Can i remove the outer plastic cover of my front headlight?

the outer shell is not separable from the housing. you will have to replace the complete headlight shell.

You have to remove the front bumper cover. Put the car on jack stands (the front) and remove the inner fender plastic. You'll need a long extension and a 10mm socket to remove the nuts and bolts holding the bumper cover in place. Once the cover is off removal of the headlight becomes obvious.

if you have the regular headlights(not the HID) there is a TSB for that at the dealer and they will fix it for free as long as you are under the 36000 miles,,anyhow to get the headlight out you need to remove the front bumper cover,,pop the hood, remove all the pushpin that hold the plastic panel on near the front area then remove the plastic cover,,,,,then there are some phillips head screws along the front of the top of the bumper cover take these out,,,,now remove both front wheels,,remove the bolts that hold the inner fender liners inplace there are some in front and under the lower bumper cover take these out too,,,,then under the front bumper cover at about the middle there will be 2 bolts i think 10mm remove theses to,,,,now where the side of the bumper cover meets the fender inside there are 3 bolts on each side remove these i think they are 7 or 8mm and then pull the bumper cover off,,,if you have fog lights disconnect the plugs,,then you will see all the bolts holding the headlight in take them out and then it comes out,,,,i know its alot of work just for a headlight ,,,,

With the hood open, you will see a long flat flexible plastic cover running across the front, above the headlights. It is riveted in with plastic rivets. Hold the outer part of the rivet, and pull up the center part. Then remove the whole rivet. Remove the plastic cover. (When you put it back on, insert the outer part in the hole, then press the center part down into each rivet.)
You will see a sidelamp and headlight assembly. Look down between the sidelamp and headlight, there should be a black plastic clip or latch that holds the side lamp to the headlight. (The clip is down a hole, in the bracket holding the headlight to the body). You will probably need a long screw drive to get down in the hole to release the clip. And maybe a flash light to see down the hole. Put just enough pressure to release the latch, it is plastic, and if you press to hard it could break. Once released the side lamp will pop forward a bit. The sidelamp section can be pulled forward. a bit. However, there is a long plastic part on the Sidelamp Section that slides into a metal hole in the Fender. It will break if you try to pry the sidelamp section out sideways.
Next you will see two top-mounted bolts holding the Headlight Assembly in place which can easily be accessed and removed. Removing the bolts will loosen the entire headlight assembly.
Some instruction say you can remove the headlight and side assembly as a unit. Do not do this! If you try to remove the headlight assembly without detaching the sidelamp you could break either of the lights or the connection assembly.
The Bulb Assembly twists out of the back of the Headlight Assembly, and the bulb can then be replaced. Be careful not to touch the bulb with your hands or with any grease.
Many of the parts are plastic and can break, so do this carefully and patiently. It sounds a little complicated, but once you learn how, the whole job only takes about 20 minutes.

Hope helped. (remember rated this).

Here's some instructions for removing bumper and headlights.

E-Class W211 front bumper removal (standard body style).

Tools needed:
- Automotive wheel ramps (Rhino ramps from Autozone).
- 1/4" drive socket set with 8mm and 10mm sockets.
- #20 torx bit.
- Floor jack, optional but useful.
- Flat blade screwdriver.

Instructions for bumper removal:

1) Turn front wheels full right to remove push-pin fastener at lower front corner of left wheel well plastic splash guard. It's difficult to remove this fastener once the car is up on the wheel ramps.

2) Turn front wheels full left to remove push-pin fastener at lower front corner of right wheel well plastic splash guard.

3) Drive car up on wheel ramps. Block rear tires. Open hood.

4) Remove lower mesh plastic grille. There are five attachment points on the top edge of the grille. You can get to three of them with your hand by reaching between the radiator and the back side of the grille. The two outer ones can be released with a screwdriver also reaching in between the grille and radiator. Once the plastic tabs are released, you can remove the grille by pulling it out from the front of the car.

5) Remove the plastic panel located immediately behind the bumper from the bottom of the engine compartment. This panel is held in place with nine sheet metal screws with a 8mm hex head. Five screws are on the bottom of the car and there are two screws in each wheel well at the inner lower edge. After removing all nine screws you can work the panel free.

6) Disconnect the cable from each fog light and remove both fog lights. They are held in place by two sheet metal screws with a #20 torx head.

7) Remove the side marker bulbs. The one on the passenger side turns clockwise to remove and the one on the driver side turns counter-clockwise.

8) Remove the temperature sensor from its socket on the driver side.

9) If you have a floor jack, raise the car at the jack point on the cross member below the engine. You do not want to raise it off the wheel ramps. But it helps to have more clearance above the tires to work in the front wheel wells.

10) Remove three of the plastic nuts holding the forward half of the plastic wheel well liner in place. It's not necessary to remove the plastic liner. You just need to loosen it up so that you can pull it away from the fender to gain access to the screw and bracket securing the bumper to the fender.

11) Pull back the wheel well liner and remove the sheet metal screw from the rear end of the metal bracket . There is only one sheet metal screw (#20 torx head) holding this bracket in place. Don't attempt to remove the bracket yet. I used a #20 torx bit in a 1/4" socket with a 6-inch extension for a 1/4" drive wrench. The head of the screw faces the ground.

12) Remove the 5mm bolts (8mm hex head) holding the bumper to the headlight assembly between the small lens and large lens (both sides).

13) Remove the two 6mm bolts (10mm hex head) on either side of the large grille area opening.

14) Remove the two 6mm bolts (10mm hex head) securing the bumper to the bottom edge of the crashbar. You can access these bolts through the front where you removed the plastic mesh grille.

15) Remove the three 5mm bolts (8mm hex head) holding each headlight assembly in place. Two longer bolts are on top. One at the rear outer corner and one at the front inner corner. The third bolt is accessed from the bottom. It's in the area above the fog lamps. You don't need to disconnect the headlight cables and remove the assembly. But it helps to allow the headlight assembly to "float" freely while you disengage the bumper from the fender.

16) At this point all of the fasteners holding the bumper in place have been removed. The only thing left to do is to remove the two brackets "clamping" the bumper cover to the lower front edge of the front fenders. Before you do this, position some cardboard boxes, bags of packing material, six packs of paper towels, or other suitable items to protect the bumper in case it falls off the car.

17) The bracket holding the bumper cover to the fender has a "pin" that slips into a slot at the front edge of the bumper cover. There is a matching slot near the front edge of the fender. It's not possible to see this pin from the bottom of the car. Use a flat blade screwdriver to pry the bracket away from the bumper/fender and towards the center of the car. The bracket will "hinge" on the pin at the front end of the bracket. After you swing the bracket away from the bumper, you need to slide it forward to remove it from the slot in the bumper cover and fender. You will probably scratch some paint off of this bracket with the screwdriver. I recommend repainting the scratched areas of the bracket before reinstalling it.

18) After removing the bracket from each side of the car you need to deal with the small plastic "hook" holding the bumper cover to the very front tip of the fender. This hook is an integral part of the bumper cover. Disengaging this hook from the fender is probably the most difficult step of removing the bumper. Simultaneously raise the head light assembly slightly, push the leading edge of the fender outward slightly, and push the bumper cover inward toward the headlight assembly. Don't get too aggressive with the fender. It's aluminum and you will make a real mess if you apply too much pressure on the fender. It took me about 20 minutes to free each side from this hook. It should take you less time, since you now know that the hook exists!

19) Gently pull the bumper forward and away from the car. This is one step where a second person would be helpful. But I did manage to do this step alone. There is a "pulley" like attachment point on each side just below the fender/bumper seam.

To re-install the bumper, reverse the order of the steps above. When re-installing the bracket between the bumper cover and fender, I smeared a thin coating of car wash soap on the bracket to facilitate snapping the bracket back into place.

it is very easy you need to remove the plastic cover by turning it like a screw, then remove the rubber cover, and there you go your head lamp is there replace with the same (It tells you what kind on the headlight plastic it self, they are ususaly H1).

outer/inner bulb, remove top black plastic cover that runs the lenth of the front of the car behind lights, turn the circular cover covering bulb anti-clockwise and remove, you will see a spring clip, push this clip towards the bulb and downwards, this will release the bulb, fitting is the reverse and the bulb will only fit in one position. It is awkward and space is tight

you'll have to remove the outer headlight to get at the lens srews. remove srews and pull lens forward untill retaining clip slides free of the front fender.

Are you wanting to know how to replace the bulb or the headlight assembly? If it is that assembly, you must remove the bumper cover to access the hardware retaining the light assembly.
Most of the attaching hardware for the front cover are nothing more than plastic rivets or pins which are two piece in construction. If you remove the center section, then you can pull the outer section out of the hole. The fender liners and under the car where the splash shield are, have these rivets. The grille is retained by the same type of fasteners and once removed, will reveal more fasteners for the bumper cover. Disconnect the fog lights. There are screws on the very corners of some of the bumper covers where they meet with the fenders. It is a phillips type head. Once all the fasteners are removed, you simply pull the cover towards you. Try keep from scarring the paint up. It would be ideal to have a carpet to set the cover on. The headlight assembly it self has 4 bolts attaching it to the core support. Two retain it at each end if you look from the top downwards at each end you will see them. The other two are at the outer end of the light assembly, one going in from the side at the bottom and one going in from the front at the bottom, close to the one near the side. It should be simple to figure out how to disconnect to connector from the bulb it self.
As for the actual bulbs: There is a plastic cap for the outer (low beam) Xenon bulb which you turn in a counter clockwise direction to unlock it from the housing. Next you will see a type of retaining spring which you unlock. It will be obvious as to how you unlock it. Replace the bulb "TAKE CARE NOT TO TOUCH THE ACTUAL GLASS PART OF THE BULB". Same procedure for halogen bulbs. For the high beams: The only additional procedure necessary is on the left side which entails the removal of the air cleaner housing for access. BE VERY CAREFUL in disconnecting the electrical and also exercise caution with the large hose going to the throttle body. If it gets damaged, the car will not run well.
Should you need more specifics, let me know and I'll be happy to reply.

What you need to do is remove the 2 screws on the top bezel from inside the engine bay, then underneath the outer corner of the plastic headlamp surround there is a philips screw, (put your head under neath car near from wheel) loosen the screw, do not remove it, now the headlamp plastic bezel/surround will come free enough so you can get a philips screwdriver in through the middle of the headlamp surround, there is a chrome retaining ring holding the headlamp in place, loosen the 3 philips screws (do not remove) The retaining ring will rotate and you can slide the ring out from the outer edge of the headlamp surround. The headlamp will then come out throught the middle of the surround, disconnect the 3 pin multiplug and reverse process for install.