Does anyone know if H9007 bulbs work in my 87 300TDT? I believe it calls fot H9004's They look the same other than the length of the glass bulb itself.

I do know that they don't work. The filaments are not oriented the same way for hi/low beam, in fact they are turned 90 degrees wrong. Net result is there is little differentiation between your "new" high beams and low beams, and they both suck because there is less light coming from "near" the correct focal point.

Next, you'll want to know if high wattage 9004 are OK? They're not, they're illegal for road use. I've only been able to spot 80W LOW / 100W HIGH combo lights. I have not seen anything "in between", like I wish a 65W / 75W exists... Some people don't care and drop 80/100 in. Which might be OK on OEM headlight housings but could very well melt aftermarket jobs. In any event, upgrade your bulb connectors if you go that route, for high temp ones, and for heavens sake consider running a thick wire from battery to the lights and using a relay at each light to offload your headlight switch - which could also melt.

Next, you'll ask what is the better of two evils. The answer is: third evil! Change your whole headlight out for Euro models. Ditch the DOT's.

Maybe you'll want to know what you can do in the meantime to improve your forward lighting... on these DOT USA pieces of *****. Answer: not much, just careful alignment. And enjoy the low brightness capability of all your dash cluster instruments to keep you night vision better, and also leave your rearview mirror tipped to "dark" position at night... all the time. Everybody on the road has brighter lights than you, which works against you trying to see your dismal path.

One thing you can do is pull the yellow filters off the fog lights and raise those beams up quite a bit. They act as excellent "fill" lighting, brighter than either 9004 high or lows and a nice wide beam shines into the ditches so you can better see the dear that is about to jump in front of your car.

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Scott McPhee

1987 300D

A longer bulb may contact the headlight lens before it's fully seated.

Also, the headlight bucket's concave mirror optics are designed such that the halogen filament must be correctly positioned at the proper distance for maximum light output.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I figured as much. I did not know however that the fog filters came off. Is it just a matter of pulling them off? They would make good driving lights so to speak.

Yup pluck the yellow glass thingy off. You'll notice it has a chromed dome that prevents bulb from shining straight forward. This adds glare for oncoming.

Technically, these are not driving lights at all, they are still fog lights because of the beam and scatter pattern and they are meant for close in illumination but can be adjusted up quite high to nearly a low beam distance and still be effective at adding more light.

Don't drive into oncoming traffic like this, they think your high beams are on so you will get flashed.

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Cheers!
Scott McPhee

1987 300D

A halogen bulbs also uses a tungsten filament, but it is encased inside a much smaller quartz envelope. Because the envelope is so close to the filament, it would melt if it were made from glass. The gas inside the envelope is also different -- it consists of a gas from the halogen group.

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Here is a suggestions, as this is what I am doing until I upgrade to HID. 1) try to get the sylvania silverstar lights, they are the brightest halogens out I think, just ask the clerk before you purchase 2) install them and at night go about 25 feet from a wall, make sure you are in a very dark area 3) aim your low beam lights as low as you can get them 4) switch on your high beams and aim them accordingly to your liking, just be sure to stand in front and see if they are ok for oncoming traffic. I have been driving in this fashion for at least a few months because older (and even some newer)model MBZ lighting sucks! But with this little trick it will greatly improve your lighting.

9007 bulbs will not fit in place of 9007 bulbs. If the parts place you went to didn't have 9004s you should probably find a different parts place... every US car with single headlamps from ~1985 to ~1995 uses 9004s.

9004 and 9007 lamps have the filaments 90* to each other. Not compatible at all with the fixture designed for the other model lamp.

Please do not install HIDs into your US light fixtures. It will not work properly, you will not be able to see better, and it will blind oncoming traffic.

-Jason

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

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2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

compu_85- Have you had a different experience with HID installed on an older model MB? My friend has the same model as I do (190E 2.6) and his HID upgrade is phenomenal.....at least 10x better. His were installed about a month or 2 ago. Please give me any feed back that you have regarding any experience with this as I have heard mixed reviews from different people regarding the HID upgrade on older model cars. Obviously the person selling the kit will not tell you that there is a downside so I like to hear from impartials.