I bought the mandatory headlamp adaptors I will need for driving in france.
The guide that accompanied them which depicts where to attach the adaptors has no mention of a mini, it has a section on the back for cars not mentioned but I’m finding it very confusing and cant find a pattern that quite matches that of my closed beam lucas headlights.
If anyone who has had previous experience knows where/how to attach the adaptors to a mini an explanation/diagram/picture would be much appreciated.
-J
> I bought the mandatory headlamp adaptors I will need for driving in france.
The guide that accompanied them which depicts where to attach the adaptors has no mention of a mini, it has a section on the back for cars not mentioned but I’m finding it very confusing and cant find a pattern that quite matches that of my closed beam lucas headlights.
If anyone who has had previous experience knows where/how to attach the adaptors to a mini an explanation/diagram/picture would be much appreciated.
-J
Having driven to Paris in my mini i put both my light deflectors on (as if looking at the car standing in front) on the left of the circular shape of the mini headlight. If your going to Paris like me though, i’d strongly advise buying some rubbish bumpers, as your straight ones are likely to be dented up big time by a frog!
buying headlamp adaptors? what happened to using electrical tape like the old days?
> > I bought the mandatory headlamp adaptors I will need for driving in france.
The guide that accompanied them which depicts where to attach the adaptors has no mention of a mini, it has a section on the back for cars not mentioned but I’m finding it very confusing and cant find a pattern that quite matches that of my closed beam lucas headlights.
If anyone who has had previous experience knows where/how to attach the adaptors to a mini an explanation/diagram/picture would be much appreciated.
-J
Having driven to Paris in my mini i put both my light deflectors on (as if looking at the car standing in front) on the left of the circular shape of the mini headlight. If your going to Paris like me though, i’d strongly advise buying some rubbish bumpers, as your straight ones are likely to be dented up big time by a frog!
I was a bit worried about that! I heard people in paris tend to nudge surrounding cars to make themselves a parking space. I’ll only be in paris for a night at the most so I’ll take my cahnces.
> I was a bit worried about that! I heard people in paris tend to nudge surrounding cars to make themselves a parking space. I’ll only be in paris for a night at the most so I’ll take my cahnces.
Even the police does that in Paris… No joke! I’ve not seen a single Mini in Paris without bull bars (and I counted over 30 Minis ). Does the Hotel you’r in(??) have a car park?
Re: the headlight question: the UK drivers I see over here just tape they’r headlights with duct tape or something like that
Remember, if you’re driving in France, you need 60 Euro’s at least, in cash for on the spot fines, a warning triangle, first aid kit, headlight beam benders, spare bulbs for every type on your car, GB sticker and high vis. vests for all of your passengers.
Or you could just do what me nd my mates did when we took my T5 to Paris, just load it up with beer and sod the legalities
I’ve looked into it and Im sure you only need one vest in the car, I’ve got all that stuff.
Asphalt- We are travelling all round france, we’ve taken note of a couple of hostels but we havn’t booked any hotels.
Does all this shunting of cars in paris mean that people don’t use their handbrakes?? :S
> I’ve looked into it and Im sure you only need one vest in the car, I’ve got all that stuff.
Asphalt- We are travelling all round france, we’ve taken note of a couple of hostels but we havn’t booked any hotels.
Does all this shunting of cars in paris mean that people don’t use their handbrakes?? :S
No just means that they use the back or front of your car to guide them into the space, when they have hit they stop!!! like dodgems!! they will try and fit a huge car in any small space!!
> Remember, if you’re driving in France, you need 60 Euro’s at least, in cash for on the spot fines, a warning triangle, first aid kit, headlight beam benders, spare bulbs for every type on your car, GB sticker and high vis. vests for all of your passengers.
Or you could just do what me nd my mates did when we took my T5 to Paris, just load it up with beer and sod the legalities
I went to Le Mans back a few years back on a 24 hour race visit for a week, the only change I made was a GB sticker. Not a problem although I think the gendarme might have been busier ticketing Ferraris doing 150mph and up…
yeah it’s like banger racing! If you’re in a big van they tend not to do it though I recon they’d take the pee if you’re in a mini, they’re the same when they walking around too they kept walking into my mum but only one german guy walked into me and we ended having a argument.
I saw a french guy drive right up to a parked car and actually ram it out of his way, ok the car shouldn’t of been parked there but it shows how much they care about their own cars. I’d personally just put a baseball bat in the parcel shelf and just give people in front of you evils lol, every car had dints and scrapes down the side so watch out for that too!
oh yeahh, I forgot the original reason why I was posting…
I’ve been to france about 10 times, we’ve only ever put a GB sign on the back and we carry a warning triangle, only because we happen to have one but nothing else, we’ve been stopped about 5 times lol, but they never checked to see if we had it, or had hi-vis vests etc. Last time we went, we forgot the GB magnetic sign and never got stopped
If you you look at your headlights you should see the bit you need to mask in the pettern on the glass - it's the same shape as the mask. The objective is to cut the dipped beam pattern to left the same as it's cut to the right. 
Thanks everyone!
Will I need a cooler thermostat in the south of france?
I’m running an 88c stat atm which keeps my car spot on ‘N’ over here.
I remember driving through France though i never used any headlight deflectors, they didnt seem to care. As for Paris, Have fun, do not go rounf the Arch du triomph, do mind out for frogs, and well if entertainment is ur thing have a long stick at the ready to knock idiotic french mopeds and bikers off in heavy traffic, they think they own the road. U have to be brave and harsh in driving, because u’ll get no mercy. and as for the bull bars, see if u can get some from a suzuki Grand Vitara, or some big big landy chrome ones and adapt them to the mini, Yopu’ll need them, front and rear, or alot of spare tyres!
It shouldn’t make any difference, but it would be a good idea to carry a spare. The ability to dump the heat is what matters so make sure the radiator is in good knick and the block isn’t sludged up.
Im just taping mine up for my roadtrip, looked into beam benders etc, but went to LMC a couple of weeks ago, and no one had them, and very few had had a half hearted attempts with 'leccy tape.
Remember to take money for the toll roads too
And when you get back to blighty run your headlamps for a few minutes to heat up the glass to remove the stickers easily, some of the ones you get just take forever to scrape off with no lights on
Bull bars idea above is a good one, might look extreme but remember where you are
