New MOT rules - HIDs *UPDATED*

Took a site car for an MOT this week, and was informed by our MOT garage that from the 20th would have failed, as it has aftermarket lights with zenons and no light wash facility. If his helps anyone. WTF is going on?
 
Z4 COUPSTER said:
Took a site car for an MOT this week, and was informed by our MOT garage that from the 20th would have failed, as it has aftermarket lights with zenons and no light wash facility. If his helps anyone. WTF is going on?

That's always been the case though.

The new rules state that hid's will fail even when fitted with all the stuff a tester can actually see e.g headlamp washers.
 
Darkangelv2 said:
Ewazix said:
Darkangelv2 said:
Yes to the first one.

The second one - sort of. Seeing as the tester isn't able to test whether or not this is working, it's moot. I've never understood the sense anyway as the driver should be trusted to adjust the level using the dial according to the weight they are towing anyway. Not really a problem in a Z4!

I don't know about the current regs but as of 20th May 2018 the MOT manual only refers to HIDs being a failure if fitted aftermarket to a non-HID unit, LED's don't get a mention specifically.

That's a massive oversight when creating such a big overhaul! Can't believe they couldn't just refer to non-standard or something :rofl:

The actual wording of the failure in section 4 (lamps) refers to lighting components being "incompatible", the draft training manual explains specifically that HID lamps in a standard unit are incompatible and "must fail", but I suppose there might be latitude for a tester to determine that LED are incompatible? who knows, but they are not singled out like HID.
 
Good news...she passed! :yeah:

Sailed straight though with only an advisory on a windscreen chip :roll:

With regards to the HID headlights, the tester said he would pass them under the new rules due to the fact that the washers are fitted. Hopefully he's still of the same opinion this time next year! Good bloke, knew his BMW's very well and let me have a good old poke around underneath the car while he was carrying out the test.

A couple of photo's for your enjoyment (although, rather stupidly, not of the headlights :slaphead: )...

MOTa.pngMOTb.pngMOTc.png
 
That's great news about the hid's and washers possibly being ok :thumbsup:

On another note. It always pleasantly surprises me how clean and relatively rust free Z4's are. Even mine at 15 years old is pretty clean underneath.

I've seen Ford's still under manufacturers warranty covered in rust underneath :o
 
ben g said:
That's great news about the hid's and washers possibly being ok :thumbsup:

On another note. It always pleasantly surprises me how clean and relatively rust free Z4's are. Even mine at 15 years old is pretty clean underneath.

I've seen Ford's still under manufacturers warranty covered in rust underneath :o

Yes, it wasn't half as bad as I feared it might be. There were a few areas that I'll keep my eye on, but given she lives in a garage and is seldom driven in the wet, I'm happy enough. Thankfully the boot has been replaced, so no rust there. The rear wings on the other hand will need attention. Hopefully won't be too expensive though and considering I budgeted £300 for the MOT and it only cost me £50, there's extra funds in the kitty for getting that done :thumbsup:
 
ben g said:
That's great news about the hid's and washers possibly being ok :thumbsup:

On another note. It always pleasantly surprises me how clean and relatively rust free Z4's are. Even mine at 15 years old is pretty clean underneath.

I've seen Ford's still under manufacturers warranty covered in rust underneath :o

All except the manifold to exhaust bolts, the nuts on mine are barely there anymore! Fully expect it will let go and start blowing at some point but not touching it until that point, I've seen how hard the buggers are to drill out!
 
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