Well, I've been threatening to do the upgrade, and it's mostly done now.
I say mostly because for me it's been a multi step process, first of doing a 'test upgrade' of some HID bulbs into the factory eom headlight housings - which was sucessful, but it made me ask: how much better could it be with some crystal clear, newer Tech Projector beam housings.
Now, after about a week of testing then in different light situations, I'm here to say, that there isn't any downsides to this upgrade.
Unless you count the effort to remove the bumper & deal with the old, brittle plastic pieces that may break !
But, truth be told, you will know more at the end of this process in terms of how the front bumper fits - what's behind it & how the lights are fitted into the cutouts that are below on the bumper & overhead on the hood edge - and this knowledge can be a good thing.
For now, I'll just post some initial pics & overview of which lights I used & later I can cover specific steps, tips & eventually the HID upgrade bulb details.
First, I'd say that you don't have to do the HID portion, unless you've been wanting to anyhow.
The first 2 days, I just used the stock H7 Halogen bulbs that came with the Projector beams - standard 55w bulbs - and all the lighting aspects - Lows, High Beams & Amber turn signals - all looked & illuminated the road very, very nicely.
I had prior polished by factory (Hella) spec headlamps, but you don't reazlize how the plastic lenses are deteriorating even from the inside - where you can't polish off the haze - and the subsequent loss of light transmission.
And, with the cost of the 'New' OEM style units by Hella (MB oem) or the Replace brand - OEM replica - being some 50% to 100 % more than the Taiwan made 'Depo' brand MB Projector Beam Performance Lamps, - considering that - I figured I would give these units a try.
Amazon had them for $ 176 for the pair. They come in a huge box - very nicely packaged, cushioned with pretty much no chance for damage.
Upon inspection, and during my time of installing these units, I must say I'm very impressed with the quality.
The lenses are nice clear & strong polycarbonate, the adjustment mechanism is very precise for Up & Down, Left & Right Adjustment.
The housing into which the bulbs actually fit, the rear portion of the Projector, is made of a die cast alloy, and the projector lens is very precisely made. No hot spots, it casts a clear blanket of illumination.
In comparison, the Hellas also had a very nice blanket of light pattern, but the portion into which the bulb fit was a plastic housing - strong to be sure, but still plastic.
Both the OEM & Aftermarket units had the exact same 'Precise Adjustable Mounts' in 3 places, the front inner side, and bottom side (at fender edge) and Top / hood cowling mount.
To install these, front bumper removal is mandatory.
For testing purposes, I left the bumper off for 2 days, as I wanted to road & light test after dark with both the provided H7 Halogens & later with the HID bulbs.
It didn't make sense to re-install the bumper, as I new there wasn't sufficient room behind the driver side Low beam, due to the Hydraulic reservoir tank.
In fact, any bulb change for the DS Low, will require bumper removal, period.
So, despite the funny look, I left off the bumper for the test period.
I will give bumper removal details in a later post. There is a very good Youtube video on 'E320 Front Bumper Removal', by Mercedessource.
As good as it is, he dosen't cover at least 3 tips I had to learn on my own. More on that later.
Ok, so enough of the details here are the new headlamp assemblies:
Thanks for reading this far ! David :wink
I say mostly because for me it's been a multi step process, first of doing a 'test upgrade' of some HID bulbs into the factory eom headlight housings - which was sucessful, but it made me ask: how much better could it be with some crystal clear, newer Tech Projector beam housings.
Now, after about a week of testing then in different light situations, I'm here to say, that there isn't any downsides to this upgrade.
Unless you count the effort to remove the bumper & deal with the old, brittle plastic pieces that may break !
But, truth be told, you will know more at the end of this process in terms of how the front bumper fits - what's behind it & how the lights are fitted into the cutouts that are below on the bumper & overhead on the hood edge - and this knowledge can be a good thing.
For now, I'll just post some initial pics & overview of which lights I used & later I can cover specific steps, tips & eventually the HID upgrade bulb details.
First, I'd say that you don't have to do the HID portion, unless you've been wanting to anyhow.
The first 2 days, I just used the stock H7 Halogen bulbs that came with the Projector beams - standard 55w bulbs - and all the lighting aspects - Lows, High Beams & Amber turn signals - all looked & illuminated the road very, very nicely.
I had prior polished by factory (Hella) spec headlamps, but you don't reazlize how the plastic lenses are deteriorating even from the inside - where you can't polish off the haze - and the subsequent loss of light transmission.
And, with the cost of the 'New' OEM style units by Hella (MB oem) or the Replace brand - OEM replica - being some 50% to 100 % more than the Taiwan made 'Depo' brand MB Projector Beam Performance Lamps, - considering that - I figured I would give these units a try.
Amazon had them for $ 176 for the pair. They come in a huge box - very nicely packaged, cushioned with pretty much no chance for damage.
Upon inspection, and during my time of installing these units, I must say I'm very impressed with the quality.
The lenses are nice clear & strong polycarbonate, the adjustment mechanism is very precise for Up & Down, Left & Right Adjustment.
The housing into which the bulbs actually fit, the rear portion of the Projector, is made of a die cast alloy, and the projector lens is very precisely made. No hot spots, it casts a clear blanket of illumination.
In comparison, the Hellas also had a very nice blanket of light pattern, but the portion into which the bulb fit was a plastic housing - strong to be sure, but still plastic.
Both the OEM & Aftermarket units had the exact same 'Precise Adjustable Mounts' in 3 places, the front inner side, and bottom side (at fender edge) and Top / hood cowling mount.
To install these, front bumper removal is mandatory.
For testing purposes, I left the bumper off for 2 days, as I wanted to road & light test after dark with both the provided H7 Halogens & later with the HID bulbs.
It didn't make sense to re-install the bumper, as I new there wasn't sufficient room behind the driver side Low beam, due to the Hydraulic reservoir tank.
In fact, any bulb change for the DS Low, will require bumper removal, period.
So, despite the funny look, I left off the bumper for the test period.
I will give bumper removal details in a later post. There is a very good Youtube video on 'E320 Front Bumper Removal', by Mercedessource.
As good as it is, he dosen't cover at least 3 tips I had to learn on my own. More on that later.
Ok, so enough of the details here are the new headlamp assemblies:
Thanks for reading this far ! David :wink
