life expectancy and replacement costs on bi-xenons

[The Boss]

been looking at various cars at dealers recently, and today overheard a convo that some peeps next to us were complaining about one of their SL bi-xenons not working.. they were arguing about the cost..

what is the life expectancy of xenon bulbs.. and whats the replacement cost.. only from dealer or are their indies

the convo went on about the ignitor being faulty or soemthing like that, and not the bulb, but dealer could not tell with out "further investigative work"

hmmmm

 

[Howard]

Bulbs are cheap ( £100 ish )

Ignitors / Ballasts are cheapish .

Whole units are not , as an example , a xenon unit for a W203 is just under a grand.

 

[MrML]

Bulbs are cheap ( £100 ish )

Ignitors / Ballasts are cheapish .

Whole units are not , as an example , a xenon unit for a W203 is just under a grand.

What are the costs of getting a crack to the headlight lens, from a stone etc ?

 

[Howard]

Depends if the lense is replaceable on the model of car you have .

If not , then its a whole new unit.

 

[MrML]

Depends if the lense is replaceable on the model of car you have .

If not , then its a whole new unit.

Oh err, fingers crossed (new 06 plate ML350)

 

[c2raig]

A thousand pounds for a headlamp unit?

That is truly insane.

 

[Howard]

Oh err, fingers crossed (new 06 plate ML350)

Just cracked your light then ?

 

[BlackC55]

A thousand pounds for a headlamp unit?

That is truly insane.

Welcome to MB!

 

[c2raig]

I still want a W124

 

[MrML]

Just cracked your light then ?

Not yet, but just got a chip on the old windscreen - hopefully the headlight glass is made from a less chipable material.

Plus also i guess the windscreen is a much bigger target in terms of surface area...

 

[Sp!ke]

OMG thats crazy ... and I'm really not convinced there are much benefits in having xenons either.

I assume they blow less frequently than normal bulbs?

 

[Howard]

Light output from a xenon unit is incredible , much better than halogens , doesn't matter what special bulbs you have in them , they aren't a patch on the xenon unit. Thought you have them in the SL ?

Thing is that when the xenon bulb goes , they recommend that you replace them in pairs as the colour temperature can vary.

I would imagine they last longer.

 

[Sp!ke]

I have xenons in my SL and yes, the light is whiter but being completely honest, I'm not sure I can see any further or better.

 

[A210AMG]

In all the combined years of driving and a huge amount of miles including track days I've never known any of our cars including family cars needed a new complete headlamp.

It must be very rare bar and accident (crash) that a stone / other object would crack the light?

 

[Sp!ke]

I got hit by a windscreen wiper from an oncoming car on the M4 that punctured my headlamp.

A very neat hole, which I filled with Areldite.

 

[c2raig]

I had an entire car made of bodge and areldite.

The thing that annoys me about Xenons is that they blind everyone else even on dipped beam.

Sour grapes?

Probably!

 

[Aoraki]

I have xenons in my SL and yes, the light is whiter but being completely honest, I'm not sure I can see any further or better.

Really? Mine are superb, are you sure your windsceen is clean??

The thing that annoys me about Xenons is that they blind everyone else even on dipped beam.

But they shouldn't if they are set correctly, mine don't, never been flashed at.

 

[LTD]

Most modern cars have angled lights that will deflect any stone etc. in comparison to older cars with more 'box-like' lights that will take the full force of any impact.

Saying that, I fully expect the sleek aerodynamic light unit on my car to be smashed to smithereens by a blade of grass tomorrow.

Law of Sod et al .......

 

[c2raig]

That's another of my pet hates actually...

Very, very few people have the headlamps on their car set correctly. I know mine are on both the C2 and 'er indoors Fiesta, because I set them myself.

How many times do you see a car coming towards you with one bulb pointing at the sky?

Most Xenons are like this, from what I've seen.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Yep I can confirm that a replacement headlamp is £1000 on a W203 and "bulb" equivalent is £80 - or at least it was a four years or so ago. The bulb was iffy and the dealer managed to damage the headlamp trying to get at it.

Edit: Dealer said they should last around 10 years.