understood. I would recommend a upgraded wire harness for anyone that does any lighting mod. cleaner flowing electricity is always better. And a lot less likely to melt harnesses. I believe theres a write up on craig braces page

 

You're welcome...I corrected the posts with pics of taking the correct wires out and pics of them swapped so I will not confuse any noobs.

 

Would going to 9007 from 9004 benefit at all with HIDs? I have the ebay "Euro" headlights, with 6K HIDs. The beam pattern with these lights isn't the greatest. It looks alot like the pic in that Euro Headlight thread with the "two pies on the wall". Just curous if 9007 HID bulbs will disperse the light alittle better.

 

Yeah, good question

 

Good answer..http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...9&postcount=37

 

Did the swap today, helped out quite nicely for the $18 and about an hour labor doing things nicely.

Had to re-aim them from the 9004 aim though. I got in my dads truck and parked the max down the street and drove towards it and it blinded me horribly. But I'm all good to go now

 

If you absolutely must cut the wires (and I wouldn't, switching the pins around in the connector is a much better solution) don't rely on electrical tape for protection. Cover those connections with heat shrink tubing, then wrap the harness with the electrical tape.

 

Yes,switching out the wires is the best way to do this mod,..[i didn't know they were accessible]

but if you choose to cut the wires,soldering the connections will work fine,a quality brand electrical tape[3M],will protect the wires connections for many years..

 

Whooooops

 

one thing that some others and i did was rotate the bulb around in the housing to give a better beam pattern and then switch the high and low beam wires. that gives a 65w "low" beam and 55w "high" beam. better beam pattern too. iirc, stock harness is rated up to 65w, so it can handle it no prob. i've had mine done for a few years. i can't really remember what i did though, but i'm sure you can search for it. one of the better/cheaper mods for a terrible oem headlight. i almost think it is better than a bimmer conversion--might not look as good though.

 

Bump......

 

Nice procedure writing, it's stickyworthy

 

It's in the stickies...

 

ok so the stock beam pattern is supposed to have that big chunk of light in the center and less light around the sides, right? Mine are like that anyhow. One's too low cuz i need a new bracket. I just got Silverstar Ultras upgrading from Xtravisions but i see no real improvement, if not a decrease in visibility... Am i blind or what? Still using 9004, thinking about 9007s though..

 

I don't know what your talking about before there, but the upgrade to 9007 is a huge improvement over the 9004, so if you're looking for better light output throwing the 9007's in is the way to go.

 

i went from 9004 xtravisions ($20 for a 2pack) to 9004 Silverstar Ultras ($50 for what i don't see as any improvement in output or visibility). I haven't installed 9007s as of yet.

as for the other thing, i was asking if our beam pattern is supposed to focus almost all of the light in the middle, as opposed to my mom's car, which has flat even light and upsweeps to the right at the cutoff. She has a 99 Camry, if it matters.

 

going to start on this mod in about 15 minutes. i'll let you know how smoothly it goes. i'm planning to grind the housing rather than the light. but i may change my mind once i'm out there.

 

ok well it's all done now. i had a bit of trouble finding the right place to grind the bulbs. I decided not to touch the housings, rather to grind the bulbs like greeny. I have a submission for the writeup

take a thin strip of paper or something, half an inch wide and long enough to wrap around the notched section of the 9004 bulb. take a marker, and mark each groove in the 9004 light, and make sure to cross-mark the top notch (a + sign) to indicate that you will line it up there on the 9007 bulb. Now take that paper and wrap it around the 9007 bulb and line up the top notch, and take a centerpunch and make a small mark through the marked notches from the 9004 into the plastic of the 9007, so you'll know where to start grinding exactly. Do the same thing on your other 9007 bulb, and now you will grind in exactly the right spot, without wasting time test-fitting and adjusting and eyeballing and etc etc like I had to.

I'll get a road test tomorrow morning, at the latest. I go into work at 5am so it'll still be very dark out.

 

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...daver/9007XVs/ here it is. night pics.

and a video http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...MVI_0134_3.flv

 

i need this swap done seriousle one head light is out ans socket for some reason got destroyed went to my local pep boys but they dont have any 9007 sockets can anyone sell me the sockets please need asap

 

junkyard?... I could probably send you one off of my parts car. (you're just talking about the little grey twist on piece on the back of the bulb insertion hole right?)

 

I killed/melted a harness with 80/100 bulbs way back in "tha day". If you get by without meltage you are lucky.

Michael you have lovely thumb prints btw.

Duckman, I have the Euros too. Your 9004/9007 HID question if using the euros is a good question. My guess is you'll have a more intense pancakes lol. But seriously, even if there was an improvement, I doubt it would justify shelling out more $ for.

 

.... this swap is no sort of repair to need done.. it's not like using 9004s, which the car was built with, will harm it an any way at all. Advance auto parts has 9004/9007 headlight plugs and shrinkwrap tubing so you can set up your wiring nicely.

 

capedcadaver: your headlights may be aimed a little low... hard to tell from that vid, but it seemed like they didnt really illuminate much down the road. especially the righthand (passenger side) one

 

that's actually a hilly lawn.. i can get a better level-street video though. there's a great unlit street around here if i can remember where. right hand bracket is broken. ustfdes has one for me whenever i pay him.

i really need to aim them outward as well. they cross paths or come darn close to it, about 30 feet out.

 

Will the beams need to be aimed up or down from their stock position?

Also, can anybody recommend a good brand of bulb to purchase? And will anything from 3000k - 12000k work?

 

I heard Wagner makes some great bulbs. Although I have Walmart cheepies in right now and they're still a world of difference form the 9004. I would suggest buying bulbs online. Also... you will most likely have to aim the headlight down some.

 

Sylvania Xtravisions are a solid choice. Bright and at a good price. If you want bright and white light, then the Sylvania Silverstars.

 

Wagner Britelites get my vote

 

What's the best place to get them from?

 

in the little mom and pop part stores, though they usually have to get them from the warehouse anyhow.

most of the bigger chains have sylvania not wagner

 

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...daver/9007XVs/
got 2 more videos. pleeeease excuse the fact that i my voice, when recorded, sounds like Richard Simmons . I just have a stuffy nose like 24/7.

 

Here're my additions to the comparison shots:






e36's win for sure, but for how easy the 9007 conversion is there's no reason not to do it if you're not gonna pay for new headlights.

The 9004 demo'd is a Sylvania XV/2 (55/65), the 9007 is a Sylvania CB/2 (45/65), the e36 high are phillips I think, don't remember the lows at all. If anyone really cares I can check.

 

9007 is the 55/65... and i CBs are garbage. light washes out unless you have alot of it, and CBs do not (that's what silverstars are for). I use Sylvania 9007XVs and it's white enough for me.

 

did more aiming today, i'll let you know how it looks after tomorrow. aimed the right one up, aimed both out. it looks dumb with not being as flush as before but whateeeever. function before form.

 

I wasn't going to waste $50 for bulbs I don't plan on using very long. Sorry to dissapoint Better than the pictures show even.

 

don't get me wrong. i HATE silverstars. I bought some. used them for ONE DAY. hated them. tried to return them. "we cannot return healights". Ufcking autozone. Never shopping there again. I did waste that $50, and their refusal to return them also ended up in me running out of money before getting paid... and i accidentally overdrafted. so i really got a $170 set of headlights... that are in my back seat. useless. but it depends on the color of the street lights, as to whether the light washes out or not.

I run Xtravisions, personally. $20/pr. I was just saying that if you want the blue-coated bulbs, you really need silverstars to augment output... just that I don't totally recommend them, due to their cost and lack of color compatibility with my city's street lights.

 

I ordered some Wagner britelites last week...should be in any day...

 

I must have missed that order

 

Didn't know you carried them...sorry...

Are they posted on your site?