124 headlights
 

i have been repairing mercedes cars for many years, i have never owned a 124 or driven one at night. today i did, the headlight beams were directly on the ground infront of the car. are all 124's like that? i tried to raise them with no luck. seems dangerous

My chum's '87 300E is like that. I found it odd. Even the second gen DOT lamps on my SD now are better.

Must need aimed. Both of our 124's have, in my opinion, great headlights,,, even a lot better than the 129 I have.

Agreed. Aiming it correctly is the key.

124 lights are crap until 94/95 vintage.
..unless you have Euro....

Respectfully disagree Arthur. The TEs' lights are super, in my opinion, and the 93s' are almost as good. This is looking through a set of 60 year old eyes, and don't really enjoy driving at night any more.:D

my oe's are crap..

my son's euros are great...

you need to see the two side by side to understand.

According to your sig. your TE is a 95...hence it has the headlights Aurther was saying were not crap.

Sorry, but there is no comparison between the two... The later 124s have glass lens with Euro style focal cut-off aim...
DOT , pre 94 is junk...unless you are bird watching in the trees.

The original post asked if there is/was a diffence in 124 chassis lamps .
Of course ...there is, plain and simple.
..and the earlier 124s are are not bad cuz of Benz, they are bad cuz of the US/DOT not being hip on the superior lighting of EURO lamps... so , they made Benz adhere to their rules in order to import to US. ....Any 124/EURO has EXCELLECT lighting, right from the factory.
Fortunately , one can easily convert the earlier 124 mandated US/DOT system over to superior Euro. And if you have , as stated in my original post, a LATER 124 , it is not needed, as the DOT finally got hip to changing the rules and allowing Imports to have Euro style lens.
Even my 1967 250sl has Euro headlamps , so you can see how far advanced Benz was on lighting.. it was the DOT that gave us bad lighting, not the Benz design engineers..
If your 124 takes HB2-9003 lamps , it is the newer lamps style , .. if it doesn't , it is the earlier style DOT, which are very poor lamps.

Will accept your observations, but the 93 still suits me very well. :D Come to think of it, tonite I'll line them both up pointed at the garage and then maybe I can see the big picture. Thanks.

My wife works in Napa and drives the backroads. She started out driving my 83 Turbo wagon which I refuse to sell. I had installed a set of European style Hellas. She loved those lights. They light up either side and way down the road. I bought a real nice 89 300CE with Alpine and six CD changer that cought her eye. Her only complaint is the sucky headlights. Anyone have a source for good aftermarket lights? I'm too old for tricking out cars. I just want to see where I'm going. Also anyone try installing lights from newer 124 into older? There is a lot of styling change. It might not work.

You're piling on now,,,,:gossip:

Informing ...
...........for those who jump answer a post without reading them.

I agree that the early w124 DOT lights are crap. In any situation where there a bit of ambient light such as street lights, or any glare from rain or even on-coming cars, you can't even tell if the lights are on except on reflective highway signs. Mine were properly aimed.

I just upgraded to Euro's last month, using 55/60w H4 bulbs, and wow, there is a huge difference. I cheaped out and used a set of reproduction units that you can find on ebay, vs the hellas/bosch and I was satisfied by the fit and the performance.

There is a great difference in the quality of bulbs. Even though they are 60W some produce a lot more light than others.

If You are refering to my post, I take exception to your insinuation. I read posts carefully and have pointed out missed points to others. I do not see where my two questions were answered. No one has provided any info as to where to obtain after market lights, and no one has addressed the issue of the styling change between an early and late 124. The grill, headlights, taillights. trunk and other points were changed. I don't think an early 124 fender will accept the new style light assemblies, which is why I asked the question. Any problem with that?

I find driving with night vision googles is the easy answer to most light problems. You have to turn on your lights or other drivers won't see you though...something I keep forgetting to do this, with hilarious consequences.

Bulb wattage is everything.

I have Euros on my car and with standard H4's they are good, but with 100W bulbs they are great. (No, the wiring does not melt.)

It was extremely foggy two days ago and I took advantage of the opportunity to re-aim my lights, after noticing the two beams appeared to converge about 25 feet in front of me. I prefer a stretch of road or driveway, rather than a vertical surface, so I can see, and control, exactly where the beams will land.

124 headlights
 

I have a 91 300CE and although the lights work fine and provide plenty of light in the right place on the road, I have always loved the look or the European headlamps. Can anyone tell me of a site where I can find them?

Antonino

I readjusted my headlights up a bit a few years ago, and it helps some. It's not great, but it's tolerable, and sometimes I use my high-beams when there's no oncoming traffic. With the highbeams on, I don't have many complaints, and actually think that the DOT high beams are better than the Euro-spec lights.

Import Vision Motorsports
(They have regular and crystal clear Euros. I do not believe they are Bosch or Hella, but I purchased blinkers from this company which are as good as Bosch.)
http://www.importvision.com/index.php?display=show_part.php&PartMake=Mercedes&select_PartType=Headlights

Bekkers
(These are regular Bosch Euros)
http://www.bekkers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=EH190E6&Category_Code=mhlighteclass

Import Vision is selling the Depot brand.

My quote was purely in jest,,,, sorry you took it personally. The fenders are the same,,, the hood and grille are different.

I have found that the bulb wattage acts as a guide only. There seems to be a huge difference in the amount of light by different 60W bulbs. The PIAA 60W bulbs are brighter than cheap 100W bulbs.

http://www.a-pp.com/shop/piaa_bulbsplasma.htm

They are not cheap though.

True, if you are buying those "super white" or other blue-coated bulbs.

An old amateur photographers' trick is to buy cheap, very bright 500W halogen shop lights at Wal-Mart and then place a blue gel over the front to raise the color temperature from very yellow (around 3000K) to very white (around 6700K to 10,000K). Problem is, the blue gel drastically reduces luminosity – to less than half in many cases.

The same happens with blue-tinted automotive bulbs.

I have been looking for new 100W bulbs and am trying to get as close to 5000K as possible, since that is close to daylight and has no bluish coloring. I have a pair of SilverStars now that are wonderful on high beam (65W) but so-so on low beam. If they sold 100W they would be great.

My '95 lights are excellent - no issues.

The newer style lights should fit the older car (with different hood/trunk etc.) but there will be a slight gap where the curve of the newer hood would be. Also, in my experience it is much more cost efficient to purchase used Euro's on eBay. I prefer Hella and Bosch for their superior (OEM) quality to Depo or TYC brands. You may also look for the updated (94 - 95) style lights on eBay as well.

Good luck!