Aight. So one of my OEM bulbs burnt out and was thinkin that this is the perfect time to do a headlight upgrade and conversion. Who's done this 9007 conversion? How do you like it? Any probs as a result? I read the sticky... seems easy enough.

What about that harness thing. Do I really need that? Will the light intensity/beam patter of 9007s w/o a harness still be better than stock 9004?

Thanks!

 

I'm really happy with the conversion.
Having a harness allows you to do the conversion without having to cut up your original wiring.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=312531

 

I did the conversion recently and I am loving the way that they came out. The headlights are much brighter and whiter now. Look at my site I posted some pictures of the results. You will see in the pictures that the left is whiter than the right. Good luck if you do this mod. It is great. http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/644275/2

 

I did this mod last weekend and it is amazing. I was tired of only having a square of light on the ground from the sucky 9004 bulbs. The 9007 beam is much beter and extends a lot farther forward. I am running a custom made wire harness with 14 ga wire and silverstar bulbs. The only thing that i changed was that i notched the bulbs instead of filing off the tabs on the headlight housing but that was just my preference. Good luck you wont regret it.

 

I read the writeup on creating/buying the harness. I know shiet about the electrical system of my max, and am sort of intimidated here. I know I can do the conversion, (that seems pretty easy), but I dunno about the harness part. I can always go BUY a harness but that'll cost like $40.

That's why I am asking about ignoring the harness portion. I've screwed up my Max on a few DIY applications and wanna reduce the risk of a mess up occuring again.

 

You do not want to run 9007 bulbs with the current harness. You will burn out your electrical system and really mess up your car. You should read everything in that first post because they talk about what will happen if you try to do what your talking about. I hope this helps.

 

^ No the stock harnes can take regular wattage 9007. The rating for 9004 is 45/65...and for 9007 55/65. The stock wires are the same gauge for both high and low. This means that the stock wires can handle 65 watts no problem. The only thing that may need to be changed is the fuses. I have (1) 10 amp for both low beams and (1) 15 amp for both high beams. no problems.....do it up! BTW I've been driving the 96 (stock lights) and it sucks.

 

wait a minute. new fuses? explain this part. Do I have to purchase these? Is this part of the upgraded harness? Damn, I'm such a noob.

 

You should never change the fuses to a larger amperage. They are there to protect the wires. If you overload the circuit it blows, but if you install a bigger fuse and overload the circuit you melt the wiring and get a big mess.

I have seen people run 80W bulbs on stock wiring with no problem although i don't recommend it. As for the 9007 bulbs you don't have to worry, but you will get more output from them if you run bigger wiring.

 

Hey 4GenMaxMan how did you put in the bulbs without cutting the notch of the housings i need to know real bad

 

After you get the 9007 bulbs put them next to your 9004 and look at the notches. The small one in top is the same but the other two wider ones are different. I think the ones on the 9007 are more to the right. You will be able to see the difference. I just marked the 9007 where the notch should be and made one with my dremmel tool and a small grinding bit. I just didnt want to mess with the housings and it took about 30 seconds with the dremmel. One of the best tools I ever bought.

 

alright im gonna do this but i have another question 4GenMaxMan what the hell did was the hot glue in the socket for i cant figure that one out(in the how to section where the guy made the new harneses) he put the glue in the socket)

 

I did the conversion and it seems pertty good. Better than stock although I STILL need to reaim them....

As far as the harness, I recommend doing it. I bought a 9007 harness from SUVLIGHTS.COM and it's pretty good. The only thing is that I've had problems with the bulb connectors being flaky. I can't seem to fix it, but it hasn't been a problem while driving so I've ignored it. I had to swap two of the wires, so I must ahve loosened something up, but I have tried bending the connectors a bit to keep them on there solidly, and it doesn't seem to help....very odd. Other than that the harness is of excellent quality....nice Bosch relays too.

I recommend doing the harness, but more just because the stock wiring is kinda undersized to begin with. There shouldn't be any problem with doing 9007's on the stock wiring any more than there would be problems with 9004s.

 

Im pretty sure the hot glue was just to keep out water and dirt from where he made the new connections. He was making a plug and play harness where as I spliced into the stock wiring with my new harness.

 

The glue is to close the socket so the water can't get into it. I guess
electrical tape to cover it.

 

I said 'may' need to upgrade the stock fuse, but only for the low beam. This is because the extra 10 watts may draw too many amps, but it may not be needed. Its safe to use the same fuse as the high beam fuse size since the gauge of wire is the same.


I used the hot glue because 1) it held the wires to the base, like a strain relief and 2) to keep water/dirt out. If I had the apropreiate connectors with wires I would not have done that, I just felt like making it all from scratch.

 

Anyone know how to upgrade the harness and still keep the Daytime running lights?

 

i have a 9004 hid kit, whay do you thnk the results would be if i changed to 9007 hid bulbs? would it create less glare and inprove the lighting in that situation??

 

alright guys the extra 20 watts = an extra 1.8 amps on low beam the wires will hold up but the switch is what u all should be worried about.

 

The switch on the stalk?

 

Nice 5 year bump.

 

That's what I get for searching? Some people say to stick with 9004 bulbs and get extravision bulbs while others say to get a upgraded wiring harness and extravision bulbs. The stock lights suck. There's no other way to put it. Last night I was driving in the rain and I was just blindly aiming down the road. So what's the best setup besides going all out with a hid retrofit? Is it the 9007 conversion?

 

i did the 9007 conversion and went w/ the 97-99 headlights on my 96 SE. It was an easy upgrade and much better light output. since you have a 99 you might want to clean your headlights w/ brasso if they look dull.

 

Projector retrof....oh wait


Yeah, the stock 96 headlights suck something terrible, I literally couldn't tell if my lights were on in the rain.

Do the 9007 conversion and make your own harness, it's the cheapest way to get a little more light on the road without glaring. Notch the bulbs like 4GenMaxMan, that way you'll be able to convert back to stock when/if you want to sell the max.

 

My headlights are clear I just noticed the light output is low. I find myself checking if the lights are on at night. I like the idea of notching the bulb. I read that the two wires just need to be swapped and no new harness is needed?

 

yep, i just cut the wires and swapped them.

 

Did your light output change as much as it would if you used a harness?

 

A harness won't make a difference in output, it just gives you a margin of safety so you don't fry your stock wiring accidentally.

 

Is this a real package. The picture looks different from what I've seen online. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CKGAV6

 

those look like stock replacements-you probably won't notice a difference. i went w/ the uhp's in the orange package.

 

it will work no prob by just puttin a larger fuse in ive seen this done with someone i know did it over a year ago with no problems and u save some cash by not buying stuff u dont need

 

 

has nebody used the 9004 super star headlights w/ the h3 silverstar fog light? they seem like the best bulbs for the stock harness but i just wanted to check.