Bulb upgrades
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 17
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From: uk
sl 500 fully loaded r230
Bulb upgrades
Hi guys have upgraded my rear license and side light bulbs to led on my w209 05 cabrio, can i just buy some replacement headlight and spotlight bulbs from halfords that are white hid? I dont have xenons just standard halogens
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 385
Likes: 92
From: Bognor Regis UK
Alfa 159
No....well you could fit them but hid,s need a very different focusing system to a halogen bulb. If you just put them in your stock headlights the beam pattern would be terrible and you would be always blinding oncoming drivers. You need proper hid projectors to keep them usable and safe. Halogen projectors of good quality can be used (that's projectors NOT reflectors) and will gently give an ok pattern but won't have a sharp a cut off as proper hid projectors. The reason is that the light leaves an hid bulb in a very different shape to a halogen bulb......so needs different projectors to control it. You shouldn't be able to pass an mot with hids in your stock headlights (although I know some who have passed at more dodgy test centres). Another requirement is that hid headlights have a headlight washing system fitted to pass the test....this is because hid,s are so bright that dirt and dust on the lens can be enough to fragment the light to dazzle other traffic....you may already have headlight wash...mine does. So basically you need to either buy the later model hid lights or take your lights apart and fit a good retrofit system in there. Don't know if this causes and canbus issues on our models though.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 17
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From: uk
sl 500 fully loaded r230
Thanks for your advise! I have the headlight washers... ive heard you cant get any canbus error free spots or headlights, hense the hid bulb idea.. im looking to match the white of the led from the sidelights without changing to xenons. Is there any oher options to match them?
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 434
Likes: 16
From: Midlands, UK
CLK W209
I don't have the xenon headlights on my CLK, however I have purchased the Phillips xenon effect bulbs, that come with two very nice, colour-matched, and free sidelights. They aren't really that close to the LEDs, but they are nice and white, and very good bulbs with excellent projection.
When I bought the car, the person before me had halogen bulbs fitted that were VERY white/blue, and they did look very nice, they would have matched the light I get from my LEDs, however, the projection from them was very poor, hence I bought new bulbs, and on removing the bulbs, it was clear that they were illegal. They had no markings whatsoever, but the coating on them was so thick and dark blue, it's surprising any light at all came out!
When I bought the car, the person before me had halogen bulbs fitted that were VERY white/blue, and they did look very nice, they would have matched the light I get from my LEDs, however, the projection from them was very poor, hence I bought new bulbs, and on removing the bulbs, it was clear that they were illegal. They had no markings whatsoever, but the coating on them was so thick and dark blue, it's surprising any light at all came out!
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 434
Likes: 16
From: Midlands, UK
CLK W209
And for my high-beam, I chose less white/blue Phillips bulbs, extreme vision I think they were called, +150%...? Obviously nobody actually sees them when they're on except from in the car, and the light is still very white, but I wanted the greatest projection I could get for my high beams.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 17
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From: uk
sl 500 fully loaded r230
Thank you for all your advise guys! I guess it comes down to making the closest match to my leds, if i buy h7 8000k hid bulbs will i have problems with errors? Canbus etc?
thanks Steve
thanks Steve
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,308
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From: Bethesda, MD
2000 SL500
I bought a DEPO Xenon headlights from ebay seller fishcake, I went with the set without built in HIDS and ordered all high quality HID kits and LEDs From AZN OPTICS (Sponsor on here) The light distribution is perfect and looks great...8k HID bulbs in factory halogen housing will look terrible
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Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 385
Likes: 92
From: Bognor Regis UK
Alfa 159
Anything above 4.5 k will be too blue...get up to 8 and you go into violet light. Both blue and violet will give you less visible light than a good white 4.5 or possibly 5 k and both look cheap and ricer imo.
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