Ben'z

Too bad, we are far away.
I totally have no idea about other projectors, but E55.
That's why I am thinking about help someone here to build one, and get some more information to share.

Ben'z

It is always good to have new car to drive and modify!

Enjoy and drive carefully!

mikey33

raymond do you know if the tl is too big to fit the depo? zam put the lexus in so I assume it will fit with some mods because it is a lot smaller i think.

raymond g-

i asked Zam the same question back in 2005 because i was also exploring the
'best' projector. i also contemplated the brightest and broadest beam bix.
Zam responded....

" I had both TL and TSX before (if you search the HID forum, you'd see that
I sold about 5 pairs in both). The performance from the TSX is only a bit
behind the S2000, but better than the TL. The only thing the TL have is the
bi-xenon. Don't know if bi-xenon is important to you. For the W210/211
retrofit, the TSX won't look nice, however. The lens is too small to fit in
the shroud nicely (it will look like two tiny hole). The TL lens would fit
nicely, since its lens is same size as the Depo one, 90mm. However, it
would be hard (probably impossible) to retro the TL in the W210 depo
headlight, since the TL big solenoid for bi-xenon is at the bottom of the
projector, not enouch clearance from the Depo to house it. Btw, a pair of
TL run about $400, while TSX run only $200-250 (more supply)

In term of performance (not to count high beam/bi-xenon), I would rank as
follow:

TSX: 9/10
TL: 8/10
E55: 4/10

This is not to say the E55 is not a good projector, just that both the TL
and TSX are good. What's 10/10, in case you ask ? That would be the LS
(11/10) and S2000 (10/10).

For retro the W210, I recommend the X5 projector. It's brighter than the
E55 (quite a bit), 7/10, fit nicely in, and cheaper. Not to mention that it
fit almost straight in, little mod or cutting (if at all) is needed. It's
not a bi-xenon one though. I have a pair of that too ($150 shipped) "

fortunately, the price of the TL seems to have come down a little since.
but that is probably best left for other (non 210) retrofits

mikey33

I want to do the tl really bad because it is bixenon and the best. I see that zam says no don't do it, but then again I just seen he put the huge lexus projector in the depo and got it to work. By the way, what problems does the solenoid on the bottom cause and how would you mod it to work? thanks. Also, I know this is a newbie question but do you need two or four philips bulbs for bixenon. From what I researched I'm assuming only two since the low and high beam are projected through the same bulb.

raymond g-

actually, I'm tempted to try the TL also. go to Ebay and look at the pics from
as many angles as possible. open the back of your Depo. if you remove the
projector unit, you'll be left with the picture I posted on HID Planet: roughly
a 3" hole and 4 mounting posts staring at you.

The TL will fit part way....but it's that honker of a solenoid which is at the
6 o'clock position which will NOT fit inside the 3" opening. you would need
to carve relief in the plastic. one would need to gauge how damaging this
would be cosmetically...and what it would take to cover this area.

like i said, it's tempting. for $250, i may just buy a pair just to size up
the task.

mikey33

hey man you got the right idea now, I'm tempted to do it just because I know people have done crazier things and with some creative thinking it could be done and correctly, also if I'm going to spend money on the retrofit I want to get the most bang for my money. I hate buying something that is of not great quality when if put forth a few extra bucks you can get the best. If you decide to do the project we could exchange ideas and you could help me out a little bit since you have done this before and are very knowledgeable, and we would also be the first to retro it.

I e-mailed the seller on ebay and I'm trying to get the projectors with the zkw lens and shipping all for $250 even, if he agrees then I probably will buy it.

mikey33

Hi. I got everything the TL projectors, zkw lens, new hella ballasts, Phillips 85122+ bulbs and connectors. I'm going to do the project on Saturday so hopefully everything goes well and if everything goes good I will post pics and possibly pics while working on the headlight. I've been researching and have everything covered except for the wiring harness or wiring setup. Can you guys that have done the retro give me a short explanation or idea of how you did it, thanks.

raymond g-

good luck on your project. you've assembled some very decent parts. the
challenging part is ahead: creatively piecing them together into a functioning
unit. take lots of pics.

btw, i decided to stick with the RS6 but I did get the z lens last week.

Ben'z

Hi,

I am out of town and have no access to anything regarding to headlights.
If you have any question, please let me know. I will try my best to answer.

Good luck!
Ben

mikey33

Hi. I'm about to do this tomorrow morning but am very confused on how I wire this whole thing up. If you could give me a brief description on how to wire this up it would be great. I will be on the board checking tonight, thanks.

raymond g-

simplistically....

the solenoid wires (which may be polarity sensitive, so be careful !) splices into
the high beam leads. thus, when the high beam switch is activated, voltage
is applied to 1) the high beam bulb, and 2) the solenoid...which in turn, pivots
the shield to unleash the full beam onto the road

if you're referring to the input/ballast end that depends on whether you've opted
for a subharness application as well as your particular ballast design. so you
may want to go to HIDPLANET for this one.

i used OEM Hella gen3 ballast so it was super easy to patch into my 99 E320's
factory harness w/o use of a subharness. I did, however, splice in fuses into
each ballast. have been running 2 yrs w/o the need to have dealer version
code to "HID PRESENT". no flickering.

mikey33

Thanks raymond. Yeah, when I meant wiring I meant wiring harness to ballasts from factory car wiring and fuses and relays and such.

mikey33

hey. I started working this morning with my dad and his friend at his house which has a five car garage and every tool imaginable. The outcome: the light looks unbelievable with the tl/zkw and it looks 100% stock no cutting in the front reflecting lens or anything. It took 6 and a half hours to get one done and the other tomorrow. Just to let everyone know, every single piece we did had to be modified in some way, shape, or form. We had to disassemble the entire projector and every little piece possible because the projector no way fits through the back or aligns with the posts. Well, I will post pics of the lights and everything tomorrow but it looks identical to the depo lens without any modifications except it now has the TL projector and everything. I will talk to you guys later.

raymond g-

outstanding ! keep at it and work carefully. though I am committed to continuing
with the RS6, I was intrigued and bought a busted TL projector just so I could
have it in my hand and to eyeball its dimensions. I also bought a broken 203
projector housing so that I could take measurements and see which projector
would fit best. i love the jigsaw puzzle of all this.

Ben'z

Congratulation!

mikey33

Hey guys im back. Today we worked on the second headlight and it took us about an hour and a half to do what took six hours yesterday so once you know what you're doing the process gets a lot easier. Today though we ran into a pain in the butt situation. The shroud we had to put on right before we sealed things up and we had in on tight with super glue and then we sealed it all up. Well, after this we flipped over the headlight to do the wiring and ballast and when we did the shroud came undone inside the headlight.

So, we had to remover the headlight again after sealing it with clear silicone what a pain. Although, we used a heat gun and I swear the headlight opened right up with some flat tip screw drivers wedging in between. Anyways, the glue didn't work for this headlight becasue the shroud didn't fit flesh with the back of the reflecting lens and it would rock slightly. So, we had to fabricate special little mounts under the shroud which you couldn't see and rivet it to the back of the reflecting lens once again you couldn't see because the shroud covered it.

Anyways, after manufacturing about fifteen odd little pieces we got it to all work and look unbelievable. We put it all together and then put it in and it all works great, all the lights and blinkers etc. It was a tough job and unless you have access to machines to fabricate things I don't think it can be done. I will be posting a few pictures that I took and the way we wired it exactly for anyone who wants to do it in the future.

mikey33

Here are some pictures of the headlights almost done and completely done, I should have taken a ton more pictures while working on the headlight but it was frustrating my dad and his friend trying to figure out the shroud which kept falling off lol. I also am going to put some pictures of the lights on, beware I suck at photos so the light doesn't look great and my car is extremely dirty.

mikey33

mikey33

Ben'z

mikey33

Hi. I was just wondering from the pictures do you think I need to do some adjusting or aiming? I mean after about 15 feet away from the car it is not that bright at all, I mean I might just not know anything about lights but I thought it was supposed to light up the entire road. Anyways any opinions would be great, thanks.

alixx_pt

Hi!

First of all let me say thank you to Zam, Raymond and all the others for all the pics and DIY instructions on facelifting the w210.

I just bought the DEPO headlights and I'm now looking on the junkyards for lenses and ballasts to make them "bi-xenon".

In the write-up for DIY you state to use E55 lenses. Should any W211 car do ?

Thanks in advance.

Alixx

raymond g-

The Depo's halogen projector has physical dimensions which are extremely close
to the dimensions of the E55 bixenon, Maxima bixenon.....and somewhat close
to the RS6 bixenon. These similarities allow for ease of assembly and saves
a lot in labor.

The E55/Maxima projector has been in production longer than the 211 bixenon
so it was easy for me to source on Ebay. I've not had a 211 bixenon in my
hand which would have allowed me to compare against the Depo, so I'm unsure
how well it would have worked.

I'd suggest emailing forum member Zam2000 to see if he has any experience
with the 211 unit.

alixx_pt

Just found these :
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180269822722&ssPageNam e=ADME:RTQE:1123

What is your opinion ?
I'm allready bidding on them and if i win i'll take some pics and try to fit them.

But a master's opinion is allways good to give us confort and confidence....
...or not

regards,

Alixx

emailed Zam but no response . maybe on vacations or too busy