I have one of their kits and have done for near on 4 years. And can't fault the kits flew through every MOT

I got checked over at a VOSA checkpoint (heads of the valleys) on the way home today and when asked admited what my lights (Yellow 3000k HID's) were and he checked them over pattern (made me fit a normal H4 for comparison), bulb mounting and security of components and was happy with them but he wasn't too happy that one of my HID fogs had a cracked/smashed lens (small 2cm piece missing) and the burner was open to the elements (so classed as risk of electric shock/injury to bystander). So I had to disconnect that ballast for that side and he let me go.

So even with new MOT rules there is still a huge grey area. I queried him on them and he said my lamps were spot on but advised that I fit a cleaning system sooner rather than later.

what do they actually do? like do they pull you and check each and every part of your car over or something?

Its literally a mini MOT but a bit more invasive.

They checked tyre condition, lighting, washer bottle has enough fluid etc. The kind of stuff that you should do "everytime" you use your car in the morning.

But also check the car is road worthy and not going to fall apart. Even jacked the car up to check my springs aren't cut. Security of exhaust (one of my rubber mounts may need replscing soon apparently) and trim pices won't fly off, db metered my exhaust (loud but legal) and was slightly confused by my front subframe setup (did say the rose joints need more grease).

He checked my hid ballasts and wires were securely in place (once he found them) and that the bulb was mounted in a proper holder and had Hi/lo ability.

Sole reason I was waved in originally was for a tyre check as I span up coming off the roundabout down from the check point. singed a bit of paper that i agree with his report, they hand it to you to read and ask questions (looks like a MOT testers tick sheet with more writing space) and if all is fine then your free to go.

At the time I was being tested they were laughing at a fucked look AX that was more rust than car. Tester hit the wing and a big bit of rusty metal fell out and the sill was obiously hanging off, front window sealed SHUT with mastic, boot just resting shut as lock was broken, bonnet held shut by wire. I was there for about an hour (check took about 20mins) because this AX was blocking me out and about 10 people came to laugh at it until the recovery arrived which point the tow point on the front ripped off, guy testing mine said the car had 11 months MOT on it so that garage will have a unexpected visit on monday morning

These checks are becoming more frequent and keep Junkers off the street and makes dodgy mot stations more apparent, but with regards to HIDS and mots it is at the testers discretion some agree with them some don't. I personally agree they are a good improvement as long as they are fitted correctly and as a result I have never failed an MOT because they are fitted nor have I asked people to remove them so far. I do however make a point of aligning them properly before I let them drive off. As long as they function correctly, have secure undamaged housing and lenses and have the correct beam pattern I am happy, but then again some other testers may not be that way.

The VOSA testers do go a bit extreme when testing things , as said above and really they do look for faults ( as small as they are ) I don't think there is a car on the road that is perfect and they do get a bollocking if they let a car go without saying something. A friend of mine went through one of these checkpoints and got told that her air freshener hanging from her mirror was blocking the drivers view and made her remove it. Kind of a waste of time in that case really.

Edited 22 January, 201214 yr by dixy

We've said this over, and over, and over again on many forums - you could have a factory set of Xenons, with self-leveling headlamps and a washer system in place, but if the beam pattern isn't correct for whatever reason, they're just as bad, if not worse than aftermarket HID's.

I got blinded today by a 61 plate Q5 with OEM Xenons.

It's a chicken vs. egg debate, always has been and I can't see it changing. I just wish people would stop jumping on the MOT/illegal bandwagon, it's getting seriously full and it causes more hassle than it's worth.

Sean.

We've said this over, and over, and over again on many forums - you could have a factory set of Xenons, with self-leveling headlamps and a washer system in place, but if the beam pattern isn't correct for whatever reason, they're just as bad, if not worse than aftermarket HID's.

I got blinded today by a 61 plate Q5 with OEM Xenons.

It's a chicken vs. egg debate, always has been and I can't see it changing. I just wish people would stop jumping on the MOT/illegal bandwagon, it's getting seriously full and it causes more hassle than it's worth.

Sean.

Speaking of aftermarket HID's, i've just bought a H7R kit (6000k) off your eBay store :-)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Xenons-Online-Shop

Spotted the order earlier fella, didn't realize it was you until I saw this post!

The H7R kits are very popular.

Sean.