Hey I know this is the third time this has been touched on but has anyone done this yet? I found an Ebay seller with "OEM" (bosch) xenon lights, for $1500 for the set. It supposedly comes complete with ballast, I'm in the process of finding out what exactly it comes with ie. wiring harness. I'm just curious if it's plug and play? I've heard things like you also need new connectors and a rheostat? Anyways any opinions are greatly appreciated.
Ok you would get the Bi Xenon light output but you would miss out on the other frills ie headlamp washer, self levelling lamps, lights turning with steering etc. But you would still be paying about the same price (in the UK) that the full works would cost if you bought them as a factory option. This option may not be street legal in some countries.
I gather that Bi xenon bulb (not the cheap standard h7 Xenon normal bulb replacements) kits are available a fair bit cheaper than this but I do not know if you would get any problems with the standard lens covers or wiring (its pretty thin wiring).
Thanks Keith (it's Keith right?), I sometimes get confused with who's who on this. (Except Mike T. and Derek L) I bought my car used so there's a bunch of options I wish I had. I don't really care about the active light system, it would be nice to have the washer and the self leveling (since I think it's legally required). Since it's a complete housing I wonder if it does come with the self-leveling? I would rather go OEM but this sounds like a reasonable option.
I would buy a Pilot xenon kit for about 250 Euro's.
It also has no auto levelling, no washers, etc.
The Bi-Xenon units also use a lense to focus the light, just like the non-xenon one.
If you put a xenon bulb into a normal unit you will pretty much get the same effect. But for a price that is way, way lower.
Yes Dennis that's probably the kit I was refering to it's definately much cheaper than the units mentioned at the start of the thread.
You would be unlikely to get the self leveling function, as Dennis also mentioned in another thread you need a sensor linked to the rear of the car which measures the car/axle angle.
The manual also mentions a front sensor but I am not sure if that is for the H/L levelling or to do with the angling with the turning function.
It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has fitted the Pilot Xenon conversion to find out how much better they are than the standard bulbs. (which are pretty useless)
The Philips X-treme power are an option which I find give a better light than the standard bulbs but do not cost an arm & a leg. I think I paid about £25 for them I believe I gave the exact price in an earlier thread. But those Pilots sound very tempting
Installing the pilot kit should be quite easy. I would do it to my car, except that it's a company car...
Don't forget that you also need an extra cable to fool the diagnostic system.
I read at MBFanatics.org of problems that someone was having with a Xenon retrofit - the dealer has to "enable" the Xenon, apparently, if you are using OEM and not cheater bulb units (aftermarket).
I've contacted Pilot a while ago for info on the xenon conversion but so far no reply.
I'm worried that there might be a heat issue at the bulb seeing that it's not original.
Well, Xenon bulbs are more thermally efficient then a normal (halogen) bulb.
A halogen bulb converts more then half of it's power into heat.
Xenon lamps are more efficient, will consume less power and should expell less heat.
I see lots of retrofitted Xenon unit and I've never heard of het problems....
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