For those who have OEM HIDs, do you know what is the lifetime of these bulbs in terms of hours? I read somewhere that if you have to change a burn out bulb, the cost can be very high because you now have to remove the bumper in order to gain access, since the anti-theft brackets were installed by Nissan a couple of years ago. How much do the bulbs cost?

If you really own a 5.5 gen, you should know you don't need to remove the bumper. You would need to remove the brackets but you can do that yourself (I won't tell you how). It shouldn't cost you anything but the price of the bulbs.

true. taking out the headlight housing is a walk in the park. check housecor's website (http://www.innerbean.com/housecor). once the headlight housing is removed you unscrew the backing and pinch the wire clip that holds the bulb in place, somewhat like a fog light bulb. you can get HID bulbs from auto stores, but I would probably recommend getting them online.

I have a used set for sale if anyone is interested.... $100 for both, original OEM bulbs.
Lam

very touchy subject due to past thefts but if it is your car and hopefully you are not trying to gauge how to steal them; but just look at them. It is the most self explainatory, easy thing in the world.

I am the true owner of 3 Maximas -- 92, 97 and 03. I appreciate your concerns about stolen HIDs; so do I as I live in metro New York but I am lucky enough to be living in a good area and have a house with a 2-car garage. However, I am not handy and leave everything for the mechanic, including wiper and oil changes.

I don't need to change the HID bulbs, and hope I never will for the life of the car (I usually keep my cars for about 10 years). My 97 Max still has original headlight bulbs, and I think my 03 bulbs will last just as long, if not longer.

it's said that hid bulbs will outlast the life of your car with normal usage. normally hid bulbs have a life of about 3000hours or so. i suggest getting them from ebay instead of going to dealer they'll charge a bunch!

Thanks for the info. But 3000 hours is not really that long. If you drive 3 hours a day with HIDs on, the bulbs will only last 1000 days, which is less than 3 years. So much for the life of the car.

I have 145K on my 2k3. I still have the original bulbs.

wtf??? 145k?? you're talking miles right?? i'm at around 50k and I thought that was high for an 03...geez