General: Headlight Internals Law?

[S400JDR]

Hello All,

First Question is anyone going to the meet at Southampton on the 30th of April? (SO51 6ZJ, Romsey) It will be the first one i'm attending since owning my Volvo S40 so hoping to get some great tips and advice from everyone there.

On to the point...

I recently had someone smoke/black/stealth my headlights, I showed them a picture of what I wanted them to look like and they said they could do it easily. Which they did, however they also sprayed the headlight reflector which I thought was illegal (?) I've looked at everyone else's and they haven't done the reflectors either. I suppose this is due to the light not being reflected enough. I have uploaded the four images below: 1) Lights before they were tampered with. 2) Lights after they were tampered with. 3) The lights all turned on during day time in typical British weather. 4) The headlights in general after being blacked out.

Lights before: https://postimg.org/image/bhzsik5yn/
Lights After: https://postimg.org/image/czfmwlu4f/
All Lights on (Daytime): https://postimg.org/image/cq60p42dd/
Blacked out: https://postimg.org/image/dpbdmgknx/

Can someone please advise if this is legal or not, if not I'll take them apart and strip the paint off the reflectors. The person that did it told me that this is legal and will pass MOT no issues.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Many thanks,
Jordan

[Simon Jones]

Considering the number of posts on here complaining about poor performance of Volvo headlamps, I surprised people are willing to pay good money to make them even worse. Only sure way to know if it's considered roadworthy will be to take it for an MOT. At least that way if you get pulled over the Police & you've got a fresh MOT certificate you might be able to convince them not to issue a fine if they don't like the look of them. Your MOT runs out on 26th May so you might as well get it booked in now so you've got time to make any changes before the current ticket expires.

Would be wise to advise the insurance company of the modification in case they subsequently refuse to pay out on any claims.

[Max HEADVROOM]

502 bad gateway on images

[S400JDR]

Thank you Max HEADVROOM! You'd think for a Technical Engineer, I'd be more Tech Savvy! Layer 8 issue I guess.

1) http://tinypic.com/r/a31e0l/9
2) http://tinypic.com/r/29e6c8x/9
3) http://tinypic.com/r/t6qdth/9
4) http://tinypic.com/r/28gw290/9

Please let me know if these one's disappear too!

Thanks,
Jordan

[S400JDR]

Originally Posted by Simon Jones

Considering the number of posts on here complaining about poor performance of Volvo headlamps, I surprised people are willing to pay good money to make them even worse. Only sure way to know if it's considered roadworthy will be to take it for an MOT. At least that way if you get pulled over the Police & you've got a fresh MOT certificate you might be able to convince them not to issue a fine if they don't like the look of them. Your MOT runs out on 26th May so you might as well get it booked in now so you've got time to make any changes before the current ticket expires.

Would be wise to advise the insurance company of the modification in case they subsequently refuse to pay out on any claims.

Thanks for this information Simon, I am planning on getting the MOT done early this year just in case.

Also in regards to the actual quality/brightness of the light coming from the headlight, I cannot honestly say I've noticed any difference from before they were changed.

I have already informed the insurance company of the changes done on the car.

Thanks for your response,

Jordan

[VivaLaVolvo]

Looks like you have projector headlights so the reflectors are surely not actual reflectors?

[dingov70]

MOT tester leaping in here .

https://www.mot-testing.service.gov....4s01000702.htm

Please read this page as it is the current guide I use daily . In essence , your car will fail the MOT for :-

inoperative, excessively damaged or deteriorated or has a product on the lens or light source so that the light output is well below that required to illuminate the road ahead .

NO if's or but's ! . I can & do fail cars for deteriorated reflectors & yours would technically meet the fail criteria

[S400JDR]

"Looks like you have projector headlights so the reflectors are surely not actual reflectors?"

The Headlights are projectors but the High Beams use the reflectors.

dingov70, Thank's for your input! I'll take them out and remove the paint from the reflector part of the headlamp. "When I doubt rip them out!" Thank's for the link, I actually had no idea about that WebSite that's really useful.

[domhart10]

Looks good to me

[dingov70]

That website is what we testers refer to at all times , beleive me on that . I do advise people to read the manual if in doubt . Wish you luck cleaning the reflectors without damaging them .