For the past few months I've been noticing that my HID's don't seem to be as bright as they were when I first got my car. The plastic lens is clean.

What could this be?

Bulb's need replacing cuz they may just be old?
Battery could be going out?

Maybe it's just me, but they really do seem dimmer than what they used to be.

 

It's just you.

No really..there is no "Filiment" in your Headlight. it is a GAP system with an arc. Can it change color..you bet. After a long period of time, the two electrodes at the arc end can wear and cause the spectrum of light to change. But that is barely visable to the naked eye. What kind of shape are your lenses in?

 

I know there isn't a filament in the bulb. However, the lights just don't seem as bright anymore.

The lenses appear to be in good shape.

I just wanted to raise this question before I were to go out and buy new HID bulbs to see if that fixes it or not.

 

Just go to ebay and get some new bulbs,but I wouldn't go over 6000k

 

Don't know about the bulbs, have the dealer check it. Just wanted to comment that you have the rarest color/combo of the CLS.

 

Yea, I was simply going to replace the stock ones with stock bulbs. Anything over 4100K loses lumens anyways.

Thanx.

 

That's one of the reasons I'm a happy CL owner. It's too bad the white paint though fades so much worse than all the others.

 

Ya especially in the bumpers. After 2 years it's not even a close match to taffeta white anymore.

 

Actually the funny thing is my bumpers seem fine. It's the top of my trunk lid, hood, roof, and certain spots on the sides that are bad. The bumpers seem the best on mine.

Oh well, Eventually I hope to repaint the car back to original taffeta white with like decent coats of clear coat to make it shine and a coat of perma coat to help protect it.

 

just got my CLS few days ago and I asked the owner if he ever changed bulbs, he said no and commented that he mostly drove it in the daylight. Now I am noticing that the right one seems to have a little purplish color and dimmer. I was thinking of changing them but it's like at least $150. I found some website where they sell 5000k or 5500 for $125 per pair. Does that mean that they will not last as long as stock ones (cause they're cheap)?

I was driving beside mercedes the other day and his HIDs were a lot brighter although more yellow than mine. Maybe I have aftermarket bulbs 6000k or something cause the light seems quite white/blue.

 

If you want the light to be as white as possible stay around 4100Kelvins which is what the stock bulbs are at.

As someone mentioned earlier, as the the bulb wears out, the color of it goes more blue.

If you buy a bulb that is rated at 6000K or higher, it'll be the same as what you have now because the amount of lumens that 6000K bulbs put out is actually less than 4100K bulbs. So you get less light output.

Stick with the stock bulb which is a Phillips 4100K D2R bulb (I think) if you are going to change them.

Do a search on this forum for HID bulb and you'll see this issue has been raised countless times and a lot of people say if you want brighter lights stay at 4100K, if you want the blue light look go with the 6000K or higher, but you will have less light output.

In addition, the Mercedes, BMW, Audi and other cars Xenon lights seem brighter because of their projector housing. Our housing's aren't as advanced as theirs are and so even if the bulb is very similiar which in most cases they are, the housing accounts for the extra light output.