2000-2002 Mercedes Benz S Class W220 Facelift Style Projector Headlight - Made by DEPO

We have several W220's. This was the first DEPO headlight assembly that I tried out, and it was to replace the worn-out, and cracked, headlight assemblies in my 2003 (post-facelift) Mercedes-Benz S430, with factory halogen low-beams. The DEPO headlight assembly is a plug 'n' play replacement, and I did order it with the optional H7 HID (xenon) setup. This came with an H7 HID bulb and a generic-looking ballast.

This DEPO set proved brighter than the factory reflector HID, which really isn't saying that much, because the original reflector HID's just didn't cut it. Indeed, these DEPO's totally outclass the factory reflector HID. I have a comparison thread on the BenzWorld Web site that shows the differences.

Yes, these *do* fit post-facelift halogen cars! And yes, they *do* have the self-leveling motor, though you'll need an adaptor to go from the pre-facelift plug style on the headlight assembly to the post-facelift wiring harness in the car. But in the United States, hooking that up is not a legal requirement, so I just wouldn't worry about it. Simply aim your headlights properly as with any others, and you'll be just fine. BTW, you don't have to program your car for HID's with these if your car originally had halogens. The ballast has circuitry which takes care of that.

Note that this model of DEPO headlight assembly uses *single* xenon projectors, not bi-xenons. This is because DEPO wanted to stay as "factory like" as possible, while still using modern projectors. The result is what I'd call, "pretty good".

Therefore, I did the same thing to the wife's 2000 S500. This car came with the reflector HID's. That means factory HID programming in the car vs. halogen. Again, there were zero problems. The ballast that DEPO uses works just as well in either situation; no flickering.

Then, I compared them to the 2003 S600 (factory bi-xenon), whose headlight assemblies I had taken apart and refurbished with new wiring and new Morimoto E46 projectors. I've got to say, the DEPO's did pretty well, as before with the 2003 S430. They're good. But those Morimotos just couldn't be beaten, even in low-beam mode. Again, different league.

So, I tried an experiment. If refurbing the factory bi-xenon HID's worked so well...what would happen if I tried the same trick with a pair of these DEPO's on the wife's 2000 S500? That's right, I opened up the DEPO assemblies, replaced the stock DEPO single-xenon projectors with the Morimoto E46 bi-xenons, and wired up the bi-xenon solenoid to work. This also gave me a good look at the quality level that DEPO used to make these things, and it's right up there with the original AL Bosch ones from Mercedes-Benz. DEPO did their homework here.

Night-time came, and it was time to test. The bulb used is Osram's 66240 CLC Classic.

OH. MY. GOD.

DEPO really should talk with Morimoto about using those E46 projectors. Seriously. The headlights are so bright now that they're burning vampires at night. They actually just slightly out-do my refurbished bi-xenon factory headlights from the 2003 S600, and believe me, that's saying something.

I did the same thing to my Dad's 2000 S430, with similar results. At night, it's like you're casting a daylight spell over the road.

The perfect MB W220 headlight for either pre-facelift, or post-facelift halogen, would be these headlight assemblies with the Morimoto projectors and Osram, Philips, or Jahn D2S bulbs.

But as they are, the HID version of this assembly is still a major improvement over the factory reflector HID's (pre-facelift). They're a pretty good improvement over factory halogens as well.

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