Jakeb

Hello fellow W204ers! I wanted to post the final product of my front end light upgrade that I finished just today. I have a 2014 C300 with P1 and thus have suffered the pisswater colored halogen bulbs since I bought the car. I've been desperate to upgrade but hesitant to swap to aftermarket HID or LED conversion kits/light replacements. But, after discovering this community and the insight and resources available here, I decided to take matters into my own hands and began my research on getting my head lights up to par.

My main priority was getting everything to match the LED DRLs and pretty much based every decision on that. I ended up with the following set up...

High/Low Beams - Phillips Diamond Vision 5000k. These are H7 bulbs. Got em off Amazon
Parking Lights - AZN Optics LED 5000k W5W bulbs. Bought these direct. http://www.aznoptics.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=114

Side Markers - DEPO LED Clear Sidemarker. Bought these off eBay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/122119480811...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I'm pretty pleased with the results although the side marker LEDs are very aggressive at night and not nearly as subtle as the amber OEM ones. Might take some getting used to or I might go with the smoked out version of these lights to dampen the brightness. We will see.


Let me know what you think!

Colin G

How well do those bulbs light up the road? I have Philips Crystal Vision and am very unimpressed as they are not very bright.

Jakeb

I'd say they're about 10% better than factory halogens only because the light is much whiter and easier for me to see vs street lights, other cars etc. The only time these give me any trouble is when roads are wet or during heavy rain. That was the same with the factory bulbs though.

I don't think these will be any brighter than your crystal visions, maybe even less bright, just a bit whiter light. It's hard to say though as I've never seen the crystals in person.

As far as brightness vs a real HID/LED setup, my head lights don't even come close and are about 60% as bright as my girlfriend's 2012 C300 with the factory Xenons.

zrheath

I am so glad I found this thread because I am in the same boat and after researching for a week, I still haven't made any decisions. This is exactly what I want so thanks for posting products and the final result!

Two questions..

1. What made you go with the Phillips Diamond Vision bulbs over a cheap set of HIDs from Amazon? I can't decide. I was going to go with the Phillips but I've also heard they actually throw less light than the factory halogens. Glad to hear you think they throw slightly more.

2. Which bulbs are considered the parking lights? Are these these same as the running lights?

Thanks!!

Jakeb

Glad I could help! I ultimately would like to get a HID/LED kit or even buy the DEPO replica headlights off eBay, but I'm a bit weary of flickering/incompatibility issues so I want to do more research before pulling the trigger. I went with the Diamonds because they're H7 direct replacement bulbs and give me the look I want with 0 risk of having issues. They're really a "form over function" type deal as they don't illuminate all that well but they'll do the job until I decide to make a move on the HIDs.

As for the parking lights, they're the lights that turn on with the DRLs when you unlock or shut off your car. They're the "c" shaped lights on the Xenon models and on ours are just a small W5W light. It's the center-most bulb nearest the grill of the car and they share the housing with your highbeams. Here's a pic in this thread from the other day:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...bulb-name.html

See attached picture for crappy diagram:
A - Low Beams
B - High Beams/Parking Lights
C - Daytime Running Lights (aka DRLs/fog lights)
D - Side Markers

Cheers!

zrheath

They look great! It sounds like we are in the same boat. Long term goal is Depo lights with HIDs, but I want a fix now too. After 3 days of research and asking way more questions than one ever should on a single topic, I've pretty much figured it all out and placed my orders today. If you have any questions about the HIDs, your concerns with them, or want to know how mine turn out let me know! I'll help where I can.

Jakeb

Sweet! Definitely gonna want an update pic and a link. Keep me posted!

zrheath

Will do! They come Friday

C300CA

Hello All,

I wonder if anyone has converted headlight to LED type. I started searching LED bulbs for our car and haven't decided on any.
My questions are:
Will LED bulb physically fit in the headlight housing without modifying the lid?
Will LED bulb fit in well in terms of bean pattern on the street?
How loud is the bulb cooling fan? When at idle, can driver hear it?

I really appreciate it if my questions can be answered.

Thank you.

JLowaf7

I'm very new to this and won't even be installing these myself, but I have heard that I will need a certain conversion kit as well as an error code deleter. Is this true? I own 2013 C300 Sport. Thanks for your help!