So I decided to have a little fun!! I wanted BIX (The factory bi-xenon lights) but could not find a nice pair for under $1,000. So I decided to retrofit in E55 Bi-Xenon Projectors with clear lenses . Since the w211 light already uses a halogen E55 or whatever its called it makes it a direct bolt on job. The hardest part of the whole thing was mounting the ballasts in the bottom. If I were to do the job again I would buy a aftermarket hid kit with slim ballasts and shove it inside the light as making a nice circular hole for the Matsu****a ballasts was a huge pain and using a Dremel I messed up when it got away from me so had to do lots of fill work as it was not a nice circle. All in all took about 6 hours which includes 2 for bumper removal as it was poring like no other outside at the beginning. Opening the lights was easy and installing the wiring and projector was dead simple the only hard part was the hole.


Yes it had jack stands under the lift points on the side the jack was just for safety.


Helper puppy!! and dads 2012 C350 4Matic coupe was water bottle and cell phone holder.


Love those magnetic bolt holders


Put them in over at 175 for 5 minutes and they were very easy to pry apart. I also used the same temperature and time to reseal. I have heard of some using like 250 but that scares me as I don't have good gloves and don't want to burn myself.


Reseal


Layed out all my stuff the projectors 2 sets of Philips d2s bulbs (both older so have new pair on the way) The clear lenses in the box (worth the money) and the Matsu****a gen 3 ballasts.


Sorry for blurry picture Ballasts again and the bolts I used to mount the ballasts.


Close up picture of the e55 bix projector with bulbs installed. The wire on the bottom is for the shield that moves when you put your high beams on so the projector releases more light. You just have to tap into the high beam socket and it doesn't mater which way you wire it and it draws so little power that the high beam bulb is unaffected.


Crappy cell phone pic better pics to come


Crappy cell phone pic better pics to come


Haven't aligned beams yet and the car was still in the air when I took picture. Will go out and align soon and align them better!



The clear lenses make it so much better wish my old w203 had them! Very happy with them I did notice that it looks like one of the projectors has a shield that the other doesn't which blocks light from first few feet may have to take that light apart again to remove it as it bothers me but really doesn't effect the output as from the drivers seat you can't tell. Also the high beams are amazing even better than the bix on my w203 which surprised me.
This is before I aligned it BTW.

 

Cool project.

 

Thanks man

 

So a price list
E55 BIX projectors $40
ZKW-R Clear lenses $25
Matsu****a Gen 3 Ballasts $60
Matsu****a Ballast Input Pigtails $15
Philips 85122 Bulbs $74 (just ordered should arrive Friday using old 85122 bulbs I had in my junk bin)
H7 Connector Free (already had from very very old hid kit)
Bolts and other miscellaneous supplies $15
+ $15 shipping
Total $229

 

What's this about clear lenses? The lenses are already clear?

 

They are actually not clear they are hazy like the old frosty w203 headlights but not so bad. The clear lenses maximize intensity, width and sharpness which basically means they look badass. I do need to remove both headlights again and play with the adjustments and then put them back on the car and align better as the passenger side is a little off I messed with a mounting screw at the base of the headlight and now it is a little skewed.

 

nice job.
you could've gone with the evox-r bi-xenon projectors, they're an upgraded version of the e55.
They have the same mounting points, better bowls, and come with clear lenses but still the e55 are good projectors

 

My car's headlight lenses are completely clear, save for the start of some very slight oxidation at the tops where the blinkers are (it was a FL car).

 

I'm talking about the projector lens not the housing lens MATT!!
BTW still trying to figure out when to visit Georgia in August will keep you updated.

 

I thought about it but for the e55 and clear lens it was $65 vs around $150 and I have heard that the bix solenoid is different then on the e55 and can cause fitment issue no clue how true that is though.
I was trying to do this on a budget off the money I sold the bix off my w203 for ($800) and found that I could not get w211 bix for that so decided to try a retrofit as I always wanted to try it out and decided to not do anything to crazy the first time.

 

sam did you put these projectors in a set of OEM HID housing? and why change the ballast? why not just use the oem ballast?