Sue28

Hello, I own a 2017 GLC 300 4matic and my car came standard with the regular lights, my day time headlights are LED (the top and bottom part I believe) but I would like to change the night time headlights to LED also. Can anyone give me a recommendation for a good LED headlight ?
Thank you!

guhvies

There's a thread on this in the W205 forum. Check that out, it should give you pointers to the seller. They may do lights for the X253.

peet

While it's a bit of apples/oranges, I was in this boat with my Motorcycle. It came with halogens that frankly were useless. I researched the heck out of this and found the ones below to be the brightest, error-free and plug-play. The biggest issue with LED bulb swaps is LEDs get very hot. Lots of solutions out there including little fans, fins, and even what looks like the dreadlocks from predator (albeit made with copper). Cyclops had the brightest, correct color and smallest size and also placed the LED emitter at the same spot where the standard halogen filament is located. This last part is KEY. While you can change bulbs, the location of the light source must stay true to where it was on the halogen bulb unless you are doing a total rebuild and changing the reflector.

Putting these on the bike was quite literally night and day. I highly recommend them if they make a bulb that matches what's in the X253 (which I don't know offhand as mine came with static LED).

Hope it helps...
https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/

idorky

hmm... i guess nobody has reviewed LED headlamp upgrade yet for x253's that came with suk a$$$ halogen, there are plenty of LED's out there that may fit, but the question is, how will the lamp affect the brain, will she gives errors? i've seen some online that have retrofit theirs but did not really follow up, it seems to work from the vid but nothing else. and yes it seems it'll be more cost effective for this solution rather than getting the package. if anybody knows or have a theory, please chime in, thanks

Philamg

In the UK xenons and LED'S have to be self levelling, not sure about the US.

idorky

hmm.... that will be more work plus cost for an upgrade,...... stateside, we can upgrade head lamps as along as within legal bounds. does not need to be self leveling for LED upgrade, but for bi-xenon, from what i've read, it is required.

peet

that's actually a fallacy. In the US Xenon and LED must be OEM designed to be self leveling and cut-off appropriately. Retrofits are purely for "offroad use only." So sticking a HID kit or LED into a halogen housing is technically a violation of federal law. Frankly - unless you are glaring like a total ashat, then you'll be fine. I've yet to see a cop do anything about most retrofits unless they glow purple/high blue, glare like on high beam etc.

To the question of nobody tried - probably not. Those who bought a GLC with halogen, don't care or had no choice but aren't modder types. Generalizing, sure, but that's probably realistic. Grab some a throw them in. The folks at Cyclops fwiw, are really great to work with. My application was into a bike that they didn't directly support. But they gave me all sorts of technical info and assistance before buying and in kind, I gave them feedback on what worked (nothing didn't). These days high quality LED/HID setups have resistors built in to bypass warning light triggers. Only buy quality - don't skimp! Why save $50 to risk your $40k+ car?

If you want to go all out - there is a vendor around here - I ran across the thread by accident months ago when I was considering buying a car that had everything I wanted except headlights. This vendor sells full-on active projectors. Not cheap, about $1k from memory. But that's as good as it gets.

AZN Optics

Although this was a GLE thread... good info can be pulled from it that's directly applicable to GLC.

https://mbworld.org/forums/gle-class...success-7.html

Peet's right that you'll need a canbus system to deal with the front SAM. Focal point is also important, which LEDs do have, although I wouldn't discount HIDs either. Even though focal point is slightly off, you're getting a better light spread with true 360 output vs LED surface mounted point dispersion. Both solutions will be way better than the junk halogen bulbs in there now though.

peet

to AZN's point - with LEDs, you have to be certain the emitters are placed on both sides of the PCB that holds them and at the exact same point where the filament would be. If you're off by millimeters, that's too much because the reflector is designed to work with the location of the halogen filament. So hold the two side by side before committing, ensure they are in the same spot. In my bike situation, swapping out to LED with two emitters (one on each side) has been amazing. The high beam is instant on - no flicker like HID can sometimes do (though newer ones, Morimoto is a good brand, generally don't flicker, but it's not quite instant.) If you ever had a HID only factory car, like our GLA before this one, when you flash to pass, sometimes there is a half second delay, sometimes it's instantaneous - kind of hit or miss. So you really had to hold the flash to pass rather than just flick it. With LED, it's instant on and really gets attention when needed. The low beam, is amazing! I only wish white LEDs were a bit warmer without losing light. Cold light (5000K or higher) scatters more and causes our eyes to miss road details. This is why many fogs are yellow. The whole trend of going with 5, 6 or even 7k lights only has aesthetic implications but the bluer the light, the worse it is even if the lumen output is the same. Simple physics, warmer light doesn't scatter.

adisco93

Interesting.... i purchased a recommended solution from AZN Optics- they are morimotos. I am expecting the product any day now and will do the install. I will let folks know how it goes.