opinions on HID halo head lights
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,939
Likes: 178
From: Seattle WA
99 E320
projectors were never made available for 210 models, ergo no angel/halo eyes
unless offered through aftermarket novelty items.
it's a taste that you either love or hate. boxers/briefs. coke/pepsi. BMW/MB.
i would not prefer on my MB but would leave the decision to you and your car.
I did experiment with electroluminescent cable but wasn't satisfied with the
look so didn't package any retrofits together with that feature....yet.
unless offered through aftermarket novelty items.
it's a taste that you either love or hate. boxers/briefs. coke/pepsi. BMW/MB.
i would not prefer on my MB but would leave the decision to you and your car.
I did experiment with electroluminescent cable but wasn't satisfied with the
look so didn't package any retrofits together with that feature....yet.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,803
Likes: 12
From: Charleston, SC
GL450
I'll break this into the three options, so you can see what you're really looking for: halogen projectors, reflector HIDs, HID projectors.
Halogen projectors: These are all over eBay. Some of them also have a halo/angel eye ring included. You can swap these in for looks. The light pattern on the cheap ones is bad, however.
Reflector HIDs: You can swap in a HID setup from another W210 model (such as an E55). It would include the housing, bulbs, ballasts, etc. These would be genuine Mercedes and would not be projector lights (they would be the same reflector outward appearance as you have now).
Most cheap HID projectors: There are a few kits on eBay that are HID projectors. These appear to be a rebased HID bulb. That means it's basically an HID kit that is adapted to fit a halogen socket. This is bad, because it won't include a cutoff, meaning you're spraying light into oncoming traffic. See the following graphic and you can do some more reading in the "Projector (polyellipsoidal) lamps" section of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp
Good HID projectors: There are handmade HID projectors out there that do work well, or you can make them yourself. This means taking a projector housing (headlight) made for a halogen bulb, removing the projector lens, and swapping in a projector lens that's made for an HID. You can find some of these used for sale, or make one from this thread:
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...tor-retro.html
Halogen projectors: These are all over eBay. Some of them also have a halo/angel eye ring included. You can swap these in for looks. The light pattern on the cheap ones is bad, however.
Reflector HIDs: You can swap in a HID setup from another W210 model (such as an E55). It would include the housing, bulbs, ballasts, etc. These would be genuine Mercedes and would not be projector lights (they would be the same reflector outward appearance as you have now).
Most cheap HID projectors: There are a few kits on eBay that are HID projectors. These appear to be a rebased HID bulb. That means it's basically an HID kit that is adapted to fit a halogen socket. This is bad, because it won't include a cutoff, meaning you're spraying light into oncoming traffic. See the following graphic and you can do some more reading in the "Projector (polyellipsoidal) lamps" section of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp
Good HID projectors: There are handmade HID projectors out there that do work well, or you can make them yourself. This means taking a projector housing (headlight) made for a halogen bulb, removing the projector lens, and swapping in a projector lens that's made for an HID. You can find some of these used for sale, or make one from this thread:
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...tor-retro.html
