Does anybody know the easiest way for me to upgrade my ****ty halogen headlights so they match the running lights underneath. I got a good deal on this car and didn't want to pass it up. But the Non-HID headlights irritate me.
I have a 2013 E350. Looking for a reputable online company/product... and DYI instructions.

 

You'll want an H7 HID conversion kit. We can set you up. We carry top of the line Morimoto HID conversion kits. Plug and play and error free.

 

I used http://www.ddmtuning.com/ HID upgrade kit on my older Mercedes. They are great quality, inexpensive and comes with a lifetime warranty .

 

Might want to read this first.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

Upgrading headlights is a topic that comes up over and over again. I have three threads open on my screen right now...one from Dec 2015 (X204) and two from Jan 2016 (W212 and M166).

No disrespect to the first responder, but I would love to hear more input on this topic, because as far as I can tell it isn't easy to achieve the desired goal. Exchanging your OEM halogen bulbs for some "Super Blues" may get rid of the yellow color everyone seems to hate, but it probably doesn't improve your lighting, and may not even be legal, not to mention it is more expensive and the bulbs don't last as long. And changing from halogen to HID or LED seems to be even more problematic unless you change the whole assembly, and add extra parts.

Speaking of changing assemblies, I am curious about full LED vs std lighting in face lift cars (2014 and on). Full LED can be disabled by either the menu or the headlight switch (don't use the Auto setting). When disabled, and high beams are engaged by moving the stalk of the steering column, are the headlights still adaptive, or are they "just high beams"?

 

That Daniel Stern article has been much debated. Keep in mind motive as he is a halogen bulb retailer. Nothing wrong with (even the article acknowledges) retrofitting HIDs behind xenon projectors. It's mainly not advisable to pair HIDs with halogen reflectors. The debate begins with placing HIDs behind halogen projectors, and that depends on individual goal. If you're trying to achieve optimum lighting performance, retrofitting xenon projectors or housing replacement with xenon projectors is the way to go. If going for aesthetics with good enough lighting, HID conversion behind halogen projectors is fine. You'll have a fair cutoff to not blind people if aimed correctly, you'll get nice pure white color that befits luxury vehicles, and you'll have good enough usable lighting for daily driving.

 

I think you still get glare if using halogen projectors. Plus it's not DOT street legal right?

 

Yes, anything brighter (including brighter halogen bulbs) will increase glare in static housings. And most aftermarket automotive products (including many whiter halogen bulbs like Philips Diamond Visions) do not have DOT certification. It's a very onerous and bureaucratic time consuming process.

 

Backfitting HID's into existing reflector or projector assemblies is illegal and will open you up to a ticket. Its not just bureaucratic, but expensive to do the testing and all these people selling cheap Chinese bulbs to retrofit into existing housings will never do it and sell it to you with a proviso that it is intended for off road use or some other BS like that to cover themselves.

Back in the day I worked for a company that designed what we called "forward lighting" for customers including Chrysler and GM. The testing that goes into making sure the lights meet DOT standards is pretty intense and expensive and ensures the lights do their job and don't blind oncoming traffic as a result. Substituting a different bulb with a filament that is even a MM off of what the housing was certified with will change the pattern of light. Lights have to be bright enough for you to see but not blind oncoming traffic. That is where these kits fall down.

 

Yes, many aftermarket work we do to our cars are illegal and can open us up for tickets. That's the assumed risk from running no front plates, to front window tint, to engine tune, to exhaust, to intake.

I will say that the Morimoto kits we carry are not those cheap conversion kits. We were pretty judicious when we decided to distribute for them when looking to add HID to our lineup. Correct focal point requires HID projector retrofit, no argument there.

 

Very honest response by AZN. I wonder what would happen in case of an accident primarily caused by a distracted oncoming driver claiming that the accident happened due to blinding by your car's headlights. Let's say both headlights were damaged so no one can verify whether they were properly installed or not. Would the person with retrofitted headlights be held technically liable for the accident by default?

 

Doubt it's as simple as that. You'd have a lot of insurance fraud headhunters gunning for everyone with obvious HID conversion, or any lifted truck for that matter, or anyone who high beams someone.

 

never heard of any accidents caused by HID blinding. last car I had with halogens was the '03 W211 and I converted it to HID.

-very easy DIY if you know what youre doin.
-did it give me better lighting? not that i noticed.
-one thing for sure but, it looks way better than the VERY outdated yellow halogen.
-would i do it again if I had halogens on my car. in a heartbeat!

coppers wont waste time to pull you over coz of your HID conversion. besides, 50% of cars on the road has them so how can they tell which ones are stock from retrofitted.

OP, just do it. go get the whole kit from AZN, theyll help you out.

 

The problem has nothing to do with bureaucracy - but with the physical impossibility of putting a xenon bulb into a halogen housing.

While aftermarket bulb dealers love to claim that such mods are possible but the truth is that any such mod won't increase visibility, will increase glare and will fail an inspection.

No country that regulates lighting allows such a mod - for good reason. While the Daniel Stern articles may be hotly debated by both the aftermarket community and by the regulators (but for different reasons), his comments are fundamentally sound.

While there is no legal way of retrofitting HID's, the only proper way of doing it is to retrofit the OE HID housing and related assemblies. Unfortunately, this will cost upwards of several thousand dollars and still not be technically legal - but if done properly it is unlikely that a testing station will notice.

 

isnt it as easy as changing the stock halogen bulb with aftermarket HID, add ballast and youre good to go? reputable HID seller with warranty may cost a couple of hundred bucks, chinese bulbs, dime a dozen.

how is that gonna cost you thousands?

 

Not even close. Let me try to explain in simple terms.

A halogen bulb (like your traditional home light bulb) has a filament that side to side (when you hold the bulb base down). The housing (the entire housing which includes the front glass and the reflector) are designed for that shape light source.

The usual HID bulb arcs from top to the bottom when viewed the same way. Accordingly, the reflector needs to be designed entirely differently to properly focus the beam.

While stuffing a HID bulb and ballast in a halogen housing will create blue light, the additional glare and improper focus actually decreases your usable light and visibility. You get less visibility AND you are creating more glare for yourself and oncoming drivers.

How often have you been driving on a wet road and noticed that a few cars had headlamps that produced much more glare than others. You'll note that those are coming from cars (usually Civics and the like) that never came with HIDs as OE and therefore had to be retrofits.

Retrofitting HIDs is a very bad idea. IF you buy a set of OE HID housings, OE ballasts, bulbs, wiring looms and the other requisite bits, then you can actually get something that approximates legal. Because the law does not allow you to change lighting types, such a retrofit is still technically illegal and prohibitively expensive.

 

no offense mate, but you make life so complicated.

OP just wanted to know how to convert the halogen to HID. can easily be done, even my 5 year old nephew can do it, just give him a stool to stand on.

unscrew the halogen bulb, remove the bulb holder from the old bulb, attach the bulb holder to the HID bulb, screw the HID bulb with the ballast and youre golden.

 

Again, it all goes towards what the goal of the individual is. If you want the absolute best road illumination, nothing wrong with proper retrofitted and aimed xenon projectors and HIDs. However for most who reside in well lit cities, that's not necessarily their objective. They are willing to go with a few yards less illumination in exchange for the increase in aesthetic appeal. There are always tradeoffs and it is up to the customer to decide what they want. No different than people pushing for power increases with tune while reducing engine life and reliability or increasing wheel size for aesthetics, sacrificing comfort, etc.

 

Why not just make it all real simple and drive with the brites on all the time. You'll see great and it wont cost anything extra. So much less complicated.

 

Sure. You call also bring a charcoal grill into your living room and cook some steaks there. You might die of carbon monoxide poisoning but you can cook a steak that way.

Just because a bulb will physically fit into the housing doesn't mean that it is the correct way of doing things.

 

No it doesn't - unless the goal is to see less, blind other drivers and drive a non-compliant car.

I didn't see a disclaimer on your website that the retrofit kits that you sell do not comply with US regs and are actually illegal to sell.

You may want to carefully consider what happened to APC

 

LOL. Done right it is sorta complicated. You yourself said it didn't improve visibility. So why do it if there is no benefit except changing the ***ty yellow color. Couldn't the OP achieve nearly the same goal with carefully selected replacement halogen bulbs...higher Kelvin, more lumens, +50, +80?

 

thats not making things simple mate, its plain stupidity which im sure youre quite familiar with.

 

do you know how to read mate? yep i said it didnt help much...what did i write after that. aesthetics mate...aesthetics. and you have the guts to "lol".

legal this and legal that... down here we call em tight ***.

 

you practically answered your own question there mate. next time proof read before your hit enter button.

 

youve obviuosly never been down here. making claims out of what your neighbor (maybe aquinob) told you about something is very stupid. im not sayin you are but...

anyway, i never once said all this legallity bs should be taken for granted, but if you go back to what the OP is trying to achieve and what the OP actaully asked...then most of your replies here are all moo point.

next time somebody starts a thread asking "is retrofiting HID on my halogen equiped car legal or illegal?" all you tight asses will have a field day posting your replies.