Travelling back tonight along M5, keep seeing loads of high end Mercs with really bright white headlamps - what bulbs do they use? LEDs, HID? They are OEM and make my xenon look like halogen[/img]

Hi,

If your system is working efficiently. Your Xenon bulbs are likely to be factory originals and as such they will probably the lower end of the spectrom at 4000K the system you have is capable of taking an upgrade of bulb from either Philips or Osram which will bring it too 4800K. These numbers are the brightness that the xenon burns at when ignighted so the higher the number the better the brightness. But if you are doing this yourself whilst quite straighforward the bulbs are very sensitive to sticky fingers on the glass or element so be very careful. They are also quite expensive at £120 a pair or there abouts. There are alternatives but they wont last as long.
It wont take a vehicle electrician long to determine if yor system is working properly which would then allow you the piece of mind to invest in some better bulbs.
hope that
Jody gone but not forgotten 2003 4.4 RR Vogue

4000K or 4800K is not an indication of how bright the bulbs will be, it is the colour temperature on the Kelvin scale.
1000K is basically red through to 10000K upwards is Blue.
The 4000K to 5000K range is in the yellow area of the spectrum.
The higher temperatures will look brighter, but I think that technically they are no brighter than any other colour.

From what I have read, car makers are trying to emulate normal daylight with HID lighting.

The colour is measured in Kelvin, and daylight ranges from 5,000 to 6,500 Kelvin depending on time of day/season.

Lower dond the scale makes light more yellow, and higher makes it more blue.

Personally I have a LED headlight on my motorcycle, which is better than the HID's on the RRS....... IMHO.

micalee wrote:

Travelling back tonight along M5, keep seeing loads of high end Mercs with really bright white headlamps - what bulbs do they use? LEDs, HID? They are OEM and make my xenon look like halogen[/img]

Thanks for the words - I cannot view the Youtube at work so will look when home. Are the Mercs then LEDs or 4800 bulbs?

The newest Mercs are LED's as shown in the video. Some clever stuff going on with them. Worth a watch when you get home.

Will do - they were fantastically clear and bright white without being dazzling by some of the 'older' cars I have seen which have modified bulbs/HID or whatever they do.

I would just like brighter than I currently have, even though they are Xenon, they now look like Halogen compared to the Mercs and perhaps other manufactorers adopting the same technology!

Anyone upgraded their OEM Xenons with good results?

micalee wrote:

Thanks for the words - I cannot view the Youtube at work so will look when home. Are the Mercs then LEDs or 4800 bulbs?

ive just ordered a pair of 6000k bulbs from ebay so will keep you updated with the result when fitted , mine are presently very poor on dipped beam

YOu have OEM Xenons?

hi i think thats what i have they have a balast unit on rear of bulb , numbers on bulb were D2S 6000k so have just ordered a similar bulb although i guess the quality wont be the same as the osram make im taking out due to price ?

Interested to see outcome.

Well I just fitted the bulbs and both headlights are perfect really bright so defo a result for now

Brill - can you send link or details of what you purchased.

Cheers