suggestions for upgrading headlights on 1993 S500

[pheo...@gmail.com]

hello,
I drove a friend's 1993 S500 at night and noticed the headlights are
just aweful!
It's like having 2 candles up there!!
I can see the headlights are very scratched. I've seen where you can
polish the cover and it gets better. This may work but he's an older
gentleman (late 50s in age).
I think it's important for safety reasons to get very good headlights
for this vehicle.
What are good options available for this car as far as upgrades?
How hard is it to put HID lights?
I'm biased to HID lights since I did this upgrade on my motorcycle.
That makes a huge difference at night! I also had a 2002 BMW 5 series
with HID lights.
Driving that car at night was very confidence inspiring! Visibility
was exceptional.

Thank you,

Oskar

[Tiger]

The 1992 S500 is a W140 is actually 500SEL. It seems like W140 did have HID
headlight as an option in 1999 so if you do find a 1999 S500/600 with HID,
you can install it into the 1992 with no modification or small one.

http://www.edmunds.com/used/1999/mercedesbenz/sclass/12391/standard.html

I would search junkyards and dismantler for used units. You can try call
Bekkers Import to see if they can still get them new for you... Expect to
pay $2000 for anew set.

Bekkers.com

Cheaper way? Yeah, I know what you mean and I do that too... changing out
the headlight lens would help quite a bit... However, each lens is around
$110 each. So I would try to clean the inside and outside of the lens to
make sure it is crystal clear or if the glass is too chipped or hazed, no
choice but to buy new glass. My car had one old and new light when I bought
it... and the light difference was huge... clear and hazed/yellowed...
because one side was replaced.

Then change the light bulb to H4... it can take H4 bulb All about the
bulbs... study carefully... especially the lifespan of the so called better
bulbs...

http://store.candlepower.com/osnibr.html

I would use the Osram 85/80 bulb instead of the normal 60/55 bulb. More
light on the road. The Mercedes wires and existing fuse can handle the
higher wattage no problem. No need for extra relay because Mercedes has
dedicated high beam low beam left and right circuits whereas other cars
tends to combine them so that it has less capacity.

http://store.candlepower.com/64206.html

Again, the bulb upgrade is useless if the headlight lens is in bad shape.
You will only distract oncoming cars rather than seeing more light on the
road.