If you have separate dipped beam and main beam + sidelight lamps, which goes on the outside of the car, or does it not matter?

on my BMW, side lights are the inner 2, dipped beam the outer 2, main beam the inner 2.

my old bmw, sidelights were the outer 2, dipped outer 2, and main inner 2

I'm pretty sure it won't matter as long as all lamps meet the required sizes for sva. Realistically there is only a size for side/head lights, so I'd put them to the outside as a matter of course, because the sidelight is allways illuminated and will therefore show more of the extremities of the car

It all comes down to the SVA manual which gives measurements for the sidelights and dipped beam (min 400mm from edge of vehicle and min 500mm height) but doesn't mention main beam position at all iirc, so I would put the dip on the outside.


[Edited on 16-11-07 by RazMan]

interesting question. there may be rules about it or not, I don;t know and ain't gonna google but my take would be to put the side/dipped on the outermost edges to make the car appear widest for other road users when driving in normal conditions.

my reasoning goes from hearing a story about a motorcylist that died in head on collision overtaking a car where the op;posing car had offside lamp blown so the width of the car was not known, until too late I guess

Best to have dipped beam on the outside as they will always be on whilst you are driving on headlights and on-comming vehicles get a better idea of the width of your car.

Steve @ sVc