c131frdave

Mine is a 2002. What about HID or whatever? What is it, and how do you know if you have it?

Regards,

Noob owner

Oxygen

Yes, you have that thing they call HID.

c131frdave

What is it? I'm a noob. My last car had a very technically savvy device- a headlight with a halogen bulb...

Quadcammer

HID= High Intensity Discharge. Official name is Xenon, for the gas that is in the bulb. I'm not sure of the mechanics of it, but i think the gas gets electrically charged and provides the brighter whiter light that you're used to.

wikipedia would give you a better answer.

kadafone

Turn on your headlights and see if changes colors from blueish/purple to white.

Reckless

I always thought xenons and HID were different. Xenons went farther but HIDs came second.

c131frdave

Nope, HID and Xenon are the same thing. I've been reading about it all evening... Nothing on the tube.

whoover

You may be thinking of the difference between HID/xenons, like on your car, and bi-xenons, introduced on the 2003 models.

Your lights are xenon on on low beam only. When you switch to brights, you use an ordinary halogen lamp. The bixenons use a focusing device that incorporates a mechanical shutter to aim the HID beam low or high. It retains the halogen high beam lamp for "flashing" because the HIDs take a fraction of a second to stabilize when you first turn them on so flashing highbeams to signal passing with your lights off isn't appropriate for a pure HID system. (This is another reason the older system just used HID for lowbeam and halogen for high.)

The highbeams on the bixenons are a big improvement over the 2002 and earlier xenons. It would be hard to go back once you've experienced them.

c131frdave

So where do you get a good replacement for the '02? Are the 2003+ models plug and play if you have the old HIDs?

whoover

The assemblies are different. If you look at a late model W220 you'll see they look very different. Most people think the newer clear lenses look better. You can get them at the dealer, of course, but they won't be cheap. I think people also get them on eBay, but I don't know about quality vs. schlock vendors. You can do a search.

The wiring is a little different because bixenons have an autolevel system. You need an adapter. Here's a thread on upgrading:

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...rt-number.html

c131frdave

Hey! Anybody ever tried these guys:

http://www.mercedesbenzwheel.com/mer...ights-104.html


They say if you have existing HID lights but you want the clear lens look, they'll pre-wire the thing for you so it's a simple plug and play. Too good to be true? Anyone tried these? Thanks!