PHML

Anyone thinking of or planning to upgrade to 6000K or 8000K your inner LEDs? If so, HID bulbs will need to be upgraded too.

Found these being advertised in Japan...

BM2BZ

looks cool but wait a minute, would it be different color compare to the headlights then ?

PHML

Yes, it would be...that's why I mentioned the HID bulb will need to be upgraded too.

BM2BZ

oh, i see. but i think not too many people will do this upgrade, though, as they will probably need to do something about the drl as well. could be a pricey upgrade.

Erwinpmac

I really want to upgrade my center city lights to a brighter LED but am unsure on where to purchase them. I have bixenon kit on my w212 and do not have night vision.

alanme123

I would rather have my inner lights more white than yellow -.-.... I have the bixenons and I wanted to change the city lights, but everytime I get to the housing I have no idea how to switch it out. It seems like the city lights is attached to the entire light housing.

If anybody know how to switch bixenons city lights.. please post here...

belarus27

i guess people havent done this yet...searched the entire google and couldnt find how to replace these on P2 headlights (( upset

Nuru

Hmmm, I really have not paid too much attention to my lights since I got a model equipped with the P2 package. So you are saying that the inner lights are LEDs? Or are you saying that these kits replace the original lights with LEDs?

Nuru

seems that you would also need to insure that whatever 3rd party lights you get, you will need to make sure they do not give you errors (are error free).

Arrie

Why in the hell would you want to do this light mod? What is the benefit doing it?

pdjv

+1

AuTEC

Same reason why you would want to upgrade P1 Halogens to HIDs

Arrie

Usually people upgrade from halogens for a better vision in dark. How much better vision do you need from the parking lights?

AuTEC

Mhm, also have aesthetics in mind as well.

JakeHaynes

Cool... I have no plans to get them now but still it looks fantastic..

CEB

In addition, 8000k will have a lower light output and may actually get you a ticket for being too blue.

AuTEC

lol, you really have a thing against light upgrades dont you?

CEB

Kinda-sorta. 99.9% of any lighting mods result in a technically illegal car. Some, like HID kits, can be downright dangerous to other drivers while some (tinted tails and blue parking lights) put the driver at risk for unsafe equipment or "impersonating a LEO"

Aside from the HID kits that may affect me as an oncoming driver, I don't really care what anyone does with lights as long as they understand the possible consequences.

AuTEC

Yea, I can certainly understand that; I'm sure we've all been blinded by that oncoming honda civic at least once. I do agree though, it's important to understand the implications beyond a simple color change of swaping out your lights.

CEB

Although I've often been accused of being anti-mod, my mantra has always been "you must understand the consequences before you mod and determine if those consequences are acceptable."

Every mod has its downsides. If it didn't, then the manufacturer would be stupid not to include that mod in the first place. Sometimes those reasons are financial, but most likely that mod has some sort of reliability or legal ramifications.

The manufacturer must walk a fine line between comfort, handling, economy, sportiness, luxury, reliability and cost. Tweak any of those and something else suffers.

We learmed in the MB service thread that modified twin turbo MB engines (at least according to that indy shop) require 5k mile oil changes and new spark plugs every 15k miles, pushing the maintenance costs for driving 20k miles to over $1200 versus $500-$650 or so for non-modified cars. Is the expense of the mod in addition to the recurring higher maintenance costs worth it? You can only decide if you consider all the consequences before you mod.

There may be legal ramifications as well. Those sidemarkers that many dislike are required by law and some states will fail a car during inspection if they don't the proper sidemarkers. Most (all?) manufacturers have adopted 4300k as the correct color temperature of HID lights. MB has tweaked that slightly to 5000k but nobody goes beyond that because the lights have greatly reduced output and no longer meet the definition of "white." How do we know that? Because there are a zillion studies showing that - in addition to studies showing that glare is increased as light gets blue based upon the way the brain processes visible light.

Before you mod you should ask yourself these questions

1. Why did the manufacturer not do that?
2. Am I okay with risking warranty service denial on my mod?
3. What other systems will my mod affect?
4. What are the legal ramifications?
5. What am I gaining by this mod?
6. Amy I financially and mentally prepared to pay for anything this mod breaks?

Point 5 needs a bit of explanation. There are multitudes of reasons for doing a mod - consmetic, performance, economy (fuel savings) and so forth and all may be valid for you but you need to be honest with yourself.

Many of us have done a mod because it was the thing to do. Big brake kits are a prime example. Unless you are tracking your car, it is unlikely that you'll see any real world benefit to this mod and you may end up with more dust and squeaks. It is perfectly fine to say "I'm doing a BBK because it looks cool. I want those big red calipers that say Brembo (or AMG or whatever)" but don't try to convince yourself that you'll get drastically shorter stopping distances and remember that your neighbors might hear you coming home at night from the squealing brakes. Consider both the up and the downsides.

belarus27

i think the purpose of this mod is just to make the lights look nicer in the dark lol , you know instead of yellowish lights upgrade to more white color , which is i think gonna look pretty nice but not for the price of these LED's tho... plus takes a while to be completed.

AuTEC

Great points for sure. Awesome insights CEB . I can tell you feel strongly about this : )

Just about anything has the potential to be taken to an irresponsible extent, usually at the expense of others safety, etc.

Best thing we can do is encourage responsible behavior. But my guess would be given the mercedes audience, majority of people here are probably pretty level-headed people.

CEB

We have all spent too much money on badly researched mods. Many have sold cars because of botched mods and every one of has regretted a mod.

New modders can learn from our mistakes.

HRZ93

Do you have a link to those bulbs for where I can get them? I am in for those 8000k bulbs

CEB

So much for your "level headed people" \/

8000k is illegal throughout the known universe - primarily because they are blue and only provide a fraction of the output of the proper bulb.