W220 headlights poor

sebastian coe

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Hi all, I love my w220. Love the way it looks, sounds, feels and great comfort. However - after 6pm I feel it's near a death trap with the crappest headlights I've experienced on any car I've owned!!! My triumph dolomite 1500tc has better headlight brightness than what this does. Quite disappointing for a near 80k car originally.

Just wondered what people have done in terms of different bulbs possibly or upgrading to xenons etc ?? I believe they got halogens in at the mo.

Many thanks!!!!!
 

LostKiwi

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First thing is to make sure the light lenses are clean and clear. Any clouding and nothing will improve them.

If sticking with halogens Osram Night breakers are the preferred choice of many. Do not be tempted to fit H7 fitment HiD bulbs or LED as they are illegal.
If you want HiD then replace the entire light unit.
 

Chrishazle

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There are 4 different varieties of Nightbreaker - namely Nightbreaker, Nightbreaker +, NB Ultimate and NB Laser. I've tried or am using all of them, and IMHO the best value for money is the Ultimate, which I have in the dip beams of my S204, with Lasers in the mains.
 

Craiglxviii

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There are 4 different varieties of Nightbreaker - namely Nightbreaker, Nightbreaker +, NB Ultimate and NB Laser. I've tried or am using all of them, and IMHO the best value for money is the Ultimate, which I have in the dip beams of my S204, with Lasers in the mains.
There is nothing between the Ultimates and Lasers except some clever marketing. They produce identical illumination.
 

Botus

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my opinion, the names should be something like this

night breaker almost
night breaker not really
night breaker don't bother
night breaker last 5 minutes
night breaker keep your money
 

LostKiwi

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my opinion, the names should be something like this

night breaker almost
night breaker not really
night breaker don't bother
night breaker last 5 minutes
night breaker keep your money
Wow... So negative...

I have NB lasers in my 210 and they were a dramatic improvement over the originals.
 

LostKiwi

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None of which are e-marked so are not legal.
 

Botus

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I find it quite incredible that you so vehemently crusade to stop drivers trying to make the roads safer...

what is your stance on the quite incredibly dangerous LED lighting systems on many new cars ?

just this evening riding my bicycle home, using the very same route I've used every weekday for the last 15 years with my head some 6 foot above ground level, a Nissan drives very carefully at circa 5 mph over a speed bump, he’s coming the other way and for a second all hell comes out of his headlamps. And some 9000 lux is pointing perfectly at my eyeballs (as if its some military experimental laser death ray) – no xenon has ever done this. Even the 9 million lux hoodie specials are some twenty times less disturbing!

Will you be standing with a placard outside the manufacturer gates? because this is truly ****** dangerous, but I guess it's Ok because they bribed some official and have a genuine E on there somewhere?
 

LostKiwi

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I'm against aftermarket conversions because they are usually poorly focused, have never passed any kind of quality control or text of fitness for purpose, are fitted by people with no idea what they are doing (or of the ramifications of them) and are more unsafe than anything manufacturers fit (which will have been rigourously tested against a known set of standards. Besides that aftermarket kits are illegal and as responsible drivers we should not encourage others to break the law.
Whether you agree with what manufacturers fit is a whole different argument but you don't make things better by allowing cowboy lighting systems to blind more drivers under the pretence they are making their vehicles safer when in fact they make them less safe for everyone else.
I manage perfectly well with halogen lights in three of our 5 cars. The others have HiD in one and LED in the other, both full factory spec.
If people want to upgrade do it legally with e-marked components and not the cowboy kits.
 

Botus

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(1) are fitted by people with no idea what they are doing

(2) and are more unsafe than anything manufacturers fit

(3) I manage perfectly well with halogen lights in three of our 5 cars



regarding your points above I highlighted bold


1) it is not possible for you to know about the ability / capability or intelligence of persons fitting or using these. To state otherwise is ridiculous.


2) the second point is total rubbish. I have yet to come across ANY car manufacturer LED original fit lighting that doesn't bleed extremely dangerous levels of light off to the side and or allow direct line of sight to an LED (when you pass by) to such an extent it is literally blinding. I have NEVER come across any aftermarket light that even reaches 1/2 of this level or exhibits such crazy light leakage. Which thus completely invalidates your dramas over E mark testing. The tests are patently not fit for purpose.


3) If you believe many std halogen lights really output safe levels of light at night, then it raises concerns about your vision
 

LostKiwi

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(1) are fitted by people with no idea what they are doing

(2) and are more unsafe than anything manufacturers fit

(3) I manage perfectly well with halogen lights in three of our 5 cars



regarding your points above I highlighted bold


1) it is not possible for you to know about the ability / capability or intelligence of persons fitting or using these. To state otherwise is ridiculous.


2) the second point is total rubbish. I have yet to come across ANY car manufacturer LED original fit lighting that doesn't bleed extremely dangerous levels of light off to the side and or allow direct line of sight to an LED (when you pass by) to such an extent it is literally blinding. I have NEVER come across any aftermarket light that even reaches 1/2 of this level or exhibits such crazy light leakage. Which thus completely invalidates your dramas over E mark testing. The tests are patently not fit for purpose.


3) If you believe many std halogen lights really output safe levels of light at night, then it raises concerns about your vision
1.
You only have to look at some of the installs out there to know some people have no idea what they are doing. 8000K lights? Really. Might as well close your eyes for all the use they are (and yes you do see them and I had a mate fit them once and he had no idea what he was doing). Granted some may have a clue but then if they did they would do it properly with approved units.

2. I disagree. Our mini is very good in terms of light scatter. Many MBs (especially ILS equipped ones) cause little bother at all and less than some halogen cars.

3. Oh the irony.... I can see adequately with halogens and you can't and you say my eyesight is questionable....?

Your usual argument that improving your lights with illegal bulbs improves road safety is rubbish. I could drive everywhere on high beam which allows me to see much better but I doubt it would help road safety at all.

As I have always said. It's illegal to use non compliant parts in your lights. That is fact. Nothing you argue will ever change that.
 
OP
S

sebastian coe

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  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #13
many thanks for nb bulb upgrade. Never heard of these before so will defiantly give them a go.
 

mercedes13156

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Thank you Chrishazle! I was going to start a thread about what were the best night breakers, but as the Ultimates were out of stock, at my local Euro Car parts I've bought a pair of Lasers for Mrs 13156's CLK. I'm probably going to have to refurb the plastic lens covers as well as they're looking a bit yellow. I've used the RainX kit before with great results.

Moving on to dazzling lights, our local bus company has bought LED equipped buses which are terrifying to drive towards as you can't see anything other than their lights for a good couple of hundred yards. Seems the beams are projected horizontally and not downwards at a slight angle, as per MoT standards. They're new, so wont be checked for another couple of years. Notwithstanding, I wonder if the Police know how dangerous their flashing blue lights are in the rain. I've passed a couple of incidents recently where there's been two cop cars standing with their blue lights on and it's so dazzling that you can't see the cops in yellow jackets standing in in the road ten yards in front of you.
 

Craiglxviii

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(1) are fitted by people with no idea what they are doing

(2) and are more unsafe than anything manufacturers fit

(3) I manage perfectly well with halogen lights in three of our 5 cars



regarding your points above I highlighted bold


1) it is not possible for you to know about the ability / capability or intelligence of persons fitting or using these. To state otherwise is ridiculous.


2) the second point is total rubbish. I have yet to come across ANY car manufacturer LED original fit lighting that doesn't bleed extremely dangerous levels of light off to the side and or allow direct line of sight to an LED (when you pass by) to such an extent it is literally blinding. I have NEVER come across any aftermarket light that even reaches 1/2 of this level or exhibits such crazy light leakage. Which thus completely invalidates your dramas over E mark testing. The tests are patently not fit for purpose.


3) If you believe many std halogen lights really output safe levels of light at night, then it raises concerns about your vision

1) If someone fits an illegal kit then it's debatable they have any idea what they are doing. It's illegal and therefore by definition unsafe when they're trying to make themselves safer by fitting brighter lights. Does that sound like someone who knows what they're doing?

2. Then you don't study car headlamps for a living do you. LED headlamps cannot bleed light to the side by definition due to the Lambertian emission pattern of LEDs (90% of light is delivered in a 90 degree cone to the front). I actually do study car headlamps for a living (amongst other bits of kit). All OEM parts must meet ECE regulations for lighting which limits light bleed through design of parts. How many aftermarket light kits have you benchmarked? How many have you tried in different models of car and ray traced, or emission mapped to determine sight lines? The tests by the way are rather... rigourous.

3. The brightest halogen lamps right now output something under 2000lm. Nightbreakers are at the 1500-1800lm bleeding edge of performance. HiD lamps can top 3500lm each. LED lamps vary between 2000-2500lm. The industry as a whole is moving to 1990lm per lamp as this falls under the limit for requiring headlamp cleaner systems by regulation.
 

Craiglxviii

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1.
You only have to look at some of the installs out there to know some people have no idea what they are doing. 8000K lights? Really. Might as well close your eyes for all the use they are (and yes you do see them and I had a mate fit them once and he had no idea what he was doing). Granted some may have a clue but then if they did they would do it properly with approved units.

2. I disagree. Our mini is very good in terms of light scatter. Many MBs (especially ILS equipped ones) cause little bother at all and less than some halogen cars.

3. Oh the irony.... I can see adequately with halogens and you can't and you say my eyesight is questionable....?

Your usual argument that improving your lights with illegal bulbs improves road safety is rubbish. I could drive everywhere on high beam which allows me to see much better but I doubt it would help road safety at all.

As I have always said. It's illegal to use non compliant parts in your lights. That is fact. Nothing you argue will ever change that.

I have LED ILS on the 212 and I DO drive everywhere with high beam on. Because it's fancy-dan with moving black spots it doesn't dazzle people and yet illuminates hedges, verges, kerbs and road signs far in the distance... like magic.

Of course Osram are bringing out their SMARTRIX V2.0 4k LED ILS system soon, now that's really something to behold.
 

Chrishazle

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I think post 15 = game, set and match to Craig!!:D:D
 

EmilysDad

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I have LED ILS on the 212 and ...... it doesn't dazzle people and ......


That's debatable. It always seems to be a newish Merc that blinds you momentarily on unlit A/B roads until it 'sees' you. Ive already dipped my lights as I can see the light from its headlamps before it rounds the bend.
 

Craiglxviii

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That's debatable. It always seems to be a newish Merc that blinds you momentarily on unlit A/B roads until it 'sees' you. Ive already dipped my lights as I can see the light from its headlamps before it rounds the bend.
No it really isn’t. The lamps dip in 0.08s which is around a quarter of human reaction time. Its just long enough for 12% of global population to realise that a bright light has pointed at them before pointing away, without causing rapid temporary night blindness. The remaining 88% of population won’t get the peak “flash” but just an afterimage. Like me, you fall into the 12% as I really suffer from oncoming headlights. Very sensitive eyes.

Like I said to Ajsl, you may have already dipped your lights- you’re clearly a thoughtful and conscientious driver- but a very large proportion of other drivers just don’t bother until they’re 100m away from you, and many not even then.
 

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