Xenon fit for original front end?

1591 Views 28 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Schmohey, Feb 20, 2005

w108

Discussion Starter · Feb 14, 2005

I'm very interested in doing the genuine xenon replacement for my 300SD.

Most of the ones I've seen is with the newer front end, mine's the original.

Was just curious if anyone else has done it or is in the process of doing it and what's involved.

If so, is there any sites with the stuff to order that's good quality for my Benz?

Thanks a lot for the info!

Tory

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JR_Rider

· #3 · Feb 14, 2005

w108 - 2/14/2005 1:00 AM

I'm very interested in doing the genuine xenon replacement for my 300SD.

Most of the ones I've seen is with the newer front end, mine's the original.

Was just curious if anyone else has done it or is in the process of doing it and what's involved.

If so, is there any sites with the stuff to order that's good quality for my Benz?

Thanks a lot for the info!

Tory

When you say genuine, are you referring to OE xenon ballast and bulbs?? Because if so it is very, very, very difficult to do with the 4x6 headlights we have in our 300sd. (I used to have them, of course, but swithced over to euros), which I put xenon equipment in. First you will need a 4x6 conversion kit, which will allow you to run h4 bulbs. The biggest problem you will face is trying to connect xenon equipment in that housing is the fact that the housing does not allow you to go through to the engine compartment. If you don't understand what I am talking about, because I am not quite sure how to describe this, take out the sealed beam 4x6 and you cannot see into the engine bay looking to the housing. There is little to no room back there to even install the d2s plug, let alone mount the ballast. Sylvannia makes a 4x6 conversion kit which is supposed to be street legal, since it uses xenon reflectors, and not halogen ones. But still, I am not sure how you can get around the lack of space to mount the ballast within that headlight. The easiest thing of course, would be to get some euros. The Bosch units are expensive but with some leg work, you can get a good used set for around 200usd. If you want you can just wait to see how you like the euros and then decide if you want to install hids. The Euros are infinently better in ever way than our tired, ugly US assemblies. If you have any other questions, be sure to let us know. Hope that my information has been helpful.

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JR_Rider

· #8 · Feb 15, 2005

w108 - 2/14/2005 10:41 PM

I guess from everythink I've read and from hwta JR's said is that it's possible, but probably most practicle to switch to euro's and maybe just put a blue tinted halogen in.

Tory

Don't put blue tinted bulbs in your car, because the blue paint actually reduces the output. Best aftermarket bulbs, in terms of increased output would be the Sylvannia Silver Stars, hands down!! They are very reasonable priced as well, around 35usd for the pair. Much better than the PIAAs I also had. I have never seen a w126 xenon kit available, but it would be no differnt than just a cheap rebased taiwanese or korean kit. Performance Products have rebased kits but the price is outlandish, around $500!! Yeah right, I can get the genuine ballast for $250 + $75 for brand new D2s bulbs or D2r bulbs. I am located in Durham, North Carolina, but now I am at school in Hampton, Virginia. If you have any other questions or need some advice just let me know!! After Mercedes-Benzes, HIDs are my second favorite obssession(sp?)!![

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JR_Rider

· #9 · Feb 15, 2005

Schmohey - 2/14/2005 10:02 PM

JR, where do you live?

For the Euros, was it easier to mount the ballst? Do you have lots of glares with your setup? I don't want to risk getting tickets for blinding cops, haha.

Which brand of ballst did you go for, or was it an aftermarket kit?

Forgot to answer your question in the last post. It is very easy to mount the ballast, since there is so much space under our hoods!! I just used some double sided tape. No, I don't have any glare from my setup because I retrofitted bi-xenon projector from 2002 Audi A6 with Hella OE Generation 4 ballasts. And no, I have never been stopped or even questioned about my headlights!! Now that I think about it, I haven't even got flashed! I did however have h4 casper shields in my housings before my 1st set of projectors arrived. Only had them for like 10 days though. There was not too much glare, hardly any really, because I used D2R bulbs (Designed for xenon reflector technology) as well as the h4 casper shields, which block light from hitting the bottom of the headlight, shooting light up! Hope I have been helpful, and let me know if I can be of anymore assistance.

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JR_Rider

· #12 · Feb 15, 2005

Schmohey - 2/15/2005 1:43 AM

Thanks for clearingthings up. D2R is for reflectors, whats D2S for?

Where do get the ballast for $250?

For the H4 and casper, was it hard putting on the caspers with the D2R? You have to glue it or it just fits in there? The caspers are supposed to block the lights that goes to the bottom or the top of the headlight so it won't reflect?

Is it okay to use the orginal harness from the factory? (I think someone said no, forgot who). If you ran it straight from the battery, how would you do it? Thanks for the help.

DTW, I assure you that although not as white, the Silver Stars are brighter!! You will not be dissappointed. D2R bulbs are for xenon reflector based xenon systems, while D2S bulbs are for use with xenon projectors. D2Rs have shielding on the lower part of the bulb so the produce slighty less light, only about 300 lumens less. You do have to "glue" the bulbs to the Caspers for them to fit securely. JB Weld is the best product to connect the bulb and Caspers. Caspers block the light produced at the bottom of the bulbs, which reflects off the bottom of the housing and in turn spreads light upwards. When you run power from the battery, you need a wire harness. With wire harnesses you get what you pay for. I paid 70usd for my harness, but you could make your own if you are electrically inclined. Basically, you run a power wire to the battery and ground wire on the metal. You will need a relay to signal the ballasts to turn on and off when you move the headlight switch. I will get you an excellent diagram of how the harness is made and what components you need to make one. And ballasts can be bought used off ebay for about $225 possibly less. They are used, but with a life of 2000 hours, they will last a long, long time. You can also purchase ballasts new for about $250 from various online sources, I will get you some companies who sell these parts.

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JR_Rider

· #13 · Feb 15, 2005

Xenon ballasts and bulbs: http://www.hidtech.com/ $279 for bulbs and ballasts.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7955093761&category=36476
$269 bulbs and ballasts NEW!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7952832683&category=33710
$99 per ballast

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JR_Rider

· #15 · Feb 16, 2005

Schmohey - 2/15/2005 9:50 PM

On hidtech, where is the 279 one located?

I think the $270 one is a good deal. I was about to pay $275 for a group buy aftermarket HIDs. I guess I should not go with that?

Where did you get the $70 harness? Is installing it easy? I don't want to deal with cutting wires and stuff like that.

Where do you find the JB weld for the caspers? Just curious, how much did the whole setup cost you before retrofitted projectors? How was the output during the 10 days you had the caspers? Did it glared a lot?

$270 for the new equipment of ebay is a steal!! Call BMW and get a price for 1 ballast and see what I mean!! Don't go with the aftermarket HIDs, you will regret it, TRUST ME!! Summit Racing is where I got my harness. And we lucked out, because they only have the harness available for the H4 bulb setup. JB Weld is sold at any Home Repair store, ie Home Depot, Lowes, even Walmart sells it. Well let's see about my entire setup before projectors. I paid $132.50 for brand new Hella Generation IV ballasts!! I found an extremely friendly guy in Germany who had no problem shipping stateside. Shipping was $40 dollars though! Oh yeah, my set came with brand new D2r bulbs! But now I have probably spent over $1000 dollars in xenon equipment! I have about 5 ballast right now, fried an igniter, a ballast, and 5000k bulb, because of my carelessness and lazyness!! One time I washed my car with a trash can, because I couldn't get a hose. Next time working under the hood when it was raining. Output with the Caspers was amazing!! Hardly any glare, very sharp and bright, the next best thing to retrofitting projectors!![

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JR_Rider

· #17 · Feb 16, 2005

Schmohey - 2/16/2005 1:46 AM

Wait, I don't get how you fried your ballast? Do they die that easily, talking about 2000 hours of life... haha. The first ballast you got was the one with separate ignitors?

You got the Painless Performance Headlight Conversion Harnesses?

Is it better to get D2R or D2S for the euros?

Do you happened to have the info of the dude from Germany?

I got water in the ballast, that is how I fried them. Generation 4 ballasts are more succeptible to water damage because the harness plugs into the top of the ballast and not the side. But the ballast blowing was completely because of my carelessness, and not a ballast problem. All my ballasts are Hella Generation 4 ballast with seperate ignitors. If I were you,I would go with D2S bulbs, because with the capsers you are blocking light anyway.

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JR_Rider

· #20 · Feb 17, 2005

Schmohey - 2/16/2005 1:45 PM

How come D2S is better?

On summit racing, which harness did you get? THere's a lot for $30, and one for $79.

Is it true that the reason there's glare is because the lights reflect from the bottom of the reflectors, so then the lights bounces up?

The Gen 4 Hellas, don't they have a built in ingnitor?

D2S is slightly better because it puts out slightly more light. 3200 lumens compared to 2900 lumens with the D2Rs. The harness you need is the one for $79 by Painless Performance. Yes, the main cause of glare is the light being reflected off the bottom of the headlight housing, but the h4 capsers will solve this problem for the most part. Hella Generation 4 ballasts have seperate ignitors. You must be thinking of the Hella Generation 3 ballasts. 12 volts ballasts are the only ballasts that work on automotive applications. You cannot use a 24 volt ballast!!

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JR_Rider

· #22 · Feb 18, 2005

Schmohey - 2/17/2005 8:21 AM

I have a question about the $270 ballast and bulb. Is it easily connected to our cars? I know someone that said it was hard installing it into our car and he ended up selling it. Since you had experience with it, I'll like to hear your suggestion.

If the D2S provides more light due to the shielding in the D2R, will the D2S provide more glare? I'm just curious if painting the bottom of the reflectors black will reduce the glare?

Also, will the glass pattern on the euros affect the glare as well?

That someone had absolutely no idea what they were talking about!! D2Rs have "paint" on them which shields some of the bulb, and helps them produce less glare in reflectors. Painting the bottom of the reflectors is overkill and it will luck stupid. The "diffusion" lines which you are referring to does affect the output of the light, but does not increase glare to my knowledge.

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JR_Rider

· #27 · Feb 19, 2005

First off, the person who told you it is hard to installs ballasts has no idea what they are talking about like I said earlier. To test them all you have to do is touch the two wires coming out of the ballast on to the battery terminals, one to positive, one to negative. If it does not light, reverse the wires, and it does not harm the ballasts at all. If somebody told you that was hard, you need to ask yourself what in the h#ll are they talking about. I used to have my citylights plugged up, before I had xenon lamps, and I loved them!! I put citylights in my turn signals too, and "disconnected" the factory city light connector, so both housings glowed the same color. Those were great, but I had to cut out the city light when I did my retrofit. Blue 420sel, the optics on the aftermarket euros is not as bad as people try to get you to believe. Me personally, I would have no problem installing xenon equipment in there. I think those people just don't like the fact that you got your housings cheaper than they got their Bosch Units, which they paid TOO much money for. Me personally, I got my euros for FREE!! But I will be getting a second set of Bosch units for about $200 guaranteed, because I had a line on some for $165 a while back, but I spent the money on xenon equipment. And I have a source that sells the bosch units for $100 per headlight used. And anything is better than the housing we had in our 1986-1991 w126s. After I drive my 300sd and get into the 300sdl at night, I don't even notice there is light on the ground!!! All I see is two small blobs!! Those have to be the worst headlights ever!!

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Xenon fit for original front end?

w108

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