Bumbobee

Hey guys,

I have an 01 ES 300 that came with the factory HID head lights.

I have a few questions:

1. What are the OEM bulbs in there from the factory?

2. What are good replacement bulbs?

3. I did a headlight restoration procedure today where I sanded my headlights with 1000-1500-2000-2500 grit paper, with water, and then I applies and buffed off a couple of coats of Meguiars Plastx. The result is awesome and my headlights are much clearer and very smooth. When I turned on the lights later on though, I noticed that they were still "fogged" / "dirty" from the inside. Should I just take off the headlight assembly and repeat the process inside?

4. Anyone have step by step instructions on how to remove the headlight assembly?

Thanks,

alan003

your oem bulbs are either philips or osram d2r bulbs. i would stick with philips as replacement because of the quality

jvxdriver

Yes, stick with the oem d2r bulbs. I personally have not dealt with es300 headlamps as far as cleaning the interior, but the general procedures are the same. Remove the bumper, remove the headlamps, and opening up the headlamp using the oven method to loosen the isobutyl rubber. Then do your cleaning. In your case, I don't think you need to do any sanding. Just clean the inside clear front cover and also rinse out the reflector bowl. If you really want an upgrade, consider retrofitting an oem d2s projector while you're at it. Good luck.

Bumbobee

Hey thanks for the info. What exactly is a d2s projector?

jvxdriver

I was referring to hid projectors as found on newer headlights instead of the reflector headlights. Projectors use D2S bulbs where as reflector headlights (as in your es300) use D2R bulb.

Bumbobee

Cool thx.

And where is a good place to buy a phillips replacement xenon bulb for my car? I see some on eBay but don't know if they are fakes? What is a trusted source with good prices?

alan003

eBay is fine. i bought from ebay before. just make sure to buy new ones