One of the bulbs on my '05 E320 CDI color shifted which I read indicates means it is on its way out.

I also read that it is usually a good idea to replace these in pairs.

I ended up getting a used bulb to hold me over while I shopped for a good price on an authentic pair.

If anyone has replaced these before, you know how expensive they are. I am used to normal sealed headlights or a bulb on my older E300. Anyway, MB Dealer's want over $110 per bulb!!!

I shopped all over and found a lot of sites with cheap bulbs but...I couldn't tell where they were made or really made. Apparently, there are quite a few Chinese made ones that are labelled as famous brands. Manufacturers have to put an anti-counterfeit hologram on the side of the boxes in some cases now.

Anyway, I wanted original OSRAM bulbs made in Germany.

I found this set in Germany and thought I'd share it here:

OSRAM German Made replacement bulbs

Not only were these a great price, they were made in Germany, had a hologram sticker (with unique code) on side of box and were actually better then the ones I removed from my car (they might have been original and were Phillips made in Turkey). The only downside was it took over 20 days for them to arrive.

Still if you can plan ahead, these might be worthwhile sticking in the toolkit you keep in your trunk.

__________________
-- Chris

'95 E300, 216k miles, Silver Surfer
'05 E320 CDI, 138k miles
'07 S550 4matic, 69k miles

Gone but not forgotten:

'76 300D, 350k miles?, SOLD in 1995
'75 240D, 300k miles, SOLD in 1991

The Chinese are just as happy to counterfeit the holographic label and shiny packaging as they are the product inside, that is no guarantee of a genuine product. No doubt there are legit products for sale on eBay, it's just near impossible to distinguish what. Ultimately if you're happy with the product you received, nothing else matters.

That said, if you absolutely must have a legit product, going through a factory authorized distributor is pretty much the only way to make sure you get what you're looking for. eBay is a roll of the dice.

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

This seller is in Germany and sells only German made bulbs. These bulbs are part of Osram's Trust Program:

Two safety features have been included enabling you to authenticate these safety features quickly and easily by checking:

--A unique code on security label
--Unique lamp data on lamp base also has a link to Osram's

On the bulb's I received, both of these checked out on Osram's web site.

__________________
-- Chris

'95 E300, 216k miles, Silver Surfer
'05 E320 CDI, 138k miles
'07 S550 4matic, 69k miles

Gone but not forgotten:

'76 300D, 350k miles?, SOLD in 1995
'75 240D, 300k miles, SOLD in 1991