I'm off to Southern Brittany in a couple of weeks but before I go I need an answer to this little poser.
I drive a 2004 Vauxhall Vectra and I will need to fit headlight beam adjusters to it to divert them the other way for continental use.
However there are no markings on the headlight lenses to indicate where the beam adjusters should be placed.
How do you overcome the problem? I was at my local Vauxhall dealer this morning and he told me that I would have to have the headlights reconfigured. This seems pretty drastic to me not to mention expensive.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. How have any other "new shape" Vectra owners got round this one?
We bought a kit last year from Halfords and the leaflet gives you all the configurations for different headlight types. Ours are also plain glass with no lines or marks to line up your beam bender like the older headlights but the diagrams show you exactly where to place the beaam bender using the centre of the bulb as a marker.
It was very easy to do and I never got any nasty flashes from french drivers so it must have been ok. You will probably find the Vectra on that list. The same kit was also available in the shop at the Port in Dover.
We had to do that on our vectra when we went to france. When you buy the beam adjusters it will tell you on the packet where to stick them on the lights. We bought ours from halfords.
The last lot of headlamp beam deflectors I got had some interesting instructions - that the best way is to park about a metre away from a wall, so you can see the beam on the wall. Then hold the deflector in place over the headlamp and move it around. It will be in the correct position when it diffuses the brightly lit spot on the wall, spreading the beam out. The instructions also say that the actual position is not that critical, if you follow the above instructions. My last car was a Vectra, and present is a Renault Scenic - both with no markings on the headlamps. I've just bought Metro "beam benders" from a store on ebay - £5.99 and will fit them like this. It's pretty poor that there's no better solution than having to buy these things every time and fit them. My father in law's Omega has a switch on the headlight that moves the beam for driving abroad - what a great idea!
Another thing you could do is buy clip-on headlamp protectors (about £30) and fit the continental beam deflectors to them, so you don't have to fork out for new beam benders every trip (pays off after 5 trips assuming you don't change your car!).
i travel on the continent regularly both in a car and a lorry and my answer is.... dont bother! the foregners dont when they come over here!
simple.
True - but I've heard the stories about the Gendarmes doing spot checks and people ending up with instant fines... plus, I don't fancy a head on collision with an oncoming driver who was blinded by my lights!
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Topic: Vectra Headlights
