GLK-Class (X204) Produced 2008-2014

Aftermarket HID Installation with pics!!

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Old Feb 9, 2011 | 12:45 PM
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Aftermarket HID Installation with pics!!

TOOLS REQUIRED: None but maybe extra patience.

NOW LET'S START INSTALLING:
First, you need to check if the lights work. Follow the instructions on the kit and test it out first. By the way, YELLOW wire is positive and the TWO BROWN wires are negative. So Yellow on Red wire then Brown on Black wire. If everything is working, then you can proceed.

First of, take out the Low Beam cover. Refer to your owners manual if you don't know where it is. Now, this is how the bulbs are secured onto the housing. By pulling the pins up CAREFULLY, this will disengage the bulb. Make sure u don't pull the pins out or you'll have a hard time putting it back. Just simply slowly pull it up. Take out the OEM bulb, put the H7 HID bulb. Secure it in place while pulling down the pin and there you go. Honestly, the driver side was easier to put than the passenger side. Everyone else was saying it was harder on the driver side. Note: Use your left hand on the driver side to make your life easier. Here is how the bulbs would look:

Passenger Side:



Driver Side:



Then look for a secure place to put the ballast. I put mine on top of the headlight housing. Mine came with a double sided industrial grade tape. Some have the screw on housing. This is the pic of the top housing. Plenty of space and the Xentec ballast is fairly small so it's a perfect fit.



Assemble all the parts needed. Also, take the low beam cover and drill a hole in it enough to put the plastic socket and the wires in it for installation. The bulb wire are in the housing so it is necessary to put a hole in the cover.



Here is the one with the double sided tape on:



Put it on all the wiring. Everything is plug and play so it should be easy. Remember, yellow wire = red wire & two brown wires = black wire. Secure everything with an electric tape. As you can see, on mine, I put a roll of electric tape around the wiring and used that to cover the hole that I drilled on the cover. This will prevent leaking. You can also buy those plastic sealants and put it in there. Those are scratches on the cover, by the way. It's not cracked because of drilling. I was too lazy to buy a 3/4 drill so I just used the biggest one I had and drilled it until the hole got bigger. I was slipping hence the scratches.



Here's an example of the Yellow and Brown Wire. Sorry, my hands look crusty. Its dry season here in Socal.



Electric Tape everything:



Test it out first before you put the cover back. If everything is working, put the cover back and secure the ballast in place.



Here is how it will look like:




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Old Feb 9, 2011 | 06:39 PM
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Did you have to adjust the headlights

If so how do you do it. I see the one for up and down but is there an adjustment for side to side? How did they work in the stock projectors?
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Old Feb 9, 2011 | 07:04 PM
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Originally Posted by cigarlvr
If so how do you do it. I see the one for up and down but is there an adjustment for side to side? How did they work in the stock projectors?
Not sure what you meant by "how do you do it". The picture shows it all. If you have the kits, you'd understand what you'll be dealing with. Adjustments? There is nothing to adjust since they fit snug like the OEM bulbs. That's why these kits are plug and play. It's not as complicated as you think except for putting in the bulbs to the headlight housing.
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Old Feb 9, 2011 | 08:29 PM
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Ok so you didnt need to adjust the height of the projectors as usualy when you drop HIDS in I thought you needed to as they are much brighter and when put into the regular projectors thought they would blind on coming cars. If you dont need to then even better and it doesnt sound like you needed to. Using the stock projectors is the light pretty focused?
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Old Feb 9, 2011 | 08:36 PM
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Originally Posted by cigarlvr
Ok so you didnt need to adjust the height of the projectors as usualy when you drop HIDS in I thought you needed to as they are much brighter and when put into the regular projectors thought they would blind on coming cars. If you dont need to then even better and it doesnt sound like you needed to. Using the stock projectors is the light pretty focused?
On the GLK, it's the perfect height and the HID actually kinda spreads even better than the stock halogen. U wouldn't even need the fog lamps anymore. Actually, the newer manufactured Aftermarket HID kits are decent compared to the older ones. I think the issue with the high light projection was fixed. yeah, do don't be afraid to install these suckers in. You're definitely missing out without them HID's. They are awesome especially with projector headlights. I have a kit i'm selling for $32 shipped if you're interested.
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Old Feb 9, 2011 | 09:19 PM
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Nice! They don't turn I take it?

Plus, the electrical tape in this pic should go! Use shrink wrap instead. To secure the wires, I would use black zip-ties with self stick anchors. More professional looking and less prone to heat and water penetration.



In this pic, I would substitute black urethane sealant. The use of clear GE silicone sealant will eventually fail.

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Old Feb 10, 2011 | 01:59 PM
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I was thinking the same thing about shrink-wrap and cable ties; electrical tape is a temporary solution, especially under the hood.

I can't imagine why they would turn; it's just a bulb swap w/ ballasts, no additional mechanicals.


So, carval23; this is only for the low-beams, right? Is there another kit for the highs? I would think they are different colors; wouldn't you want them to match?
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Old Feb 10, 2011 | 04:24 PM
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Originally Posted by MBRedux
Nice! They don't turn I take it?

Plus, the electrical tape in this pic should go! Use shrink wrap instead. To secure the wires, I would use black zip-ties with self stick anchors. More professional looking and less prone to heat and water penetration.



In this pic, I would substitute black urethane sealant. The use of clear GE silicone sealant will eventually fail.

I know what you mean BUT these aren't one of those $300 HID kits. They are hit or miss HID kits which means that if you basically affix them to a certain degree, you will have a hard time taking it apart if something does happen to the ballast or the hid bulbs. Also, if you had the experience of installing these yourself, you'll see that the headlight eventually hides most of the wires and your left with two short wires affixed to the ballast. Everything else is hidden so there are no need for black zip ties with the self sticks. Honestly guys, this isn't as complicated as it looks.
FYI, i did put black urethane sealants on it, made a big mess and then one of the bulbs died, imagine how much cussing I had to do to take those off. What I did is I bought one of those black rubber hoses with a hole in the middle for electrical wirings and shoved the two wires in there voila!!! Easy to take off and put back on in case the bulbs goes dead on ya.
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Old Feb 11, 2011 | 05:46 PM
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I think MBRedux's point is that electrical tape just falls off after a while due to under hood temperatures, and a good splash through a puddle could short out the exposed wires.

Besides, no offense meant but I wouldn't want such shoddy-looking work on any of my cars.

It's a late model Mercedes, not an old Pinto...
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Old Feb 11, 2011 | 07:25 PM
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Originally Posted by rmfnla
I think MBRedux's point is that electrical tape just falls off after a while due to under hood temperatures, and a good splash through a puddle could short out the exposed wires.

Besides, no offense meant but I wouldn't want such shoddy-looking work on any of my cars.

It's a late model Mercedes, not an old Pinto...
To each his own, I guess. I actually saw a post here about others that did a DIY on their HID kits and they all used electrical tape so I did and to tell u the truth that is all you need since the wires are hidden inside the headlight housing and free from moisture or intense engine heat. In the hole I made on the caps, I put in a rubber wire housing to keep the moisture out. Like I said, if you start installing it yourself, you'll understand why. Again, to each his own.

Besides, no offense meant but I wouldn't want such shoddy-looking work on any of my cars.
The shoddy looking install was because the wires are still outside the housing. Once zip tied and hidden inside the housing, it's hella clean.

I'll try to take a pic of the finish install and you'll see what I mean.
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Old Feb 14, 2011 | 10:20 PM
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carval, thanks for the post.
I guess a bit of excitement does not hurt....
just the guys are expressing their 2cents in improving the looks and quality of install. ... now that is my 2cents too

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Old Feb 14, 2011 | 10:23 PM
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do you have any night pics with new lights? particularly interested in how
the beam pattern projects onto a white wall from about 25'
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Old Feb 14, 2011 | 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted by mr.mbenz
carval, thanks for the post.
I guess a bit of excitement does not hurt....
just the guys are expressing their 2cents in improving the looks and quality of install. ... now that is my 2cents too

I'm just happy I have 4 cents right now. To everyone, good luck with the DIY! I promise you'll have fun.
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Old Feb 15, 2011 | 12:21 PM
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Originally Posted by raymond g-
do you have any night pics with new lights? particularly interested in how
the beam pattern projects onto a white wall from about 25'
I'll take a pic of it and post it here when I get the chance.
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Old Feb 15, 2011 | 05:15 PM
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Pics of the drilled caps with rubber hose for wires

Here's how it looks like cleaned up. Every wire is hidden and looks professionally done. All the wire go in the headlight housing and your left with two short wires that you can hide with the ballast on top of the housing itself. See, no need for zip ties or sealants.


Last edited by carval23; Feb 15, 2011 at 05:21 PM.
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Old Feb 16, 2011 | 11:00 AM
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Why all the pictures have been deleted ???
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Old Feb 16, 2011 | 11:30 AM
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Originally Posted by fragil
Why all the pictures have been deleted ???
I moved it but it's back now. Enjoy!
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Old Feb 20, 2012 | 09:49 PM
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I noticed my lowbeams are pointing downwards...towards the ground....about 40 ft away...anyone adjusted it up higher? is so, how to do that?
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Old Mar 10, 2012 | 12:59 PM
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I installed my B-Class HIDs with all electrical tape to cover the hole i drilled in the headlight (black) cap. No issues with moisture at all in the projector lense. I'll be removing that kit out to install into the GLK after we pick it up from the dealership. Did you get any flickering or need resistors? I did on the B, so I guess I'll just transfer everything over to the GLK.
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Old Mar 10, 2012 | 07:23 PM
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What exactly are thes HID thingies? Why do they need a ballast? What is the color temperature? Are they only dipped (low) beams? What do they do?

Wayne
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Old Jan 11, 2013 | 03:27 PM
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not really digging why the seller of the hid kits did not include or supply you with the female nylon connectors. It looks butt ugly and even if you heat shrink the male connectors that you insert into the original plug screams half ***. I got a bunch of all sorts of connectors from my days installing hids that I will use to make it a true plug and play kit. just take the connector and plug and voila. Just my 2 cents
all you need is two nylon H7 female connectors and 4 male brass terminal on the ends of the power and ground on the hid ballasts.
electrical tape for the two terminal





Last edited by packardbell; Jan 14, 2013 at 05:32 PM.
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Old Jan 14, 2013 | 05:23 PM
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good job

seems like a clean job


Originally Posted by carval23
Here's how it looks like cleaned up. Every wire is hidden and looks professionally done. All the wire go in the headlight housing and your left with two short wires that you can hide with the ballast on top of the housing itself. See, no need for zip ties or sealants.

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Old Jan 19, 2013 | 02:36 PM
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OP, did you swap out those inner city lights to LEDs yet?
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Old Feb 13, 2013 | 08:20 PM
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Originally Posted by carval23
On the GLK, it's the perfect height and the HID actually kinda spreads even better than the stock halogen. U wouldn't even need the fog lamps anymore. Actually, the newer manufactured Aftermarket HID kits are decent compared to the older ones. I think the issue with the high light projection was fixed. yeah, do don't be afraid to install these suckers in. You're definitely missing out without them HID's. They are awesome especially with projector headlights. I have a kit i'm selling for $32 shipped if you're interested.
Can I get a kit? PM me (navreet at me.com). Thank you.
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Old Feb 16, 2013 | 10:12 PM
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Hey guys, i am not the expert on those HIDS lights and could never install them myself i am afraid...but i love the look of them!

i am the owner of a 2013 GLK and have 3 questions about this:
1) can you also exchange the inner head lights?
2) as a non-expert, what do i need to look for when buying the kit? i thought that the low beams were reflectors and not projectors. is this part of the kit? can anyone offer a link to a suitable, good quality kit?
3) does this do anything to your warranty if you mess with the lights?

thanks!
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