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HID Headlights Just not that Bright or Crisp Anymore
Hi Peeps,
Any else notice this? I have a 2007 GL450 with Xenon/HID and the light pattern as well as when you just look at the headlight is just not that clear anymore.
I am NOT talking about a foggy/hazy lens where I could just use Headlight restorer products but it looks like that round project lens is causing some diffusion? Anyone ever clean our the projector lens? Anyone change out their xenon bulbs and notice a difference in clarity or projection?
I buy my bulbs from this place because I have know them for almost a decade and are very knowledgeable in the hid department and excellent customer service.
I am getting races port led installed Wednesday they say its betterbthan HID
Unless the led emits 360 or the headlamp was made around the led bulb, it will not be better than hid. Some very few cars do better with led than stock HL bulbs but most will not. For Mercedes, led replacement bulbs will not be brighter. I've been in this field for a long time. I've sold hid components since 1999 and high power headlamp LEDs since they were introduced over three years ago. I have experimented on numerous cars with dozens of manufactured high power led headlamps. Avoid made in China, they all get very hot compared to Korean versions, stay away from ones with built in fans and large led drivers. High lumens mean absolutely nothing if the placement of LEDs are not set correctly in which most all are not.
Hi mbmoding
Well now that you have thrown a money wrench in it (just kidding) I am really lost now and the guy at the shop said these do have a built in fan with the ballast. let me know what you think you are much more exp than I am thanks.
Don't waste your time and money on those. The so called ballast are just led drivers. The issue with the fans is they can fail by ways of clogging up or just plain stop working, when they do, your led bulb burns out. Avoid ALL China made led headlamp bulbs, they ALL get extremely hot! Korean versions do not. However they will not perform correctly as all LEDs made for headlamps emit a perfect 360 deg. Some even create hotspots. If you want bright, nothing beats hid in 4300k. Use a high quality bulb and ballasts set. I carry those. If you have an email, I can send you pics. I've been dealing with hids longer than anyone in the aftermarket world since 1999. Not many people knew what hids were back then. The only Japanese hid ballasts not sold to the US is Bellof and FET. Hella and Phillips for oem and some Mitsubishi. I use bulbs made from oem bulb manufacturers. I get ballasts from only one source that has a proven reliable track record. If you were local I can give demonstrations with all types of bulbs.
OP, if you already have oem hid then all you need is a new set of D2S bulbs. Again theretrofitsource guys have all experimented with all sorts of projectors from all manufacturers and even designed their own projectors to maximize light output. Not really sure about that led bulb you mentioned and if it would work unless it has a D2S base? Anyways, good luck!
I cleaned the inside of my lenses by removing the D1S bulb, using a couple of those "one time use" lense cleaning wipes, attached it to a claw extension and it did wonders on my light output.
I'm having the same issue as the OP. My wife drives our GL, so I don't always get a chance to pick up on changes. I drove it tonight and thought wow, my 2014 Impala shines brighter and further than this, and they both have HID's... It hasn't always been this dim though.
I plan to change the bulbs, but I don't want to waste the money if it's just an adjustment issue or dirty lens... Any final thoughts on the issue?
I'm having the same issue as the OP. My wife drives our GL, so I don't always get a chance to pick up on changes. I drove it tonight and thought wow, my 2014 Impala shines brighter and further than this, and they both have HID's... It hasn't always been this dim though.
I plan to change the bulbs, but I don't want to waste the money if it's just an adjustment issue or dirty lens... Any final thoughts on the issue?
-Mel
After a decade, you're at end of life of the bulb. Well into lumen degredation. Time for new bulbs. If interested, we have Morimoto units which are on perfirperfo level, or if you want to improve upon that, we carry top in Osram Xenarc CBI, CBH, and the best bulb in the market CBB.
After a decade, you're at end of life of the bulb. Well into lumen degredation. Time for new bulbs. If interested, we have Morimoto units which are on perfirperfo level, or if you want to improve upon that, we carry top in Osram Xenarc CBI, CBH, and the best bulb in the market CBB.
2010 Mercedes GL450; 2000 Mercedes ML55 AMG; 2016 VW GLI SEL Stick!!!
Originally Posted by DrMel
Links???
In my link thread about bulbs I prefer the Philips xtremevision gen 2 bulbs.
This is after weeks of research and watching many videos from online vendors testing the lux and lumen outputs from the various bulbs mentioned. The Philips xtremevision always ended up coming out on top.
I have the Osram CBB. I will say it is (in my GL550) better than the Phillps bulbs.
I took my GL inyo the dealership and they always provide a rental vehicle. They gave me an 2018 GLS450 and the LED lighting is crazy bright over the x164. The automatic high beams are very cool.
My lights are bright enough but they are aimed a bit lower, therefore I'm getting less light than I need.
Can you relate this to anything? Like failing airmatic?
The projectors lose reflectivity as well. When I swapped mine out for better aftermarket projectors (EVOX-R) and Philips White Vision Bulbs last year, I tried the Philips bulbs in the old projectors before retrofitting the new ones. The difference was pretty small - most of the degradation was the projector not the bulbs.
Can I just aim them a little bit higher? That will solve all of my problems.
I've ordered spare set of bulbs, but I have doubts that this will solve my problems..
Is there a way to tell if the projectors are degraded though? I can say that the cutoff is still very sharp with mine if that makes any sense.
2010 Mercedes GL450; 2000 Mercedes ML55 AMG; 2016 VW GLI SEL Stick!!!
Originally Posted by ignorant
Can I just aim them a little bit higher? That will solve all of my problems.
I've ordered spare set of bulbs, but I have doubts that this will solve my problems..
Is there a way to tell if the projectors are degraded though? I can say that the cutoff is still very sharp with mine if that makes any sense.
ignorant. Do you have the oem his lighting package.
There could be two things based on how you respond.
If you do, your airmatic ride height sensors might be improperly reading your ride height and feeding wrong information to the auto leveling function of the headlights. If so check the movement and lube or replace the leveling rods on each corner. The rears tend to seize first.
If not, you can manually adjust the beam in the stock halogen projector headlights. Look for threads that describe that function and how to aim the halogen headlights
ignorant. Do you have the oem his lighting package.
There could be two things based on how you respond.
If you do, your airmatic ride height sensors might be improperly reading your ride height and feeding wrong information to the auto leveling function of the headlights. If so check the movement and lube or replace the leveling rods on each corner. The rears tend to seize first.
If not, you can manually adjust the beam in the stock halogen projector headlights. Look for threads that describe that function and how to aim the halogen headlights
Hi kombifan, I have the 550 so the lighting package is oem.
I'll try to do as you told but not sure how.
2010 Mercedes GL450; 2000 Mercedes ML55 AMG; 2016 VW GLI SEL Stick!!!
Originally Posted by ignorant
Hi kombifan, I have the 550 so the lighting package is oem.
I'll try to do as you told but not sure how.
on each corner there are leveling rods. The easiest to find are the front ones.
Tbese are located in the wheel well above the tire. They are plastic arms that you can move with your hand. Once you locate them you can move them and see what they look like and find the ones in the rear.
If you can see a clear cutoff, your projectors are better than mine were. They get burned from the UV given off by HID bulbs and mine were pretty bad. I'm surprised OEM parts performed as badly as they did, but they were ~9 years old with 180Kish miles at that point. I didn't even realize I had the "turn with the steering wheel" feature because the output was so bad with the original projectors.
Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to raise them. Mine self-level, so I assume even if you found a way to tilt the housing upward, the projector would probably cancel it out and still point at the same angle to the road but I'm not sure.
If you can see a clear cutoff, your projectors are better than mine were. They get burned from the UV given off by HID bulbs and mine were pretty bad. I'm surprised OEM parts performed as badly as they did, but they were ~9 years old with 180Kish miles at that point. I didn't even realize I had the "turn with the steering wheel" feature because the output was so bad with the original projectors.
Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to raise them. Mine self-level, so I assume even if you found a way to tilt the housing upward, the projector would probably cancel it out and still point at the same angle to the road but I'm not sure.
Instructions for bulb height adjustment were in my manual. There is a plastic Philips screw on top of the housing that will adjust the height. You have to do it with the light shining on a surface about 25ft away to see the mountain peak that the passenger side bulb makes.
I adjusted mine for a long family road trip for the holidays. Now if I can just figure out how to replace my HID bulbs with new ones, I'll be in business.
Instructions for bulb height adjustment were in my manual. There is a plastic Philips screw on top of the housing that will adjust the height. You have to do it with the light shining on a surface about 25ft away to see the mountain peak that the passenger side bulb makes.
I adjusted mine for a long family road trip for the holidays. Now if I can just figure out how to replace my HID bulbs with new ones, I'll be in business.
-Mel
OMG I have the same thing under my hood! Thanks a lot!!! I’ll do it first thing in the morning.
Replacing HID shouldn’t be too hard, don’t overexaggerate it, most stuff is super easy. I was checking the under the hood last week and saw the lid that grants access to the bulbs. There are some details that you should follow and the rest is not more than a 15 min job.
OMG I have the same thing under my hood! Thanks a lot!!! I’ll do it first thing in the morning.
Replacing HID shouldn’t be too hard, don’t overexaggerate it, most stuff is super easy. I was checking the under the hood last week and saw the lid that grants access to the bulbs. There are some details that you should follow and the rest is not more than a 15 min job.
thanks a lot!!
Yea the HID bulb is surprisingly easy to access. What are the details I should follow though? LOL, felling a bit gun shy by the 25k volt warning.
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