dsmroman

Im interested in buying a hid kit for my 06 c230 and i just wanted to see if i could get a lil help from a you guys. Where did you get yours from? Price? And if you guys had any error or fickering issues? If you can provide me with any links i would really appreciate it.

jayzfelon

Bought mine of ebay http://stores.ebay.com/HID-Outdoor-Equipments. Have had it for a year now no issues and they give you a special harness make sure you specify the year and make of your car. $55 shipped and i think its $65 for slim ballast.

Cappa26

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...nt-thread.html

use the search function & beware of Ebay kits.

LILBENZ230

I bought mine from Apexcone/DDM - 55w kit, hooked it right up - no errors or flickers. It was $84 shipped. Attached is a picture of the beam pattern against a wall. It held on quite well to the stock pattern, just a little less sharp. I love it. Follow link in my signature for more info and a long-range photo of the beam pattern at night.

WaveyKat

55W kits for your Low Beams & Fogs?

LILBENZ230

No that beam picture I took is just low-beams. 55w. I have stock fogs.

W203E35

haha Dollar Zone, here in SoCal those type of stores are called 99 cent stores (looks like it went out of business)

Thanks for the pic looks great.

darkzeroz4

Your beam pattern is a lot better than mine. I bought some HID kit off ebay for $80. Does the quality of the ballast and bulbs affect the beam pattern? I invested on a slim kit with premium bulbs from JDMlighting.com. Hopefully that fixes the problem. I have a 5000k bulb installed. It's really not that blue.

LILBENZ230

No the ballast shouldn't have anything to do with it. I had to mess with the bulbs, adjusting them in the socket, to get my beam pattern to finally be like that. I had to keep fiddling with it to get it right, but in the end it kept a very-close-to-stock beam pattern. There is a ton more light, I recommend the 55w kit. My Benz shares the garage with an 08 G37.. and it's factory HIDs have a better beam pattern but are not as intense as my 55w. My 55w kit is 6000k, but the 55w makes it appear very white. I love them.


Attached is a (bad quality cell phone shot) of the car about a block away at night. You can see how wide and even the beam is on the street. Also, a shot of the amount of foreground lighting the HIDs are capable of, as well as a shot of the G37 and Benz both with HIDs on - all crappy photos but you all get the point. I really love the 55w kit and I recommend it to anyone.

benze-ply

thats an impressive beam pattern for an HID kit in our clear halogen housing!

awesome! i'll have to start fiddling with my bulb. is that from a d2s or d2r bulb?

LILBENZ230

Sorry, I didn't see this thread until just now. I'm thinking it is a D2S bulb. I've seen a D2R bulb out of my old 02 Acura TL and this bulb didn't look the same. I got it from DDM Tuning. When I first put them in, I turned the headlights on and was like WTF! The beam pattern was terrible and I was ready to scrap them and re-install the halogens. So I sat there for like an hour twisting and turning the bulb in the housing until finally I got it as close to stock pattern as I am going to get. There are a couple of hot spots, but on the highway you can't tell - it has just as good coverage and beam as my OEM HID in that Acura had. It's also way more intense than 35w systems (including the Bi-X in the G37 and in the W204 C350 loaner I had recently).

The only thing about it is that the passenger bulb is slightly whiter than the driver's side. It's barely noticeable, so I'm leaving it be.

Another thing - I left the dust guards off. I (ghetto) used some small pieces of electrical tape around the bulb. I haven't noticed any issue from this and it's been two months. When I get around to it, I'll drill holes in the caps and install it all correctly. I just don't have ready access to drills.

R6Tuan

how did u adjust the bulb in the socket??

cause doesnt the bulb have metal tabs that make it fit in the housing only one way?

or did u shave off the tabs on the bulb?

can u give more details on how to adjust the bulb in the socket?

darkzeroz4

By twisting and turning do you mean the bulb or the headlight housing with the screws? For my 06 C230, the bulb can't really be turned because it needs to fit snuggly tight into the housing in order to lock it. It uses a turning lock mechanism opposed to the more traditional two springs that hold it in place. I switched out my eBay HID kit and installed a slim kit I bought from JDMlighting.com. The light output is much brighter than those generic kits from eBay. I would assume the ballast and bulb quality affects the output.

ChaRgeC230

Got mines from ehre also. plug and play. make sure you also get the error cancellor

LILBENZ230

I did not get the error cancel modules (BOW modules) with my Apexcone kit. It is 55w, same as stock halogen, and I have had no errors or flickering. The BOW modules were $40 alone, and I figured if it wouldn't work without them then I would pay the extra. Fortunately, it works fine as is.

As far as adjusting the bulb in the housing. I did not shave off the tabs or modify the socket in any way. I also did not touch the alignment screws on the headlight housings themselves. I put the bulbs in, turned on the headlights and was like WTF! I was ready to take the system out and settle for my Silverstar Ultra bulbs. But I decided to tinker around first and this is basically how it went:

The part of the headlight that you have to twist to "unlock" the bulbs wouldn't hold onto my HID bulbs securely. They seemed to wiggle around a bit and the pattern was terrible. I wish I could be more detailed, but I really just played around with it. It took me over an hour of just tinkering around before I had a beam pattern close to stock. I do not have the bulb installed the way it is meant to be in the housing. I know this because when I went to twist the thing to lock the bulb in place it put up some resistance before submitting. I can't advocate this, you may break something. But it worked for me and I couldn't be more satisfied with the result.

I really wish I could write you all a guide.. but it was just me, on a saturday night, playing in the garage.

So go tinker with them and see if you can get a better pattern (obviously, it is possible). But at your own risk, don't break something. I have no experience at this. I attached a picture and yes I really need to invest in a real camera.

LILBENZ230

Oh yeah, I'm sure the ballast and bulb affect the output - but it is the headlight housing that shapes the beam. Do you have a photo of your beam pattern?

darkzeroz4

I made some adjustments to the bulb into the housing and managed to get a much better beam pattern. I just hope the lock mechanism will hold it in place because it won't click to lock. I get a good amount of light around the center but the sides are rather dim.

krisv420

Im looking to pick up an hid kit very soon... 8000k light output?? how does it look i want something a little blue but not fully blown out blue.. Its between 6000k and 8000k

W203E35

^^

maverik259

5000k is white...6000k is hyper white w/ slight blue hue...8000k is blue....10000k+ purple and illegal!

and yes 55w kits dont need an error cancellor since the wattage is the same...if you got the 65 watt you might need the error cancellor...and yes beam pattern is a product of housing which is why HID bulbs like to be in HID housings for a true beam pattern both true and wide!...OEM can cover a 4 lane highway with no problem and even light up the trees on either side to some extent!

also your g37 HID's dont seem to be as bright because they arent necessarily...those bulbs arent the same kelvin temp as your 6000k...my mom drives a g37 and when compared to mine, mine is much brighter to the eye but hers lights up the darker paved roads much better...

the higher the kelvin temp the less light output you actually get, keep that in mind...the optimum color and output is about 5-5500k...

LILBENZ230

My left HID is out. I can hear the ballast make a buzz-pause sound, but the light won't fire. I haven't gotten around to fixing this yet as the right HID is so powerful having two seems like a formality. The G37 is gone, replaced by a 135i with Bi-X. The HID I put in the Benz outperformed both. Actually, the ONE headlight in the Benz performs better than BOTH in the BMW - aside from the dynamic feature that auto-levels and swivels. When I say "outperformed" I don't mean it's brighter to look at. I mean, I live in the country and the Benz with its 55w HID kit has much better illumination than the BMW or G37 does/did.

I have a lifetime warranty so I need to figure out whether it's the bulb or ballast that's the issue with mine.

shivi1345

do they make 7000k? I've kinda been looking....and haven't found sh*t

nelson09

I just installed a set of APEXcone 8ks last night - couldn't be happier!!! I got mine from RPM in Costa Mesa like $75, no "lamp defective" warning either. 8ks are siiick!!! They arn't too blue, the sales guy told me they'd be a nice blend of a bluish/purplish because of my projector - he was right. Only problem is my POLARGsuperwhite running light look weak now so I had to get a set of LEDs. The LEDs I got are suppsedly don't throw error codes either - no resistor needed etc. HIDs came with a 1year warranty and way affordably -I'm just left wondering why I waited so long to pull the trigger on HIDs.

nelson09

Gabe007

Does RPM Costa Mesa have a website?

I know three affordable ~$60-75 HIDs (DDM Tuning, James@ACGSD, and HIDExtra.com). DDM and ACG have lifetime warranty while HIDExtra have 2yrs. But they are far from the Orange County.