Xenon Headlights & NCT

[yeh_right]

I know this has been discussed in the past across some forums, however the NCT documentation appears to have been updated in 2023 and includes some interesting changes.

As a backstory my E39 has bi-xenon headlights fitted from retrofitlab.com. The previous owner fitted them, and I have to say they are fantastic at night. Sharp and clean against the ditch, but by no way blinding. My E39 has both leveling and headlight washers as standard, so assume they were an older style xenon before the previous owner fitted these ones. I have no issues with NCT with them.

As a side note, my previous daily was an E36, and my biggest complaint was the Halogen H1 lights against the modern light technologies just weren't cutting it at night.

We also have an F31 touring in the family. This does not have factory xenons but the standard Halogen headlights. Although improved over the E36, they're still not great. I found a kit from the same brand as what's in my E39, retrofitlab.com, to suit the F31. However, the F31 does not have factory headlight washers fitted, so assumed this wasn't an option to fit without some NCT troubles. The parts required to fit the cleaners is quite substantial.

However....

Having checked the latest NCT manual, it seems there has been a change to the headlight cleaners section:

Screenshot 2024-03-17 at 17.27.57.png

Headlamp cleaning devices are mandatory to be fitted with HID lamps with the exception of bulbs specified to produce 2000 lumens or less, retrofitted systems and vehicles which were not
originally manufactured (type approved) for Europe

As these are aftermarket kits designed to replace only the low beam projector, and keep the factory housings, it's still a bit of an unknown whether they would be a pass or not.

Anyone have any recent experience with cars that have xenons but not washers passing NCT? Or even with these retrofitlab ones fitted?

Thank you

[318 iS Cosmos]

Yes, my e46 passed NCT in August with the retrofitlab projectors installed - no headlamp washers either.


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[yeh_right]

Thanks a million for the feedback, I'm thinking of giving them a shot alright

[318 iS Cosmos]

Thanks a million for the feedback, I'm thinking of giving them a shot alright

Hopefully the same thing happens this year! To be on the safe side, I actually bought a a second set of lights and installed the projectors to them so that I could swap to my originals if the NCT failed them..


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[yeh_right]

I went ahead with them in the end and bought what looked like a decent set of new lenses off ebay. The lenses are starting to fade, and removing them cleanly looks to be quite tricky. A layer of PPF or clear vinyl should do the trick to help protect the new ones.

That did cross my mind. There's an exact set that would fit on donedeal at the moment that look to have been resealed. They're up for €450 though... I'll fit the xenons first and wait to see if they pass. If not, that's probably the route I'll go down.