photosteve

Hi, I have a 2000 E320 and wanted to get HIDs for the fog lights. Whats the best site to get them from? Thanks for any help!

Heres a pic of my ride with pshopped lights ha...

ohlord

want hids for fogs.You want short wave length incandescents.
Selective yellow euro H1's from www.danielsternlighting.com or polish your lenses and just keep your H1's.
Fogs are for fog and rain not for driving lights.Ricers use hid's.
Show or Go .That is a decision you need to make

photosteve

Thanks for the info. Theres never really a need to use real fog lights where I live. I have my mind set on 8K HIDs. I just need to know what size and where the best place to buy them is.

ohlord

get clear lenses and install H7 65 watters.You may need to put them on a separate circuit and a relay,but you will definetely toss some light.Hid's in the stock buckets will just glare at the road and make people tend to want to drive you off the road.

Figuero

Ohlord,
He's not interested in function. He just wants to drive around with all his lights blazing 8k blue white. Goes with the blacked out the brake lights.

nsupra

where can you get clear lenses from

Ricco

This interests me also...not a fan of HID. What brand bulbs should I get for my E420, since the silverstars last about only a couple of months. Anyone tried PIAA?

photosteve

ohlord,
Thanks alot for the help and info. I still have my mind set on hids. I want to put them in the fogs because I want to be able to turn them off and not use them all the time. I know they will be very bright and wouldnt use them with poeple coming head on.
I looked at these...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-...1%7C240%3A1318
Will these fit in the fog lights? Thanks again for your help!

retna7

I use STEALTH AUTO's slim ballast kit.

Problems...

The double sided foam they supply with the kit isn’t up to the job of securing the ballast to the car so I used epoxy.

They are noisy on start up but quiet down once warmed up.

Sometimes only one side will power on when parking because the ignition isn’t on when you leave the car.

When the ignition is on both sides power up every time.

It does trigger the lamp malfunction warning sometimes but I don’t care – I check my lamps regularly by walking around the car.

Other than that – they are GREAT!

Note – I used silicone along the seams of the ballasts to ensure no water damage before installation.

Also - dont let others tell you that youre gonna blind somebody or cause planes to divert their path...its really not that serious. Its YOUR car so you do what you want. I've passed by State Troopers & local police in three states, passed Virginia Inspections, and NEVER EVER had a problem blinding oncoming traffic - thats why MB put those little knobs on your foglight housings - its called aiming your lights.

Semikolon

This is the single most stupid thing I have heard this year. What about the safety of other drivers? What about the safety of your passengers? Isn't that worth a thought?


How could you possibly know that? Most people don't flash on oncoming glare unless it's high beams. And most people don't understand a flash if their high beams are off and the headlights are on..


You have obviously never heard of road glare on wet roads. And lower aiming is causing more road glare, therefore fog lights will cause ALOT! of road glare.

If you only use the fogs in daylight there's no problem though...

ejsheltra

The higher the color temp in Kelvin the less of the visual spectrum will be available meaning poorer night visibility. MB stayed at 4300 kelvin in their HID for the reason of giving maximum usable light. IMHO stay at 6K or lower for best night illumination.

illest

I have 3k hids in my fogs but I never need them because my retro'd depos are bright enough. I got mine from here no bulb warning issues, mounted the ballast using some of the holes under the headlight.

photosteve

Thanks alot for the help everyone!!!

retna7,
very true and I will def aim them down.

illest,
What bulb size did you get? Have you ever had any problems with them? It just seems weird that they would be $25 compared to the others that are $320.
Thanks again guys!

Semikolon

And in case you missed what I said, road glare is caused by low aimed lights, so don't drive around with your fogs in the dark!

photosteve

You said on wet roads... But dont worry, I wont.

Semikolon

oh, sorry, forgot to mention that in the previous post..

retna7

Semikolon - I respect your concerns (I actually had them myself at first) but in reality your post only amounts to an opinion. If you've never installed an HID kit in your fogs or seen my car how do you know if anything you said is actually true? I have and I know for a fact that your concerns arent warranted or based on fact if youre talking about my car. Is it possible - sure, I mean I can blind you with a flashlight too if you look directly at it...but we arent talking about whats possible - lets stick to the facts. We've all been blinded by oncoming traffic at least once - its a part of driving and a fact of life. I dont like it and I made triple sure my lights dont cause that effect by getting out of the car and looking from all angles in wet / dry / and most recently - snow. Also, I had my friend drive my car while I sat in his as he passed just to see what it looked like. I use 3000K (yellow) so I cant speak on the other bulbs. All Im saying is that people customize their rides based on what they like which should be Ok as long as it isnt hurting others that share the road. I'm sure if I was creating a road hazard by using these lights I'd have been pulled over by the police long ago (I live in freakin' Virginia dude where they just tried to pass a law to give tickets to people who wear their pants too low!!!!). The man asked a question and I answered him based on the fact that I've done what he's thinking about doing with great results - which is the whole point of a forum like this - sharing information. He can listen to you or listen to me - or neither of us - but lets not diss each other over it. I've heard it all - burnt harness, fogs exploding into flames, etc. but I've had mine in almost a year and nothing has happened so the "I told ya so" folks will just have to continue waiting, wishing, and hoping to be proven right by me someday while I'm enjoying my ride but dont worry - If something does happen I'll post it just to ensure others learn from my hard headedness.

illest

H1 I believe. Its was basically plug n play just had to cut a small hole in the fog light cover for the wires. I paid $68 for mine shipped. I think part of the price difference is that the seller is targeting benz owners who have more money I guess. Also I think the MTEC kit may be better but for lights I rarely use the cheap kit is fine.

photosteve

Thanks alot! I will order them today.

socalsounds

Think I'd have to agree with Retna on this one. Calm down, guys- don't get all nasty just because someone wants a specific look on his ride. I use the Euro Sylvania Silverstar H7 and H1s, and find their color to be quite bluish white at night, but with an excellent, flooded light effect in front of the car. And no, I never get brighted because the lights are all aimed properly.

raymond g-

i've never had first hand experience fitting HIDs into my fog light housing but
I believe I can state for a fact that many (not just a few) of the folks who
have installed HIDs into fogs just aren't using sound judgement when they
turn them on. the whole point is to look cool, ie when other people can see
them. they appear less likely to turn them off when they encounter opposite
traffic because powering off/on repeatedly...for relatively short durations...
is harmful to HIDs. so, they leave them on, more often than not when driving.

so here i am coming around a sweeper in my GPz or ZRX sport bikes, looking
for that perfect apex transition. almost every night i'm out now for a relaxing
ride, I encounter at least 2-3 inconsiderate ingrates who have cobbled together
their own HID system...uncalibrated....looking 'cool' and to hell with everyone
else.

on at least a handful occasions, the glare has been so severe that I've almost
been run off the road due to night blindness from poor quality/installed HIDs.

when HIDs were in its infancy, this anomaly was rare. now that HID kits can
be had for $1-200, every baller is out there installing them. if these lights
are activated in city, during meets, etc, I wouldn't mind. but to turn them on
and use in spirited driving, on roads with poor lighting, in mixed traffic makes
me want to take a bat to them....and the driver.

Semikolon

This is not about the looks on the car! It's about the safety of others on the road. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU AIM YOU XENON FOG LIGHTS THEY WILL BE A ROAD HAZARD ON DARK, AND ESPECIALLY ON DARK WET ROADS! Why, WHY! do you have to argue about this?

The road works like a mirror, and what happens when you aim a light source at a mirror? Yes correct! The light will return in the opposite angle. So what happens when you aim your 2500lumen fog lights onto the road? Yes correct again, it reflects the light DIRECTLY INTO the windshields of oncoming traffic! 100 points to you for figuring that out!

Xenon fog lights in the dark will leave oncoming driver to see stars long after you have passed. Fog lights at all should not be used when dark. In Europe it's actually illegal to use fog lights when it's dark, and together with low beams..

Excuse me for being a bit rude, but what you people may think IS NOT necessarily the same as the real world we live in..

ohlord

What they think is the world we live in.
There are posers and gozers.The ones that drive with their fog lights on in clear weather are posers whether they are running H1's or Hid's.Usually between the ages of 18-25 and they have not learned to drive at speed.They just like lighting up the 20 feet of road out in front of them with sickly blue light.It is a mating call to all the the other ricers that buzz on over to the ricer look.

ejsheltra

You could not have put it any better. Too bright and not aimed and calibrated is a dangerous thing to the opposing traffic.

retna7

You guys had me rotfl!!! Ricer mating call - lol!!!!

Here, you 2 have one on me...



Seriuosly though, I can agree with you guys on some points. These lights are bright and (like most things) can be dangerous if not used responsibly plus there are dorks out there (fact of life) - like people who repeatedly use high beams because one of their low beams is out instead of just buying a new bulb.

I cant speak for anyone else but the reason I changed out my stock fogs is the same reason I changed out my stock (non-xenon) headlights - they werent bright enough for me when driving. Personally I rarely use the fogs - be it HID or when stock - but when they were stock it was useless to turn them on when I did feel I needed them. The HIDs definetely cured that and I am more than satisfied so I thought I'd respond when another member asked about them - hate it or love it. The Zam retros are plenty bright alone and I can count on one hand the times I've used them simultaneously with the fogs - (again,bright)!!! When I do use the fogs it's a bad weather day or dusk and with city lights (led) when headlights are off. Does it look cool...IMO - sure ~ but personally I was already before the benz + there are much cooler looking cars out there than our W210s) so thats not why I mod (or bought) my car at all...although I do like rice - lol.

Anyway - either way you go photosteve...good luck!. Talking cars (like sports - SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!!!) is no fun w/o opposing points of view as long as its kept in good spirits so dont mind us - the fact that were online talking about an (at least) 7 year old MB says something about how we feel about our rides.