smithcb2

For those of you considering these, I finally got my smoked projectors installed.

If you ever think about buying them, make sure you order a new set of projectors to go in the low beams immediately. I cannot believe they sell these.. with both halogens and hids, these are completely useless lights.

I didnt check the cutoffs with halogens, but they were so weak as to be unusable. With a 55w HID kit in the stock projectors, its probably the worst cutoff I've ever seen. I made the mistake of making a 200 mile trip at night after putting them in, and had such high bright spots coming out of the right side of my car that I was quickly embarassed enough to plant myself in the slow lane and not pass anyone. I lit up treetops on the side of the road.

Some poor soul in a 190e actually stuck his hand out of his car to cover the side mirror as I passed him.

The plastic front lenses were also working on melting with HIDs, since all of the light was focused in such a weird way.

I've ordered a set of projectors to retrofit in now, and my car will sit parked until they arrive.

Saijin_Naib

I thought that the plastic is fine with HIDs because they don't run as hot as halogens?

smithcb2

the halogen projector planted the focal point of the hid light right where the front plastic is... I think this was the problem, not the actual heat of the bulb.

Although having 55w hids instead of 35w hids might have been a large part of the problem too.

ZorroAMG

55W HID's?? Definitely the problemo.

smithcb2

So deliciously bright, though..

They put the CL55 I was using as a guide for aiming to shame. We'll see if a decent projector retrofit will fix all the problems.

smithcb2

I should also mention that the stock projectors damaged the return wire on my hid bulbs (I think theyll be ok).

The side marker lights dont lock in nearly as well as the stock ones did either. I think you could rip one out if you just tugged on it a little.

I've got the headlight in little tiny pieces strewn across my kitchen table now, the factory projectors are really tiny, and the opening isnt big enough to accomodate an HID bulb. The cutoff shield also isnt flat, which is somewhat disturbing.

My new projectors are going to involve a lot of fabrication to the mounting bracket to get them to fit, and I imagine some fabrication to the back cover of the headlight.

In essence, dont plan on using HID in these unless youre going to do a full retrofit, and plan your purchases accordingly. After the amount of work Im going to be putting into this, I kinda feel like I should've stuck with my euros.

EvoW124

I believe your projectors beam is like this below

__/ __/

yup my side markers too also didn't sit well, have to force it to sit properly!!

mine also had the wires burnt.

ZedStyle

use zip ties on the back of the side markers incase they pop off, so you won't lose them.
soemone else has retro'd hid projectors into those housings and done a small write-up, you should be able to search and find it. he had pics, which may or may not help you save some time and effort..

edit: this is the thread:
https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ector+retrofit

smithcb2

Thanks for that link. I might end up going that way.. the projectors I bought to put in there are tremendously larger than the ones i pulled out. I'll grab some TSX's since they look like they will fit better.

Bigpete123

That's awesome!!! Thanks for posting that link Zed!

I just wish there was a way to make projectors look more factory on the w124. I want the output without the asthetics. It looks good on certain (sporty-looking) 124's, but my champagne car will never look sporty no matter what I do to it.

smithcb2

Sorry to raise this thread from the dead, but I wanted to post an update...

I had suspected the aftermarket sidemarker lights didnt lock in very well, and they appeared to get a large amount of wear on the locking tab in very short order.

Last weekend, one of the sidemarker lights fell out while cruising down the highway. I've now had my fill of the whole aftermarket headlight/hid experience, and am going back to the reflectors. I had to smile when the oem sidemarker locked into place with a satisfying *click*.

Dunno if I should try to sell the lights to recoup some of the loss or not.

Edit: Zed -- Zip ties would have been a great idea.. I would've felt bad if it hit someone. Losing the side marker wasn't as big of a deal to me.. I was borderline on having something that shoddy on my car in the first place, and this sort of just sealed the deal.

Saijin_Naib

Yeah, the sidemarkers are crap. Mine fell out the day I installed them almost disqualifying me from a rally I waited 3 months to compete in. Lesson learned, stick with Bosh/Hella/TYC/Depo or don't bother.

ZedStyle

mine haven't fallen off yet, but the zip ties are there in case they do!
retrofitting is definitely the only way to go to for HID's, but it's a huge pain.
take some pics of the lights before you take them off...

ZedStyle

so my passenger side smoked corner popped off today at speed (heard a loud sound, thought i had hit a piece of truck tire at first), but the zip tie saved the light from falling off.
it won't stay on now, i'm going to try and cut a deeper groove into the clip to get it to stay put. the oem corners don't match my smoked headlights and i don't want to spend $30 just yet for a new set. so yeah, zip ties.

sorry for resurrecting this thread, but it's been pretty dead around here recently so i don't feel too bad...

YNVDIZW124

^^ does it have the metal clip still on the back?

ZedStyle

yeah, clip is still there

smithcb2

I couldnt think of any easy way to fix the problem.. the plastic is too soft and unless reinforced in some way it will just do it again.

YNVDIZW124

Bend the metal in the fender so it could catch the clip when you pop them on. Remove the clip and open it more so when you put it back on it has more pressure on the plastic tab.

rivcal4life

Use a shim!

First I filed down the clip so it could actually get some bite:




Then I shimmed it to give it an extra push outward onto the metal in the fender.



They've lasted about 2 weeks now on my 500e with a few sprints at 140+, and they still feel as firm as the day I put them in. (not that 2 weeks is a very long time, but the first set I got fell off the FIRST time I got around 60... :-/

ZedStyle

yeah i already cut a new groove into the clip so it could hold onto the metal tab better, and stretched out the metal tension spring, but still no luck. i think maybe the tab on the body is too far in, so i'm going to try and pull that out a little bit so the groove i cut can grab hold of it...