Failed NCT on Headlight Realignment

censuspro

Recently failed NCT on Headlight Realignment

Can anyone tell me roughly what to expect to get it repaired, I see advance pitstop are doing it for €25.

Owen

Headlight alignment is usually around 20 Euro or thereabouts.

CiniO

censuspro wrote: »

Recently failed NCT on Headlight Realignment

Can anyone tell me roughly what to expect to get it repaired, I see advance pitstop are doing it for €25.

So far I've alligned it myself twice and passed NCT without any problems.

biko

I've aligned it myself and failed. Best leave it the pros unless you're this guy ^^

sean1141

its not that expencive and usually only takes a few mins. would have been cheaper if you had got the lights checked brfore the test

George Dalton

Just because you DIY aligned the lights sufficiently to pass the NCT doesn't mean they are set correctly. The NCT basically makes sure they aren't set too high or too far to the right so you won't be blinding other road users. You can have them set really low and really far left and they will pass the test no problem. However they won't be too good for their primary purpose of helping you see where you are going in the dark.

For approximately €20 you can make sure they are set correctly in which case you can be sure they will pass the NCT and that they are also set so as to give you the best possible visibility when driving. I reckon that is good value personally.

Del2005

George Dalton wrote: »

Just because you DIY aligned the lights sufficiently to pass the NCT doesn't mean they are set correctly. The NCT basically makes sure they aren't set too high or too far to the right so you won't be blinding other road users. You can have them set really low and really far left and they will pass the test no problem. However they won't be too good for their primary purpose of helping you see where you are going in the dark

Once it doesn't blind me it's fine.

If someone wants to drive at night only lighting the few feet in front of them I don't see what is wrong with that. I'd say about half the cars I see on the road are running like that and most of the time it's probably because they've no idea how to use the load adjuster correctly. It's better than the other third of vehicles with lights pointing high and right.

For approximately €20 you can make sure they are set correctly in which case you can be sure they will pass the NCT and that they are also set so as to give you the best possible visibility when driving. I reckon that is good value personally.

Only if the place has a similar machine to the NCT centres and it's correctly calibrated. There have been plenty of people posting here about having their lights adjusted right before the test and failing.

George Dalton

Del2005 wrote: »

Only if the place has a similar machine to the NCT centres and it's correctly calibrated. There have been plenty of people posting here about having their lights adjusted right before the test and failing.

This is true of course. It is also important that the person doing the job knows how to use the machine. It should also be pointed out that there are certainly a very large amount of people who had their lights adjusted before the test and passed but they are unlikely to feel so strongly about their positive experience that they feel the need to post here about it.