Polo Mk5: lights for continental driving

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Wed 27 Aug 2003 21:05
Polo Mk5: lights for continental driving - Stork
I recently took my 2002 Polo (1.2 E 65) to France on holiday. Before going, I asked my VW dealer about headlamp converters (the handbook says consult your dealer). They duly ordered me a conversion kit (about £10) and fitted it (about £15). The kit turns out to be two small strips of adhesive tape, and apparently an adjustment to the lights was also necessary. They now tell me that I need to have the lights re-adjusted back for UK use.

Obviously I'm not happy at having to shell out some £25 each way (£50 total) for every foreign trip. With my old (1984) Polo, it was a simple matter of black insulating tape.

For the future, despite my requests for information, the dealer has not given any clear instructions as to whether and how I can carry out the adjustment myself.

Does anyone know how to do this for the 2002 Polo? Am I stuck with having to go to the dealer every time? Or with using some random black tape and taking a risk (including the risk of invalidating my insurance, I expect)?
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Wed 27 Aug 2003 23:15
Polo Mk5: lights for continental driving - Sooty Tailpipes
You can just use tape on any reflector (as opposed to projector) lamp where the lense does the refraction. Ones which have free-form lenses and complex reflectors can't though.

They may have adjusted the main beams?

They are ripping you off seeing as its about as much as a full MOT, which covers beam alignment checking plus all those other things.
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Wed 27 Aug 2003 23:28
Polo Mk5: lights for continental driving - Stork
Thanks, but how do I know what sort of lamp I've got? The lens itself is totally clear (no markings or anything). And if I were to use tape on it, how would I know where to put it? Presumably I'd just have to take a pattern from the existing tape (which is still on there).

By the way, I have had most of my money back from the dealer (after I complained), but just no satisfactory answer as to what to do to re-align the beam or to adjust for future trips.
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Thu 28 Aug 2003 07:56
Polo Mk5: lights for continental driving - jc
How do I know where to put the black tape?point the car at a wall or garage door,turn the lights on and play-you need to get rid of the part of the dipped beam that angles over to the left(as you sit in the car).With modern lights with complex reflectors you may well be suprised where you put the tape but using your hand you can trace the non-required part of the beam from the wall to the light.
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Sun 23 Nov 2003 12:58
Polo Mk5: lights for continental driving - Stork
VW dealer told me it's not a DIY job as you have to use a headlamp aligner.

Not satisfied with this, I contacted VW UK head office. They say that they 'recommend' the use of their own kit, and that it is fitted by a dealer, but that I could just buy a conversion kit from, e.g., Halfords, and follow the instructions in there.
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