uwbadgers5

My ‘05 C230K came with bi-xenon headlights. I got in a fender bender that broke the driver’s side headlight.

Am I limited to getting the exact same headlight as the stock install since I have the HID Bi-xenons? All the lights I’m looking at are for halogen lamps only.

Example:
[img]blob:https://mbworld.org/436d6d43-2328-44a6-8a67-515341f38c3b[/img]

Has anyone else found headlights that are the non-stock bi-xenon but work with the HID bi-xenon?

KevinH2000

I understand your reluctance to buy a new bi-xenon replacement headlight as I expect they are expensive.

When I was considering replacing my stock halogens with HID's, most of the replacement HID headlights I saw had resistors built in to them so that they would be "plug and play" replacements for the stock halogen headlights. I ended up buying a set of stock bi-xenon headlights from a wrecker and had my system coded for them. If you bought a set of aftermarket HIDs with built-in resistors, you could have your system coded for halogens, but you would have to replace both headlights.

Have you considered trying to find a replacement headlight using Car-Parts.com? When I bought mine, I was able to find a set of replacement plastic lenses on the auction site. Replacing the lenses made them look like new.

Good luck

slammer111

If the car is already coded for bi-xenons, a halogen setup will work. So will any aftermarket HID kit, no Canbus resistors required. Not saying it's road legal. Just saying that the car won't throw a bulb out error.

uwbadgers5

so reading between those lines, it’d be glaringly bright to other cars?

something like this: https://www.protuninglab.com/hid-lhp-bw20301jm-tm.html

slammer111

Technically anything without the correct DOT or ECE markings isn't road legal, and can result in a ticket or whatever the authorities like to do in your area. I imagine some jurisdictions are stricter than others.

Some of those aftermarket kits may not have the markings but will have a decent cutoff pattern. People have modded their cars with OEM projectors off other cars (Lexus for example). While technically not legal, at least it doesn't blind oncoming drivers if the lights are aimed correctly as the pattern will be correct and acceptable, and won't draw too much unwanted attention. A higher end kit may have their lights DOT certified, though I imagine these kits would quite rare, especially since our cars have an OEM HID option.

The tricky part with low beams is to have a decent cutoff pattern such that too much light doesn't shine out at the wrong angles (ie too high). Almost all cheaper kits will have this problem. Not only is it dangerous for oncoming traffic, but the light output is useless as it doesn't go where it needs to go (ie shine down the correct part of the road), and basically won't be much better than driving with high beams on. This is why HID bulbs installed inside halogen projectors simply don't work, unless the "hot" part of the bulb is in the exact same position and orientation as the halogen bulb it replaces.

SUNILP

If the tab is broken, there is a repair kit available.