240M3SRT

I have a very annoying and dangerous issue of dim HID's. After noticing one of the bulbs a slight purple color and the other more whiteish/blueish i decided to replace the bulbs with 5000k aftermarket 35watt bulbs. They look great but still do not shine as brightly as they should. Now before we say that its because they are aftermarket or 5000k temp vs 4300k factory bulbs i would like to say i have the same bulbs in my custom projectors i built for my Toyota 4runner and they are MUCH brighter, as good as anything OEM anywhere. Granted those are H1's(i think) and not D2s, but are other wise the same.

There is no way that in 2003 HID's sucked this bad. Unless our D2s projectors are just that inferior to newer/different models.

Soooo....im thinking i may have either weak ballasts or a weak electrical system up to the headlights. I wanted to see if anyone else has encountered this before i swap to a completely aftermarket HID system?

StarPower

Have you had your headlights' aim checked?

Also, I've noticed the CL's projectors don't seem to produce a lot of light on the road near the car (especially compared to some halogen projectors with rebased HID bulbs that I've seen). This will make them seem dimmer, but it's actually better for distance vision (too much foreground light ruins your distance vision). Drive with your CL down a dark road and see how objects light up in the distance.

240M3SRT

Thanks for the response!

After purchasing this vehicle i noticed the alignment of the projectors was WAY off...so after replacing the bulbs with a new set i re-aligned them against a wall(not exactly MB spec but after having 100hrs invested in building custom projectors ive become pretty good at this lol). They are as good as i can get them for projecting light further away from the vehicle(afterall i dont care to see 10ft in front of the car as i cant see that close anyway due to the hood) but it still pales in comparison to say a new Toyota Camry...yes its sad i know.

I contacted theretrofitsource.com, whom ive bought and built many custom projectors through. Our car is the ONLY one that they have ever seen that actually has the HID bulb mounted upside down. They have a kit available that should really help our CL's but i need to see if its possible to replace our projectors from the back side or if baking and disassembling the housings is necessary. If so, im not new to this...but it just might not be worth the hassle.

StarPower

I never knew our projectors were upside down. I'd be interested to see if it's possible to replace just the projectors. Good luck if you try.

240M3SRT

Yea, apperantly you can tell because of the way the wire sits that runs along side of the HID bulb. Its either on top and should be on the bottom, or vice versa, cant remember.

Also our projector lenses are not completely clear. The upgraded projectors will make the HID bulb sit the correct way plus the lenses are clear. Light output should be signifigantly increased. Also there will be a crisp cutoff line, not the ugly yellow at the top of our current beam pattern(look at your lights directly against a wall and youll see it).

Its supposed to be a direct bolt on affair, but i cant count how many times in the past i have had to modify parts that were a so-called bolt on affair, lol. I know headlight removal will be necessary but i am hoping i can simply remove the hardware from the back and bolt in the new parts. If i have to bake the headlamp assemblies and pull apart the lens from the housing i will...its just that im not willing to get into it this far at this point in time.

If i do this mod in the future ill be sure to post pics!! Until then ill drive super slow at night. Just wondering if everyone else thinks this light output is good. A new model camry with halogen low beams shouldnt outshine our cl600's

Austinite

You dont have to drive super slow at night. I got stopped in it doing 113mph at night, lol. yes, our bmw is brighter than this 600

240M3SRT

LOL, im sure this was in ahem..Mexico.