Hispeedlowdrag

Wondering if anyone has used the light upgrade kit from Retrofitlabs ? I've got the bixenons in the CL55 and I am not impressed with them. I had the bixenons in my '09 SL63 and they were much better. I have replaced the bulbs and it seemed to improve the output but still not great. I've been in contact with Retrofitlabs, they are not familiar with the C215 but say they have a kit that will work. Yeah, I know how that sounds. I have looked in depth at their site and they look like they try to make a good kit.
If there are other options or if someone has a better idea on how to improve the lighting I am open to suggestions.

joeshannon095

I used retrofit labs for the headlights on my C216 CL600 and am very impressed. Make sure you know what it entails though. You'll be removing the headlight, baking it in the over to soften the adhesive used on the lens cover so you can remove it, dissembling the headlight itself to removed the old headlight projector, and installing the new one. The headlights on my CL are as bright and the cutoff is as sharp as my W222 S550. Really modernizes the look and the performance.

Hispeedlowdrag

Thanks for the feedback, good to hear you got some improvement with the upgrade. I'm guessing your stock C216 lights were a lot better than my C215s so an upgrade on that should be really good.
Indeed getting the light assemblies out and apart seems by far the biggest part of this job.
I continued to research and found that the new Morimoto Mini D2S projector seems to be the king projectors at the moment. I've been in contact with retrofit labs and they are a bit limited on their knowledge of the C215 and they are using the older E46 projectors. I figure if I have to go through all the work anyway might as well get the best and brightest. I will measure the mounting spaces of the stock projectors and compare that with the Mini D2S to make sure they will fit before going ahead. I spoke to a tech a Morimoto, they do have an adapter plate but it is universal and he could not provide the measurements.

Hispeedlowdrag

I have ordered the Morimoto D2S Mini 5.0 and the Bosch adapter plates. I will document the "upgrade" with before and after as well as install pics. Fingers crossed its the right parts and that there will be a big lighting improvement.

joeshannon095

Awesome! Good luck and I will keep an eye for updates. If things go as planned you should be very happy with the results. I know I am very happy with mine.

Hispeedlowdrag

Got the new projectors installed. This is not for the faint of heart. The headlight assemblies need to come apart and the existing projector portion has to be gutted, modified and rebuilt. The first side took me about 15 hours. Mostly figuring out how things come apart as most parts are reused except the projectors themselves. Then getting everything to line up and fit with the stock trim pieces. Second one took about 3 hours. I used the same bulbs, 35 W 6000k. I was told the lens on the Morimotos make the color temp a bit lower, I didn't want to go too high on the temp

The Morimotos are a nice quality part, but the mounts are not as "deep" as the stock Bosch units. This means cutting a lot of material to get them flushed up to where they need to be. All in all I think it was worth it. The old lenses were "burned" and not shiny anymore, light pattern was not good. Now its nice and crisp. Still a bit of tweaking but very close. The pics don't do it justice, and the parking lot where I too these pics has a bit of a L to R slope so it looks a bit off from how it sits when level (this isn't where I set the beams, long story).
Total cost was about $375 CAD.




Morimoto High beam

Morimoto Low beam

Stock High beam

Stock Low beam