desired_speeds

So I have an 04 E55 with factory installed bixenon with the active curve assist or whatever its called. I was driving on the freeway last night and the light output is so poor that my W210's factory non-projector HIDs are far brighter in comparison.

Has anyone experienced the inside of the projector bowl or the fresnel lens hazing over causing this poor output? I even compared it to my friend's 05 E55 with the same headlight option and his is a tad better, but still poor in my books. I don't mind taking the headlights apart to swap in clear lens, but I don't want to do it if it's not going to improve output. I would rather just get a set of depos on ebay, ditch the curve assist and retrofit with my own choice of projectors in there.

People seem to choose the E55 projector to retrofit into other cars and I have no idea why if the output is this crappy.

btw, I have tried different bulbs already. Currently running OEM D2S bulbs from an RX330. I also blew out the inside of the projectors with 100PSI compressed air.

my friend's 08 CLS63 headlights are far better also.

amg guy

iTrader: (1)

05 55 here. Mine work excellent. Had a 210 model with factory hid too they worked great but not as well as the 211.

Never heard of a complaint about these?

2EASy

I thought some people were swapping projector lenses

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

Mine work very, very well.

Forrest Gump 9

Same here. You're the first one that complain about the headlights ever. Something must be wrong with your.

black06c230

I felt the same way about mine until I did a lens swap and bulb upgrade:

Osram Cool Blue Intense D2S (need 2 of these so about $200) they are true 5000k bulbs with 20% more light.

Lens swap to ZKW-R $40
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=136

I also have the active headlights and its a little tricky. I took some pics not sure I ever posted them but there are some reg bi-xenon on here somewhere and I can provide pics of the active part. I didn't want to try this part or that set of bulbs and just went what I felt was just the best most cost effective route, yes the bulbs are $$$ but way worth it.

black06c230

When my car gets back home from some work later this week I will post some light output pics for you, before it goes in for the E63 conversion.

zneB-sedecreM

What kind of headlight bulbs are Range Rovers (full sized) running? They always look great and light up nice.

dchl21

are you running stock bulbs ? they fade like a ***** over time. i changed mine to 8k

amazing output.

zneB-sedecreM

I've always thought 8K was too blue. I'm using 6K, and it's a whiter shade

mikey33

Quick question, do you have to open up the headlight to swap the lens? I had zkw replica on my w210 and the cutoff and output were amazing. I am thinking of doing the same with the 211.

03'55AMG

My factory bulbs are getting dim now too. What Kelvin temp looks like white with a tad of violet? I am interested in switching them out myself if it isn't too big of a pain

desired_speeds

yea you have to open the lens up to swap it. I'm going to do that in the near future in this case and swap in some new bulbs. The bulbs I have are factory and are almost brand new. My friend took them out of his car. I took some cell phone pics of my light output maybe we can compare them, but the camera makes it look brighter than it actually is.

desired_speeds

so this is against my garage door, approximately 5 feet distance, maybe a bit less:


This is parked pointing at the sidewalk at a 45 degree angle against a wall:


and this is on the road (I edited it slightly because the camera made it look brighter than in person:




as you can see, when I'm driving down the street, the output is so bad except for directly in front of the car, but I can't really see much past the mediocre hotspot.

djrabbi

You need clear lens swap with orasm bulbs. Solved my problems on bother e class and cls

AKnight55

6,000K FTW

desired_speeds

If its violet already that means the bulbs are nearing the end of their lives. The best for human eye visibility is around 4800 Kelvin rating.

yea, I'll be doing that next I guess. I just need to find the time to bake the headlights.

djrabbi

Higher the Kelvin, less you see...stick with OEM 4300k

Here are my pics after lens swap and bulbs.

mikey33

ZKW Replica lens I assume? Very nice cutoff and output!

djrabbi

yup you got it

black06c230

Chris
yeah you will have to open the lights but its fairly simple to do and glad i did it. I was more worried about breaking the active headlight motor than anything.

I should have my car back home tomorrow and will try to get some pics up by Thursday of my output with the lens swap and the 5000k Osram Cool Blue Extreme.

now get my CF tubes shipped, i am going nuts waiting on them!!!

Later
H

03'55AMG

Any DIYs on this or at least tearing apart the headlight?

black06c230

there was one on here some where I think that I used. Not sure I used the one Steve posted on painting the inside but here is that link:
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...rojectors.html

I still have pics from when I did my actual lens swap and can post those in the next day or so.

03'55AMG

Alright! I will look into that thread tomorrow. Had a longgggg day so I am off to sleep early tonight. G'nite MBWorld! hahahaha

black06c230

Just found my lens swap pics. Let me get them uploaded and then I will get them up by Thursday as tomorrow is my 7 year anniv. with the wife. So cars will take a backseat.