I have a crimson blaze (red) 1999 SE-Limited and
I was wondering if anyone is running yellow foglights on their Max. I found the Hella Yellow Star 85W H3's online and was wondering if anyone else had a pic of what they look like and if they have had any problems with the bulb. Thanks in advance. These bulbs are $25.oo for the pair by the way.

 

id stay away from the 85watt bulbs, they will melt the $hit out of your stock fogs beacause they are plastic. 55watt is the highest you should go in your fogs.

as for the hella yellow stars, they look really good up close but the further away you go from them they look white. I have them in 85watt for my stock 96 max GLASS fogs and not one problem. Im now running PIAA SW 85watt and its like having on another set of headlights

my 2cents!!

 

Thanks for the info ny96maxse. Did glass fogs come with the 96 models? Are they interchangeable and will I have to go glass to upgrade the fogs or even the headlights for that matter? Again thanks for the help.

 

99 max's have plastic foglights?

 

No, 1997-1999 also have glass fogs. But, no matter glass or plastic, if the wattage is too high, you could also shatter the glass. 85w should be fine, however.

 

Maxima foglamps from 1989 to 1999 have glass lenses. The housing material is irrelevant in this case. Only 2000+ models have the round plastic lenses. The problem with running 85W bulbs is not so much that they melt the housings, but rather that they heat the glass so much that when cold water strikes them, they crack due to thermal shock. I would advise against using them, as would many others here. But, as far as advice on this BBS goes, there will be the few that have not had their lenses crack that will tell you that it's ok to run 85W bulbs. It's YOUR gamble.

Also, 85W bulbs tend not to last long...the high wattage causes the bulb filaments to oxidize faster and blow out.

If you're an owner of a 2000+ model, 85W foglamp bulbs are REALLY a bad idea.

 

Has anyone tried to use a yellow paint on the inside
of fog light to creat a yellow look?

It may look sharp.

I know it goes against the clearing of len's,but people
ussually clear to be different and that's what you
would be doing.

Think about it,E

 

I have PIAA Ion Crystal H3 bulbs in my fog lights...It's sort of like a "broken" yellow light...

The bulbs are supposed to shine out a pure yellow, but the lens distorts the lights from the bulbs...

it's almost like yellow with splotches of non-yellow...

I wonder if the Hella yellowstars will be the same...

 

I have had the Hella Yellowstars in my foglamps. When you look at the lamps from in front of the car, there is distortion of color. It is probably due to the difraction of the light as it passes through the etched surface of the lens. As you all remember from high school, difraction is the "re-directing" of waves, and in doing this, the speed of the light is changed...with speed, so does frequency and color.

 

Here is how they look
85W Hella Yellow Stars
I have been running them for months with no problems, no melting

 

Hey what kind of head light bulbs you running in there, I like those.

 

One person here painted the lens using yellow paint (specialty) I think black sunshine?
They have the paint at www.autodynamic.com