Hey all.

I've got a 98 SE Auto and I'm wondering about the clear lights on either side of the headlights. On my cousin's 3rd-gen, these lights are bona-fine cornering lamps -- they brightly light the corner of the car when the blinker is turned on. But on my 98 SE I don't see any increase in the intensity of the light from these babies when I flip on the blinker.

I had heard that the DOT only allows four lights to be on simultaneously -- the reason the fog lights cut out for low beam. Is having foglights why my cornering lights don't corner?

Maybe there's a mod to fix my cornering lights. Right now, they're as impotent as a Nevada boxing commissioner.

-- Brian R.

 

Sorry, but they did away with the corner light feature in 97. The interesting part is that the light is still a dual filament bulb, but the 27w part is never used. Several people have converted the harness so that the 27w filament is on constant and the 8w side is unused, making the corner lights bright all the time.

 

go to http://web2.airmail.net/scutchen/max_faq/ for instructions on how to change your harness to go bright all the time. You can alternatively (so i hear) just buy a single filament bulb and file off one of the side posts to make it fit in the socket and this is said to work.

 

and i'm pretty sure cheston's got instructions on his site on how to do the rewire to make them real cornering lamps.

http://www.maximadriver.com..
courtesy of Chebosto
check it out.
go to the how2 sec...

Ant

 

As I've been preaching for months now, Nissan did this because the cornering light causes glare and distracts other drivers. They left the dual filament bulb in because of the cost issue. It wasn't worth designing a new bulb housing just to get rid of a feature.

 

Interesting. So have other manufacturers pulled their cornering lights? I see them on other cars -- mostly older American luxo-boats. Can't think of any newer machines with them.

If glare and distraction were such an issue, why are HIDs okay?

I often have a hard time seeing a turnoff at night. I think I'll look into hooking up the cornering lights to do their original function.

I imagine cornering lights would be a real boon to those with tinted front side windows. I used to have a Mustang with tint up there -- had to roll the window down to see sometimes.

-- Brian R.

 

"I see them on other cars -- mostly older American luxo-boats. Can't think of any newer machines with them."
There's a reason for all this.

"If glare and distraction were such an issue, why are HIDs okay?"
OEM HID systems adhere to European specifications. They have a sharp cutoff at around the bumper-line so that there is minimal glare to oncoming cars.

"I often have a hard time seeing a turnoff at night. I think I'll look into hooking up the cornering lights to do their original function."
Eurospec headlamps (HID or not) cast the proper amount of light to the sides. If the Maxima was not cursed with these 9004s this would not be a problem for you.

"I imagine cornering lights would be a real boon to those with tinted front side windows. I used to have a Mustang with tint up there -- had to roll the window down to see sometimes."
This is why there are laws against window tint.