Are LHD and RHD headlights interchangeable ?

Post Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:48 am

As per the title ...
My 325 is obviously LHD here in Denmark. Have found new lights from a zoner in England which are from a RHD.
When looking on Realoem for replacement part no's for mine the standard lights have a different part no than that of a RHD from the same month/year - BUT there are also "yellow" lights available which have the same part no for LHD and RHD.
Anyone know for sure ??
And is the wiring plug gonna be the same from my old 1986 Hella's to the newer smiley jobs from 1990?
Giles

Post Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:00 am

mm its a tough one - i know that on a few cars i've seen lhd being different to rhd as the angle the light goes away from the centre of the beem means if you use the wrong ones you are actually blinding everything either side of you in front of the car but not actually infront of the car if you catch my drift - with the lights on an e30 being circular maybe htere is some trick to using the lhd on a rhd - definately make sure before you buy though as i kno on some cars it is not possible to interchange.

Post Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:03 pm

If they are smileys, you can rotate the mask to make them a LHD or RHD fitting.

Post Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:22 pm

What he said!

Smileys are designed to be able to be swapped for use on either side of the road... & the wiring's not *quite* the same, but it's easy to swap them. IIRC, one type uses a common earth for the sidelights & the dipped beams or something like that. Nothing that a few minutes with a soldering iron won't solve anyway. I'd make sure you've got the right plugs to fit the lights though - maybe get whoever's supplying the lights to send the plugs too if they have them

Post Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:51 pm

Hi guys ... pardon my ignorance but I haven't seen a light unit up close and personal ... how do you mean rotate the mask ?? I thought the lenses on the front were welded to the rest of the unit.
And Ziggy ... which bits are "swappable" ??

Thanks for the help so far ....

Giles

Post Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:30 pm

You just need to change the wires slightly where they go into the plugs, (2 of the plugs IIRC are different; seperate on later lights but combined on early ones? Going purely from memory here!) before they plug into the lights. Really not difficult, as long as you've got the necessary plugs. I'm sure someone knows the exact differences, but I've got spare sets of both types so I'll have a look in the garage otherwise!
Apart from the wiring, they just bolt in.

Changing the dip direction works like this: