erichen

Never thought to mess with the ambient lighting inside the car but, got rid of the ugly yellow lights and put in some nice white lights to match the white HID's.. Only took comparison pics. Getting them put in for vanity, reading, center tops above the mirror, and the lights above the license plate on the exterior. He couldn't find the right bulbs for the doors Not sure how it's going to look with all these white lights.. maybe I'll hate them... chicks look better under darker light anyways right?
The pics are comparisons of the changed vs. the stock lights. The driver's side is the new one. The passenger side is the stock.

LovinMercedes

Incredible. Great looking!

Were you able to get lamps for the upper headliner lamp?

Auraraptor

Cool, looks great. Where did you source?

ChrisSL

are those bulbs or leds ? thx.

a good source of those lights - - www.autolumination.com

josh12

I don't know if women using the vanity mirror in your car will appreciate the cold light you have installed. The idea of the "yellow" light is to match daylight color temperature for putting make up on.

erichen

I don't know where he got the bulbs from. But I think they are just white bulbs, not LED's. As for women, the only woman sitting there is the wife... so.. Just thought it looked different I'll see him next week. I'll see if I can find out more about the bulbs for those who are interested.

spanky

I wonder if the color gain ( whiter ) was accomplished by using a bulb filament that passes more current ( more current = hotter bulb ).

Do the lamps with the new bulbs get warmer then the ones that has the oem bulbs?

erichen

Spanky, I am not sure what filament it's using. The car is still in the shop getting new tail and front lights and waiting on brakes as well. AMG2Go was suppose to get me pics of his old AMG brakes for the SL but haven't heard from him. I got an offer for 4k installation and brand new AMG brakes (bulk discount, he's doing 2-3 at the same time). I might just go with the new set if AMG2Go doesn't come through. I'll let you know if the lights are hotter when I get the car back.

spanky

Thanks!

So Cal Sam

Wow, quite a difference!

Scotsman

Talking of interior lighting - does the light at the bottom of the rear-view mirror always stay on when driven in the dark? For some reason I've never noticed it until recently. It illuminates the COMAND console, etc., but can't see any mention in the manual.

LovinMercedes

I don't think so. I thought those were courtesy map lights which are switched.

Scotsman

Nope lovin, can't find any switches. It's like a tiny spotlight giving ambient lighting rather than the overhead map lights. It was only when I put my hand under the rear-view mirror I saw it.

erichen

Hi Scotsman, If it's the lights housed in the rear view mirror.. the switch is on the center top console. If yo look at the picture at the top of the thread that I posted, there should be two switches on the left and the right of the speaker looking thing. They got \|/
O looking things on them. They don't control the big lights in the center, the switch farther down closer to the mirror controls those. These two smaller switches control the map lights under the mirror, one for the dirver and one for the passenger. You want to do it in a darker place... when I first got the car, I tried the lights in a light environment and didn't knwo what lights those switches control good luck.

Scotsman

Hmm, I'll have a look Erichen. Thought I'd tried them. The light is just behind the remote garage opener buttons. Thanks!

erichen

let us know if you found the right buttons.

Scotsman

Nup, can't see how to switch it off at all. Stays on after locking up the car and after all the other courtesy lights have gone out. Goes off after about 30secs. Light is a couple of inches behind the remote garage buttons.
Give up!

Richard

Is that the orange light (led?) - Its there to light the centre console. Theres also lights in the interior door handles, to light those for you.

1st car I saw that on was a Bentley Arnarge red label .. After that I started noticing them - I'm pretty sure my 02 ML has that on the mirror aswell


R

Scotsman

That's the one Richard. It's only taken me 18 months to notice it!
Never noticed it in my CLK. Wonder what else I've missed!
Thanks.

StapleGun

As the say, beauty is only a light switch away......

KillerZJ

I'm almost 100% sure that I read that the light is on all of the time when it is dark outside.

erichen

I gotta look behind that mirror for this new light your are talking about... wierd, never noticed it... Car is still at the custom guy's place. This tail light tinting adventure is turing into a whole new monster. Getting video upgrade, DVD/MP3 player, interior and exterior lighting, (real tempted to put LED mood lights in there now... saw one he did wiht blue spot lights... nice!) and getting new AMG brakes too.. old calipers too wimpy! I miss my car! two more weeks... man!

vraa

I think the ambient lighting on German cars (specifically the R230 and the W220) is freaking amazing.

I've heard the W221 had 'lighted wood,' or it just might be another car that I mis-read. I can't wait to do night driving or be driven at night in one of those!

spanky

Can you give more information on what you are doing to your audio system?

Thanks

erichen

Spanky,
I am getting the 04' command head unit sent to FL for some guy (through my customs shop) to "tweak" or upgrade the screen to video capable. He called me today to make sure I have no satellite or SOS hooked up because they are going to use that "SAT" button for the video. The Video feed will come from a separate DVD/MP3 player (multi disc I hope) that will be fitted into the passenger side behind the seat compartment (opposite the stock 6 CD changer). He said there is space in there for this modification. Will have auxillary input for IPODS and other carry on items. Too bad that darn screen is so small but I didn't want to shell out another $2500 for a new head unit, not to mention new center console trim... I have no idea where in FL the unit got sent. I just know it got sent via FedEX last week. and it should be back by the end of the week. Other than that, it's got the Reus sytem hook up with subs and amps and satellite spkrs.