rschultz101

what headlights do you have ?
cheese (grater) or clear ?
chrome or black ?

http://www.google.com/products?q=W21...art=64&gnum=16

looking to get some projector headlights on my
W210 99 desert silver

also DOT/SAE D.O.T S.A.E. stamped / etched in the front glass
think , be nice for the inspection in massachusetts ?
some have E-code, but don't think most inspection stations or local police
know about them ... did you have any problems ?

some have HALO , aka angel eyes, neat idea, but think the little bulb in the second reflector, does help ,... aka 300 lumen extra, where the halo,
will not give any usable light, also not sure, about possible beeing a ticket magnet,... what you think ?

AMG_KID

i really like the Class Blk xenon Hid headlight. i might order these.

I always wanted to try one of these headlights out, but could never really wrap my head around the whole, hid, xenon, ballast wiring so on..

SleepersRock

those black ones are nice. I wonder how well they match the stock paint?

nicobaires

I like the black ones as well, just afraid of the whole install thing

MR888

Installing is a pain, needing to drop the bumper, but the looks are worth it

rschultz101

still looking:
- how to remove W210 bumper and swap headlights
- anybody has black headlights on a silver car ? or is it to much ?
- E-code , E-mark headlights legal in MA, massachusetts ?

notes:
Depo have DOT (D.O.T,S.A.E) , SAE on the glass,
might be benefitial for the inspection, ...or cursory check when pulled over.
made by depo, not nessesary same quality, 2 different MFG ? ? some E-CODE ?

most come with lines in glass, aka cheese grater, makes it look older, purpose,
to heat the glass more even in winter,...
most cars, have clear glass, cleaner look, more average,
some don't come with markings, stamp, approval on glass, what could lead to problems,

- Halo
most of those , are not CCFL , just plastic, with LED,
the LED is not replaceable ,... and dim in comparison, also they go out,
and you can't change the bulb, as such , makes it questionable to have it in the first place,..... other thought,.... is it a ticket magnet ?
- lens, not the best, and some are blue ,... what changes the color, and reduces the light output,.... would prefer clear ones.
don't know, if changeable or replaceable aka upgrade

modify:
- a few did put Hella OEM bi-xenons in, replace , dremel, cut, glue,... new low-beam in,
to have decent beam
did find only a few, used ones on ebay, but like the option, to put on new ones,
anybody knows, where to get new low-beam OEM modules ?

looked at the hella stuff,.... did find 90mm low-beams, and those are available ,
eather DOT/SAE or E-MARK,

- still a question, if you get into trouble, doing any modification, to a headlight (MA)
weathers it's DOT/SAE or not . anybody knows ?

the high-beams are not that much used,.... so don't think, it's worse to mod them.

reliability wise,.... those aftermarket once , have cheap connectors,.... maybe glue
halogens, 55W ,... 300-500 hours,... MTBF,... they could last double,
and some are not cheap,... that means failure, 1-3 years ,.... changing at night is no fun, of course you got spares ? yeah ? I droped the spring wire, last time,...
and you always get a helping hand , with those blue lights,....

HID,.... at least on my last one,.... no headlight failure for 8.5 years ,
but now drive a diesel,.... and mercedes likes to seal the engine compartment a little ,
that means higher temps,... 85C +,... those balasts, create heat too,... 20-30C,...
now you talking 120C+ on the electronics,... and most are cheap, not OEM quality,
as such, think, they probably fail sooner,... I mean most electronics to exceed 120C,
need to have more expensive MIL-Spec parts....
-- some of the bulbs are cheap,... but should last longer than halogen
-- the ballast can fail, and usually nobody carries a spare,...

color, 4300k, 5000k , for white, with clear lens....
-- the best,..... 3000-4000k , on the yellow side, with Tag-heuer driving glasses
been working on a mtb light project, off-road on trails, you'd need a load of light,
as such,... been researching lights for 2+ years,....
took me a while, but those Tag-heuer night driving glasses, are a marvel on engineering, and no those cheap yellow glasses will not do at night.
they are currently the only ones with a small correction factor for the night,
with least amount of distortion and absorption . a must have for motorbikes,mtb,
or commuters in foul weather, and for people who have already trouble, some even don't know, some gets worse with age.

if you like white, less than 5000k, otherwise on the yellow side is good, 3500k +/-500
most higher K lamps, just paint them, so less light, just more blue, more glare

so what do you drive with ? happy ? any mods ?

jtbeche

Agreed. I was under the impression there were no "plug and play" HID aftermarket lights for our car. I was thinking everything actually was a regular bulb but you could bake them, take off the lense, put projectors in and all that stuff. If I'm wrong and there truly is a plug and play version out there that would require basically nothing but me pulling off the bumper and installing them AND still have the HID's then I might be interested in those. Otherwise, not worth the effort for me to try and do all that work since my stock lights work just fine.

MBFLO

This was my thoughts just about word for word..
If the OP has factory xenon HID then he might not be plug and play . I think they are plug and play only with non xenon versions
But factory xenon are ds1 and the new bi-xenon are ds2 . I would love to have a set of black ones but for all the work it will take forget the money jsut seems like the factory xenons are good enough and i doubt those kits will produce a crips factory look cutoff like the real ones .

I once baked a motorcycle headlight and stuck in 2 projector lens painted the refector black added some led's to mimic the audi r8 and it turned out baddass .. Too bad the bike was stolen that night after spending 8 hours working on a headlight MOD .

Does anyone know if we can just pop the lenz cover off the factory headlight and switch it with a blacked one ?