe you should revert back to Ford and ask them to explain to you how it can be that when the light pattern that is emitted from your headlamp is specific to the headlamp design, your headlamp obviously having been designed for a RHD vehicle, that this would not be corrected when a headlamp with the correct light pattern for a LHD vehicle would be fitted to your car??? At the end of the day, you have two problems here:

(A) On your car, the light pattern on the right hand headlamp unit is angling up at approximately 15 degrees from the horizontal at the right hand side when this should be happening on the left hand side, (see image attached with red line pointing to where light should angle up at 15 degrees).

(B) Beam benders will remove the angle of light at the right hand side by simply blocking the front of the lens, just as you would do this by putting your hand over the glass on the headlamp unit!

You can resolve problem B with black tape or some masking gadget to eliminate this angle of light. But you cannot resolve problem A without replacing the headlamp. If you were very lucky, you'd have an NCT tester who would be happy enough with you just resolving problem B above and wouldn't get too hung up on problem A, but if you want it fixed properly, them you need to solve A and B above.

I hear you but maybe these kits actually reflect the beam back the other way?

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 4:43pm

eoc74 wrote: »

I hear you but maybe these kits actually reflect the beam back the other way?

I don't think so, I haven't used one before but it sounds like something that would be a messy solution. Also, you'd need a headlamp aligner to locate where you would put it on the lens... I'd be getting a new headlamp before I'd be messing about with bending beams of light!

eoc74 · 22-09-2008 4:46pm

Darragh29 wrote: »

I don't think so, I haven't used one before but it sounds like something that would be a messy solution. Also, you'd need a headlamp aligner to locate where you would put it on the lens... I'd be getting a new headlamp before I'd be messing about with bending beams of light!

Maybe this is what they want.......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Beam-Benders-foreign-driving/dp/B000ZBF6BC

Alun · 22-09-2008 4:50pm

Back in the days of standardised circular sealed beam headlights you used to be able to get (usually yellow) clip-on lens covers for driving "on the continent". These were effectively lenses that bent the light, but haven't been available for ages. And in any case AFAIK they were only ever made for RHD -> LHD conversion, not the other way round, so no use to you.

But seriously, just get a second hand pair of Focus headlights from a scrapyard.

EDIT: Those "beam benders" look like what they meant, but even if they work, they'll still be crap compared to doing it properly, and no guarantee whatsoever they'd pass the NCT either.

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 4:52pm

I'm not being flippant but I just wouldn't be into these kind of solutions, They'd probably fall off or something, I'm just old fashioned I suppose!

eoc74 · 22-09-2008 4:53pm

Alun wrote: »

Back in the days of standardised circular sealed beam headlights you used to be able to get (usually yellow) clip-on lens covers for driving "on the continent". These were effectively lenses that bent the light, but haven't been available for ages. And in any case AFAIK they were only ever made for RHD -> LHD conversion, not the other way round, so no use to you.

But seriously, just get a second hand pair of Focus headlights from a scrapyard.

EDIT: Those "beam benders" look like what they meant, but even if they work, they'll still be crap compared to doing it properly, and no guarantee whatsoever they'd pass the NCT either.

But what headlights from a scrapyard? Would they not be RHD lights?

Darragh29 · 22-09-2008 4:56pm

eoc74 wrote: »

But what headlights from a scrapyard? Would they not be RHD lights?

No, just get a set of headlamps from a left hand drive car. be careful taking them off and fitting them, the mountings on the headlamps are delicate and can break easy, as I've found out once too often!

Alun · 22-09-2008 4:58pm

eoc74 wrote: »

But what headlights from a scrapyard? Would they not be RHD lights?

Yes .. that was the general idea wasn't it?

Alun · 22-09-2008 5:00pm

Darragh29 wrote: »

No, just get a set of headlamps from a left hand drive car. be careful taking them off and fitting them, the mountings on the headlamps are delicate and can break easy, as I've found out once too often!

Aren't we getting our LHD and RHD mixed up here? Irish cars are RHD and "foreign" cars are LHD .. it's the side the steering wheel is on, not which side of the road they drive on.

NCT Failed - Foreign Car

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