Some pics of the 500E lights I bought to replace the damaged 300E MB/Hella Euros.

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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

john

they really look sharp!!

amazing how much difference the chromed look and driving lights make.

all you need now are clear excuse me, i mean late w124 clear/orange indicators.

any luck finding a good price on some?

peter

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*92 400e 124.034, SOLD

*92 300e 124.030, SOLD

john,

when you turn on the driving lamps, how much further up the road is lit up without blinding oncoming drivers?

i wish there were 500e-type lamps for the 201.

Peter: So far the best price I found on new indicators is at Fastlane, but I haven't tried Caliber yet. I have seen a few used ones, but the orange part of the reflector was faded out.

Bobbyv: I have only had the car out at night twice where I could use the driving lamps, and I am still tuning in the beam allignment. My impression is that the driving lamp just about doubled the light in the center of the normal high beam, and added a further path of light beyond the Highs, by at least 50%. Also, I am thinking about a PIAA H3 bulb pair to further increase usable light.

The Piaa's have a reputation of not really producing more light, but instead focus the available light to the center of the beam. While this may not be desirable for a low or high beam headlight (and in fact PIAAs don't fare very well in HEADLIGHT beam tests), a center focused bulb may be an advantage in a pencil beam driving light, which is designed to center focus the beam.

Any 500E drivers have H3 bulb ideas? Phillips doesn't seem to make a Vision Plus 50 bulb in H3.

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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

Those look SWEET John! Wow... that is nice. I like the aggressive look. Where did you find them and how much?

You'll definitely like the amber/clear corners update if you choose to do it. I got lucky and found an OE Bosch one (new) on Ebay a long time ago for $15. Then I got other side from FastLane.

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-Paul-
'01 E430, Sport 72,000 mi
'98 C280, 126,500 mi

Hi Paul:

Paul at PUMA had them in stock. The group buy price Michael arrranged was gone, and the price went up to something like $499+ shipping. It was going to be a 1-2 month wait from every dealer I checked for replacement lenses for the 300E euros and $95+ per lens, and I needed something for driving before then. So when I found he had 500E lights in stock, I went for it. I will probably miss the fogs at some point, but the drivers are nice, and I can add fogs later under the bumper.

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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

John:

Your car looks fantastic! What a difference those lights make, especially with the black grill.

I guess it can be summed up to fait ... "get your lights vandalized, and come out looking even better!"

Congratulations!

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1992 500E (Daily Driver)
2004 Porsche RUF 955 Dakara 550

John

Wow! Your car looks great. Very fresh.

Separate topic. I am still trying to get the suspension height right on our '91 300E. I like the look of yours. I was told the distance from the MBZ star in the center of the wheel to the edge of the bumper should be around 15" to 15 3/4". would you mind measuring yours front and rear and letting me know?

Thanks,

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

Thanks Norman:

I probably wouldn't have spent the money if I hadn't needed the lights right away (They really aren't that much more expensive than 300E Euros, but over twice what the lenses would have been if they had been in stock). But now that I did it, I am pretty happy.

Haasman:

15 to 15 3/4" sounds about right. I measured my car at different spots before I did the sportline conversion, and Sportline dropped the height about 1" front and a bit more in the rear. The before and after pics are in the 'cars' tab under Sportline article to see the difference in looks.

Measuring from the wheel star to the bottom of the fender is a tiny bit under 14 1/2" on mine at all 4 wheels, which means ~15 1/2" before I did the Sportline.

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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