Sorry I know this is a truck forum but I’ve found members here knowledgeable.
I’m driving to Belgium in the car soon and it has halogen headlights. mini hand book says it doesn’t need deflectors as they have a flat spray.
Would this be true? Not planning to drive at night anyway. Anyone got halogens on thier motor?
Do you have to add them on trucks?
Thanks
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Some other vehicles have “flat” beam patterns, so use the same headlights whether in UK or EU, and not just the high intensity type either. I would trust the manual.
It might reassure to drive against a wall in the dark to see for yourself that the pattern is symmetrical left/right.
spacemanZ10:
Sorry I know this is a truck forum but I’ve found members here knowledgeable.I’m driving to Belgium in the car soon and it has halogen headlights. mini hand book says it doesn’t need deflectors as they have a flat spray.
Would this be true? Not planning to drive at night anyway. Anyone got halogens on thier motor?Do you have to add them on trucks?
ThanksSent from my moto g 5G plus using Tapatalk
My employers, several over the years, have never fitted headlight deflectors to their trucks.
Nor have they ever asked me to use them, when going to Europe.
One employer didn’t even supply the legally required first aid kits or other equipment, their reason was; it was cheaper to pay the occasional fine for not having it, rather than equip their (very large) fleet.
This includes snow chains, I’ve never had snow chains with me.
I haven’t even had it checked, let alone fined, so far. That’s in over 20 years of European driving.
We don’t put anything on the headlights. On some models you might angle the lights down slightly but I don’t get flashed ever.
Thanks everyone. Didn’t bother in the end, the lights have flat beam and like you say never been stopped before. Plus we didn’t drive in the dark. Have done them on older cars.
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Simon:
I haven’t even had it checked, let alone fined, so far. That’s in over 20 years of European driving.
I used to drive vans in Europe and I always put my stickers on. With time I learned how to do it, so I was just placing a bits of black insulation tape wherever it was needed and adjusting the beam this way.
I was the only one in the company who did it. I never heard about anyone being stopped and fined for that apart from my friends in Slovenia who were stopped about a decade ago… …until a couple of days back when I was approached by the police officer in Finland asking why I don’t have stickers on my UK registered car. I don’t, because I already changed the headlights and it’s awaiting registration in Finland.
HOWEVER.
I was once stopped by German polizei for other reason and it turns out I forgot vehicle documents with me. But as I had my headlights adjusted and they praised me for that before they started the control, I was let go 
orys:
Simon:
I haven’t even had it checked, let alone fined, so far. That’s in over 20 years of European driving.I was once stopped by German polizei for other reason and it turns out I forgot vehicle documents with me. But as I had my headlights adjusted and they praised me for that before they started the control, I was let go
I’ve lost count of how often I’ve been pulled in for a ‘control’, in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, etc. All routine, they’re set up in a parking area/sevices, and you are the next one picked from the stream of passing trucks, sometimes it’s every truck on that stretch of road.
I’ve always had untouched UK headlights, apart from when I drove a French registered truck for a French company. Not once have my headlights been even mentioned.
This isn’t a regular occurance, I’ve been one of the stream of trucks going straight past a ‘control’ even more often, but even then I see 3 or 4 a year. But over 20 years, I’ve been pulled in occasionally, and it adds up.
Which is a shame actually.
I do believe this should be enforced. If you drive a car to France, you can clearly see every single British (or Irish) registered car on the road at night, dazzling you…
orys:
Which is a shame actually.I do believe this should be enforced. If you drive a car to France, you can clearly see every single British (or Irish) registered car on the road at night, dazzling you…
There is also a fair share of left hand drives in the UK that are unadjusted and I get dazzled by.
msgyorkie:
orys:
Which is a shame actually.I do believe this should be enforced. If you drive a car to France, you can clearly see every single British (or Irish) registered car on the road at night, dazzling you…
There is also a fair share of left hand drives in the UK that are unadjusted and I get dazzled by.
Ah, yes. But there’s also more than a few RHD’s in the UK, with either badly adjusted headlights, or they’re too lazy to reach and switch to dipped.
Possibly the drivers use the ‘loaded/unloaded aim adjuster’ to point them a bit higher, cos they can see better. And occasionally drivers do forget they’re on high beam. I expect exactly the same applies in France, and everywhere else.
It isn’t always foreigners.