Ok, so here's the short, sweet story of a guy with a 2007 C230 (W204) Sport Sedan that wanted to upgrade to HID's. What a nightmare I had no idea I was going to get into. After much reading & many opinionated people claiming there's is the best, I found the answers I was looking for & best of all I found out that in spite of how much money you spend you don't need to break the bank or get those high-end kits to get a TOP QUALITY KIT that works as well OR BETTER than some of the kits that run 4 or 5 times as much!
Eventually I'll post some pictures of my 2007 Mercedes C230 Sport with the 10,000k HID Upgrade I did. Make no mistake about it though, in spite of what everyone tells you it is not as simple as a 20 minute plug & play. It's simple & easy if you follow the instructions & don't mind drilling a few holes into plastic, but for the most part any DIY guy who can change your own oil will find it simple enough...
***BEST & CHEAPEST HID UPGRADE KIT AROUND***
I recently upgraded my headlamps on my 2007 C230 Sport (W204) to HID's, & for those that think you need all these extra parts like Capacitor's, Digital units, or even the dealers to reprogram your car for HID's, this is not always the case. In fact in not only my car but my buddy's 04 C-Class Sedan, these performed flawlessly with no extra parts, changes, or programming required!
I remember searching high & low on this site for someone who'd done an HID Conversion Kit on a W204 & couldn't find a single post about it. I literally searched everywhere on the net too & almost gave up until I found out that you can find good kits that won't pull codes, start fires, flicker, etc if you do some in depth reading about how these work, which is what I did. After many hours of searching & reading about them I found out there are ways around all this & I got a 10,000k Conversion Kit for my headlamps that looks AWESOME, DOES NOT PULL CODES, & works perfectly.
Bear in mind that there are several different temperatures available & I sell all the various temp. kits if you want a different look (temp is just the color of the light, NOT THE BRIGHTNESS). I used the 10,000k Kit because I like the Deep Blue hue of the light, & it looks very close to the stock lamps I've seen out there. When the car was sold new you could get standard HID's as an option (an expensive one though!), & I believe they offered either 8,000k or 10,000k Lamps).
The key is getting the kits that are made in Japan (some claim their ballast is from Germany, but I've seen the ballast & see no German markings on them & the ballast on these high-end kits looks to be IDENTICAL to the one in my kit so I'd bet they're the same thing).
Anyway with about 2hrs of fitting to get things just right & some minor modifications anyone can do this upgrade & with shipping & paid $119.99. This looks AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER than some of the other HID Kits I've seen out there that cost 5 times as much.
If you're interested I ordered mine directly from Japan (NOT CHINA!), and they make all the difference in the world. The key is to make sure you get one of the 4th Generation Ballasts. I've seen older units that pull codes, get too hot, & have all kinds of problems, but these are the real deal & no need to spend $200-$400 depending on the kit, to get truly wonderful HID Kits that work well in your Mercedes & work THE FIRST TIME AROUND!
If anyone is interested I'm going to eventually start putting them on Amazon.com, but it may be awhile with my work schedule. Here's my email if you want to buy the kit from me directly, which I send priority mail KIT IS: $99.99 + $10.00 Shipping anywhere in the lower 48 states (add $4 for AK/HI & Email me for International Price Quotes):
techserviceunlimited@yahoo.com
TSU of Indiana
Andy, Owner
Eventually I'll post some pictures of my 2007 Mercedes C230 Sport with the 10,000k HID Upgrade I did. Make no mistake about it though, in spite of what everyone tells you it is not as simple as a 20 minute plug & play. It's simple & easy if you follow the instructions & don't mind drilling a few holes into plastic, but for the most part any DIY guy who can change your own oil will find it simple enough...
***BEST & CHEAPEST HID UPGRADE KIT AROUND***
I recently upgraded my headlamps on my 2007 C230 Sport (W204) to HID's, & for those that think you need all these extra parts like Capacitor's, Digital units, or even the dealers to reprogram your car for HID's, this is not always the case. In fact in not only my car but my buddy's 04 C-Class Sedan, these performed flawlessly with no extra parts, changes, or programming required!
I remember searching high & low on this site for someone who'd done an HID Conversion Kit on a W204 & couldn't find a single post about it. I literally searched everywhere on the net too & almost gave up until I found out that you can find good kits that won't pull codes, start fires, flicker, etc if you do some in depth reading about how these work, which is what I did. After many hours of searching & reading about them I found out there are ways around all this & I got a 10,000k Conversion Kit for my headlamps that looks AWESOME, DOES NOT PULL CODES, & works perfectly.
Bear in mind that there are several different temperatures available & I sell all the various temp. kits if you want a different look (temp is just the color of the light, NOT THE BRIGHTNESS). I used the 10,000k Kit because I like the Deep Blue hue of the light, & it looks very close to the stock lamps I've seen out there. When the car was sold new you could get standard HID's as an option (an expensive one though!), & I believe they offered either 8,000k or 10,000k Lamps).
The key is getting the kits that are made in Japan (some claim their ballast is from Germany, but I've seen the ballast & see no German markings on them & the ballast on these high-end kits looks to be IDENTICAL to the one in my kit so I'd bet they're the same thing).
Anyway with about 2hrs of fitting to get things just right & some minor modifications anyone can do this upgrade & with shipping & paid $119.99. This looks AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER than some of the other HID Kits I've seen out there that cost 5 times as much.
If you're interested I ordered mine directly from Japan (NOT CHINA!), and they make all the difference in the world. The key is to make sure you get one of the 4th Generation Ballasts. I've seen older units that pull codes, get too hot, & have all kinds of problems, but these are the real deal & no need to spend $200-$400 depending on the kit, to get truly wonderful HID Kits that work well in your Mercedes & work THE FIRST TIME AROUND!
If anyone is interested I'm going to eventually start putting them on Amazon.com, but it may be awhile with my work schedule. Here's my email if you want to buy the kit from me directly, which I send priority mail KIT IS: $99.99 + $10.00 Shipping anywhere in the lower 48 states (add $4 for AK/HI & Email me for International Price Quotes):
techserviceunlimited@yahoo.com
TSU of Indiana
Andy, Owner