kc1174 Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) So the bonus check from Ford was burning a hole in my pocket, and I had a crack in one lens thanks to a Target shopping cart, so instead of replacing it with the same thing, I went ahead and bought left hand drive European headlights from their C-Max. If anyone's crazy and fancies a go at this, it's pretty straightforward. Buy them, wait a week, haul the huge box back from the post office, plug them in, drive. Cost was around $360 via Ford Parts in the UK, mostly due to the poor exchange rate at the moment, and shipping. Compared to a single new US one, it wasn't that bad. The connector is the same, and the pins are - 8 turn signal, 12 park/sidelight/marker, 5 high, 10 low, and 7 ground. It's the same pins on both sides and matches ours. It came with bulbs, and the main difference is the low beam is H7 vs our H11. A sidelight is in with the high beam. If you want to see where it is, and how to change it - it's right there in our third edition manual - it's just not on our car... Our marker is up next to the turn signal bulb. Guess that'll be in the fourth edition :) With it not being orange in the corners, it looks cleaner and I threw in some canbus LED's for the sidelights as a nice manual DRL thanks to some posts I found on the UK C-Max forum. Since these sidelights are viewable from the side, if there's ever a concern over there being no amber sidemarkers for US spec, I guess I'll just swap them out with amber bulbs. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/uploads/gallery/album_106/gallery_504_106_267205.jpg http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/uploads/gallery/album_106/gallery_504_106_2622395.jpg http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/uploads/gallery/album_106/gallery_504_106_3489248.jpg http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/uploads/gallery/album_106/gallery_504_106_1623080.jpg Edited August 27, 2014 by kc1174 FoutsNC, C-MaxSea and wab 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Smith Posted August 28, 2014 Report Share Posted August 28, 2014 nice clean mod... I did the German Euro Headlights on of my Gm cars. Much better light distribution. Being I did most of my driving at night. Well worth the investment...Seeing at ninthe dark in important. Is there a way to adjust the lights left/right... the up down distribution is good. but I'd like to widen them up a bit... kc1174 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc1174 Posted August 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2014 nice clean mod... I did the German Euro Headlights on of my Gm cars. Much better light distribution. Being I did most of my driving at night. Well worth the investment...Seeing at ninthe dark in important. Is there a way to adjust the lights left/right... the up down distribution is good. but I'd like to widen them up a bit...Cheers! Unfortunately there's no way to adjust these I'm afraid, not manually at least. There are a few versions out there - this base one I have, then another with a motor to adjust up/down with a control on the light switch, then another which automatically raises and dips high beams based on sensing oncoming cars, or rear lights on cars infront. The tech and options I think are far more advanced, but then the roads are narrow and dark there, and they do tend to tow more than we do in regular cars (especially caravans that tend to blow over - along with the cars - in high winds on the way down the M5 to Cornwall in England).. The number of hours I used to spend in traffic on that road in the summer growing up there still has an effect on me..Light distribution is definitely better - I had the old one vs new in last night and the cutoff was far clearer and side distribution better IMO. Glare regulations are far stricter there I believe too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc1174 Posted August 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2014 The, um, DRL's are a bit bright.. Just went to go see what they look like at night when unlocking the car, and the neighbors dog started barking.. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/uploads/gallery/album_106/gallery_504_106_403471.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kostby Posted August 28, 2014 Report Share Posted August 28, 2014 Wouldn't you want (German?) C-MAX headlight assemblies for the proper light cutoff for left-hand-drive cars instead of those oriented for right-hand-drive in the UK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc1174 Posted August 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2014 Wouldn't you want (German?) C-MAX headlight assemblies for the proper light cutoff for left-hand-drive cars instead of those oriented for right-hand-drive in the UK?Yup, these are I think German LHD lights. The company I ordered from is just in the UK, they imported them and sent them on. Had some other stuff I'd bought from them before that were cheaper than here strange as it may seem :) Some more info: The LH Headlamp is refered at Ford.Refered parts come in from Ford Germany.Please allow 10 Days for delivery*Here is the information requested:CMAX-RH Halogen Headlamp (LHD)From: 23-08-2010 To: 10-07-2012Part Number: 1787127Retail Price: £126.94You Pay: £107.90CMAX-LH Halogen Headlamp (LHD)*From: 23-08-2010 To: 10-07-2012Part Number: 1787130Retail Price: £126.94You Pay: £107.90Postage & PackingParcel Force Global Priority Service to the USA £66.00 (This is a Fully Trackable/Insured Service) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62Lincoln Posted September 1, 2014 Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 How difficult did you find the removal/reinstall of the headlights to be? I haven't tried it myself yet, but will soon. I read some earlier posts here that seemed to indicate that it was not necessarily a simple process. Any hints that might help me? Thanks for sharing this mod, very interesting and cool, too! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc1174 Posted September 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 How difficult did you find the removal/reinstall of the headlights to be? I haven't tried it myself yet, but will soon. I read some earlier posts here that seemed to indicate that it was not necessarily a simple process. Any hints that might help me? Thanks for sharing this mod, very interesting and cool, too! :)Cheers!Video #4 on this page here will help: http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2013_Ford_C-Max_Hybrid_SEL_2.0L_4_Cyl./lights/headlight When putting it back in, you just have to make sure the lower retaining bracket is in. Is difficult to describe, and IMO it's the hardest part of the process, but you'll see what I mean. Even if your bulbs are okay, taking one out just so you get used to how it works I think will help. I hadn't taken mine out until I got the euro ones. I had moved them forward enough to change the low beam H11 bulbs before, but the high beam and turn signals, you'll need to take the whole lot out. The harness btw has no slack at all. Getting that off as you'll see in the video can be a pain. Also, when the headlight is out enough, and when putting it back in, throw a thin towel between it and the body so it doesn't get scratched up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian_L Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 And why not. Thanks for the update/photos (What is that thing parked next to your superb car?!) Oh right.....it's the vehicle Time magazine called an "expression of contempt towards the human race." (Worst 100 cars of all time list) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc1174 Posted September 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 And why not. Thanks for the update/photos (What is that thing parked next to your superb car?!) Oh right.....it's the vehicle Time magazine called an "expression of contempt towards the human race." (Worst 100 cars of all time list)I used to hate that thing, especially the noise in the morning, but she no longer drives it - has sat there all summer to the point the tires are pretty much rotting away and instead drives her other Toyota. There are only two things that have ever set off my perimeter alarm - lightning that hit a tree over the road once, and that Hummer's engine.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62Lincoln Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 Cheers!Video #4 on this page here will help: http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2013_Ford_C-Max_Hybrid_SEL_2.0L_4_Cyl./lights/headlight When putting it back in, you just have to make sure the lower retaining bracket is in. Is difficult to describe, and IMO it's the hardest part of the process, but you'll see what I mean. Even if your bulbs are okay, taking one out just so you get used to how it works I think will help. I hadn't taken mine out until I got the euro ones. I had moved them forward enough to change the low beam H11 bulbs before, but the high beam and turn signals, you'll need to take the whole lot out. The harness btw has no slack at all. Getting that off as you'll see in the video can be a pain. Also, when the headlight is out enough, and when putting it back in, throw a thin towel between it and the body so it doesn't get scratched up. Thanks again, really good stuff! I think my headlights will come out in the next few weeks, so this info will really come in handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.