thenew3

Ok so for the past 10+ years I've been driving vehicles with adaptive bi-xenon headlights and enjoying how brightly they light up the road.
On this latest purchase, there were no dealers with a P2 package E350 wagon in stock so we just took one with a P1 package.

Just tried driving at night the other day (after the car spending 3 out of the first 5 weeks we've owned it in the shop), and realized how poor the headlights are.

Since I don't want to go the expense of retrofitting OEM adaptive bi-xenon lights, I'm thinking about just replacing the halogen bulbs with better bulbs.

Looking around the engine bay, I don't see how to get access to the bulbs. A search mentioned something about taking the wheel liner off to get access to head lights. Can't be that drastic (I hope?)

Are there any good how to guides on replacing the head light bulbs? (If there are pictures or videos thats even better!)
And also any good recommendations on some brighter bulbs that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

thanks!

PHML

I'd stay away from higher wattage bulbs...they will fry your socket and wires....seen them happen.

If you wish to stick with halogen bulbs, try silverstars.

Personally, I'd recommend you install a HID kit.

BM2BZ

+1 on the hid kit. the "brighter" bulbs aren't that much brighter anyway and if you go with the better japanese import ones, they cost even more than the whole hid kit.

thenew3

How costly and how involved is getting an HID kit?

CEB

You may want to read THIS and THIS. Make sure to look at the links from the international community that are in the documents.

mleskovar

+1 More people should be aware of what they're getting into when changing highway lighting on their vehicle. It's often a dangerous plug and pray scenario.

BM2BZ

you can get them for well less than $100 to a few hundreds per kit. i personally don't think you need to go with the more expensive kit.
it's the same way as you are changing the bulbs, not a simple plug and play. phml is the expert on this or you can do a search on this topic. at least a few threads had mentioned about the whole process. good luck .

CEB

there are good reasons why HID kits are illegal in every country that regulates lighting.

That aside, since a real bulb costs about $100, what kind of kit do you think you'll get for $100?

CEB

There are a few other things to take into consideration as well.

The dealer ay (in many cases legitimately) blame other faults - even those you may think are wholly unrelated - on such a mod.

Resale value will take a hit. The car cannot be CPO'd so the dealer will price it accordingly. Places like CARMAX may refus the car altogether and knowledgeable private buyers will stay away or make you a lowball offer.

Modern electrics are very sensitive to change and even minor alterations can affect other parts of the system.

Evey car has vastly different headlights. Going from my Audi to my GTI I noticed little change (both HID) but I thought that there was something wrog with my BMW HIDs because of the way they were designed - a few months later I got used to them and they were fine.

I drove a rental Prius without HIDs for about 6 months and thought the headlights were horrible until I got used to them.

One difference is that halogens have a warmer light and the brain reacts to that type of light differently until it adjusts. Give your brain time to adjust and you'll be fine.

instantfob

Best way to gain access to the headlight is to pull the front half of the fender liner out. (with the wheel turned inward)