I was shopping to upgrade hid low beam headlights and I think I will be going for PIAA H1 Plasma spark Blue or PIAA H4 Plasma spark Blue. First, besides the blue tint that these emit what makes these so expensive compared to the stock headlights?

At the bottom of the page they mention, "The PIAA Plasma Spark Blue H1 headlight bulbs is intended for off road and show purpose, NOT for street use." Why are these illegal? Are these too bright or distracting? Also, how safe (friendly) are these kind of bulbs to the electrical system?

What's the best kind (brand/model) of "legal" headlights for 2k3 max? What would you get?-

 

You do realize that your Max has HID headlights, right?

 

yeah I know... I am looking to upgrade to better one's.

 

But not fake HIDs, real ones. PIAAs, Catz, etc. are not real HID headlights, just bulbs. The bulbs you require are D2R and someone on the org sells them for about $300/pr depending on wavelength (colour).

 

OK, after reading a bit, if I understood it correctly, in order to get the mercedes kinda hid effect I need a kit like hanabi 6000k... right? Or if I want to just upgrade bulbs, I should get something like 6,000K Philips Ultinon right?

 

Email Clipse. He has a kick *** set of aftermarket HIDs for sale
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....2&pagenumber=1

 

Yeah I gotta kick-azz 6000K H3 HID foglight kit for sale. check out the link for details...

 

Question. The higher the K rating, the more intense?

 

Nope.

IIRC, Higher Kelvin = Bluer light = Dimmer Output.

 

our HID at 4300K is the brightest....if u go up to 6000k or higher...u will just get the bluish or purpleish color....which looks like bimmers ...of course without the projectors.....i am going to try retrofit one of the audi a4 projector into the maxima....i will get pix if i decicde to do them...

 

The HID bulb is a D2R in the '02-'03 Maxima. Most people tend to upgrade them to a different K bulb (Stock is 4150K and some will upgrade to 6,000 K). But bear in mind, the K refers to the color, not the brightness. The most optimal K in terms of brightness is 4000-5000.

 

That's the funniest thing I heard since "Rolling down the blizzack"

Oh, as far as the color temp I heard that MB & BMW do not have a higher temp bulb but rather the projector housing causes the bluish tint without sacrificing lumens...true

 

It has something to do with the quartz lens that actually focuses the beam or something. It somehow breaks the light down into different wavelengths. If you stand directly in front of the beam, it is pure white. A lil off to the side, that's when you get the bluish tint. And you can actually get higher Kelvin rated bulbs without sacrificing lumens. Just much more expensive.