wookiehoth2

Sorry if this has been posted before....

I am looking for a complete HID/Xenon Kit for a MY2000 E320, including the housing, the ballast, the lightbulb, and the lens, etc. Hopefully something that's a plug-n-play (or plug-n-pray if you're anti-Microsoft).

Can someone point me to the right thread or a vendor that sells such a kit ?

Thanks very much.

wookiehoth2

Answered my own question:

Auto Dynamic in El Monte, CA (less than 10 miles from my home)

626.618.2026

Hank

how much they asking?

Richard Galing

If Jack or Roger @AD doesn't hook U w/a unit...I've got a few sources in the 626 area, just shoot me a PM!

ebennz

if yuo want the real thing, hella oe you can buy the euro xenon's from www.bekkers.com

peter

zam2000

Auto Dynamic have projector headlight (new style), not xenon for Mercedes.

You can go either of two options:

1. get the E-code OEM Xenon version (either from Steve or Becker.com), or the US Xenon light set. Note that the OEM xenon have different reflector and lens cover compared to the halogen light. You <b> can't </b> just put xenon ballast & bubls into your regular housing, too much glare (cop & people hate it). You can probably get a good set of E-code for around $600. E-code is nicer & brighter than DOT (US version)

2. Get the new style headlight from AutoDynamic, retrofit 90 mm Hella lens into it (the provided Depo lens is kind of crappy, added w/ xenon it will be a disaster). Then put brand name xenon kit on it (Hella, Bosch, Stanley...). Avoid after market xenon kit, the best is to go w/ OEM kit (kit ripped out from OEM xenon set). Looking to spend at least $750 on this ($430 for light local pick-up, $100-150 for Hella projector, $200-300 for xenon kit), and a load of time spent to retrofit the lens (LOOOT of time), and some for the xenon kit

Option 2 is more costly, but look much nicer !!!. That's what I did.

wookiehoth2

Hanks Question: I think it's about $400

Zam2000 Comments: I now understand the difference between a Xenon/HID vs. a projector headlight. Therefore, if I were to get the Auto Dynamic kit and put a pair of 5000K white light bulbs (the Philip type you mentioned in other threads) in the kit, I would in theory get something like that of your 04 E320, right ? The question is: which piece is the lens you're referring to ? The outside cover I can physically touch with the unit installed on to the car ? or the little semispherical piece that sits within an inch of the bulb ?

Since I live near the intersection of 60 and 57, I assume that a simple lens and bulb upgrade would be sufficiently bright ?

BTW, are the headlights of your 04 E320 stock ?

wookiehoth2

Wait, so there is still no one-stop shopping plug-n-play other than the euro xenon as suggested by ebennz ?

zam2000

There's no plug and play, as for xenon-projector one. If you really want to, you can buy a projector headlight set ($430 out the door from AutoDynamic), and a set of OEM H7 Xenon kit (90mm projector, bulb, and ballast), and have yourself or someone put it together for you. This will probably run a bit higher than E-code xenon, but the look & effectiveness justify the extra cost. Also, the resale value is probably better too, once you don't need it.

Do not go w/ aftermarket xenon kit (especially those w/ weird name). If you have to, stick w/ either: Bosch, Masuchita, Mitsubishi, Hella, Osram, Stanley, Koito, Denso ... . Put it this way, if a Ballast is node made in Japan or Germany, 90% chance is that it's crappy. With bulb, only Osram and Philips worth buying. ANything over 5000K is not good either.

You can just make life simple by slapping a pair of Philips Blue Visions into your new projector headlight, and I think that's good enough.

If you live in Southern CA, most of the time, I don't think you really need xenon, but again, that's subjective.

raymond g-

As I'm undergoing similar tugs to pocketbook right now, I found that the 'Search' on this board proved helpful as there is much info posted already. It was just a chore to collate them together. Here are a couple of other places which helped give me a better understanding of this Halogen, HID, reflector v projector thang....


HID Forum
HID Tech
Autodynamic
RPI
Eurolamps

Knowing the bulb size/type also helps narrow your hunt - seems common sense but it's evident (from reading old posts) that with the many variants used by MB it's easy to come into this w/o knowing which is which. Seems that the big lighting manuf site have xref charges also, eg Hella, Sylvania/Osram, Philips.....

MARK CUMMINS

The Best set up is FACTORY...Mercedes Xeon Headlights!
The Aftermarket Kits are Bulb/and Transformers..
They Do NOT have the correct Lens or reflector..
And HOPE that you can find parts for them When you need them.
The Aftermarket look cool but thats it.
Contact Mbenz.nl for Real Xeon Headlights Euro or USA

zam2000

I respectfully disagree. Mercedes OEM xenon is not known as best on the market, even on latest models. I've done extensively research on xenon, and all indicate that the best xenons are seen on Audi, Porches, and BMW. Eventhough most OEM xenon set are made by either Hella, Stanley, Panasonic, Denso, Bosch, or Valeo (Hella makes Philips ballast), some auto manufactors have their own spec for projector lens (BMW, Audi, Porches). For ballast, it's mostly the same (85v, 35W), and doesn't play much role on brightness or light distribution. Some ballast boot up faster than other (Panasonic is fastest in term of booting).

The rest are so and so. Originally, Philips and Osram made D2R for Mercedes only, because they refused to go w/ projector, and their xenon light quality was a big joke compared to other German car brands.

If your car has reflector halogen headlight, then putting xenon bulb and ballast on it is a disaster: <b> too much glare </b>. Xenon-reflector have different lens cover than halogen-relector light. If you want to go w/ reflector headlight, then it's best to go w/ E-code xenon (reflector), and yep, Steve is your best source.

If your car is 2002 or later, then there're OEM xenon projector headlight upgrade (Steve as well), which offer more light w/ less glare, sharper cut off too. Also, for post-2002 car that has projector halogen (like the W211), then putting in a pair of BMW/Audi projector lens (90mm), along w/ good ballast & bulb, then you'll beat Mercedes OEM xenon by the whole nine yards !!!

However, if your car is 2002 or earlier, and you want projector xenon (or bi-xenon), then go w/ after market clear headlight housing (clear housing cover), the put well known projector on it (you have option of either xenon or bi-xenon), along w/ reputable ballast and bulb, and you'll beat OEM reflector by miles. If you buy a whole reputable OEM set (Projector, Ballast, and bulb), said from BMW or Audi, then it doesn't matter what car you put it in, as long as it has clear light housing, its performance will be just as on the original car.

Btw, xenon and bi-xenon use the same projector lens, bulbs, and ballast. The only difference is that bi-xenon has a selenoid that move the projector shield when high beam is on. And that's all. If you don't use high-beam, there's no difference betwen xenon and bi-xenon. There's no such thing as reflector bi-xenon.

For reflector headlights, then the light housing cover is important in how light/brightness is distributed. For projector headlights, the clear housing cover act as weather projection only, nothing else; also, projector lens and shield determine how light is distributed.

In term of spare or replacement part, it's not that hard to buy a separate ballast, projector (hardly go wrong), or bulb (and much cheaper than OEM xenon light set too). As the matter of fact, you don't need to have same ballast on both size. But you do need identical xenon bulbs, so it's recommend that you replace both bulb even when only one die. And that applies to both OEM and retrofit.

On HID forum, Mercedes xenon light capture significantly less value compared to ones from BMW or Audi, and there's a reason for it.

All xenon stuff (ballast, lens, bulb) made in the US, Taiwan, and Korea are crap. Regardless of how it's advertised !!!.

Just as with tires, sometime OEM stuff are not the best (OEM Continental better than Micheline Pilot Sport ??, nea )

Xenon upgrade has always been a myth to most people, myself included, until I spent sometime learning from it. It's all clear to me now.

carlsson9

I agree with zam2000. The stock mercedes xenon's hits up to 3800K i think..kinda white light, but also a tinge of yellow. I heard that there are rules in Europe where the max allowable brightness for car are only until 3800K. and its not as bright as converted Xenons.

I've just upgraded my lights to xenon..keeping the stock projector, changed my front lenses to new. There's really no glare when i'm driving, and ppl in front of me didn't complain to me about it (friends driving in front).

My kit is a xenon conversion kit, with philips H7 bulbs and ballast made by a german company called Altec. It's about 8000K, and it's a HUGE difference compared to stock. It's all white, boot ups pretty fast (bout 3 sec) and has done wonders when i drive.

Plus its way cheaper compared to the OEM xenons. I paid about RM3700 for my conversion..changing everything to OEM spec would have cost me RM 7000 ~ RM8000.

Will take pics and post em up for all to see..

my two cents..

BigSis

You can also get xenons here: http://www.mbenznl.com/products/xenon.shtml

Greetingz,

BigSis

Whitey

they wont get any glare if they have the self dimming mirrors anyway.

8000K should be very blue, if not purple and definitely not white. I would serously question the labelling or spec of those bulbs. BTW, Kelvins refers to the color temp, not brightness.

I could have brought you over a set of bosch/hellas for RM1400 last month or in a couple of weeks........too late now

zam2000

4100-4300K is known as produced the brightest/most-useful light.

The unit for brightness is Lumen. Going with Philips or Osram (both are golden standard in xenon bubl). Brightness is about 3200 Lumen for D2S 4100-4300K bulb, for every 1000K extra, you reduce brightness about 15-25% compared to the previous (so this is nonlinear).

Also, w/ these two brands, at same temperature rating, D2S (used in projector) is about 10-15% brighter than D2R (used in refelctor). 4300K D2S Philips is 3200 Lumen, while D2R is only 2800 Lumen.

Typical halogen bulb is around 1000 bulb (1500 at max, Philips Vision Plus), those with tint sometime drop to 500-600 Lumen.

Whitey

Amen (we should start a bulb/lighting forum )

carlsson9

you were in KL whitey? should have hooked up!

Was looking at the hella's at one time, but wasn't as bright as I expected...perhaps I got my kelvins wrong..was probably about 6000K to 7000K, but its definitely white.

and driving at night has been fun to drive since I've put them on

Whitey

Gave you an Email and PM, was there almost 2 weeks...no response

carlsson9

really ? i didn't get any mail, and my PM shows empty..
bummer..but hey, if you're down again, drop me a msg at the board in case..

hope you had a fun time in KL!

wookiehoth2

Thanks very much, everyone. There is a lot of great information, especailly from zam2000. I would like to summarize what I have read so far, both to re-org my thoughts and to evaluate what's the next step:

(1) The stuff from Auto Dynamic is "projector light", not xenon. At the very least, it needs to be refitted with the lens from a reputable German/Japanese source and a Philipps or equivalent-grade halogen light

(2) A more functionally effective solution is to use real xenon bulbs with ballasts and bulbs from reputable German/Japanese source

(3) Other aftermarket bulbs/lens combinations are no good because of the glare problems

Did I miss anything ?

zam2000

Yep. Make it lens from either Hella or Valeo, and bulb from Philips or Osram.

Yep. Use OEM ballast (ripped from high-end car), or well known one (Philips, Bosch, Stanley...).

Yep, avoid all sort of aftermarket bulb/lens, especially those made in China/Taiwan/Korea.

Go with Philips or Osram/Sylvania bulb only.

carlsson9

amen to that!

sunq

hi..

i have an o.e.m xenon..but i want a change w211 style headlight

anyone know how to put factory xenon on new headlight..?

zam2000

It might be expensive upgrade, especially if you let a shop do it:

Here's part cost:

+ New style projector headlight: $430 (local pick-up)
+ 90 mm Hella (or Valeo) lens: $120-150
+ If you want to use your OEM ballast, then all you need is new bulb (D2S): $70/pair, your OEM xenon bulb is best for reflector only. If you want to new xenon ballast (OEM one), add another $150-200.

It's the labor that's intensive. I have an extra pair of 90 mm Hella headlight, pending sale. If it doesn't go through, I'll let you know.