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I'd suggest jacking your car up, getting the wheels off and putting the car on two jackstands. Makes everything so much easier.
I had these professionally polished twice, and the results were great but within a year the application needed to be redone.
For about $50 in parts I got this done w the tools I have already.
Tools needed:
- 10mm
- 8mm
- T25
- T10
- T15
- Extensions, some of the bolts are pretty deep, especially the last two bumper bolts
- Phillips screwdriver
- Heat Gun, with a toggle switch trigger so it can stay on
-
- A magnetic parts tray, there are about 20+ nuts, bolts, screws and tabs you need to hang on to. This made my life so much easier.
- Clamps, I used plastic channel locks (one melted on the last lens securing session) and metal c-clamps
Time
2.5hrs including time to take off lens covers and reapplying them in the "oven"
Remove the inner wheel forward facing skirts
When taking the lights out, if you have the washer nozzles, just remove the screw holding the washers onto the headlight housing, then pull them forward and they will come out of their guides.
When putting the lights back in, keep everything loose until you get the bumper fully on, there is some adjustment in the light housings to allow better alignment with the front fascia.
Have quite a bit I am refreshing this spring, but figured I'd get this out of the way as I thought it was such a daunting task.
Next up is the cowl behind the wiper that's been killed by the LA sun, new throttle bodies go in this weekend for my rebuilt intake manifold, a nice wash, Fuel Pumps this summer, and either paint or paint correction by end of the year and I am done!
Would have replaced the fresnel lens with a clear ZKW-R at least or do a full Morimoto projector swap to replace aging bowls, while having it all apart. The Morimoto are drop in and bolt.
Good call, didn't think of replacing the projectors / etc. The light output, even when these were at their worst were comparable to my G-Wagon, if not brighter given the lower riding position.
I don't drive the E63 since the tires are Summer rated, the weather should be breaking here in a couple of weeks and I have a few things to tackle before any road trips, but if I don't like this setup I'll definitely look into the above.
My biggest hurdle was getting over how hard I thought this job would be, and given all the work I've done to this car and my G55, it was kind of odd on my part. The job is easy enough that if I want I can do it again over a couple cups of coffee.
Hope this helps anyone out there looking to tackle this on their cars
Minor hijack incoming, but hopefully helpful. I just did my headlights again, for the third time, and I have some new findings that I felt were worth sharing.
Some years ago, I had hazing lenses, and had good success polishing them myself. While I was in there, I decided to change out the projectors for the EVOX-R projectors (v1.0), and was quite satisfied with the results. Rather than clear coat, I used chemical guys jet seal, and unfortunately I ended up with hazing again after a few months... Maybe I needed to apply it more often, but whatever. Ended up doing the lenses again a year or so later, wet sanding/polishing, and this time it appears that there was something hazy on the inside of the lenses also, so they didn't come as good as the first time. At this point I decided the next move was to replace them.
Ordered a set on Amazon, and the fitment wasn't perfect, but it seems to be good enough. The trim ring for the high beams has some provisions and a small nub for the attachment points, and those were not on my replacement lenses... but overall it still went back together fine. I ordered the butyl, turned out I did not need to use it. There's so much butyl already in the groove of the headlight housings, that once everything was warmed up and compliant, there was no need to add more. (I guess I'll keep my eye out for signs of moisture to see if I guessed wrong.)
I also decided to change my projectors again when I was in there this most recent time (2 weeks ago). I contacted TRS to see if the Morimoto Mini D2S 5.0 would bolt up to something designed for the Hella E55 light, and the answer was no, but they sell an adaptor bracket that does the trick! So I ordered those, and swapped them in. There was a little bit of dremeling required unfortunately, but mostly just widening holes to align better. The light output is really nice compared to the EVOX-R, but I'd guess the EVOX-R 2.0 would be better than what I was using. Upon removing my old EVOX-R projectors, I noticed a significant burn spot on the bowl, where the chrome lining had completely burned off... So I'm sure that was affecting performance as well. Also, my car came with the cornering headlights, and the cradle that the projector sits in isn't a great match for the Mini D2S 5.0. but I was able to make it work with some washers to space off parts that didn't quite fit perfectly. Anyway, I'm very pleased with the results, and the lighting is great... Though I must agree with other posters that a fresnel lens is superior. Just wanted to share in case anyone was thinking of going this route: it is possible, but not without some modification.
TL;DR:
- Amazon lenses are a crapshoot, but should be good enough either way
- Use PPF or proper clear coat to protect new lenses
- EVOX-R projectors will deteriorate after a couple years usage
- Mini D2S 5.0 works with some modification (probably not for E63 due to D1S bulbs). Might work better for cars without active cornering.
For the Butyl I ended up warming up a skinny flathead screw driver and coaxed most of it out.
After everything was sealed, I used the same flathead to spread a thin sealing outter coat of butyl as well, just as a precaution.
I wasn't aware of all of the lighting upgrades going into this, and glad I didn't because knowing me I would have gone for one.
Hoping to have good weather in a couple weeks to take the car out for a spin and will see how well things worked out. Kind of curious about the frensel lenses, if I don't like these for whatever reason I'll take 'em back apart and go another route.
For the Butyl I ended up warming up a skinny flathead screw driver and coaxed most of it out.
After everything was sealed, I used the same flathead to spread a thin sealing outter coat of butyl as well, just as a precaution.
I wasn't aware of all of the lighting upgrades going into this, and glad I didn't because knowing me I would have gone for one.
Hoping to have good weather in a couple weeks to take the car out for a spin and will see how well things worked out. Kind of curious about the frensel lenses, if I don't like these for whatever reason I'll take 'em back apart and go another route.
If I'm honest, I still like the sharp cutoff of the clear lens better. It's more neato lol. But the fresnel is better for visibility and your eyes.
before replacement lenses were a thing i had my body shop wet sand and clear my housings...much better than before but nowhere near as clear as new lenses. i will say though...since then til now 4 years later, they haven't shown signs of deteriorating. i've done the wet sanding and clear coating myself on one of my other vehicles and that began looking like trash within 5 months.
at some point would love to run new lenses, but honestly don't want to do the work myself.
Good call, didn't think of replacing the projectors / etc. The light output, even when these were at their worst were comparable to my G-Wagon, if not brighter given the lower riding position.
I don't drive the E63 since the tires are Summer rated, the weather should be breaking here in a couple of weeks and I have a few things to tackle before any road trips, but if I don't like this setup I'll definitely look into the above.
My biggest hurdle was getting over how hard I thought this job would be, and given all the work I've done to this car and my G55, it was kind of odd on my part. The job is easy enough that if I want I can do it again over a couple cups of coffee.
Hope this helps anyone out there looking to tackle this on their cars
Have you done any updates headlight wise to the G? I just updated mine to new style LED and they are a huge improvement.
I put Hella 5000k Xenon bulbs in my G55 and they're great.
In both of my cars I run yellow fog lights so I can differentiate what llight is hitting where, and have a better handle on where my cars are relative to the surroundings.
I'm pretty sensitive to lights that are too bright, may be from being in film, but I've ben happy with both setups.
I did however follow that thread and the output on your upgrade looks amazing!
Not so fast with recommending Morimoto ZKW-R lenses!!
Originally Posted by black06c230
Would have replaced the fresnel lens with a clear ZKW-R at least or do a full Morimoto projector swap to replace aging bowls, while having it all apart. The Morimoto are drop in and bolt.
Lastly add Osram CBB bulbs for extra performance
I’m in the process of replacing my outer lenses with those that are on some “Car Parts” Halogens I bought haphazardly! I have Xenons w/active curve, so they were a no go for a swap. However, I did bake them and removed the lenses making sure to use a screwdriver to peel away that butyl goo sealant to keep it from sticking to the reflective surface. Also, I made sure to remove the goo covering the screw which secures the Low Beam HID BIG reflector positioned at 6 o’clock. I took out the reflector and will use it instead of my OEM due to some of the reflective surface peeling off. It’s still up in the air if I’ll do same with the High Beams as I don’t like to smooth reflective “car Parts” (ie-China!) surface as compared to Mercedes staggered surface, but there’s peel on the side I’m working on and I used some silver paint marker to fill in but it doesn’t look too great! Once I removed both reflective surfaces, there was room to remove the outer reflective ring surrounding the HID fresnel lense, and this where I warn against the Morimoto’s for this application. Be aware that you have to use a tool, in my case the end of small hose pliers worked well, in order to un-pry the tabs securing the anchoring ring which sits behind the lens. Although the Morimoto’s are nice and clear, they are not the correct diameter to fit properly, at least not in my 2007 E63. The Morimoto’s measured 2.5mm smaller in diameter such that they did NOT seat well in the projector. My concern is that even if I tried to center them, it could still perhaps go off center or even be out of focus since the lens would protrude out farther since its smaller in diameter than the fresnel lenses. As for using washers on the projector in order to “dial-in” the focus, since the projector bracket which hold the lenses not only has 4 screws but also twice as many rivets, I was not prepared to attempt it in the first place but since the lenses didn’t fit anyway, I didn’t have to bother. The shims I bought with them were only as wide as the Morimoto’s, so they wouldn’t have made a difference. Moreover, the top of the OEM projector has a small notch at 12 o’clock which the fresnel lens fits into perfectly. I suppose I could have tried to fashion a quick fix like using tin foil to fill the void while using the anchor ring to secure the lens and then clamp the tabs, but surely this would have effected dispersion of the light in an imperfect way IYKWIM!! So I polished up the fresnel lenses, which we’re definitely cloudy white when I removed them, with a little glass cleaner with a microfiber towel and they’re good as new!
Another thing I noticed was that upon close inspection, I was shocked to see just how much copper I could see through cracks of wire as well as outright bare wire, it’s a wonder they worked at all!! I attempted several passes with Plasti-Dip, but that did NOT work well. I then wrapped the most offensive wires with electrical tape, but there were more which had a cracked outer shell that I resorted to getting Liquid Electrical Tape, and hopefully that will suffice for a time until I can justify spending $1600 for new Xenon Active Curve Headlights!
As for the Xenon\HID’s, I opted to get the Philips D1S85415XV2C1 Xenon X-tremeVision gen 2 with up to 150% more vision than OEM. As for the Halogens, since the “Car Parts” Headlights came with 2 in each, my thought is to try them out even though I had no problem with my high beams. It’s just after 14 years and 96K miles, how long will OEM Halogens last? I guess I’ll have 4 ‘China-issue” halogen spares for when I need it! My concern is popping in the China Made Halogens only to see them go out ever too soon! Still haven’t driven her yet but I’ll let you know how it goes!
I'm not sure the EXOV-R projectors are a good option for your case, as you have a 2007, your car uses D1S bulbs (I think), and the earlier W211s use D2S bulbs. I think the major difference between the two bulb types is the location of the ignitor, but there could be other dimensional differences. I do not know if the two different year cars have the same projector body. As for the EVOX-R projectors, they are a one for one swap with the original Hella brand "E55" projectors, so all parts fit exactly like they should. The only change I had to make was to take the foreground limiter off of the original lights and install them on the EVOX-R when I did the swap (some years ago), but you don't have to use the foreground limiter, it's more of a preference thing.
So you are just using a Morimoto lens or the complete Morimoto projector?
If just the lens it should be the ZKW-R which drops in at least on a non-facelift car. The facelift cars use a D1S bulb and not a D2S like the others. The Morimoto EVOX is supposed to be a drop in, even for active cars. I have those to drop into mine when i get back in the coming month or so.
The Osram CBB bulbs are great except I notice the D1S doesn’t seem as good as D2S.
Minor hijack incoming, but hopefully helpful. I just did my headlights again, for the third time, and I have some new findings that I felt were worth sharing...
- Use PPF or proper clear coat to protect new lenses
- EVOX-R projectors will deteriorate after a couple years usage
- Mini D2S 5.0 works with some modification (probably not for E63 due to D1S bulbs). Might work better for cars without active cornering.
I'm in the process of redoing my projectors, lenses, bulbs and bought EvoX-r from TRS... They have been laying in the garage for almost 2 years now, until yesterday.
Are you saying that EvoX-r are inferior and that I will need a special connector for them to fit my E55? When I spoke with TRS they said I do not need anything extra, that it is plug and play. Is that accurate? I hope so, because I just took my car apart and don't have any additional harnesses to complete the swap.
Hey guys and girls,
I have an 06 E55 that I finally got tired of looking at ugly yellow lenses. I bought EvoX-r 2.0 from TRS a couple of years ago and just now am getting to do the replacement.
The process seemed pretty straight forward to me, until I had to take apart the projector assembly. While it was a bit challenging, it is nothing in comparison to what I am dealing with now.
When I removed lenses and started to remove the projector assembly, I've noticed that insulation around wires just started to flake off. What a nightmare!!! Wouldn't wish that on anyone! See below:
The more I've tried to remedy the problem, the worse it got, as any movement of the wires created more flakes of insulation falling of the wires.
This is where I am right now, as I'm trying to figure a best way to fix this problem while the car is just sitting without a front end.
I'm open to suggestions, ideas. Please shine some light.
Also, I haven't gotten to the installation of the EvoX-r 2.0 projectors. If you have used that model, is it plug and play (as TRS claims) or do I need some additional harness to make it work (as some members are saying).
If you've used a different protector unit, how significant was the difference in light output between the OEM projector and the replacement?
03-09-2021, 06:00 PM
