I’ve got my MOT next week and when going through a couple of the checks myself, I noticed something was off with my headlights…
They were working as intended however they didn’t appear to be shining the beam correctly. I then had a realisation that when I bought these headlights in August 2024, I had to get them imported from Germany due to them being non-OEM and what I completely forgot to factor in back then was that they drive on the other side of the road in Europe! After getting in touch with the manufacturer who confirmed they were indeed shipped in a left hand drive configuration, all that was left was for me to switch the headlight pattern over (which frustratingly was easier said than done!)
The main issue with the Passats, specifically the B6s, is that the main housing for the headlights is secured with a torx screw that quite annoyingly is only accessible by removing the entire front bumper of the car so I knew from installing them that this was going to be a bigger job overrall. I started it as soon as I got home from work (around 6pm) and finished at around 9pm, which by the time I had finished tidying and cleaning up it was closer to 10pm but if I’m honest I very much enjoy spending my evenings this way!
One thing I will note about this is that in the traditional OEM headlights there is usually just a metal plate within each unit that has to simply be flipped over however upon removing the first headlight, it was clear this one was slightly different – there was no way to dissassemble the light housing and was left quite perplexed by a small diagram on the side (Yellow sticker image below). There was no manufacturer instructions online nor did the manufacturer provide any guidance apart from this little cryptic sticker… it took me a little while to decipher what it meant but after looking at the back of the main beam compartment, I noticed a small metal lever that looked to match the diagram! It then all made much more sense which I was very thankful for meaning the second headlight didn’t take anywhere near as long to convert.
