MEINBNZ

Will I need to do anything special to the headlights and do they make a difference? I want to get them ASAP but am still unsure. What color? blue? purple?

AKRY

With headlight lenses designed for Halogen, retrofit HID would not be as effective as OEM HID.... Your best bet would be locate a set of OEM HID for W140 and put them on. But that would cost double, if not more, then retrofit kit...

As for HID temp color, it all depends on what you are going after. If you want most effective lighting, go with regular, 4300K bulb, or even 5xxxK bulb. Want spice up the look a little w/out sacrifice too much lighting? Go with 6000K.... And avoid anything above 6000K as they would be dim(relatively speaking) and very purple-ish....

MEINBNZ

What if all I could afford to spend was the $600 would it be worth it? They are much brighter of course and sense I just bought the car and new AMG rims funds are getting really tight. I am 99% going for the look and would be able to get the blue lights perhaps purple. If it is only going to make a small difference I would ratrher focus on something else instead.

dlafever

I bought a set of OEM Xenons off of eBay for $650, be patient and you may find a deal like this.

Pao Pao

I think they are worth it!

AKRY

The numbers you mentioned, are color temp #. Usually the higher the #, the lower the useage light(Lumen) it generates. 4300K ~ 5200K gives out the most useage light. For 6000K you lost a bit but gain some "cool" factors.... As for 8000K or even 10000K, you are losing some serious light(it would be so dim, it barely light up the street in faul weather).

Keep in might though, even with 8000K you are still putting down more light than regular Halogen, but compare to 4300K, you lost any where between 25 - 35%, if not more, of useage light....

Going with OEM HID would always be best bet as the whole housing is designed specifically for W140.

If looking cool is all you want, you can always try those HID-Look bulb first.... But personally, I would never buy another car w/out HID......

MEINBNZ

The blue headlights with the blue Mercedes Benz door sills look awesome!!! I am very pleased with the outcome.

Bernanke

they are not $600, i got the Xtec HID kit for my BMW M3 for roughly $260 and it was worth every damn penny. I highly recommend Xtec, much better than catz and those other cheap asian brands. hope that helps.

MEINBNZ

and bought Vision X 8000's on sale for $500 plus $40 tax normally about $700 so they say anyhow that $540 included installation and I would definitely do it again. Made a huge difference. They way that it reflects the road and the road sides is amazing. It's actually a lot of fun to drive with them.

Bernanke

does anyone have those clear euro lenses? i cannot find those at all, those with xenons would be unreal

MEINBNZ

Bernanke

Xtec H4 kit is all i gotta say, you can get them for $270-320 for the entire kit. heck of a deal.

///S320

It all depands what kind of HID system you are purchasing. The more sugar, the more sweet. Good Philips ballasts and bulbs cost more.

I would not agree with AKRY. I have 6000K philips HIDs installed in my S320. You would be surprised that the rear section of the headlight assembly has already enough space to house a ballast nice and neat. However, he is right about going over 6k, makes it glow more than spread.

I purchased my kit for ~$680, a year and a half ago. Again you can buy cheap twaniease (or how u spell that place) bulbs and be happy around $300. Its your call.

Cheers

s0vietbenz

I have hid's my friend took them off his 1999 acura tl cuz he wanted 8000k with better ballast. My hid's are insane I'm very happy with the results!

Josh K

I got the Hella Ballasts (same as OEM) and Osram bulbs for my high beams for $350. $600 is only worth it if the box has $300 cash in it.

MEINBNZ

Could a novice do it? You are talking about fog lights? Are fog lights worth it? Why

MEINBNZ

Where did you get yours? On-line?

///S320

Let me know the place that sells "such" kit. I would be happy to buy a few!

Offcourse there are many places that sell refurb kits. But why buy cheapo stuff for a benz?

Bernanke

yes a novice can do it, they kit looks just as good if not better than OEM kits, I DO NOT recommend anything over 6000K, I have 6000K and they are perfect. anything above that and you sacrifice visibility. yes i got them online. Xtec H4 6000K is the kit you need. I will probably get another kit for my mercedes.

Bernanke

hey guys, good news, I think I can arrange a group buy for the H4 6000K HID kits, the group buy price is $350 for 4 people, H4 kits are slightly different b/c low/high beam are in one bulb so its slightly more expnensive.

///S320

Any info on what type of:

Bulbs
Ballasts
Wiring Harness

MEINBNZ

What's included in the kit? If I just had the HID headlights installed why would I want another set? The fog light and driving lights is what I need.

Over 6000k sacrifices visibility in what way? Distance?

Bernanke

they are all part of the Xtec kit, and include the wiring and etc. they kit was actually very straight forward. Xtec is one of the best aftermarket kits out there, all their kits come with a 5 year manufacturer warranty where as most are only 1 year. those "catz" and other jap brands are not very goo quality.

6000K is the color of the bulb, most OEM xenons are 4300 but they appear more whitish than blue. 6000K is the perfect shade of blue and still lights up the road amazingly. anything higher than that will just not light up the road (not distance wise) b/c of the shade of the color, Example: blue light is darker than white light. 4300K is the best for visibility technically but i love my HIDs and i think they are excellent and look AMAZING.