EuroDriverSD

I just acquired a 2008 E350 and I want to install OEM HIDs. Are they available in xenon, bixenon or both? Anyone know where I can source them? My headlights are the ones with multiple horizontal bars or "eyebrows" over the turn signal portion. Any info appreciated.

cetialpha5

I think you're in for a pretty expensive project if you're going OEM. I think each headlamp is around $825+ each reconditioned on rockauto. You might be able to find it cheaper somewhere else. And I don't believe those come with the ballast or the Xenon bulb. I think the ballast is another $200 or so and the bulb is at least $60+ for maybe a real HID bulb and not a cheap knock off that might flicker. Then you'd probably have to do something else to the car to enable the active curve illumination. All in all, you probably would have been better off looking for a car with the P2 package because at least you'd also get keyless go in addition to the Bi-xenons. Also not sure if you got the headlamp washers which came standard with the Bi-xenons. They also came with the sports model.

There are aftermarket kits out there, but they use the factory projectors which are not DOT approved for xenon headlamps. If you search, you might find a thread where someone replaced the projectors on their own as a DIY project.

You might be better off just getting some brighter halogens. And depending on how you do it, it may actually be cheaper to sell your current car and find one that has the P2 package. Most dealers don't mention it or lie about it, but you can just run the vin through a vin decoder like:

http://www.vindecoderz.com/EN/Mercedes-Benz

AZN Optics

Another alternative is to get aftermarket headlights with xenon projectors and pair with a HID kit. I know many w211 owners have Depo headlights. Retrofitting high end projectors in your stock set up is also a viable option many do.

EuroDriverSD

Thanks for the info, cetialpha5. My MBZ has the sport package and it does include the headlight washers. It also has the avant-garde package, which I mistakenly believed included the xenon headlights. I really don't care about keyless go and I absolutely love everything else about the car, except I was a bit surprised at how pathetic the halogens lights are - they suck the stinky hole big time. Thus, I'm willing to invest a chunk into getting the xenon headlights and this car should be a keeper. I knew it wouldn't be cheap though.


For now I did the aftermarket conversion with re-based bulbs, since at least I have projectors in there (thanks, AZN Optics) as a temporary solution but I'm a big believer in having my lighting as it was designed to work.


I know there are some members here that sell OEM (I got the bixenons for my W203 from MBenzNL), so I was hoping to find someone else stateside that might have them for my W211.

cetialpha5

For future reference, the only way to tell if it had the Bixenons is either through the vin decoder or look to see if it had keyless go which would be the push button on the shifter. Most car's that I've seen that had the bixenons did it with the P2 package. I think I've only seen one or two cars that just had the bixenon option and no keyless go. I think keyless go is one of the nicest options, I like it the best and use it all the time.

I'm not sure what the avant-garde package really does, it might be that most US cars have that, it's not listed as a separate option that you can get. I believe you would normally look for 615 and 619 as an option for the bixenon.

EuroDriverSD

Okay, so I am officially on the hunt for some OEM bixenon headlight assemblies. Before I run out and buy them though, I'm hoping for some help in clearing up some confusion that my research has created.


Apparently, there's xenon headlights that are adaptive, self-leveling and have active curve illumination (or any combination thereof). According to my research, the xenon units that have self-leveling and/or active curve illumination will not work on a vehicle that is not equipped with that option. So my questions are:


1) How do I know if my car has the options?
According to the VIN report, it's equipped with
Code 952 Sports Package
Code 954 Equipment Package for Avantgarde Vehicles
Code 600 Headlamps Cleaning Equipment
According to the Specs brochure (2010 - I could not find the 2008 brochure), the Avantgarde package includes the lighting package, described as:
"Light package (with ELEGANCE 955)
Includes: Intelligent Light System (621), Cornering light (619), Active Light System (K10), headlamp cleaning system (600) and
Adaptive Highbeam Assist (608). Package already included in AVANTGARDE (954)

2) So should I be looking for the lights with active cornering or without - if I don't have the options, will the xenon headlights work anyway?
3) Anyone know the part numbers; and
4) What is adaptive lighting???

cetialpha5

2010 was a new model the W212 so don't go by that one. Adaptive Highbeam assist is when you have highbeams on, if the car sees the headlights of other cars, it automatically dims the headlamps. But that wasn't an option on the W211 which was just 2003-2009.

I believe Bixenon was 615 and active curve illumination was 619. You don't have either of them. I think there are threads where other people tried to put them in, but it may require Star diagnostic to code them to your car. I believe all 2008 that had bixenons also had the active curve illumination and the auto level, some older models might not have had the active curve illumination.

EuroDriverSD

Once again, thanks for the info. In reading between the lines of your last comments, am I correct in assuming the xenon headlights will work (even if designed for active cornering), subject to coding by STAR diagnostic? I understand of course, that active cornering still won't work if my car is not equipped for it.


You happen to know where I can find the part numbers for the assemblies?

cetialpha5

You can use epcnet, it's a free website by Mercedes. You just need to register with a US credit card, but you don't get charged.

https://epc.startekinfo.com/epc/subscribe.jsp

I think the problem is that you need to find a car that has them as an option as it will just give you part numbers for the VIN number that you enter.

Also I'm not sure it will work as when you first turn them on, they do this little autolevel dance and I'm not sure how it's going to react or if you'll get an error message. It's probably why you should stick to what you have now. It's going to cost you a lot more than you think and you won't get it back when you sell it as cars that have the P2 package seem to go for about the same or just slightly more than ones without. Nadaguide doesn't even have it as an option box to check off when determining retail value.

EuroDriverSD

Yeah, I know it's expensive - I went through it on my W203, but at least I found brand new ones for it. For me it's not so much about getting my money back out of the investment (if I sell the car down the road, I guess I'd put the stock halogens back in and sell the bixenons separately), but I've been driving vehicles with bixenons for so long now, that I feel almost blind with the halogens on my W211. I do a fair bit of nighttime rural driving, so perhaps it's more of an issue for me than the average joe. Thus, as dollar-fool as it seems, I'm willing to invest a bit for the sake of having the best lighting.


I sourced a pair of OEM bixenons for $600 (seller said they have a couple of broken tabs, but that I can find the tabs on ebay and it's an easy fix). I'm thinking I'm going to grab them and if I can't get them to work properly, I'll gut the projectors out and retrofit them into some depo housings. What do you think of that plan?

EuroDriverSD

Has anyone successfully retrofitted OEM HID's on a facelift E350?

I'm at a cross-road here as to what to do as I want to spend my time and money once and right.

I've been researching this issue all week and I have not found very much information. A couple posts I found mention that after the OEM retrofit, the lights blink on and off, and one stated he had an error message in the cluster display. There was also mention of having to run a separate ground. I have not been able to find any detailed how-to's. The threads I found end after the failure is reported, and there was no follow-up.

My plan A (ideal plan) is to install OEM bixenons. Most that I have found available have the "AFS" module - some sites say they work, but without the auto leveling/curb assist functions. Others say these units will not work. Anyone know for sure? If they don't work, is there "non-AFS" OEM HID headlights that can be retrofitted? If so, from which models/what part numbers?

Plan B is to acquire either a 2nd set of OEM halogens or some Depo headlights and retrofit some E55 or S2000 projectors (I'd probably go with the E55's to avoid modifications and the pain of rotation errors). This can be done I think a lot easier and inexpensively. However, I don't know which OEM ballast I could use. ATM, I'm running a Morimoto XB35 kit in my halogen housings, but I'm a bit disappointed in how long it takes the capsules to warm up to full intensity (in my W203, the OEM bixenons come to full intensity in a split second, which is the ideal outcome for this project). Anyone know what OEM ballast I can use to just plug into my original harness and avoid the need to butcher up the wiring?


Just to be clear, I do not care for adaptive headlights, curb assist or auto leveling functions. (They do not appear to be worth the hassle).

Thanks in advance for any insight.