another silly question, I have the clear turning/running light lenses's on my 300CE, I currently have amber bulbs inside of them, I have heard that someone makes a silver bulb that when electrically excited it becomes amber-silver when off and amber when on ? any help on this matter would be great, thanks.

The bulbs are actually Silver Vision by Philips, and are 'half silvered' so that they appear silver when off, but the amber shows through when on. Many members have done this themselves with some chrome paint on stock amber bulbs - try a search to find the threads from a few weeks ago, or look for at the site http://www.fosmo.com/ for more bulb info.

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John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E

I looked into the silver vision bulbs, and think they were something like US$18/pair. MBenz gave the idea of simply painting the bulbs silver, which I did and worked great. Silver when off, amber when on. I just bought the shiniest silver/chrome paint I could find at Wal-Mart for about US$2. Fifteen minutes later I had rid myself of the fried egg look.

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Brian W.

01 S55 AMG Silver
01 CLK55 AMG Silver

SV bulbs won't fit, single filament only... designed for Euro market where NO turn signals are double (not lit up with lights, only when turning).

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1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E

Ed, The Easiest and Cheapest way is to not waste your money on the silver vision bulbs, but instead Paint the orange bulbs silver.

do it this way for the best results without much loss in brightness. Spray the paint on a piece of paper, so it gets wet enough to dab a cotton ball on the paint. I used a piece of kleenex tissue paper. I dabbed it into the paint, then lightly dabbed the bulb, until it was covered in silver enough to lightly cover the bulb, but was still able to be seen through when held up to a light.

I have painted them various ways, and the third time I did it that way, and it worked the best.

The first time, I painted 3/4 of the bulb silver leaving the back a bit exposed and orange. this worked, but the bulbs came out too dim when in parking light mode. it reminded me of worn out headlights on older cars, that were dim, very dim. Indicators were brighter.

The second time I painted the bulbs half silver and lef half orange. This worked well, and was brighter than before, but not bright enough for me. The bulbs were still too dim.

The third time, I painted as I described. Spray thick on some paper, dab some cotton balls or tissue paper on it, and lightly dab the bulb until it is covered lightly but is still see through.

The result, Looks like the bulb cant be seen during the day, and when on, they look virtually normal with almost no loss of brightness. Yes there is some loss, but it looks great and works great.

You can see pics of my car on my site. you tell me if you can see the bulbs.

ohh and the paint when dabbed on took about 10 minutes to dry fully.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

I recently installed clear corners on my 96 C220 and I hate the amber bulb showing through. I have to try to get rid of the amber by using this silver paint. Now, my question to you guys that have tried this is what type of paint did u use? Spray paint? Secondly, Is there any change in the color of the amber produced by the lightbulb? Should any consideration be given to temperature? How hot do those bulbs get. I know a hi temp spray paint needs about 600 degrees F to properly cure, so I dont think that would be appropriate, but, im wondering about the longetivity of the finish on the bulb. ie... will it crack and peel and have to be redone every so often.

Best wishes and take care,
George Androulakis

I used some testors model spray paint that was supposed to be chrome. so far it has held up fine, I would think pretty much any silver paint would do. Temp might be a concern, but I havent had a problem yet, and for the few dollars it costs for bulbs, I have spares handy for when I need em.

In anycase, the orange bulbs, orange is only painted on to the bulb, so it really doesn't last too long anyway. But the silver paint still looks just like I painted it two months ago.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Ok gave this a try, used a Testors #2546 Silver Gloss paint marker. Put the paint directly on the bulb, and dabbed away the excess with a tissue. Worked well, made a huge difference.

E-mail me for pics, as i dont know how to post them here.
gja@optonline.net

Thanks alot for the advice.
Best wishes and take care,
George Androulakis