MB Fanatic

The housings and lens are quite different. Just look at the beam yours produces versus the cars that have OEM xenon projectors. The xenon beam is very sharp, clear, and does not scatter light.

raymond g-

It would be great if the folks who have successfully converted to HID using a kit
take photos...not of the car, but more importantly, of the beam against a light
colored wall at night. if there is speculation over the quality of the light beam
ie shape, spread, accuracy in cutoff, the beam photo would go a long way
towards confirming the quality. back off from the wall about a good long car
length and snap off a few.

so, photos, please!.....

cyclerider

Couldn't this be proved or disproved by simply looking up the part numbers of the projector lenses and housings?
It seems unlikely this would lead to an accurate conclusion unless there were two cars side by side in the same photo, one with factory Xenons and one with a conversion kit.

raymond g-

that would be parsing nits. the factory issued HIDs have clear cut off and
precision beam through the HID projector. by installing an HID bulb into a
halogen housing, you shift the focal point in nearly all instances. one can
simply describe the resulting beam output as 'successful' or you can attempt
to quantify this via photo....an easily accomplished task.....notwithstanding
that this method is widely used by customizers and retrofitters of true HID
projectors for years. wall shot gives an idea the vertical and horiz spread,
cutoff, potential glare of a kit. we all pretty much know what factory beam
shot is of HID because there are DOT and ECE standards.

raymond g-

again, it's all about focal point. halogen projector uses a design which is optimized
for the halogen bulb and light source. the HID projector specs for the projector lens
is different. picture, if you will, a magnifying glass....you adjust fwd/back until the
optimum focal point is achieved, thus at a precise distance, light/heat converges.

with lighting system, similar concept is by design. and the bulb (be it halogen
or HID) operates at a specific distance from the projector lens. the projector
bowl and lens are designed to work in unison to project the beam forward. the
cutoff shielf also is important in cutoff, color, and sharpness and all this must
work together at a precise and specific distance from the light source.

overall, you're correct, obviously....in that the headlight assembly and housing
is pretty much the same. it's the projector inside which is the crucial unit which
determines HID/halogen usefulness and precision of light. one projector for
HID bulb use, and one for halogen.

55fanatic

um here is an easy way to put this to rest... BiXenons have active lighting, Halogens DO NOT, case closed. While this is not the proper way to do things, I might use this method to go from my ghetto *** 98-01 headlamp in my 00 ML55(which came from the factory with xenons) to a single projector style headlamp

Also dont go anyhigher the 6000k bulbs, its kinda ricey

csumt76

The Xenon burner is always ignited at full intensity. Basically it is always in the "high beam" setting. There is a shudder in the lamp assembly that blocks some of the light emitted when you are using the low beams. If you are in front of the car and have someone flick the high beams on and off you will hear a solenoid type noise from the lamp assemblies.

MockbaBenz

So what kind of bulbs do I need h7??

JWS3

MB WASN'T SO G-D CHEAP OR STUPID AND EQUIPPED ALL E MODELS WITH HID LIGHTS AS BEFITS A 50K AND UP (WAY UP) CAR!!!

Sorry for the "yelling", but the omission of HID lights as a standard feature really, really annoys me-to the point that I am almost against buying an MB as such arrogance & cheapness makes me wonder about much more. Even more gauling is the omission in even higher end vehicles from MB.

faterikcartman

The sticker on my '03 E500 is $60,100.00 and no xenons.

iguess

i've tried to read throught most of the xenon/hid threads. one of my concerns is the error message. i was wondering what brands/ kits people have installed sucessfully WITHOUT the R/L headlight message and without flickering. I was going to go with the HELLA ballast/philips bulb. (BTW want to install into an 06' Clk350). thanks in advance.
Will