New HID's
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Joined: May 2008
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From: Maryland
2005 C230 Sport
i'm confused...these go right into your old halogen housing? wouldn't the light beam be scattered really badly and be a pain to people driving towards you?
in terms of install...you just plug all the factory wiring harness into the ballast, then the ballast into the headlap housing and find a place to mount the ballast?
in terms of install...you just plug all the factory wiring harness into the ballast, then the ballast into the headlap housing and find a place to mount the ballast?
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From: Jersey
2003 E500 Sport, 2006 C280 4Matic
no the light beam has the same pattern. When u plug the ballast together with the bulb u'll be plugging that into the factory wires and then just mount the ballast wherever you like
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Joined: May 2008
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From: Maryland
2005 C230 Sport
but the headlight housing is designed for a halogen bulb,...they were designed taking the length and thickness of the bulb into consideration when it reflects everything into the correct beam pattern...surely these new HID bulbs are a different shape, and thus the reflective properties of the stock housing has to look differently with the new HID bulbs...
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2006 C230 Sport
but the headlight housing is designed for a halogen bulb,...they were designed taking the length and thickness of the bulb into consideration when it reflects everything into the correct beam pattern...surely these new HID bulbs are a different shape, and thus the reflective properties of the stock housing has to look differently with the new HID bulbs...
I was concerned about this same issue - I put a set of 6000K H11 HID bulbs into a "jewel appearing" reflector housing (non-fluted lenses as well) much like the W203's w/o the projector assemblies and the lighting pattern/cut-offs went haywire! Prior to this, the cut-offs were sharp, pronounced, and controllable to prevent blinding on-coming traffic. The HID bulbs, however, were longer than the halogens the housing was natively designed for and thus I believe caused it to throw light every which way with the HID bulb. That's been my only reservation to putting these on my '06 C230 (non-projector housings)!
Any chance you can give us a pic of your beam cut-offs with the HID bulbs installed? Maybe pointed at a garage door or building from 20-25 feet at night?
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From: VA
THE C350
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From: Jersey
2003 E500 Sport, 2006 C280 4Matic
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From: Jersey
2003 E500 Sport, 2006 C280 4Matic
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2019 G70 6MT & 2022 Ford Maverick XL
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CLC Coupe
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From: VA
THE C350
With the reflector style headlight you get too much stray light going above the focused area. This will blind traffic coming towards you. They make reflectors for the type of bulb they use so a xenon reflector will not have this problem because it was designed not to. I am not saying that it is extremely bad like most of the hid retrofits I see on ricers. But I have three friends that have the same headlights you do and I have been blinded by all of them even when adjusted. I am not trying to **** you off I am just trying to put the correct info on this form for all the newbies. If you don’t believe me then search this form.
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From: Maryland
2005 C230 Sport
lilbenz, that cutoff pattern isn't that bad at all...if i could achieve that with plugin HID's then i'll take the plunge. did you get that by just straight installing the bulbs? or did you have to fiddle with them to adjust em like that?
Blackmercs...what color temperature are your bulbs? i'm thinking 5000k would be the sweet spot for me.
Blackmercs...what color temperature are your bulbs? i'm thinking 5000k would be the sweet spot for me.
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I had to fiddle with them to get them like that. But the pattern is VERY close to stock. I let a friend drive one night from one side of town to my home out in the country and she drove behind me and never once was I blinded. I wouldn't have kept them if they were public nuisance - after all, it was only $84.
I'm taking Fitty's word for it that he must have achieved the same beam pattern as I did.
Samaritrey - we all understand how gas discharge bulbs work. Until 2007, I owned a 2002 Acura TL. This car had clear, OEM reflector HID. My Benz with its AEM HID Kit provides better performance than the OEM HID in the Acura. The beam pattern is stock, the distribution is wide and even, and it doesn't blind anyone unless they get caught under the cutoff - but that's true for any HID system, OEM or not. I understand that "most" HID kits have poor, blinding results. But there are exceptions to every rule - and my car is one of them.
I'm taking Fitty's word for it that he must have achieved the same beam pattern as I did.
Samaritrey - we all understand how gas discharge bulbs work. Until 2007, I owned a 2002 Acura TL. This car had clear, OEM reflector HID. My Benz with its AEM HID Kit provides better performance than the OEM HID in the Acura. The beam pattern is stock, the distribution is wide and even, and it doesn't blind anyone unless they get caught under the cutoff - but that's true for any HID system, OEM or not. I understand that "most" HID kits have poor, blinding results. But there are exceptions to every rule - and my car is one of them.
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From: Maryland
2005 C230 Sport
so i've been reading around and hearing people say that the higher the color temperature, the more prone it is to scattered light, so you'd get less scatter with 4300k bulbs. any truth to that?
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From: Jersey
2003 E500 Sport, 2006 C280 4Matic
BLue..there is no truth to that, the higher temp the bluer/purple the color gets but u loose light output, the lower like 5000k is closer to stock or yellow 3000k but has a greater light output thus it's brighter
samaritrey it sounds like your friends just need to adjust their blubs bc they shouldn't be bliding pple at all anymore then the stock bulbs
Blackmercs, looks awesome, glad to know it worked out as well and as cheap for you as it did for me!
samaritrey it sounds like your friends just need to adjust their blubs bc they shouldn't be bliding pple at all anymore then the stock bulbs
Blackmercs, looks awesome, glad to know it worked out as well and as cheap for you as it did for me!
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CLC Coupe
BLue..there is no truth to that, the higher temp the bluer/purple the color gets but u loose light output, the lower like 5000k is closer to stock or yellow 3000k but has a greater light output thus it's brighter
samaritrey it sounds like your friends just need to adjust their blubs bc they shouldn't be bliding pple at all anymore then the stock bulbs
Blackmercs, looks awesome, glad to know it worked out as well and as cheap for you as it did for me!
samaritrey it sounds like your friends just need to adjust their blubs bc they shouldn't be bliding pple at all anymore then the stock bulbs
Blackmercs, looks awesome, glad to know it worked out as well and as cheap for you as it did for me!
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lilbenz, that cutoff pattern isn't that bad at all...if i could achieve that with plugin HID's then i'll take the plunge. did you get that by just straight installing the bulbs? or did you have to fiddle with them to adjust em like that?
Blackmercs...what color temperature are your bulbs? i'm thinking 5000k would be the sweet spot for me.
Blackmercs...what color temperature are your bulbs? i'm thinking 5000k would be the sweet spot for me.
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2019 G70 6MT & 2022 Ford Maverick XL
I also have 6000k because with a 55w kit, it tends to lose some of the blue hue. My 6000k 55w bulbs are about the same in color as a 4300k 35w kit. But the light is really intense and I love it.
