Seat Ibiza TOCA (15 plate) headlights

[Listernufc]

Hi all,

Just after a bit of advice and guidance from people more mechanically in the know than I am.

I’ve recently bought a tidy little seat Ibiza, not the best to drive but I’m a fan of its looks. One thing I think could improve it massively is changing my ordinary headlights to LED/xenon headlights (unsure of the correct term)

What are the cost implications of this? I’m assuming it’s not as simple as changing the bulbs.

[gmaz]

Legally, Xenons are required to have headlight washers and self levelling, otherwise it will fail the MOT.

LEDs rarely give a proper beam spread as the reflectors are designed to work with a bulb.

Sorry

[Listernufc]

Thanks for the reply.

That’s a shame, it would look so much nicer with some sort of white headlight rather than yellow, I was hoping chucking a couple of hundred pound at it would make it happen!

Thanks for the info!

[gmaz]

You could always fit different bulbs with a higher colour temp.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/76...

BTW - my comments about Xenons are for Xenon HID lights,

[Tomo1971]

gmaz said:

Legally, Xenons are required to have headlight washers and self levelling, otherwise it will fail the MOT.

LEDs rarely give a proper beam spread as the reflectors are designed to work with a bulb.

Sorry

As well as throwing all that light onto the wrong place on the road they generally blind the hell out of oncoming drivers.

I have had them before in a couple of cars when I was younger. When i put Xenons in reflector headlights they were god awful. Very bright but you could see the light splatter several feet above what they should be at - noticable on road signs, instead of been a cut off half way up the sign, the whole thing was lit up.

Had slightly better success on a car with projector headlights - the cut off was perfect but the beam pattern on the road was all wrong and my eyes tended to be drawn to the brighter areas which were not where they were supposed to be looking - also gave me headaches trying to avoid that!

I just bought Nightbreakers and kept the lenses clean and well adjusted. Then, bought cars with Xenons or Full LED since.

[Listernufc]

So there’s absolutely no way of just replacing the full headlight with something that just looks better? I’m sure they’re an optional extra for a 15 plate Ibiza, so would there not be a way to get them fitted?

[Squishey]

Listernufc said:

So there’s absolutely no way of just replacing the full headlight with something that just looks better? I’m sure they’re an optional extra for a 15 plate Ibiza, so would there not be a way to get them fitted?

As has been mentioned, a car with xenon headlamps needs to have headlight washers and self-levelling headlights for an MOT. I expect it can be retrofitted but for an idea of cost the cheapest (and only!) set of 2012-17 Ibiza headlights on eBay are £640, then you'll need the two headlight washers at around £40 each, then the caps for the washers £25 each + paint, washer pump £25, washer pipework £25, headlight level sensors £30 each, and then I expect you'll need to find a VAG specialist to code it all = circa £1000. That assumes that it's all a simple plug, code and play job and no wiring modifications are needed.

If you really want xenon/LED headlights, sell your car and buy one with them already fitted!

[Penelope Stopit]

I fitted these in my Peugeot 306 light units and they have made a massive difference, you won't be disappointed
https://procarreviews.com/best-headlight-bulbs/