Xenon HID bulbs in Halogen lenses...?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 333
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From: Colorado
05 E500 4matic, 08 ML320CDI
Xenon HID bulbs in Halogen lenses...?
I've been researching the whole HID conversion 'thing' because my '04 CLK 500 has factory Halogens and I'd really like to have the Xenons instead... The Xenons in my wife's Bimmer 325XiT were far superior to Halogens, especially on the dark mountain roads where we drive in Colorado...
I've looked at everything from simply doing bulbs ( my last choice ) to HID conversion kits which simply use H7 Xenons, Ballasts and Ingitors in the stock Halogen lenses, to swapping in Xenon lenses, projectors, and all the factory Xenon components from HELLA( my first choice but most $$ ) ...
What's the definative answer to "can H7 Xenon bulbs be used successfully in stock Halogen lenses/housings" ...? I've been told everything from "no problem" to "beam pattern won't be right" and "it's illegal" ...
I've looked at everything from simply doing bulbs ( my last choice ) to HID conversion kits which simply use H7 Xenons, Ballasts and Ingitors in the stock Halogen lenses, to swapping in Xenon lenses, projectors, and all the factory Xenon components from HELLA( my first choice but most $$ ) ...
What's the definative answer to "can H7 Xenon bulbs be used successfully in stock Halogen lenses/housings" ...? I've been told everything from "no problem" to "beam pattern won't be right" and "it's illegal" ...
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 44
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From: Greece
CLK200 Kompressor Avantgarde
Well beam pattern will be ok and you will not be illegal to a point you can get caught...but if you are considering the affect on the other drivers and what you can cause dont do it, everytime i drive at night and a car with fitted xenon kit in the halogen lenses passes by i get a blindness for a couple of seconds...not that pleasant at all...
I say do what you first thought about the OEM projector headlights, i also have halogen and didnt want just to fit an HID kit, so i went on ebay and bought 2 headlights OEM bi-xenon,from diferrent sellers (260Euro & 200Euro Each headlight) but all went ok and headlights are perfect by all shinning means(even though they were a bit used), so only thing left is fitting them, something for which i dont have time during this period and i am also searching for more info on this subject!
P.S the also look great compared to halogen...
I say do what you first thought about the OEM projector headlights, i also have halogen and didnt want just to fit an HID kit, so i went on ebay and bought 2 headlights OEM bi-xenon,from diferrent sellers (260Euro & 200Euro Each headlight) but all went ok and headlights are perfect by all shinning means(even though they were a bit used), so only thing left is fitting them, something for which i dont have time during this period and i am also searching for more info on this subject!
P.S the also look great compared to halogen...
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 1
From: Colorado
05 E500 4matic, 08 ML320CDI
Here's a thought... Why would the beam pattern change no matter what bulb type is put into the lense housing...? If a Halogen housing uses a reflector to reflect the halogen bulbs light, wouldn't the light from a Xenon bulb reflect the same way and give the exact same beam pattern, albeit somewhat more intensely...? 
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,939
Likes: 178
From: Seattle WA
99 E320
no...their focal point differs. there are clear examples of what results when
D2S bulbs are simply dropped into a halogen based reflector, and with little
regard for focal points.
Bear in mind that there are at least TWO HID bulb designs, D2R (reflector) and
D2S et al (for projector based lighting systems).....for good reason. The light
intensity of an HID system does not lend itself to backyard scientists. It needs
to be tuned so that their inherent brightness does not result in uncontrolled
glare to other drivers.
It's easy not to care, and to simply toss in something labelled "HID !!!" into your
car. Yes, bright light will result. It's another thing to do this so that it doesn't
impinge on other drivers (cars, motorcyclists, etc) where light blindness can
result in an accident.
Folks who pay heed to safety will only use HID designed projectors or reflectors
and retrofit them onto the vehicle. The worst thing to do is to blindly drop in
a bulb or HID kit into a headlight not designed for this bulb.
HIDPLANET.COM may require membership...here are examples grafted from
their site describing HID bulbs in halogen fixtures....
http://www.waltermitty.net/mb/HID%20kit.pdf
D2S bulbs are simply dropped into a halogen based reflector, and with little
regard for focal points.
Bear in mind that there are at least TWO HID bulb designs, D2R (reflector) and
D2S et al (for projector based lighting systems).....for good reason. The light
intensity of an HID system does not lend itself to backyard scientists. It needs
to be tuned so that their inherent brightness does not result in uncontrolled
glare to other drivers.
It's easy not to care, and to simply toss in something labelled "HID !!!" into your
car. Yes, bright light will result. It's another thing to do this so that it doesn't
impinge on other drivers (cars, motorcyclists, etc) where light blindness can
result in an accident.
Folks who pay heed to safety will only use HID designed projectors or reflectors
and retrofit them onto the vehicle. The worst thing to do is to blindly drop in
a bulb or HID kit into a headlight not designed for this bulb.
HIDPLANET.COM may require membership...here are examples grafted from
their site describing HID bulbs in halogen fixtures....
http://www.waltermitty.net/mb/HID%20kit.pdf
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 6,189
Likes: 242
From: Albuquerque
'10 CL550, '12 GL550
Ever hear of "focus?"
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 1
From: Colorado
05 E500 4matic, 08 ML320CDI
Gee, maybe because the "filament" isn't in the same place?
Ever hear of "focus?"
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html
Ever hear of "focus?"
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html
Thanks for your input, however, I can live without the condescending tone... I was just posing question...
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 1
From: Colorado
05 E500 4matic, 08 ML320CDI
So it seems most input I've gotten and read on this topic indicates the way to go with respect to HID conversions is to stay away from simply installing Xenon bulbs/ballasts/igniters into the Halogen lenses (bad beam patterns, legal issues, etc. )... I'll go the OEM route which includes OEM HELLA Xenon Lenses purchased from my local MB Dealer Parts Manager via my wife's employee discount and install them... I'll probably swap the stock 9006 stock fogs bulbs for 9006 PIAA Extreme White bulbs too as I've had pretty decent results in the past with the PIAA bulbs in my Vettes and SuperDuty...
Thanks for all the input...
Thanks for all the input...
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Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2002
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From: Northern Virginia
05 CLK500; 07 Volvo XC90
the HID housing is different than the regular halogen housing. The major difference is the cutoff on the HID. It is very sharp so some people don't get use to it at night. You don't get the "glow" or "bleeding" effect from the regular housing. if you were to install the retrofit xenon or so-called rebased HID bulbs on your halogen bulbs, you will surely get a brighter light (if your kelvin temp is around 4500-5000k) but it will not be the same as oem HID.
driving and look at other headlights at night and you will see which car has the oem HID and which one just used the brighter bulbs and you will know the difference.
driving and look at other headlights at night and you will see which car has the oem HID and which one just used the brighter bulbs and you will know the difference.
