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Changing headlights for driving in Europe


shark_90
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Once again I call upon you knowledgeable lot.

I'm going to Belgium on Tuesday and hadn't put much thought into getting the headlights changed. I spoke to a couple of local motor shops around here and they went on about "beam benders" but after reading the back of one of the packets it seems they're not suitable for cars with clear glass lights. I tried to explain but didn't get very far.

Anyone got any ideas what I need to do, or do I need to adjust them at all?

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I got some stick on jobbies from Halfords for mine (lights on mine are not adjustable).

750 high speed miles across France and they'd both blown off by the time we got there! smashfreakB.gif

So I turned the load adjustment jobby to point the lights as low as possible and I never had a problem (apart from I couldn't see far on dipped beam).

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Some people buy the mask kits from Halfords and put them in the car but "forget" to put them on when they get off the ferry, if you know what I mean. If you get stopped, you could try saying you forgot and get them out the boot!

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We're doing quite a few miles which might mean us driving at night..but hopefully not. Surely it can't be a big thing to get them swapped over? The thing is if it's a change Audi will have to do I get back in the country at 12pm on saturday, up to manchester from dover to see Oasis on saturday night, then down to the TSN meet on sunday.. I will definately be driving at night here and won't have time to get them changed back.

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My TT had little levers on the back of the unit. All you had to do was pop the rear cover off and you could do it easily. I've heard that there may be on on the B6 A4's but I can find no reference in the Bentley Manual. When I eventually get around to changing the bulbs I'll have a look.

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the manual should tell you whether or not you can switch the headlights to continental roads. i'm sure that all the audis can do this, because the headlights are the same after all. unless maybe it's only the xenons.

i'm pretty sure my manual states this, but i shall look this up after tuesday which is my independence day hehe. a lot of work till then.

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[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

I was told not on my B7 Cabrio (guess the saloon/Avant is the same?).

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Wow! shocked.gif When did you get rid of the B6? You kept that quiet! grin.gif

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Yeah, come on Ari, stop trying to be clever! You called the 1996 Audi A4 quattro BTCC a B6 earlier as well. Getting ahead of yourself on both counts!!

Ian znaika.gifwink.gif

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On a related topic - Ari and others who've driven their cars down through France - any other problems/issues to report ?

One thing that struck me (having rented a Megane CC - bit of a floppymobile but at least the roof went up and down) was the sheer number of car park dings and door scrapes it collected in 10 days - none of them while we were in the car! If we hadn't had CDW on the rental I'm sure they'd have charged a fortune for paint damage. Is it actually safe to take one's own 30K pride and joy down there, and did you have to resort to the kind of thing that people do here, like restricting where you go, or taking up two spaces (I find this a bit anti-social, and I can't imagine the French letting you get away with that in a busy car park without someone keying the paint) ?

I have to admit we were constantly in and out of underground city centre car parks in Nice and leaving it on packed sea front car parks, so it's not as if we swished straight into a fancy hotel car port and left it there. But if I take the Cabrio down to the Pyrennees this summer I'd want to be able to act as freely with it - any problem ?

Also, any security problem/worry with the soft-top ? Actually pretty safe here, I think, but they're a lot less common on the Continent and I can imagine someone having a go with a knife - if only because they don't realise how tough a modern multi-layer fabric roof is.

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Mine is a Jan 2002 B6 with Xenons and these are not switchable!! I regularly drive in France and take the sticky things from Halfords (kept in the glovebox, just in case). Driving at night is OK on the autoroutes but is a bit dodgy on the backroads. Did hear recently of somebody fined at a peage by police for not having the bulb kit and reflective jacket suicide.gif

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