LovemyE320

kajtek1

Show love for the car.

LovemyE320

Definitely going to show her more love with new head light and fog light assemblies very soon! Pics to come!

Toxic_winter

I put a set of new headlights in mine and it looks great i got a new chrome grill and the headlights i got were clear lens with chrome insides and it looks awesome highly recommended i bought mine off of amazon would advice to do the same they are hard to find in stock in a lot of online stores

illest

looks good. Are those led interior lights?

LovemyE320

Nah, it's just very clean interior. Lol I'm looking into changing my headlight and fog lights to clear lens/black backing and fog lights projector style. And thank you!

raymond g-

i'm saddened to see that you are heading down the rabbit hole of modifications for appearance sake.
this is not the best financial investment into the car

that said, I'm embarrassed to identify the amount of money I've put into my car since I purchased it :-)
this will give you a clue:

tinted windows
Depo projector headlights...then modified to use E55 HIDs and added 3M lens protection film
LED city light modules
clear fog lights (still reflector design)
Audio 10 in place of the Audio 30 head unit...about to install Pioneer single DIN flip up DVD with rear camera
tail lights from E55 (for smoked reverse lens and to rid the 'oval' look)
turn signal outside mirror covers (my 99 didn't have the facelift mirror covers)
E55 split spoke rims
flat hood badge, then went back to OEM star
replaced leather gear shift with all wood
replaced bumper amber with clear lens (but amber bulbs)
replaced headlight amber bulb with silver passive (but amber active) 'stealth' bulb
lowered suspension 3x and changed shocks 3x to get the height i drop (I didn't want slammed ride)
Designo seats from totaled E55 (air bladder bolsters)
LED cabin lights, warm
LED puddle lights, white

I'm debating retrofitting rear seat warmers as my FINAL mod

LovemyE320

Raymond! I have only been on this forum for a short period of time and you have given me insight and tips that have helped me tremendously! What are your thoughts honestly on changing over all of my light assemblies? I still have some things I want to do before I add the different light assemblies. ( a couple cancer spots, fresh paint and clear coat, redye the back seat, steam the cloth interior)

raymond g-

nah...I already know *my* reasons for switching over. what is more important, for your car,
is why you want to switch. knowing that would give me an idea how to respond. you may
want to do this to make the car's appearance appear more modern, or, for better lighting...
or even because it's almost 20 yrs old and the plastic lens has faded horribly.

many mods are illegal and that is also for each person to determine if it's worth the change.
some jurisdictions can be quite heavy handed with out of spec mufflers, lights, etc and may
not even allow you to pass periodic inspections for driveablity.

so what is your current lighting system and what are you wanting to change them to...and why?

LovemyE320

Well.... I dont like that my lights do not match. My headlamps are H1 siverstar ultra and my parking lights I do not know what they are. They are like a soft bluish white and my fog lamps match the headlamps. I would like them all to match, Also I was watching a video on YouTube and a guy changed his fog lamp assemblies to projector type and they were also a bluish white projection. He had the manufacturer in the comments and figured I would switch them all out. And I found tail light assemblies also by the same manufacturer. They are all aftermarket and manufactured by a company called Spyder. If I could I would rather keep my assemblies I have now, they look practically brand new hardly any fading on the lenses and the tail lights also. The fog lamps I would rather keep on also but need a little more help.

LovemyE320

LovemyE320

LovemyE320

raymond g-

okay, that provides a bit more background so I'm presuming you want the upgrades more for looks
than function ... for things to match. that said, then you're on your own because aesthetics are in
the eye of the beholder.

I do have an observation and opinion to offer: the high beam on the spyder headlight appears to use
a smaller H1 bulb. it also has LED halo which you'll need to wire into your parking light circuit. last,
when we were contemplating HID retrofits years ago, there were some opinions that the Eagle Eye
and Spyder units were not as robust than the Depo (I don't really recall but it may have been fitment
vs plastic thickness etc). I don't have any firsthand knowledge on this.

if you're contemplating aftermarket items, you really need to devote energy to see how others have
fared buying the same equipment. also, dig through every installation sheet and/or technical
specification and advertisement sheets you can find to determine bulbs used, wattage, etc. because
they're aftermarket, they really have no obligation to use OE spec'ed bulbs

so, for example, the Speed Racer headlights may look great but the devil in the details may reveal
that they use smaller and non standard bulb, or even a poorer designed (and smaller) projector
than another aftermarket brand. some of these details can be challenging to find because all you
see in their ads are glamorous photos of shiny headlights with sales pitched wording which are
lacking in tech specs
with the taillight, be aware that the MB OE headlights have a poor electrical contact design. if Spyder
replicated this through their cloning process, the design weakness may morph into the Spyder as well

LovemyE320

Could you please post pics of your MB Raymond? I would love to see your work.

raymond g-

older photos. car in garage under cover as I avoid driving it when it is rainy. i almost returned it after
I got the car because I didn't like the color. I would have preferred black or silver....or dark cherry
with a little flake

https://i.imgur.com/vds3dLL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DEGVChm.jpg

LovemyE320

I love that color! That's the only color I would prefer over the black! Love the wheels, love the headlights. She llooks great!

LovemyE320

I'm going to keep all of my light assemblies and focus on the bulbs themselves. Thanks for the input, suggestions, and info.

raymond g-

unless you won the lotto or have much disposable income, I think it is wise to make small, incremental changes
to see if those small dollar items will do the job. i also have a small supply of LED bulbs which I don't use as I
attempted to match bulb color. so it didn't make sense for me in the beginning to buy glamour label bulbs on
the chance that the color or CANBUS issues didn't work out.

i think you already have a very nice looking ride. personally, I like the projector look and it worked out but I had
to invest in a little bit of craftsmanship to build it

LovemyE320

What do.you suggest is the best way to go about cleaning my headlight lenses? They are not bad at all. And do the OEM headlamps come as Halos projector?