clvincent

I have a 2006 with the hid cornering headlights, dim has always been lousy but gotten a lot worse the past couple of years
ds2 bulbs replaced a couple of times and no difference

my understanding is the projectors are burned and need replacing, that this is an issue with these cars

just started getting the code on the dash for adaptive headlights off so one motor is bad- the headlights seem to work fine but of course not turning

looked at getting the pricey full replacement headlights from mercedes but now worried in 8-9 years i will be back in this boat with burned projectors because this is an issue with the original lights...??
fcp euro has hella replacements close to the same price but i think these are the oem so wondering if these will do the same thing???

one other thing i read about was that polycarbonate lenses are better overall and i am not sure which replacements/if any have that

Talking to a new mechanic tomorrow and will ask them if they have done any of the retrofit projectors if not i feel this is above my skill level and i want to find someone to ship them to that could do this if i cannot get a long lasting entire headlight..

seems to me getting an entire new headlight will be close to the same price of retrofits and paying labor to have it done

any suggestions of what to buy or where to send these for retrofit?

thanks for any help

bbirdwell

I'm in the same situation but not yet ready to make the jump on headlights. Please keep posting what you discover from your research.

clvincent

Will do, hoping some people with more experience chime in on this issue

Will definitely update this when I finally figure out what we’re doing and how everything worked

bbirdwell

I'm glad you mentioned those headlights from FCP euro. Looking at the photos, it appears the projector lenses in their photos are virtually clear whereas the projector lenses on my car right now I would best describe as very foggy. Now that I'm retired, I'm willing to take a chance on their headlights and order a set. If you want to wait and let me take the risk, I will order a pair, install one, wait until nightfall, then illuminate a wall with each headlight new and old and post the results to this thread.
Edit: the only part that sucks is I have to pull the front bumper off.

clvincent

You are going to get the Hella headlights?


I don’t doubt that any of these new headlights are going to be dramatically better, my question is whether in seven or eight years we’re going to be in the same boat with the projectors burned again….


I have not been able to get the answer to that question on whether the projectors inside the Hella are different/better
or are they the same as the ones that were put in the car originally…

i’m willing to invest 1200-1300 in headlights but not every five years

HardmanGT

A few things, the error may be the wiring for the active curve servos inside the headlight assembly. The insulation is known to get brittle and flake off. I have this issue on my E55 and have coded out the feature with STAR to keep the error from popping up. They are just static now, not dynamic. I have not found a repair solution.

The bowls in the reflectors have a very thin reflective coating that is deposited as a vapor. The heat breaks down this coating over time and the result is dim light output. There is an EASY replacement that will give improved performance over the factory projector, and its SUPER easy to do. They are the EvoX-R projectors. A great company called Lightwerkz Global can perform the upgrade if you don't feel comfortable with the job.

The replacement lenses online have been on both of my W211's for at least 4 years now with zero issues. Highly recommend as a replacement.

clvincent

Awesome, will check this company out! I would like to fix my curve motor on the one that is broken , If I could find a used one that worked I would probably buy it and then send them both in to get the projectors replaced, I definitely don’t want to do the projector job myself

more research but I do plan to get something done in the next two or three months, I’ll have to talk to the shop about taking the headlights out for me or see if I can do it myself

clvincent

wanted to update this
talked to the lightwerks people and for someone with 2 working headlights it would probably come in a little cheaper than buying new ones
and i dont doubt they will be awesome and probably better than any stock lights i could buy

but since i need 1 new one or used with a working curve motor it is about as much for me to just buy 2 new hellas

but i am not having a lot of luck getting a hold of hella to confirm the projectors are new style in these headlights- not old stock - and that they wont burn eventually

just sent another email to them

will keep this up to date

bbirdwell

FWIW, I just ordered two new Hella headlight assemblies from FCPEuro. I'm getting multiple failure codes from the headlights; active cornering on right headlight, low beam on left headlight, flickering headlight output over rough roads, plus broken mounting tabs on right headlight. Rather than attempting to repair the issues for a not-insignificant amount of investment plus my labor, I'm going for a full plug and play replacement of both headlights. I was interested in the EvoX-R projectors and intended to try them except the other failures began to add up rather rapidly in sunk cost.

Maybe I'll buy a couple of the EvoX-R projectors as a backup. For now, my car is 17 years old and needs some TLC...

clvincent

Anxious to hear how those do for you, that’s probably the solution I am going to use also, I hope they’re super bright and last both of us a long time

gafitanu

There is a great post here: “HID Retrofit: Modded EvoX-R Projectors” that I used and I suggest you review. 20+ years ago when MB was introducing HID projectors they were very concerned about sharp cut-off (nicely explained in that post). In order to dull that cut-off and to bleed some light in the dark side they used both reflector and lens with a matte (haze) finish. While perfectly clear (mirror finish) reflectors or lenses can reach a 98% light transmissibility, anything else would be below 90% and going rapidly down. That plus the coating degradation mentioned by HardmanGT above made my ‘04 W211’s headlights almost gone. Like several other MB innovations that proved to be wrong they redirected this, my ‘06 R230 has already sharper cutoffs with brighter lights and my daughter’s ‘20 GLB has as sharper cutoff headlights as possible. I would mention that in the 50’ MB (and others) believed that the best fog lights are amber, took about 30 years to realize that was wrong, W123 still had amber fog lights.
So, I bought EvoX-R 2.0 projectors and because my W211 has headlights with both cornering and load adjusting (that is 2 motors each headlight with gearing) I got creative. I pulled the bumper and the headlights, into the oven, removed the lens and take it apart until I was able to replace the dull reflectors and lenses with the clear ones from the EvoX-R. I did find wire insulation inside brittle and exposing the wires; I re-insulated the wires the best I could. You have to get creative as you have to make some small modifications. I ended up with very bright lights with a sharp cut-off, it didn’t bother me at all.

bbirdwell

I went with new Hellas from FCPEuro. Post is here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ml#post8508193