druid5012

My old car was a Camry with projectors I put a 4300K HID kit in. It looked great, however my 2013 C250 coupe has the lighting kit and its lights look more yellowish than my 4300K in my Camry did. What K rating is stock in the C250 coupe's HID's? Where can I upgrade it? I hate the gaudy blue look, but I did want it to be less yellow at close range. It doesn't even really match the DRLs.

theunderlord

6K would accomplish that nicely for you.

druid5012

Well I don't want to go above 4300, but I swear the MB genuine ones are lower than that. The 4300 ones I had for my Camry from Retrofit source were gorgeous. Basically I like a nice hint of purple, 6k is too much and 5k is pushing it.

theunderlord

if you want purple, 4300K, 5k, and 6k are no where close to purple.

here's a handy chart.

druid5012

Well maybe I'm colorblind then, the blue that 4300s give off looks purple to me. Either way my question is, are the MB genunine HIDs that come with the lighting kit on 2013 models 4300? If not where can I buy replacement bulbs that are?

theunderlord

Not sure what temp K the OEM bulbs are, but all you have to do is find the correct size and buy some replacements.

ddmtuning.com sells bulbs by the pair. they're stupid cheap, so you could experiment. Your size is D1S right?

MBBonus

4300k is standard xenons on all factory vehicles. Im sure mercedes doesnt use a lower quality HID. sometimes the light looks different due to the actual lens (round ball). look at the color on a white wall at night, if it has the blueish lines then its 4300k. Only thing i can think of other than this is your car does not have the xenon ballasts and has the base non-xenon bulbs.

druid5012

It definitely has Xenons, I special ordered the car because of that. But maybe the with the lens on this car it would look better with 5000 or 6000K like you said. Where can I buy a bulb that would work with this car that wouldn't void my warranty?

andrew e coupe

~ 4300k - 4700k fall within the factory hid colors/hue. anything higher than that looks way too aftermarket imo.

AV1

You are right, that is the case of 4-4500k HID bulbs.

Interesting thing is though when they're first fired up they emit a most obvious blue hue similar to a 7 or 8,000k HID bulb but only for about the first 10-20 seconds, have you noticed that at all ?? strange that does not happen in any of my other vehicles with HID's only my MB C Coupe

But getting back onto the topic of HID colour output, my understanding is once you get out of the yellow/white light spectrum you decrease or lose visibilty capability, the higher up the range or the more blue/violet you go to, then dark, wet and foggy conditions with that range of HID has reduced visibility and penetration.

I have noticed that this is the case on one of my vehicles fitted with 8,000k HID's, wet or dark roads are less visible than with my C Coupe or another one of my vehicles with 6,000k HID, the 8,000k may look nicer colour wise when the headlights are fired up, but visibilty is worse than the lower ranges of HID.

druid5012

Yes, I agree they look sexy for the first 10-20 seconds while they eyes are "looking around" haha and then they warm up to an ugly white. They give off kind of a gritty white from a distance, but up close they are yellow. Where can I find aftermarket bulbs that will fit my car to experiment with? I only want to buy bulbs I do not want to mess with the ballasts or wiring.

AV1

Sorry I can't answer specifically druid but I'm sure a search over the net will locate different colour range direct OEM replacement HID bulbs - when I get a chance I'll try doing a search, personally I wouldn't mind a set of 6000k range for my C Coupe, from experience on one of my other cars with that range, it is still mostly bright white with only a touch of blue, just perfect IMHO for both looks and doing the job they're meant to do

190Benz

I thought OEM xenon was 3200k.

I installed 6000k now. They are the same color as the C led's in the headlight and the daylights in the bumper.

AV1

Can you supply info on the kit/type you used 190Benz - the more info on this topic the better TIA.

190Benz

I work in a carparts store. So i just replaced them with a Pilot D1S 6000k bulb as i already have OEM D1S xenon. Pilot is very known in Belgium/Netherlands. My car is at the Eisenmann factory now, so i can't take any pictures of the colour for now. Here are some other brand partnumbers and prices of what we have in stock:

Philips D1S 6000k UltraBlue = 85410UB = €193.10 excl. taxes
Osram D1S 5000k CoolBlue = 66144cbi = €179 excl. taxes
Pilot D1S 6000k = 07.117.73 = €50 excl taxes

AV1

The 5000k range CoolBlue Osram sounds interesting, would probably look perfect white, as 6000k only gives a slight blue-y hue.

So these are direct fit replacements for our OEM HID bulbs, look forward to your pics as it will help other people make a decision too

jctevere

The Mercedes OEM Bi-Xenon lighting is 4200 K. Which is slightly "yellower" then your 4300 K in your past Camry, so you are not crazy.

Also, something to note is the "LED headlamps" that Mercedes-Benz is beginning to transition are 5500 K (such as in the face lifted CLS). According to Mercedes, their studies have shown that the closer the color of artificial light (headlights) come to daylight, the less the strain on the eyes. Since daylight ranges from 5500 K - 6500 K, the LED headlights are much more "effective" and better at lighting surfaces versus bi-xenon headlights.

This is the main reasoning behind the transition from Bi-Xenon headlights to LED headlights. Not to mention the headlight life is much longer, and uses less power with LED.

190Benz

@AV1: Those are indeed direct fit replcaments for our OEM HID bulbs. I'll take pictures when my car returns.

@Jctevere: You are right on the Kelvin value of the lights. Mercedes uses the same Kelvin as sunlight. Wich our eyes can use the most from all the values.

AV1

You are correct, that is indeed why OEM HID are at 4500k at the most, in foggy conditions you get maximum penetration of light and also is better for lighting up wet dark roads at night.

The higher up you go the worse the visibility is, I have 8000k in one of my other cars and the visibility at night is far inferior to my MB or even my Mazda with 6000k, the 8000k look sexy but are poor in actual lighting performance.

Thanks 190Benz, look forward to the pics

If I change mine I may stick to the 5000k max to still get good/proper lighting performance, don't really want to go backwards from the excellent OEM performance supplied by MB.

jctevere

Yes and no. The most ideal kelvin temperature range for best visibility is indeed 5500 K - 6500 K. However, the reason why OEM Bi-Xenon headlights aren't this temperature is because Kelvin color is only part of the equation. Lumens or brightness is another main component. The problem with bi-xenon headlights is that it doesn't efficiently produce 5500 K - 6500 K color range and maintain the optimal lumen output, if they did, they would be that color. For MB, the best "ratio" of K to lumen for optimal lighting with bi-xenon has been figured to be 4200 K.

This is why there is a main industry shift towards LED headlights. LED headlights are capable of emitting 5500 K color with great lumen output. As a result, you have better visibility versus Bi-Xenon.

AV1

We'll have to look forward to possible LED replacements then

jctevere

Unfortunately its not that simple

LED replacement bulbs in a housing that is not designed for LED is not very efficient, and you're better off with Bi-Xenon or halogen lighting.