I was wondering if the factory xenons are a direct plug in(I think the ballast and everything is built into the headlight assembly) to a non-xenon equipped car.

Anyone tried this?

Thanks

 

Of course not, the hosing are different.

 

Actually the aftermarket kits are more plug and play as you plug the connector from the bulb to the ballast and then stick the new bulb in and plug that into the ballast and get the Xenon option turned on and you are done. The advantage of the factory parts is the dealer will likely install them, no questions asked.

 

Just because the parts are factory doesn't mean MB will install them and warranty them for you. In fact, most will "likely" not to install the new xenon's for you.

 

The reason that I ask is that I wanted to upgrade to the 03 style headlights on my C32 and sell my C32 Xenons to my C240 friend!

I think even going from Xenon for 03 bi-xenons will have its own trouble because of the different pin-outs for hibeam xenons!

I've heard people getting warning ligts and sides of headlights being shout off by the car due to the aftermarket xenons!

 

I think a MB dealer will be glad to install OEM light kits.

I have not actually tried it, but I asked about upgrading our ML and they said "no problem".

I had the Porsche dealer upgrade my '97 993 lights to factory Xenon (it is a much more complicated deal on that car) for about $400 labor - they were happy to do it.

 

I assume the aftermarket kits are a lot of worse than the OEM. Am I right?

 

Why would you say they are worse, maybe they are better or you may like the color better (purple vs. blue). I don't think anyones done a side by side comparison.

 

The light is not (just as Buellwinkle says) necessary worse, but you'll lose the self-leveling feature (wich I think is required by law. At least in Europe).

 

I have not actually look or take out the entire headlight assembly so I do not know the setup on our C!

On my Boxster the entire head light(non Litronic) has no wire attached to it(everything is self contained) and the entire assembly just slides from a rail into a big socket with all the wiring pin outs.

So I thouhgt if the C class xenons have the same self contained headlights then it will be just the matter of pluging the entire headlight into the socket!

 

The aftermarket kits are definately NOT as good as the OEM kits. They are an improvement to the stock headlights, but they aren't true HIDs because the housing has not been changed.

Our stock light housings are not projector HID housings.. they are halogen housings which can't focus HID lighting correctly.
You'll definately get brighter lights with aftermarket HID's but you won't get a focused beam pattern like you do with the OEM HID projectors.

 

From what I've gleaned from the board, going from the 2002 xenons to the 2003 projectors isn't going to be possible with the Cs due to wiring differences.

Cheers, BT

 

On my 993 (which may very well be different technology than the 996 and Boxster) the lights slide out but the wiring harness has to be changed out and the ballast added on the inside of the fender. Also, the self leveling feature is not available on retrofits.