Yellow fog light dome removal - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

krjt · #1 01-03-2011, 09:03 PM

Anyone ever remove the yellow fog light dome ? How does it affect light pattern beside the white light? Does it produce too much glare or is it a color change only...Do I heat up the seal and use a putty knife to open up the glass/reflector assembly or is there another way to do this?

Thanks.

babymog · #2 01-03-2011, 09:51 PM

What kind of car? A Mercedes most likely, year/model will help further as there are several significantly different light designs over the past 124 years.

krjt · #3 01-03-2011, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

What kind of car? A Mercedes most likely, year/model will help further as there are several significantly different light designs over the past 124 years.

Whoops.. forgot to mention it is a 89 300E.

Thanks.

LandYaghtLover · #4 01-03-2011, 10:20 PM

Domes in my car have the top/forward portion dipped in reflective stuff. I just installed them in my euro fixtures.

compu_85 · #5 01-03-2011, 10:47 PM

The glass dome pops out of the metal clips. Just be careful, the glass is thin and you can break it easily.

-J

babymog · #6 01-04-2011, 02:23 PM

If you remove the glass dome in the 124 DOT lights (the '86-'93 ones), you remove the reflective mask and they are no longer fog lights (light will go in all directions). Will work I suppose if you'd rather use them as clear driving beams.

compu_85 · #7 01-04-2011, 02:41 PM

There will be more glare, but they will still be a fog beam pattern. The reflector and mask make a pencil beam, then the lens stretches it out into the fog pattern.

-J

babymog · #8 01-04-2011, 02:43 PM

But the design of a fog-lamp is to have a sharp cutoff at the top, so that there is no (little) light above the light to reflect back into the driver's eyes. Without the mask, you are exposing the rest of the lense directly to the bulb, upward and downward.

MBeige · #9 01-04-2011, 03:01 PM

This is our '90 300TE with stock NAM lights (w/ yellow domes). Only the park and fog lights are lit up. Notice how some light still goes upward onto the ceiling.

The lights are aimed properly.

babymog · #10 01-04-2011, 03:49 PM

From the park or fog lamps? Looks more amber than the light on the floor.

MBeige · #11 01-04-2011, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

From the park or fog lamps? Looks more amber than the light on the floor.

Now that you've mentioned it, hmmm...

Pretty sure the light was from the fogs. It's not a well defined cutoff.

Might have also been from the reflection on the ground.

The curved cutoff seen in the photo below could suggest the corner light too, but it's too bright to be the park lights alone.

Another view of the fogs from the W124, but head on this time.

babymog · #12 01-04-2011, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBeige

Now that you've mentioned it, hmmm...

Pretty sure the light was from the fogs. It's not a well defined cutoff.

VERY true. The US 201/124/126 fogs are not well controlled, just kind of a wide yellow light without any real purpose. The plastic lense makes it worse, especially when they craze in the sun after a couple of years. Even worse, in rain/fog/snow/etc., the fogs gather droplets and the wipers don't reach them, ... even MORE scatter. I have been very disappointed in these US lights. The Euros are completely different (and '94/'95 US 124 lights), white light so that you can recognize objects, sharp cutoff, decent optics, glass lenses, wipers that clear the entire light.

I put Euro lights in everything that I buy, swapped from US to Euro/Bosch in the '91 when it was a couple of years old and swore I'd never have another 124 with US lights (but kept them in the '94 and '95 for the above reasons).

At one point I was looking for the 124 DOT fog-light globes in clear, hoping that I could at least make the fogs perform better, realized that the Euro swap made more sense. Without the yellow globes? Easy to un-clip them in the early 124 DOT fog lights and see whether you like them. Un-clip the "headlamp door", pull the globe off, replace the headlamp door.

MBeige · #13 01-04-2011, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

VERY true. The US 201/124/126 fogs are not well controlled, just kind of a wide yellow light without any real purpose. The plastic lense makes it worse, especially when they craze in the sun after a couple of years. Even worse, in rain/fog/snow/etc., the fogs gather droplets and the wipers don't reach them, ... even MORE scatter. I have been very disappointed in these US lights. The Euros are completely different (and '94/'95 US 124 lights), white light so that you can recognize objects, sharp cutoff, decent optics, glass lenses, wipers that clear the entire light.

I put Euro lights in everything that I buy, swapped from US to Euro/Bosch in the '91 when it was a couple of years old and swore I'd never have another 124 with US lights (but kept them in the '94 and '95 for the above reasons).

At one point I was looking for the 124 DOT fog-light globes in clear, hoping that I could at least make the fogs perform better, realized that the Euro swap made more sense. Without the yellow globes? Easy to un-clip them in the early 124 DOT fog lights and see whether you like them. Un-clip the "headlamp door", pull the globe off, replace the headlamp door.

My mother has started complaining on how bad the lights are on her '90 300TE (same one in photos posted). When I drive that car, there is no way to get the main low beams on the ground and light up the road properly. I almost always have to turn on the fogs just to get decent light out. When we got the car in 2006 the previous owner probably installed new plastic covers/headlight doors. They're still okay after a few years, but clearly has some pitting and cracks on the plastic, which probably contributed to the bad light output.

When I installed Euros on my 190E the difference was very significant (as with almost all US to Euro headlight conversions). I immediately noticed increased foreground lighting, MORE than the Euros in my W123.

I'm tempted to convert my W123 Euros to be able to receive the yellow domes so it will throw out yellow fogs. However, the beam pattern isn't much different (slightly more curved on the Euros than on the US fogs) between the two. And eventually maybe do the same with the 190E Euros. That, or putting in yellow H3 bulbs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlozzi200478

i got an 89 300ce currently installing new all glass euro style headlamp units,when i removed my yellow domes i carefully lifted up the plastic clips,leaned the plastic shield forward and just pulled the yellow glass domes out,but it does mess up the reflector and can be very difficult to reinstall them without them coming loose.the new euro styles im installing some ice blue fog lamps,and i dont think there is a reflector in them,at least not that i can see,my new bulbs are h4's 6500k nice and blue ice white,so the fog lights will just increase the light output,when i use them,goodluck.them plastic lenses are extremely brittle.

Just a FYI, if there is any kind of precipitation (rain, fog, snow, etc) the ice blue lights will be a DIS-advantage. Save the blue bulbs for summer/dry seasons.

compu_85 · #14 01-04-2011, 03:51 PM

I'll have to take a picture of my car... one of the domes fell off. There is a bit more glare on that side but it's not bad.

-J

LandYaghtLover · #15 01-04-2011, 06:27 PM

Well if someone REALLY wanted to drop the yellow, I have to inserts that were never used with a lamp. So for all intents they are new. Its the bulb base with dome for an H3. Thus you can drop the glass without dropping the mask.