I just installed a set of Hella euro lights on my '90 300E today. I am stunned at the difference they make. This is the first time I've ever been able to see at night in a 300E. They are very kind to oncoming traffic, too, with the __/ pattern on dim. Just beautiful. I'd been reading they'd be better. What an understatement!

I was wondering about the alternatives for using the wipers.

Otherwise, is there a source for 260E-style trim pieces under the lights, without fittings for wipers? Maybe used ones already painted smoke silver?

Thanks

Brewtoo:
The unpainted panel strips without wiper holes are avilable from a MB dealer or from PartsShop(Maybe?) for dirt cheap - my auto body shop painted them to match for free, other people have had theirs done for about $30. Or, Barrie posted instructions for modifying the wipers to work via an adapter he made out of aluminum at http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=6603

- otherwise you have to get the Euro wipers for big $$$.

I did the trim strips on mine and left off the wipers. I also ordered a new plastic grill insert and trim strips from PartsShop for about $35, and had the grill painted matte (not flat, not glossy, about the color of the new MB grills) black and installed the new grill as well. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=11123
It is an inexpensive upgrade, and looks like this:

http://www.warewolf.net/jelliott/12_front.jpg

Enjoy your new lights! :cool:

[Edited by JCE on 03-24-2001 at 10:53 PM]

John,

Beuatiful car! I did the same to my 400E grill, a subtle but very clean difference.

Brewtoo,

Here are the part numbers for the filler panels with no wiper arm holes:

124 889 05 63
124 889 06 63

They are just over $6.00 each, unpainted.

As for the beam pattern, is your example (_/) suppposed to be the looking down on the front of the car with the beam shining on what would be the right edge of the road? What does "_/" represent?

Hope this helps,
Brian W.

BrianW:

Thanks for the compliment on the ride! With the Euro lights, as you look out the windshield your low beams have a distinct pattern ___/____/ (on your garage door or the trunk of the car in front of you at a stop light) with a sharp point where the horizontal part of each headlight beam starts to slope upward on the passenger side of the vehicle. By about 100 feet, the beams overlap and you see a low beam that is ___/. The net effect is that on a road with a concrete center barrier, the driver side of the beam pattern is parallel to and just below the top of the center divider, while the passenger side of the beam tapers up and illuminates road signs.

The high beam is like a rectangular carpet of light that starts about 75 feet in front of the car and continues out front.

hmmm...I am getting curious about the light pattern the standard US models are driving around with...now that I keep hearing that the euro pattern is so much better...

greetingz,

MBenz:
This link shows what the US headlights look like on US cars. http://www.peachparts.com/500e.htm
This is a 500E - 300/400/E uses a fog light with opaque striations instead of the clear driving light. The lights don't really have much of a visible pattern, everything just sprays out in all directions with no clean edges. So much light is wasted this way that the lights are very poor. In the rain you aren't sure they are even on.

Before I switched to Euro lights, I tried an experiment to convince myself that the US lights were really the problem, and not my aging eyes. I installed the +30 9004 bulbs and then followed my wife home from the dealership after picking up the car one evening, and left the beams on high. I didn't tell her before hand I was going to do this, or that I had changed to brighter bulbs. During the entire 10 mile trip, I was not flashed by any oncoming traffic, and she didn't switch her rear view mirror to anti glare. After we got home, I told her I had the beams on high, and she couldn't believe it.

If that resembles the common US headlight pattern/beam...I am beginning to understand why the US roads are that WIDE...:D

I hope that I will see it myself once...

greetingz,