I was driving home tonight, and noticed a car behind me with small,circular blue lights. At first I thought the driver had forgotten to turn on his headlights, and that he only had weak fog lights on, because there was hardly any light actually hitting the road. The closer he got, the more apparent it became that the headlights were not functioning properly. Well, as the car got closer, and passed me, I realized the car was a 5th gen Maxima, with those projector headlights that have been mentioned in many threads and posts here on the org!! As he passed me, I got a first hand chance to compare my 02/03 HID's, with those Projector-lens headlights. All I can say is, the difference was incredible!! In front of my car, ultra bright-white light, illuminating EVERYTHING on the road in front of me. In front of the other Max, the road was basically DARK!! SCARY!! Those lights are terrible!! Maybe he thinks he looks cool in the daytime, but at night, he is essentially driving blind!! My STOCK 2000 headlights with STOCK BULBS put out significantly more light than those projectors!! And I thought my stock lights were really sh#ty. My advice to everyone, stay away from these. They do not have anywhere near enough light output to see the road clearly in clear weather. Imagine how bad they are when it's foggy, raining, snowing, etc!!

 

So not only are they unattractive, they are non-functional as well.

 

I've said this 2 million times. I took them off the next day! =(

 

not sure why you'd compare your hid's to ebay lights anyway. stock 2k-1 vs. those projectors makes a bit more sense. seems to me like comparing something like berk or frankencar intake with cheap ebay ones

 

Seems to me like hes comparing it to the only thing he can make a comparison on the road at that time to, - ie his own lights since they were side by side *shrug*

 

true. but even regular lights even with brighter bulbs would still look like crap comparing to hid's

nevertheless, it's always nice to have some kind of feedback. so i think it's all good

 

Eh. The HIDs on the Maxima are better than stock 2k-2k1 or the PIAA (had 'em both on my 2k1). But Nissan's HIDs can't touch the quality of the luxo-models like my dad's Acura TL or something. But the projectors just look like a bad design from the start. All show. (or not, as the case may be)

 

Thats why the projectors cost 220$ and the 2k2 2k3 HIDS go for 1400$. I got those "crappy" projectors on my car now and to me they seem to put out the same light as my factory 2000 headlights. Yes these projectors are far from the best, but they still are alot better than the 2000 style lights. I think.

 

ive laways wanted to see these projectors on a white max. do u have the ones w/the black or chrome housing? can u post a pic?

 

my friend has projector lights on his accord and he has to drive with his highbeams on. even with them on, he gets less output than stock driving lights.

 

I've had HID ballasts and D2R HID bulbs in my AE 01 headlights, and lemme tell ya. NOTHING came close as far as light out put went. I could see quarter mile away pretty much, driving through a forest was scary as you could see every animal's eyes that was hiding in the bushes. I took them out cause I was affraid I was going to get pulled over. The HID "kit" I had was my own that I put togheter, it was originally pieces off 02 TL Type S. I lost my high beams in the process of the install, but even with just one setting with the HIDs the light output would put any headlight to shame. Felt like I had 2 very bright spot lights on my car. I also had HID fog lights at the same time to match the fogs with headlights, it was very pimp, and very white infront of the car. I wouldn't do anything else but 02-03 headlights, HID is pimp.

 

I didn't pay $1400 from the stealership, got mine from Performance_Depot for
$598, brand new in the box. Even regular lights (non-HID's) put a noticable amount of light down on the road. Those projectors were equivalent to a pair of flashlights, in light output!! I would not be surprised if a cop would notice the insufficient headlight output, and pull that Maxima over one of these days!!

 

You can always change the Bulbs to PI Super Plasma bulbs, at 55watts they put out a very strong beam, my high beams are at 100watts or 80.. pretty f** blinding... better light out put then my explorer lights hi or low.. change the bulbs dude.

 

Pretty much ALL aftermarket projector headlamps have absolutely HORRIBLE optics. The best thing to do with these aftermarket headlamps is to take the stock projector out and swap it with an OEM HID projector from another car. Not that hard to do..and you'll get BMW/Audi/Benz quality optics in your made-for-a-maxima housing.

 

aren't the stock bulbs in those ebay projectors an H3 bulb anyway??? those ARE foglights, just higher...

 

at least they kinda look cool during the day...

 

I agree, I couldn't live with my stock 2k lights, but didn't want to pay for HID's. I think they look great in the day time and I'll probably put a HID kit in em eventually to make them brighter.

 

Why would you want to pay ~$299 for the sh#ty projectors , then throw in another $300-$800 for HID's/ballasts/ignitors/wiring harnesses, plus time, effort, and custom fabrication, when for $598 you can have direct fit, works perfect out-of-the-box, 02/03 HID replica's ?? Oh well, it is your choice after all

 

Interesting thread.... but I'm not a big fan of projector lights anyway... cuz of illumination issues and cop issues (here in VA) ... but to each his own..

 

How could you compare the hids in our Maxima's to the PROJECTORS in an Acura TL?