Smoked vs. Clear
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Joined: Sep 2002
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From: San Diego, CA
1992 Mecedes-Benz 400E
Smoked vs. Clear
I have a couple of questions and need some opinions.
I am starting to change out most of the lenses on my car. I just bought smoked taillights and am now looking for new turn signals. The dilemma is whether or not to go with clear ones or smoked ones. I plan on keeping my American headlights and it seems that the foglight section is kind of smoked. I want to get the best match but don’t have any pictures to compare. My car is black with gray lower paneling. What do you think would look better?
I also would like to change my bulbs. The rear I plan on leaving the same but the fronts I would like to change to something different. I heard that for the turn signals there is a bulb that when off is clear but when on is amber, that sounds good but what is it? I would like to replace the headlight bulbs with the whitest, brightest ones possible, excluding HID. The last bulb would be the foglights. I hate the yellow and would like to put some white ones in. The best bang for the buck is also important, like giving up a little brightness to save big $$$. Any suggestions will surely help.
I am starting to change out most of the lenses on my car. I just bought smoked taillights and am now looking for new turn signals. The dilemma is whether or not to go with clear ones or smoked ones. I plan on keeping my American headlights and it seems that the foglight section is kind of smoked. I want to get the best match but don’t have any pictures to compare. My car is black with gray lower paneling. What do you think would look better?
I also would like to change my bulbs. The rear I plan on leaving the same but the fronts I would like to change to something different. I heard that for the turn signals there is a bulb that when off is clear but when on is amber, that sounds good but what is it? I would like to replace the headlight bulbs with the whitest, brightest ones possible, excluding HID. The last bulb would be the foglights. I hate the yellow and would like to put some white ones in. The best bang for the buck is also important, like giving up a little brightness to save big $$$. Any suggestions will surely help.
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Joined: Feb 2003
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From: san francisco bay area
300e
hey kooly,
dude I got the clear corners w/ stock headlights(for now), check the pics cheif and I hope they help. I got the regular bulbs in there(coulnt find anyone to sell the adapters) and my turn sigs look sorta orange. All is well cause the rollers havent got to me yet(knock on wood). anywho, the website is http://www.cardomain.com/id/shemdogg
later
shemmyshemshem
dude I got the clear corners w/ stock headlights(for now), check the pics cheif and I hope they help. I got the regular bulbs in there(coulnt find anyone to sell the adapters) and my turn sigs look sorta orange. All is well cause the rollers havent got to me yet(knock on wood). anywho, the website is http://www.cardomain.com/id/shemdogg
later
shemmyshemshem
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Joined: Aug 2002
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From: Germany
'00 S320 W220, '98 A160 W168/ sold in 2005 '86 260 E W124 '90 260E W124
Hi,
I would go for the clear corners, since they match best to the headlights. The smoked are just totally different to the rest of the light assembly. There are bulbs available which are white when off, but when on they are orange. The bulbs have an internal coating which turn the color somehow. When off they appear like coated lenses (kind of blueish, silvery) They rally expensive about $ 20 a pair. For the fog lights I ndont know the sockets spec in the USA. In Europe it's called H1 bulbs for fog (main light is H4 high and low beam). Also therefore the market sells "pseudo Xenon bulbs" Also expensive (approx $ 30.00 a pair) and not necessarily really good.
I would go for the clear corners, since they match best to the headlights. The smoked are just totally different to the rest of the light assembly. There are bulbs available which are white when off, but when on they are orange. The bulbs have an internal coating which turn the color somehow. When off they appear like coated lenses (kind of blueish, silvery) They rally expensive about $ 20 a pair. For the fog lights I ndont know the sockets spec in the USA. In Europe it's called H1 bulbs for fog (main light is H4 high and low beam). Also therefore the market sells "pseudo Xenon bulbs" Also expensive (approx $ 30.00 a pair) and not necessarily really good.
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Los Angeles
94 MBZ E420, 93 BMW ACS 325i
Depends!!
I think it depends on the color of your car. I haven't changed anything on my MBZ YET (big yet) but I wish I had bought smoked all around for my bimmer a long time ago. So if you have a darker color car, get smoked. If you have a silver or champagn color..etc, get clear....
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From: Maplewood, NJ
1991 W124 300E
I like the smoked corners in the front - they seem to match the head lights ....
I bought the smoked corners from importvision and these corners have an amber casing inside (just big enough to cover the bulb) .... so, I'm reusing the turn signal bulbs that I had on my stock corners.
If you end up buying the clear corners, you might want to check out this bulb for the corners:
Philips Silver Vision ph-silv01 Silver Vision Turn Signal Bulbs - Single Element PY21W/1156
*Flashes Amber, Looks Clear
I bought the smoked corners from importvision and these corners have an amber casing inside (just big enough to cover the bulb) .... so, I'm reusing the turn signal bulbs that I had on my stock corners.
If you end up buying the clear corners, you might want to check out this bulb for the corners:
Philips Silver Vision ph-silv01 Silver Vision Turn Signal Bulbs - Single Element PY21W/1156
*Flashes Amber, Looks Clear
Last edited by bd37703; May 6, 2003 at 08:12 PM.
