R129 Xenon headlight issue

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SLABCA

New Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2020
Messages
1
Location
Canada
Car
R129 1999 Sl500, Euro-spec
Hi, first post here, hoping someone from the UK has gone through this before.

I have a left-hand drive (LHD) German-market 1999 SL500 that has had the LHD xenon headlights switched out for right-hand drive (RHD) xenon lights for when it was used in the UK for a few years (headlight parts 129 820 91 61 and 129 820 92 61 are what is currently on the car). The car is in Canada now and I need to improve the beam pattern for better use on our LHD roads. However, I have been told that Mercedes no longer has any stock of the LHD xenon Head light assemblies (129 820 89 61, 129 820 90 61) and they are about 1,500+ pounds on Ebay (plus duty and shipping). There are somewhat cheaper used US-spec lights on Ebay as well, but the US market lights had a different part # from the euro-spec LHD xenons so I'm not sure they will be plug and play in my car (I know the side lights are not - different bulbs and wiring harness).

I looked at the EPC drawings for the euro headlight assemblies and noticed that there are separate LHD and RHD parts for the front lenses (# 20) and the low-beam reflectors (# 35).

Does anyone know if changing either the lenses and/or the reflectors from RHD parts to LHD parts will improve the light beam pattern to make it better for LHD roads? I would have assumed the front lenses don’t change the light pattern and they are there mostly for physical protection, but since they have separate LHD and RHD part numbers I wondered I they do actually change the light pattern. Same question of the low-beam reflectors. I've read conflicting reports on other forums and am not sure how best to proceed. Hoping someone here has tried these modifications.

In Canada we don`t have the strict light pattern testing like in Europe, so I just need to make the light pattern `good enough` not to blind oncoming traffic, I don’t need to pass a lighting test.

Appreciate any help that can be offered!
 

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Hi, first post here, hoping someone from the UK has gone through this before.

I have a left-hand drive (LHD) German-market 1999 SL500 that has had the LHD xenon headlights switched out for right-hand drive (RHD) xenon lights for when it was used in the UK for a few years (headlight parts 129 820 91 61 and 129 820 92 61 are what is currently on the car). The car is in Canada now and I need to improve the beam pattern for better use on our LHD roads. However, I have been told that Mercedes no longer has any stock of the LHD xenon Head light assemblies (129 820 89 61, 129 820 90 61) and they are about 1,500+ pounds on Ebay (plus duty and shipping). There are somewhat cheaper used US-spec lights on Ebay as well, but the US market lights had a different part # from the euro-spec LHD xenons so I'm not sure they will be plug and play in my car (I know the side lights are not - different bulbs and wiring harness).

I looked at the EPC drawings for the euro headlight assemblies and noticed that there are separate LHD and RHD parts for the front lenses (# 20) and the low-beam reflectors (# 35).

Does anyone know if changing either the lenses and/or the reflectors from RHD parts to LHD parts will improve the light beam pattern to make it better for LHD roads? I would have assumed the front lenses don’t change the light pattern and they are there mostly for physical protection, but since they have separate LHD and RHD part numbers I wondered I they do actually change the light pattern. Same question of the low-beam reflectors. I've read conflicting reports on other forums and am not sure how best to proceed. Hoping someone here has tried these modifications.

In Canada we don`t have the strict light pattern testing like in Europe, so I just need to make the light pattern `good enough` not to blind oncoming traffic, I don’t need to pass a lighting test.

Appreciate any help that can be offered!
Hi - IIRC there is a switch on the headlight to flip the beam from RHD to LHD. Hope that helps.
 

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