Domo Kun

i've been here at work for about 2.5 hours and i get the phone call... guys stole two sets of HIDs from a parking lot WITH security... guy got plates of thief and called cops... cops are pickign him/her up as i type... THIRD FUCING time this has happened to me this calendar year... i cant wait to call INS. company, who knows what will happen now, probably get dropped for 3 claims in 9 months. Definite hood repainting and i ASSUME hood damage.

I HATE this car... i really do. i may break down and just get AE light and keep 02/03 bumper and fuc the bumper gap. any insight into installation for a body shop to follow would be GREATLY appreciated...

this happened in Weehawken, NJ by the way.

someone said there is place in Newark that does good AE light installation for 02/03. Whats the number and location and price?

HowUDoinStratch

dude i am sorry, i had it happen to me 3 times also. i am getting 2001 headlights, all it needs is some rewiring. i am in nyc, and have a person who does it.

KLOOGY

iTrader: (12)

Im originally from NY, and its amazing how out of control HID theft is over there ! I dont really even worry about it out here. Im sure it happens everywhere, but the Tri-state area is out of control.

F23A4

WOW!! I work in Weehawken (Harbor Blvd) and its exactly the reason why I take two NJ Transit trains and one shuttle bus to work rather than drive my Max.

I'm sorry that happened to you. If I can ask, where in Weehawken did this occur?

Anuj

contact Guzo for the place in Newark that does it

number2jcb

iTrader: (2)

I came out to my car Saturday morning to find my passenger side headlight half way out, the fender bent in where it meets the headlight, hood scratched, and bumber cover loose. Luckily for me the head light still works and I put it back together so i can drive at night. They went for the driver's side too but didn't get too far. Apparently they were amateurs or something scared them away. They cracked the plastic casing of the passenger light so I need a new light. Took my car to get an estimate.... $2,764.87! On a more positive note, at least they will be getting rid of all those paint chips at the front of the hood. What a day. I have some pics at home, I will post later.

Here's my question... If they took both lights, do the fog lamps still work so you can drive home that night?

Anuj

yes fogs work...u keep the headlights on the ON position and just turn the **** for the fogs (i had to drive like that twice for an emergency)

I am not surprised to see it coming out to 2700 dollars. On my car it came out to $4496.03

CRAZY SH*T

PoLo

iTrader: (7)

i've been driving w/no headlights all weekend..luckily it wasn't because of theft (strobes)...although everyone knows about this already. i park my car some guy said "you got hit up for the lights too" and when i got back to my car, some kids were pointing and said "damn, they taking them everywhere"

didn't know it was that spread out. soon this will be more popular than the camel cigarettes (this is referring to a survey done a couple years back, when more kids knew the camel cigarette character than mickey mouse....gotta love advertisements)

F23A4

The amazing thing (to me) is how concentrated this Maxima/TL HID theft is: Only in the NY Metropolitan Area; not LA! not Miami! not Chicago! Not Philly, Boston or DC!! Just the vicinity of NYC - the least "car-centric" part of the country! Amazing!!

2k3blk6spd

I know how you feel they took mine for the second time in less than 4 months on thursday night.I just dropped it off at the body shop to put in the ae lights.But at least they got the plate numbers of those *****es that took yours.

Maximus03SE

These probably belong to one of you guys

Right headlight

Left headlight

Notice that the seller is from NY

It's encouraging that after a 10 day auction, no one has bid on them. If people stop buying them from these guys, they'll stop stealing them

GuZo

iTrader: (6)

Since you asked for the bodyshop's # here it is (973) 344-0102
Name of the bodyshop is MotorCity.
Ask for Manny or Mario.

They have fixed my car due to headlight theft twice and I have nothing but great things to say about them.

Here's a pic of my car, you can't really see that close, but you get the idea.

Domo Kun

thanks... do you know how much it was for AE swap? maybe i'll get insurance to replace lights and fix hood and have this place swap out lights only..

GuZo

iTrader: (6)

Depends, is your car a lease?

PM ME

vito1281

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing! It IS funny how it's only in the NYC/NJ area, yet places like Cali, where car racing and modification is very popular, are unscathed. I guess NYC has too many crooks. It's a grimy city in that regard. Way too much shady **** goes down there.

Every time I visit my gf there (Brooklyn), I always see plenty of Maximas with either 1 headlight missing or having 01/AE headlights installed. It's kind of ridiculous at this point, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. It's like you can't have nice stuff anymore cause someone out there will want to take it from you. Cowardly!

Domo Kun

you've been PM'ed

CJLax

Well I just got my car back this weekend and spent some time figuring what I was going to do to secure these lights. I know that they will take them again real soon. I've made contigency plans by purchasing a set of 2001 lights to be installed at a later date. I purchased some wire mesh which I installed behind the grill and also covered the gap when you open the hood, between the radiator and grill. I also wrapped these lights with 100 pound weight metal wire. They will destroy the car but thats what insurance is all about. I just can't stand there and not give these sob's a hard time. There is so much money to be made here especially by the Dealer, Rental Company, Collision Shop, and the parts Dept. Nissan has made quite a side market due to these lights. $1500 for OEM as opposed to $300 for 2001. Dealer would not install 2001 lights. Typical fix is around $3000 for little to no damage all the way to who knows for heavely damaged cars. Darn shame. The rates and bad press will lead to the decline in sales if this keeps up. After rewiring these lights I see were the ignitor is (ballast). Nissan has come out with a rewire kit so why can't they relocate the ballast to a hard to reach spot within engine bay and extend the wires to the lights?
Make it more difficult and hopefully the crime will die down. Love the car then hate the hassles of it. Come on Nissan DO THE RIGHT THING!!!

Iron Scimitar

iTrader: (38)

DAMN, that's crazy! HID theft?? I've never heard of anything like that b4. I'll be damned if some a$$hole takes my ballast and bulbs. they'd have to be under the hood for a good amount of time b4 i or someone else would notice. I'm sorry for your loss.

Audtatious

Until something is put on the books making owning these stolen HID's more costly, this is going to continue to happen. They have outlawed HID kits, so more of the factory units will end up being taken. I say let the law pull over any vehicle with HIDs that did not come that way from the factory. If they are running bulbs/ballast from a factory setup and don't have a receipt from a junk yard, their cars should be impounded and sold at auction!!!

dunross

Sorry to hear about your trouble. My hid's got ripped about a month ago. My body guy fixed me up with AE lights and an 01 bumper so the gap is not an issue. It looks perfect. If you want to go this route take your car to Spina's in Hoboken. Good luck.

F23A4

It's a total shame when you can't enjoy the fruits of your labor because some ********(s) may take it away from you.

I guess if thieves were taking both the HIDs and VQ35DE motors from 2K2/3 Maximas (argument sake), we'd "might as well" just buy a Y2K/2k1 Maxima and call it a day. Cause friggin' beyond those two features they're the same car!!!

This is akin to giving up freedom for the sake of security; lose-lose proposition (Sorry for the ramble but, Man! This is bumming me out!)

SEDaveMax

iTrader: (1)

Check out the seller's feedback and other items they've sold in the past. I am really sorry to hear about your loss. I am in Ca and have not heard of this. Turbo Buicks get stolen quite often over here. Owning one I know how it is when you can't even enjoy your car because you're too worried about some jerkoff stealing your ride or something off of it.

Dave

02 Maxima SE
86 T-type Stolen,vin. switched,sold and recovered totalled 4,300mi later.

I think we all need one of these...lol

http://www.fondlepig.com/misc/big_black_guy.htm

Colonel

Is there any reason why we could not personally extend the wire length? Does anybody know if that would cause current drops or other anomolies in operation? I think thats the best solution.

Make a "wire" harness with m/f sides that allow you to move the balast w/in a certain length of the front.

Thoughts?

lhercules

iTrader: (14)

Moving the ballast would not help because the thieves would not know that the harness wires in your car were modified. This would only result in further damage.

SEDaveMax

iTrader: (1)

Is there a way you could modify a pair of 00-01 housings using the 02-03 hardware so you could still have HID's with the look of halagens. If a thief see's 00-01 housings he'll probably not bother unless you're seen at night. Just a thought.

Dave
02 Maxima SE