LED Headlights H7 - What's road legal in Ireland?

Nodferatu

I'm looking to get a set of LED LOW beam headlights for my VW Golf 7.5. But I'm unsure what's legal even tho I have goggled I'm still a bit unsure. I want a good quality set I'm not interested in €10 bulbs I want to get a set of good quality that'll last I was looking at the Philips Ultinon range bit some of those are non road legal. Looking for help! Please and thanks

JohnC.

Last I heard, there's no legal LED bulbs for retrofitting. Only the full units fitted by manufacturers are legal. There are, of course, people selling them, but you will often see disclaimers about it being your responsibility to comply with local laws or that they are for off-road use only.

User1998

Define road legal? They should pass NCT no problem, they don’t require headlight washers etc like HID’s do.

bazz26

Fitting aftermarket LED bulbs to lenses not originally designed for them will just scatter the light incorrectly making visibility poor. They will also blind other road users and there are enough muppets out there with these **** aftermarket lights blinding oncoming traffic as it is.

Some of the higher spec Mk7.5 Golfs had led headlights from the factory, might be worth seeing if you can buy a second hand set of them instead.

teediddlyeye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121502553#Comment_121502553

Not necessarily, nobody ever seems to know of their existence but there are options for HID bulbs at least, for reflector headlights. I had them at one point, properly focused and never had bother blinding anyone.

Shame too many dopes fitting the wrong type so they're just associated with chavmobiles blinding everyone.

Nodferatu

Thanks for the responses and help so far...

I'm open to Xenon bulbs then. Doesn't have to be LED. If LED are not road legal and too bright for the roads, I'll go with Xenons.

Just wondering what's NCT passable and safe for road usage. Some of these bulbs say up to 200% brighter, now I'd imagine that would blind oncoming traffic. Am I safe just buying basic Xenon bulbs in Halfords? They have their own brand and I don't really trust Halfords stuff tbh!

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121502837#Comment_121502837

As per my post, HID’s (Xenons) will not pass an NCT. You need headlamp washers and self levelling devices.

LED’s don’t need this and should pass no problem.

colm_mcm

There is one section in the NCT about using bulbs that are incompatible with the headlight. They could get you on that but in practice this often doesn’t happen.

FWIW they can often work well enough in reflector headlights, as opposed to HIDs which often have issues in how they scatter the light.