IndyTom12

Hi Guys, I just picked up a used 2018 AMG GLC 43 this morning. It came well equipped except for the Headlights.
I can't believe that an originally $70k priced vehicle comes standard with cheap Halogen Headlights. My old VW even had HID headlights
which were much brighter than these crappy lights. I am tempted to return the vehicle to the dealer and start my search over again.
My question is: Are there any options out there that would replace the OEM Halogen Headlights with an aftermarket LED Headlight?
If so how much do they cost and are they plug and Pray?
Thanks for the help in this matter. If there isn't a viable option I may just return the car tomorrow.

sbradleyhall

Hi there, wondering what you eventually did here. Searched some of your other posts and comments and it looks like the trail went cold. Did you end up upgrading the lights? Aftermarket or used OEM upgrade? From best I can tell the W205 has plenty of aftermarket options but I can’t seem to find any for the x253. I’d really like to just buy a used set of take offs, even just the standard LED non ILS, and do an oem swap but can’t find info on what’s required to do that either. I’ve worn out the advanced search on here.

IndyTom12

The only Place I found for our X253 Platform that had LED Lights for my 2018 GLC 43 was a company called Beta in the United Arab Emirates https://www.betaautoparts.com/. They had a set of Dynamic LED Headlamps for $770 plus about $150 Dollars Shipping to the US. Took about 10 days. Came in a Huge Box that had two separate boxes inside. All well packaged and the headlights were of Excellent Quality. Amazing difference between the horrible Halogen Headlights. Those Halogens were pathetic and didn't do this otherwise Great Car justice. I did have them professionally installed and adjusted by a nearby Shop that specializes in European Cars. It cost me an additional $300. If you feel comfortable to remove your front bumper in order to install the lights yourself you can save yourself a chunk of cash. Overall, I am very pleased with the purchase. Not cheap but well worth it in my opinion and I would have gotten rid of the car if I wouldn't have gotten these LED Headlights. The install is pretty much plug and play. https://www.betaautoparts.com/produc...36-product_cat

sbradleyhall

You, Sir, are a gentleman and scholar. You have just made my day. THANK YOU! Some of my other planned upgrades are going to have to wait a bit but I can't stand looking at the front end of this thing anymore, let alone driving it at night. I tried upgraded halogen bulbs (don't know why I thought that would make a difference) but even then the DRL "under light" on the halogens just looks so out of place compared to all the other W205 and X253 LED headlight cars. Never thought for a second to study the front end when I test drove it in the day time and the engine was too intoxicating to walk away from. Thank you, thank you thank you.

IndyTom12

I actually, wanted to return the vehicle after I discovered that it only had Halogen headlights. I thought a 71k Original Stickered vehicle would have LED headlights standard. Well, that's what I get for thinking.
The dealer wouldn't take the car back so I searched and searched and these people in the United Arab Emirates where the only place I could find them. You may want to chat with the guy on the website to make sure you order
the correct ones. It should be the Normal to Dynamic LED Headlamps that you want but chat with the Sales guy just to be sure. I don't have the Part number anymore but after chatting with the sales guy he put the order
together and also set up the least expensive shipping option. It roughly took 10 days for them to arrive and you will get a tracking number. After the shipment hits customs in the US it will sit there for a few days until it moves
on. Before I was able to check the Huge package arrived at my doorstep. I made sure the Lamps were not damaged which is almost impossible the way they are packaged. And they were in excellent condition. Make sure you
either can install them yourself or have a shop that will able to handle it. I knew of a shop that did all my work on my Audi and VW's. They also do Porsche and other Exotic cars and they installed those lights in about 2 hours.
I felt better for them to do it then for me to screw it up. Seems you do need to drop the bumper in order to install these monsters. Otherwise it is pretty much plug and play. The only thing the shop needed to do is reuse the OEM
rubber weather seals from the Original headlights. I guess that is a rubber seal that goes between the headlight and the bumper. Not really sure. All I know is they did a fantastic job. Overall it did cost me $1220 installed but the results
are totally amazing. It really lights up the road ahead. And yes, the car otherwise is Amazing for an SUV. The Performance blows anything I owned previously out of the water. It's as fast as my Supercharged Mustang with almost
600 HP was before I sold it. I did tune the 43 and it does now have 430 HP and 480lbs of torque. I also had the Auto shut of and auto start disabled. That thing was annoying to me. Now this thing is even a bigger beast than it was
before. I haven't taken it to the track but may invest in a Draggy to see what it can do. But the Butt Dyno says this thing can fly. The Tune I did was the Stage 1 DME tune. They had a Black Friday deal for right under 1k. No more speed limiter and you can chose a few other things like more burble sound etc. I personally don't care for that snap crackle and pop sound so I just left the sound the way it is. I think it sounds awesome from the factory. For dealer trips you can switch back to Stock with the handheld unit they send you. Anyway, Good Luck. I am sure you will like the car a lot better with decent lights.

Ruderegime

I'm pretty sure you can get any bulb you want with an aftermarket LED replacement. Pretty much the only place I buy lights from is vleds.com I've been using them well over a decade, and I'm telling you, u will not be disappointed. You're looking at a top of the line LED plug-and-play bulb for like $150 a pair or less.

IndyTom12

I actually tried a couple of different aftermarket LED replacement bulbs and also the Brighter Halogen type replacement bulbs and neither come even close to a true Dynamic LED
Headlamps. Actually those LED bulbs were worse than the Halogen replacement bulbs. The best results I have gotten were with the Philips X-treme Vision Bulbs which were a lot better
than the OEM Halogen Bulbs. Two shorts falls on those bulbs is that they don't last long and they still lack the range of a true LED Headlamp. So while it is a much less expensive
option it's not what you would expect from a 70k+ vehicle. Heck, my neighbors Buick had better headlights than my Mercedes. Whoever owned that Mercedes before me ordered every option
possible except for cooling seats and LED headlights. Big Mistake. At least in 2020 Mercedes made them Standard in the AMG43 GLC models.

GLC63_

@IndyTom12 Hi: BETA AUTO told me headlights have to be programmed for Headlamp Upgrade from Static LED to Dynamic LED but I imagine this was the case with your upgrade as well from halogens.

They said it’s standard programming that shops can do but can you confirm this and maybe provide further insight?

Thanks!

IndyTom12

Well, I didn't have Static LED's but just regular Halogens. There was no programming involved whatsoever. I have no idea what they are talking about. I told them I want to upgrade my standard Halogen
headlights to their LED headlights and the guy I talked to said it's a straight plug and play process. The shop that I took it too didn't have to program anything. Just take off the regular Halogen headlights
and replace them with the LED headlights. I would talk to Beta Auto again and make sure you mention that you are upgrading from a standard Headlight to a LED Headlight and not from Static to Dynamic LED.
You do want the Dynamic LED Headlights. Just make sure they understand that you want to upgrade from standard Halogen Headlights.

GLC63_

Thanks, I will follow up again but they confirmed “standard” programming is required. In my case I can confirm difference is going from Static LED to Dynamic LED.

One shop is willing to do the programming, the other one NO because often time it never worked on aftermarket lights.

IndyTom12

I just looked at your Avatar and see that you have a GLC63 which maybe different than the GLC43. You most certainly do not need any programming
when switching the Halogen Headlights on the AMG 43 to the Dynamic LED Aftermarket headlights from Beta Auto Parts. It was a straight Plug and Play
swap with the only thing the shop had to do is reuse the rubber seal around the headlights from the OEM units and put them on the New LED Units.

GLC63_

Are you happy with the appearance of the headlights? I’ve noticed that BETA AUTO lights have a thick border of chrome around the projectors that the OEM don’t have.

I don’t know if that means smaller projectors and impact on light output/performance too. Can you please comment.

Thanks.

sbradleyhall

I actually meant to ask the same question originally - any chance OP could be kind enough to post a few pictures of the lights installed, the finished product? Thank you kindly!

IndyTom12

The Headlights look amazing. Light output is a hundred times better than with those dim Yellow Halogens.

GLC63_

Looks better than what I expected! Would love to see some shots of the front from a distance but I get the picture

Btw you really have a vendetta against those halogens lol I don’t blame you.

sbradleyhall

A. Ditto the pic request (pretty please?)
B. The struggle is REAL with these POS halogens. They are embarrassing, literally.

GLC63_

Those “Halogens”

IndyTom12

Sorry, the sun wasn't in a good angle this morning and I was pretty close but you get the general idea. ;-)

sbradleyhall

Coming through like a BOSS yet again. You're an alright dude, you know that Thank you!

LILBENZ230

There's a lot of talk in this thread about "Dynamic" LEDs. You have dynamic LEDs if they turn with the steering wheel and have automatic high beams. Otherwise, these are static LED.

To retrofit dynamic LEDs is not simple. It is in-depth coding as well as additional hardware.

That being said, it looks like these replica LED lights do make a huge difference in appearance over the stupid halogens.