woodchuckc

I've had my 2011 E350 sedan for a week now (P1, Luxury) and am really enjoying it except for the lighting. The lights on the 03 E500 I traded in were light-years (pun intended) better for night driving. I live in a very rural area with lots of deer and other critters that wander out in the roads at night and is prone to morning fog so for safety's sake I need to upgrade things (yes, I know I should have gotten a car with the P2 package, but I couldn't find one that wasn't a Sport and in the color my wife had to have). I am planning on getting the AZN Optics 5000k HID kit for the low beams, but am wondering what to do with the high beams and fog lamps (Luxury model, so it has the 4 round DRL / fog lamps in the lower bumper). To my understanding, the high beams are H7 halogens, so could I just get two HID kits and replace both high and low beams with them? Or would it be "good enough" to replace the high beam bulbs with PIAA extreme whites or Sylvania silverstar ultras? Also for the fog lamps, I was thinking of going with the PIAA plasma ion crystal yellow H11 bulbs, as I know that bright white light is badly reflected back toward you in fog. I am not really concerned that all the lights have the exact same temperature (color) since I doubt that the deer, racoons, coyotes, etc. really care all that much - I just want to make sure that I get the lighting that best enhances driving safely.

Thanks!

EmE247

I went with the 6k HID low beams & 6k brightness led city lights. 5K is very similar in brightness to the xenons that come with the car. 6K is a little brighter white yet not quite the blueish color.

I don't think it is recommended to HID the high beams as the HID's take a second or two to light up to the correct brightness thus making your high beams a bit ineffective. (ie. I usually flash people with the high beams if their lights are off at night or driving erratic in front of me. If you have HID high beams, your flash high beam won't be an instantaneous flash if that makes sense.)

I don't think it's possible to change out the hockey stick drls but if you have the round ones, you can change that with the 5k or 6k hid's as well.

I completely recommend purchasing / having these installed at a shop. It's a little difficult to do yourself with the limited space under the hood and if you ever have any problems with the lights, a decent shop will guarantee their work and replace parts free of charge when needed.

woodchuckc

EmE,
Thanks for the reply. That is an excellent point about the xenons taking a bit of time to light up - I guess that is the reason why people with halogens only changing out the low beam bulbs with xenons and full xenon systems are bi-xenons (Doh!).

I don't have the hockey sticks; my DRL / fog lamps are the round ones.

I know the driver's side is a pain to swap bulbs, but I am pretty comfortable with working on it myself as I have been working on my own cars, trucks, motorcycles and tractors for ~40 years. There may be a shop within about 100 miles of me that could do it, but to be honest I'm not sure I would trust anyone in my area of TN to do it any more than myself.

Johnny Mo

I'm a big fan of the PIAA Ion Crystals as fogs...have used them on every car I've owned that had fogs. As for the other lights HID's vs PIAA exteme whites - I just replaced the headlight bulbs on my bike with Extreme whites...probably should've done a more scientific test of if its "brighter". The light coloring is definitley whiter over the std halogens, but I don't know if that translates to stronger/brighter. It might be a relatively inexpensive test for you vs spending decent $$ on HID's first. Probalby pickup the PIAA's for less than $75 for the pair.

blackbullit

I agree addition of aftermarket HID to low beam position only is your best bet.

I would suggest adjusting the low beam aim upward in the interim. This is done with an Allen wrench inserted thru the opening above the headlight (counterclockwise to raise aim). If this is aimed straight ahead, you will note much better downroad and side visibility. Factory setting is down at the pavement.

I also suggest driving with the fogs on at all times at night. This also helps with the headlights.

I am not sure if the color of the fogs affects visibiity.