DEPO Headlights Thread - everything you ever wanted to know about DEPO
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From: San Diego, CA & San Jose, Costa Rica & Stuttgart, Germany
1959 220S / 1979 230 G / 2002 A210 AMG / 2003 C320 SC / 2004.5 C320 SS / 2005 ML350 SE / 2008 smart
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From: Cleveland, OH
2004.0 C230 Sedan
You don't have the option to buy LED taillights for your coupe. You might think differently if LED tails were an option for you.
Also, LED's offer more functionality than stock facelift taillights. LED's light up quicker, and are brighter, which adds a safety aspect.
Also, to many, LED's have a cool factor to them.
Also, LED's offer more functionality than stock facelift taillights. LED's light up quicker, and are brighter, which adds a safety aspect.
Also, to many, LED's have a cool factor to them.
Last edited by XenonBenz; Jun 26, 2007 at 08:03 PM.
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"Double Stuff" SOLD | Nor*Cals "Pesky Audi"
its not a mater of look or availability. its about quality. if you do some diggin through the thread, its been discussed that in a few cases the LED's short-out/pop do to poor quality, etc etc. good luck with your purchase.
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Joined: Jun 2003
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From: San Diego, CA & San Jose, Costa Rica & Stuttgart, Germany
1959 220S / 1979 230 G / 2002 A210 AMG / 2003 C320 SC / 2004.5 C320 SS / 2005 ML350 SE / 2008 smart
You don't have the option to buy LED taillights for your coupe. You might think differently if LED tails were an option for you.
Also, LED's offer more functionality than stock facelift taillights. LED's light up quicker, and are brighter, which adds a safety aspect.
Also, to many, LED's have a cool factor to them.
Also, LED's offer more functionality than stock facelift taillights. LED's light up quicker, and are brighter, which adds a safety aspect.
Also, to many, LED's have a cool factor to them.
Even if they had them for the C-Coupe, I wouldn't even consider them.
Read back to 2003. People that went out of their way / crazy for LED lights, and installed them on their MB's found out the hard-way how much of pain in the @$$ they really are. Changing them out every 3-4 months gets old real quick.
Actually, the safety aspect is flawed. Yes, they are brighter, but they are actually more distracting to the driver behind you than they are practical. Bright flashes reduce short-distance visibility and impair your judgment of distance.
But, you guys can knock yourselves out with LED's. Just read the 45 or so threads on these forums dating back early on. Most have given up on the LED fad, or just putting up with the inconveniences solely for the "look".
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From: Rowland Heights,CA
W203 (sold), W204 (sold), W124
These Depo lights look good. But, many people had problems with the LED lights made by Eagle Eyes. You might want to consider that. Some say that the headlights made by Depo are good and some say are poor.
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From: MA
E90 M3
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From: Cleveland, OH
2004.0 C230 Sedan
I learned about the Depo headlights the hard way. I installed them, sold em in less than 2 weeks, and bought OEM Bi-Xenon's. The Depo's actually look great, however there is a design flaw. The reflector "bowl" inside the Depo's are installed backwards at the factory. This ruins the light pattern by causing hot spots, and the light is front heavy with very little light on the sides. To many people, it's acceptable. Since I live in Ohio with a lot of rural dark roads, the light pattern was unacceptable for me.
Check out the link below. This is from a VW forum, however the VW owners were able to "tweak" the Depo lights to fix the factory design flaw to fix the output of the light. Unfortunately, the Depo's for the C Class can't be fixed easily like the VW.
Depo Light Pattern on my W203
Last edited by XenonBenz; Jun 27, 2007 at 09:10 AM.
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MBWorld Fanatic!
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From: Socal
EVE
What I would do is buy the assembly, and modify the existing lighting fixtures onto it so you could use the stock bulb harnesses... non-LED, but at least it's a "facelift".. know what I mean?
What are these? $150?
What are these? $150?
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From: Cleveland, OH
2004.0 C230 Sedan
These cost $233 shipped EMS from Hong Kong on eBay. Although the eBay ID says he's from Canada, he's not. I have ordered several items from this seller (Jakuo), and I have been very happy with the products. EMS shipping from Hong Kong has only taken about 3-4 days to Ohio.
On a side note, the Eagle Eyes LED tails don't use the OEM light "board". You just plug in all your bulbs directly into the taillight itself. The Depo brand looks like it still utilizes the OEM light "board".
I already bought and installed a set of Eagle Eyes LED tailights 2 weeks ago, otherwise I probably would have ordered these Depo's. I'm happy with the taillights. Hopefully I'll get more than a year of use out of them.
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From: West Los Angeles
Midnight Blue 2004.5 C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan. 2002 w210 E320, 2009 w211 E350 Sport
Not possible. Where do you put the top bulb for the brakelight? From the way these are designed, they'd have to have a LED board replacing the hole for the brake light bulb, which would make it impossible to use the OEM bulb board. If you take out the halogen brake bulb, then you'll have error messages all over the place.
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From: Cleveland, OH
2004.0 C230 Sedan
Not possible. Where do you put the top bulb for the breaklight? From the way these are designed, they'd have to have a LED board replacing the hole for the brake light bulb, which would make it impossible to use the OEM bulb board. If you take out the halogen brake bulb, then you'll have error messages all over the place.
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From: West Los Angeles
Midnight Blue 2004.5 C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan. 2002 w210 E320, 2009 w211 E350 Sport
I'm pretty sure I am right about the Depo tails using the OEM light board. If you had a chance to see the picture below first, you would have seen exactly what I was talking about. If you look at the picture, it seems as though there is a "dummy" metal base part of a light bulb that plugs into the light board for the brake light(to prevent error on dash). Because there is no glass bulb and only the metal base, there is enough clearance for the board to fit on the back of the taillight.
I sold my OEM board with my taillights, so don't have that anymore, but that looks decent.
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From: Cleveland, OH
2004.0 C230 Sedan
Oooh.... another thought just popped into my head about these lights Drex.
Are the bulb boards from the 01-04 and the 04.5-07 exactly the same other than the 6 pin vs. 7 pin connector?
If they are, then this taillight would be universal for 01-07 C Classes. Otherwise, this tail is only good for 01-04 as advertised.
Are the bulb boards from the 01-04 and the 04.5-07 exactly the same other than the 6 pin vs. 7 pin connector?
If they are, then this taillight would be universal for 01-07 C Classes. Otherwise, this tail is only good for 01-04 as advertised.
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Joined: Mar 2004
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From: West Los Angeles
Midnight Blue 2004.5 C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan. 2002 w210 E320, 2009 w211 E350 Sport
Oooh.... another thought just popped into my head about these lights Drex.
Are the bulb boards from the 01-04 and the 04.5-07 exactly the same other than the 6 pin vs. 7 pin connector?
If they are, then this taillight would be universal for 01-07 C Classes. Otherwise, this tail is only good for 01-04 as advertised.
Are the bulb boards from the 01-04 and the 04.5-07 exactly the same other than the 6 pin vs. 7 pin connector?
If they are, then this taillight would be universal for 01-07 C Classes. Otherwise, this tail is only good for 01-04 as advertised.
2005-Present - same (7 pin)
bulb holders are different between 6 pin to 7 pin (I think, from what I remember)
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From: Boston
2003 C240
This is an good thread, I find it interesting that they actually designed it with that dummy....however, like it was discussed before, if you really want the S class led tails, 120 bucks every year (or much more if you're lucky) is not too much to pay to have the updated look. Or, of course, you could go non-led s tails. However, to me, it seems these tails (the ones pictured on 1st post) are pointless, because i think most people upgrade for the s style look and not just the LEDs....I guess its what you prefer....anyways that just my .02 lol
I actually have 2 sets of the eagle eyes LED tails....the first one i got a screw broke when I was installing them, company wouldnt give me an exchange, so I ordered another pair...I couldnt wait so I used some gorilla glue on the screw and the thing is strong as anything I've seen, so I have a backup set whenever anything goes wrong with these...
I actually have 2 sets of the eagle eyes LED tails....the first one i got a screw broke when I was installing them, company wouldnt give me an exchange, so I ordered another pair...I couldnt wait so I used some gorilla glue on the screw and the thing is strong as anything I've seen, so I have a backup set whenever anything goes wrong with these...
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From: Cleveland, OH
2004.0 C230 Sedan
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1918243&page=1
I thought about fixing my Depo's, but it looked like you would have to cut open the headlight. I sold them in less than a week and bought some OEM Bi-Xenon's.
To those who don't know what's wrong with the Depo's, the reflector bowl is installed backwards. This is obvious as the position of the H7 bulb sits 180 degrees in the wrong direction. There is a tab in the base of the H7 bulb that is supposed to point up. The tab points down in the Depo, making the beam pattern horrible.
Notice the Hot Spots and lack of side lighting
Cutoff is sharp, but hotspots are extreme
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jun 2003
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From: San Diego, CA & San Jose, Costa Rica & Stuttgart, Germany
1959 220S / 1979 230 G / 2002 A210 AMG / 2003 C320 SC / 2004.5 C320 SS / 2005 ML350 SE / 2008 smart
i just read the word "DEPO"
and I laugh like a silly girl.
and I laugh like a silly girl.
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From: Brisbane, Australia
C32
I swapped the whole projector out for bosch e46 e-codes.....the lights are awesome now. Only hiccup in the whole process was when I melted a headlight cause I left it to long in the oevn......hehe
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From: TO, CA
'03 C230 SS
I found a fix!!
I did what xenonbenz suggested to me to do. If you cut the H7 bulbs and re-install in upside down the beam pattern is completely fixed. In addition, the cut off looks like it has been color modded. My friends tell me my headlights look like a deep blue/purple now. I'll post some pics when I can get my hands on a camera.
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From: So Cal
03 c320
I did what xenonbenz suggested to me to do. If you cut the H7 bulbs and re-install in upside down the beam pattern is completely fixed. In addition, the cut off looks like it has been color modded. My friends tell me my headlights look like a deep blue/purple now. I'll post some pics when I can get my hands on a camera.
pics please..im interested
