Should I Get HID's or E36 Projectors
 

Right now I have PIAA xtream white for my headlights.

I wanted to get the HID that are offered on here (http://forums.maxima.org/group-deals...og-lights.html)
but I keeping on thinking that will cause too much glare for oncoming traffic, and the beam pattern won't be very good. According to 3B their bulbs come with a glare shield.

I only have like $150 to waste max.

Should I get the HID on my stock OEM housing or should I just buy the E36 projectors and use that for some time ?

thanks 4 the input

i've never heard of any truly GOOD off-the-shelf setup for our cars. Must everyone with a good lighting system had to do it custom. HIDs are dangerous to oncoming traffic without projectors.. I don't necessarily trust the 'glare shield' just by the name.. it may work fine, but projectors are really the only good way to go if you want HIDs. Halogens can be projected as well (Infiniti J30) so you may just want to start with projected halogens and upgrade to HID bulbs when money permits.

http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...rade-pics.html

If you're really on a budget...

I don't think a good projector/HID setup can be had for $150 since it has to be basically all custom.

I prefer the E36 look. Only reason I don't go for it myself is a group of government employees I refer to as "cops".

if your lights are not bluish at all, and are not blinding anyone then the cops shouldn't bother you for it...... there's a ton of Civics with baby-blue lights around here and I've NEVER seen anyone pulled for blue headlights. or blacked-out headlights (which end up being as dim as parking lights...). Traffic cops in my city don't pull you for anything but speeding basically. Unless you were in front of them and they ran your plates for fun.

+1
If you aim them right, and don't have a blue hue to your lights, theres nothing illegal about installing e36 lights in your car..

My cousin has been pulled over for his lights, I think he told me they were DOT legal though.

I really would like E36s but yeah, at least with my performance mods the cops don't suspect anything and the magnaflow muffler I want to get would look just like a dual tip stock one with some autozone tips. The E36s look very obvious to me.

buddy i have 6000k HID's and i ordered those clear euro style headlights and clear corners...i put really really dark blue in my corner lights and HID's lookin dope in those headlights....and plus anything over 6k is illegal...cop stopped me onces and i showed him my receipt that its 6k and he let me go and i dont think so if they can do anything about it if it is under 6k or as is.....check out wit ur local law..

Well you live in Canada you guys have everything easier car-wise. In the USA I'm pretty sure anything over stock is illegal in terms of lighting.

People will get pulled over for lighting issues. If you have lights that are out, running on high beam, not aimed properly (again, blinding), or colored/flashing (strobes). These are the main reasons and all constitute either a significant driving distraction/obsticle for other drivers, or is an obsticle for YOU the operater in terms of poor visiability. I have personally been pulled over for accidently running my brights. Cop flashed me, I didn't realize what I was doing and failed to dim my stock lights, and I got pulled over. What we are talking about in terms of glare, improper adjustment, colors, etc all falls under the aforementioned criteria.

Regardless, by your admission, you can't afford the $160 HID kit ("$150 max."). At most do the 9007 upgrade becuase I agree stock light output is crap on these cars. But, if all you have is $150, then put it in the bank for standard maintainence of your car. Change the oil for pete's sake or fix that busted "whatever" you've ignored for months now. Maybe start your own "Poor Mans Gas Fund" for when $$ is tight.

One thing I've learned, people are going to do what they want.....and so are you.

HIDS in the stock housing shouldn't be an option, nor is it legal.

Why not just get the E36 projectors and then add HID's? That's what I'm doing.

can i PLEEEEEEEASE have your police department?

cars ALL OVER my city with miswired (wrong bulbs or faulty wiring) taillights that turns one bulb off when the rest turn on, and crap like that... or one truck whose brake light switch functioned the exact opposite of how it was supposed too... a million cars with out headlights, etc, running their brights, w/e.

stupid south is growing too much and people haven't gotten the clue yet that they aren't the only driver on the road anymore... the boonies are slowly disappearing.

im pretty sure anything under 4300k which is basically white and yellow is 50 state legal my headlights sorta look like their fallin out out of the front of my car so when they do im gettin somethin similair

"Headlights brighter or higher wattage than those from the factory. You may be able to see better, but the lights are illegal (24011 VC)."

That's from the California Highway Patrol website....though California is lamer than any other state when it comes to car laws so 4300Ks or whatever may be 49 states legal but it certainly can't be legal in California. I'm playing it safe though since I don't know what Florida law is and its hard to find what I need as far as that goes.

Current federal rulings prohibit the use of non stock replacement lighting.
the E36 mod is currently illegal. retrofitting anything is illegal.
Whether you get a ticket or pulled over for them is another story entirely.

Plus 1 with Internetauto. I should have stated that such things are "enforcable." True, whether you get pulled over/cited is completely different. Many people associate lack of enforcement with soemthing being "okay" or legal. That's like thinking speeding is okay if you pass a cop and he doesn't pursue.

I did a quick search. Here is what TN law says about headlights.

Headlights on Motor Vehicles - Operating During Inclement Weather - Violation - Penalty - Costs.
55-9-406

(a) The headlights of every motor vehicle shall be so constructed, equipped, arranged, focused, aimed, and adjusted, that they will at all times mentioned in § 55-9-401, and under normal atmospheric conditions and on a level road produce a driving light sufficient to render clearly discernible a person two hundred feet (200") ahead, but shall not project a glaring or dazzling light to persons in front of such headlights. Such headlights shall be displayed during the period from one-half (½) hour after sunset to one-half (½) hour before sunrise, during fog, smoke, or rain and at all other times when there is not sufficient light to render clearly discernible any person on the road at a distance of two hundred feet (200") ahead of such vehicle.

(b) (1) Operation of headlights during periods of rain, as required in this section, shall be made during any time when rain, mist, or other precipitation, including snow, necessitates the constant use of windshield wipers by motorists.

(2) Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, any person who is arrested or receives a traffic citation for violation of the provisions of this subsection (b), upon conviction, shall not be fined more than the maximum fine nor less than the minimum fine as provided by law for such violation nor shall any cost be imposed or assessed against such person. Such conviction shall not be reported to the department of safety under the provisions of §§ 55-10-306 and 55-12-115.

(3) No cost shall be charged under this subsection (b).

(4) A violation of this subsection (b) is a Class C misdemeanor.

Here is another link that goes into colors, strobes, and that other stuff. I'm not finding anything about swapping out DOT approved lights from other vehicles, but again, that doesn't mean that such law/regulations don't exist. I did not pursue searching DOT information, only laws.

http://state.tn.us/attorneygeneral/op/2004/OP/OP170.pdf

HURRY UP AND BUY YOUR KITS WHILE THEIR STILL HERE

it turns out that nhtsa is starting to ban manufactureers of this kit for $10,000 for each kit sold. HID is not illegal many car companies are making them standard and will probably be on every new vehicle pretty soon.

BUT the aftermarket kits are being banned because so many people aren't installing them correctly if you get the setup with the proper adjustments leveling and replace the reflector with a projector then their perfectly fine and there is no color or brightness restriction(sry bout that)

the problem is reflectors aim light off the road so you can see street signs and stuff but if the lights are bright enough then not only do u not need them but thats what causing the "blinding effect". they dont care if a car is blinding you from behind because it causes no more of a distraction than natural elements (the sun)

so if your not a lightin pro let one of them do the intsall for you

now if u get a ticket they treat the law same as brake light going out just take your ticket to a local police station show them youre lights as long as you put the halogen ones back on they'll clear the ticket (then just throw the hids back on there till u get your next ticket)

one more thing is that if you live in a "racing culture state" like FL or CA then they will be very strict on enforcement but every other state is perfectly fine my home state CT doesn't even train officers in an entire section of these laws which includes HID so its rarely enforced and usually wont go past a "verbal warning"

if you wanna be safe get the white ones get them installed properly and tell the cop their stock

I've never heard bad things about the Cops in FL being strict. I can imagine Miami and stuff but as a Tampa suburb resident they don't pull even a tenth as many people over as they should. We don't exactly have as strict of laws as CA last I heard, anyone ever heard of FARB (Florida Air Resource Board)? Me neither, CARB exists for California.

i live in Miami and the cops here lets all these people with ridiculous looking HID bulbs get away. i have 12000k violet blue HID bulbs in my E36 headlights and i haven't had any problems with the cops down here. now for some of you on here may well know that i am still trying to finish my E36 with E60 projector retrofit so that i can have the BMW bi-xenon projectors on my car so that i can get the most out the light output. but supposably HID's were or still are illegal on non-projected headlights but thats bull since the older Acura TL's have HID's from factory with no projectors and the same for the 1st gen Lexus IS300 and some other cars as well. and i don't have aftermarket HID's. i got the ballast and ignitors from a Nissan Murano and the bulbs i just ordered them from ebay for $80 shipped.

Nvm on the Miami thing....people in Florida are crazy everywhere and the cops are lousy in just as many places.

5.5gen maxima also had nonprojected HIDs

Yeah, I read that the 5.5s got stolen alot because the HID headlights fit in some of the older maximas, I'm assuming the 5th gens.

strange thing about reading up on HID's maxima came up more then any other car check other forums on the net everthing from cop forums, audio forums and i even found them mentioned in other car forums like subaru's and mazda's so i figured one of the later model maximas had to have come with them stock

yeah the 5.5 gens HID headlights only fits the earlier model 5 gens. from '00-'02.

Thanks for all the input guys.


So far I have the 9007 MOD on my car and I also got PIAA lights that seem to be working well. I guess I am going to get the e36 headlights later this month.

thanks.

Do u have pix of ur lights? i have dark blue corners now they look a lil purp but the headlights are 8500k hid bulbs and ive never gotten pulled in fact ive had a few cops just look at them like, "Nice lights man..." but im thinkin about the euro style headlights with HIDs but 8000k dont know how it would look or how much light it would put out...

i took them out a long time ago....i have white LED bulbs matching corners wit my white HID headlights...i will take a pic tomorrow.. and if ur corners r matching the headlights it doesnt look different at all or cop attracting BUT if u have white headlights and BLUE corners thats attracting....dont ask, it jus is...

if u r going to use euro style headlights then i would recommend not going over 6k or maximum 7k....they put out very bright light due to the headlight design...and 6k HIDs looks like 8k in them....and aim them a lil down...this was for euro style headlight with crystal chrome housing in them..and the one comes with black housing doesnt reflect that much light but they do more than a stock...

8500k + doesn't look good IMO, anything above about 6000k is overkill. You wouldn't believe the number of idiots I see driving around with fugly 20000k and 300000k bulbs :slap:

my headlight are 8500k it had a blue tint to it its old to me now the corners are like really blue ive never gotten pulled by state or local cops and ive been upstate also but anyways im tired of that look thats why im looking for something else and blue sucks at putting out good light but the second part of what u said really helped me a lot thankx

92MAX my fist car i wanted to stand out now im like yeah whatever to that lol and 8500k is a nice blue but im like whatever with that now also i gonna go back to Hyper White it does have a lil blue to it but yeah ive seen a few peeps around the way with tha 20000k blubs and its bright as hell i dont know nothing about projectors which is why im tryin to find something else. and how did u get the inside of ur corners blk did u take it apart and sprayed it? Just so u know ur car was the car that made me want to try and make and make mine look better... good job bro

ive got a 92 gxe wit a cherrybomb pro series on tha back its sick!!!:eek:
i strongly recomend cherrybomb if u wanna be "loud n proud" with out settin of too many car alarms at night ahah:laugh:

I've installed hid kits on 2 of my cars and haven't even been looked at by cops as it produces "LESS GLARE" than the original halogens that were originally there.

Lately here in California, I see more and more people dropping kits into their cars and blinding me. I have a surprise for them. While I produce no glare during low beam operation, When I turn on my high and those shields drop while behind the moron who was blinding me, they usually have to pull over. (I'll most likely get shot, LOL)

Cheap camera makes it look bad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt8sFN7U8lE

See my thread prior to installing the h3c hid fogs and side light mod for better pictures. http://forums.maxima.org/infiniti-i3...lcome-lol.html

nice setup man. glad to see someone doing it the right way. how much did all that run you?

aint that the truth especially being a trucker ya get those idiots coming up behind me melting my face lighting up the whole inside of my cab so image how i feel bout anything over 6,or 7k.whats even worse i was behind a fellow trucker who had 8k AND HE WANTED 10 looked good though:D

Yeah, the only colors that make sense are 3000k for fogs, 4100/4300k for headlights or fogs and 6000k for looks only. 4300k lights up the road great and feels easier on other's eyes.



Approx $400 because I wanted to make them quickly and didn't shop around much. That's for the Cefiro headlights, e46 bi-xenon projectors, e46 balasts and lights, h3c aftermarket ballasts and bulbs for fogs (very low glare as I paid for the h3c bulbs and not h3), parts for me to make my custom power harness, misc fuses and connectors to make the harness plug-in and reversible.

For those who don't know, the harness draws power directly from the battery and/or alternator. Even though the hid ballasts draw 70 watts instead of the stock 110/120 watts that the stock pair of halogens draw the start up can be very harsh as it draws way more than 120 watts.

but that's not a 3rd gen, so where does this so called "cefiro retrofit" come into play for us? :laugh:

^^^^^^^^^

actual 3rd Gen Cefiro retro!

would a small capacitor for the headlights be a good idea then?