7th Generation Maxima (2009-2015) Come in and talk about the 7th generation Maxima

HID/Headlight/Foglight combo thread.

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Old Oct 13, 2009 | 08:50 PM
  #1  
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HID/Headlight/Foglight combo thread.

I have the 09 S model and i want to change my headlights to blue HID's. I do not have much knowledge on lights. I often see HID conversion kits which are expensive and then i see headlight bulbs which do not seem that expensive. With the s model can i just buy blue HID bulbs?
Old Oct 13, 2009 | 09:07 PM
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Most of the time the HID bulbs output are the same or worst than the stock bulb. Check out ddmtuning.com, they have some real good prices. Also heres a link for the bulb sizes:

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...RG-Results.htm
Old Oct 13, 2009 | 09:21 PM
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Thanks but i think i am confused. Maybe it is Xenon that I am looking for. I want the front headlights to be that bright blue color??
Old Oct 13, 2009 | 10:27 PM
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Originally Posted by longisland09maxima
Thanks but i think i am confused. Maybe it is Xenon that I am looking for. I want the front headlights to be that bright blue color??
Well with HID the higher the kelvin the bluer it will be, however less light will be produced thus driving at night will be a little tricky. 8000k probably what you want.

Here is a chart I swiped off a web site:

Colour
Temp (K) Description:
3000k Yellow light (suitable for fog lights)
4300k White light with tinges of yellow.
5000K PURE WHITE LIGHT.
6000K White light with tinges of blue
8000K Distinct blue color light
10000K Bluish-green light
12000K Bluish-purplish light.


Last edited by MaxLoverAz; Oct 13, 2009 at 10:31 PM.
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 06:17 AM
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i agree i had 8000k hid lights in my other car and they put out a nice bluish color
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 07:49 AM
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Originally Posted by MaxLoverAz
Well with HID the higher the kelvin the bluer it will be, however less light will be produced thus driving at night will be a little tricky. 8000k probably what you want.

Here is a chart I swiped off a web site:

Colour
Temp (K) Description:
3000k Yellow light (suitable for fog lights)
4300k White light with tinges of yellow.
5000K PURE WHITE LIGHT.
6000K White light with tinges of blue
8000K Distinct blue color light
10000K Bluish-green light
12000K Bluish-purplish light.

Hi, I actually have the same question. I have 09 Maxima S as well. I would like to get the HID and fog lights. I dont mind getting the kit and the whole nine yards, but which one is good? There seems to be quite a few out there and its all confusing. Who makes the most reliable and safe HID kits/bulbs. By safe I mean something that is not going to mess up the electrical system in my car and the kind of bulbs that won't blow up my car's fuse like every month. This actually happened to me before.

Going by your post, I like the 6000K for the head lights and fog lights. I guess I would need to buy kit for fog lights as well. My car did not come with fog lights. I do not mind spending a few extra bucks if I know the product is like I mentioned earlier "reliable and safe". Any help will be appreciated. Thanks guys.
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 08:05 AM
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Originally Posted by slvr_4dsc
Hi, I actually have the same question. I have 09 Maxima S as well. I would like to get the HID and fog lights. I dont mind getting the kit and the whole nine yards, but which one is good? There seems to be quite a few out there and its all confusing. Who makes the most reliable and safe HID kits/bulbs. By safe I mean something that is not going to mess up the electrical system in my car and the kind of bulbs that won't blow up my car's fuse like every month. This actually happened to me before.

Going by your post, I like the 6000K for the head lights and fog lights. I guess I would need to buy kit for fog lights as well. My car did not come with fog lights. I do not mind spending a few extra bucks if I know the product is like I mentioned earlier "reliable and safe". Any help will be appreciated. Thanks guys.

I apopreciate all of the responses but this is where I am getting confused. Do I need to buy a "kit" like a conversion kit or can I just buy these bulbs pull out the old ones and replace them? Can somebody please clarify for me?
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 08:24 AM
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you have to buy the complete kit. the bulb and ballast. i got mine from CARiD.com
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 08:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Kmoney
you have to buy the complete kit. the bulb and ballast. i got mine from CARiD.com
Hi Kmoney,

I was just looking through your album. Nice car! I am curious what kind of HIDs you got on them. I mean how many Ks for headlight and fog lights. Did your car come with the fog lights or you installed them yourself? Thanks.
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 09:17 AM
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Originally Posted by longisland09maxima
I apopreciate all of the responses but this is where I am getting confused. Do I need to buy a "kit" like a conversion kit or can I just buy these bulbs pull out the old ones and replace them? Can somebody please clarify for me?
You will require the kit to get the actual benefits of the HID lights. One site that I have mentioned before and have dealed with personally is www.vvme.com which has one of the lowest prices I could find but was still a high quality product. Honestly, the more you pay for HID kits the more you waste your money. You are paying for 2 HID bulbs, 2 ballasts, and some wires to go from the ballasts to the bulbs. These aren't expensive products to buy individually so why would the be so expensive as a kit? Interesting........

Last edited by Mreim769; Oct 14, 2009 at 09:22 AM.
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 09:20 AM
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If your 09 has HID's already from the factory you can simply buy new HID bulbs. The OEM HID's are usually around 4300k for the warm white color. If you check out the group deal section there is a company that offers a complete HID kit for $60 bucks which I bought 2 sets from, 1 for the headlights and the other for fogs. That color chart above is pretty close to most HID color scales and with the group deal I went with 8000k which gave me a blueish purple light. Looks great. Here's a pic.
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 09:54 AM
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I've only ever bought my HID off xenondepot.com, found them on clublexus and never read a bad review about them, other places or people that sell HID kits, I read many times about bad bulbs or a faulty ballast, so I would rather pay a little more and not have any problems.

You can even read up on clublexus about them, this is their website with the volt 6000k bulbs http://www.kbcarstuff.com/Volt_HID_6...s_p/vdp-6k.htm, all plug and play, hardest part is mounting and zip tieing the ballast and extra wires in place, you can email them and ask for the 8000k bulbs with the kit
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 10:15 AM
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hey slvr 4dsc, they are Notto® SE HID Kits i got from CARiD.com and its 10k factory skyline(produce bluish/purple color). it comes with everything you need and cost $150 and as for the foglight, its an aftermarket projector HID ready foglight with cutt-off line with 6k hid kit. the foglight color look green cuz of the camera. hope this helps..
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 10:29 AM
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Originally Posted by woody6212
If your 09 has HID's already from the factory you can simply buy new HID bulbs. The OEM HID's are usually around 4300k for the warm white color. If you check out the group deal section there is a company that offers a complete HID kit for $60 bucks which I bought 2 sets from, 1 for the headlights and the other for fogs. That color chart above is pretty close to most HID color scales and with the group deal I went with 8000k which gave me a blueish purple light. Looks great. Here's a pic.
How would I know if the 09 S model has HID lights
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 10:43 AM
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The S doesn't come with HID only the SV with Technology Package/Premium/Sport from the factory.

Here's my question:

I am looking at adding the stock ballast and D2S bulbs to my SV. If I were to add the Bulb Holders for the D2S to the Halogen housing, would this work (epoxying bulb holder to stock housing)? I have found stock Ballasts, Bulb Holders and bulbs. Just don't know if this is worth the hassle over getting Rebased D2S bulbs with non stock ballasts. Any input would be great.

-Rich
Old Oct 14, 2009 | 11:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Kmoney
hey slvr 4dsc, they are Notto® SE HID Kits i got from CARiD.com and its 10k factory skyline(produce bluish/purple color). it comes with everything you need and cost $150 and as for the foglight, its an aftermarket projector HID ready foglight with cutt-off line with 6k hid kit. the foglight color look green cuz of the camera. hope this helps..
Thank you...
Old Oct 28, 2009 | 04:40 PM
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Here u go bro for 130$ you get the hole kit to convert your lights to any color HID u want.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/H11-X...Q5fAccessories

Last edited by MaxPwer09; Oct 28, 2009 at 04:43 PM.
Old Oct 28, 2009 | 04:56 PM
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Originally Posted by longisland09maxima
I have the 09 S model and i want to change my headlights to blue HID's. I do not have much knowledge on lights. I often see HID conversion kits which are expensive and then i see headlight bulbs which do not seem that expensive. With the s model can i just buy blue HID bulbs?

I also have the 09 S model and yes you can upgrade to HID's. I just upgraded mine to 8k's. As to being illegal, eh, Ive passed state troopers and county and they havent' blinked twice at me so far.

As for visibilty, if you have poor night vision. You might wanna go with 5k for a purer white or 6k if you really want a bluish light. 8k really is much darker. And yes you need to buy a kit, not only does it include the bulbs but ballast cables.

Oh and btw, to get to the bulbs you need to go in threw the wheel wells. Not really hard, more of a pain.

Good Luck man...
Old Oct 28, 2009 | 07:17 PM
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this is prob the easiest thing you could do i did it already got the 5000k make sure you get the slim ballast those last longer and there easier to fit in and look perfectly stock
Old Oct 28, 2009 | 07:56 PM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Dude how do rate the light output?

I ordered the 10000K NOTTO SE kit and will be installing it on the weekend.

My friends say that I wont be able to see anything at night.

Is that true?

And yeah whats the probability of getting pulled over?
the 1000k is not actually 10k. i spoke to the sales man and he said the 10k is 8k and it produce blueish/purple color. i can see very good at night and i have had the light for a month now and never got pulled over.
Old Oct 28, 2009 | 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by longisland09maxima
How would I know if the 09 S model has HID lights
they 09 S model dont have HID lights. for you to have one, you will need to buy the hid kits and install it..
Old Oct 28, 2009 | 09:37 PM
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Is it true that after market HIDs and fog lights will void my warranty?
Old Oct 29, 2009 | 06:11 AM
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I have the S as well it does need the conversion kit. I installed the 4300k so it was street legal. You also should use the H-11 bulb it fits right in the light housing. I bought the 8000k decided not to use them. They are yours if you want just pay me some shipping. All you will need is 2 ballasts one for each bulb and a relay kit. Let me know if I can help
Old Oct 29, 2009 | 07:35 AM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Can you put up a tutorial to install an HID kit on Maxima 09?
Honestly, I had it done at a shop. I helped him out so if something went wrong I would have a clue on what was done. Plus, the install came with a 3yr warranty. But it really was easy and could of been done at home by myself.

But the quick and ugly of it is that you should remove the wheels so you have better access to the wheel well panels. They simple enough to get out, they either have a screw or the plastic nylocks. The bulb replacement is simple pull and replug, you just need to mount the ballast and all so it doesn't move around.

Luckily we didn't have to mess with the factory relays, that was his biggest worry. Once we had the lamps installed, we turned them on for about an hour to see if any issues came up. Afterwards, just a matter of putting everything back on.

As for voiding your warranty, hmmm. If I remember how it works exactly, if something you did (aftermarket) causes an issue. Then you are held liable and your warranty(vehicle) probably won't cover it. But most good shops have there own warranties on there work and should be able to deal it.

If I get a chance I'll try to post some pics of how the 8k's look on mine.
Old Oct 29, 2009 | 03:08 PM
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Originally Posted by MaxSleeper
As for voiding your warranty, hmmm. If I remember how it works exactly, if something you did (aftermarket) causes an issue. Then you are held liable and your warranty(vehicle) probably won't cover it. But most good shops have there own warranties on there work and should be able to deal it.
Hi, Thanks for addressing the warranty issue. I would appreciate if some one can please clarify the above statement. I would like to know, to what extent is my warranty void? Lets say I install HIDs and God forbid my struts go bad, logic says this should still be covered by the warranty, but with the stealers you never know. I dont want to be in a situation where the the dealer will try to use the aftermarket product and be like my warranty is void altogether and I gotta pay for the struts myself. Thanks guys.
Old Oct 29, 2009 | 05:40 PM
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Originally Posted by slvr_4dsc
Hi, Thanks for addressing the warranty issue. I would appreciate if some one can please clarify the above statement. I would like to know, to what extent is my warranty void? Lets say I install HIDs and God forbid my struts go bad, logic says this should still be covered by the warranty, but with the stealers you never know. I dont want to be in a situation where the the dealer will try to use the aftermarket product and be like my warranty is void altogether and I gotta pay for the struts myself. Thanks guys.
Its pretty simple. The aftermarket product or installation of product has to have caused the problem. So no, adding HID's would have no effect on struts because one has nothing to do with the other. A good example is an issue i had. I put an exhaust in my cadilac CTS and kept blowing the o2 sensors. They would not pay for the new sensors because the exhaust was the cause. they could prove it. I think you can protect yourself if you have the dalership install the part. I think any reputable dealer will avoid just looking for a reason to void your warranty as that would be pretty shady.
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 05:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Mreim769
You will require the kit to get the actual benefits of the HID lights. One site that I have mentioned before and have dealed with personally is www.vvme.com which has one of the lowest prices I could find but was still a high quality product. Honestly, the more you pay for HID kits the more you waste your money. You are paying for 2 HID bulbs, 2 ballasts, and some wires to go from the ballasts to the bulbs. These aren't expensive products to buy individually so why would the be so expensive as a kit? Interesting........
Just ordered a 4300k H11 kit for my foglights from this site, great prices but steep shipping ($15). Still ended up being a good price tho, $57 shipped. I went with 4300k because I like the stock HID color and want them to match as best as possible. I can't wait to get rid of my yellow Nokya's... they were cool for awhile but now I think they are tacky. Can't wait to get the HIDS on!

Oh, and if anyone wants a set of yellow Nokya H11's let me know, I'll sell them for a decent offer.
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 06:58 AM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Dude tell me this: I ordered the H11 bulbs with my HID kit...

Maxima has the H11 as the lowbeams and 9005 as the highbeams... So this means that only my low beams will be HID? The high beams will be halogens?

What size bulbs did you order with your kit? H11? Do you also have HID on your low beams only?
yea.. you only need HID on your low beam and i order H11 for my low beam
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 07:50 AM
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Originally Posted by ANNINO
Just ordered a 4300k H11 kit for my foglights from this site, great prices but steep shipping ($15). Still ended up being a good price tho, $57 shipped. I went with 4300k because I like the stock HID color and want them to match as best as possible. I can't wait to get rid of my yellow Nokya's... they were cool for awhile but now I think they are tacky. Can't wait to get the HIDS on!

Oh, and if anyone wants a set of yellow Nokya H11's let me know, I'll sell them for a decent offer.
Glad to see someone took my advice

Also, I had to get H3C bulbs (on my 300zx) which is a specialty bulb they shipped from some random town in China. It took 4 business days to get to my door. Not bad for $15 shipping I thought.
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 08:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Mreim769
Glad to see someone took my advice

Also, I had to get H3C bulbs (on my 300zx) which is a specialty bulb they shipped from some random town in China. It took 4 business days to get to my door. Not bad for $15 shipping I thought.
Ya, that's not bad at all. And don't get me wrong, we're dealing with light bulbs - I'd rather pay a bit for shipping and guarantee they show up in perfect condition. In the scheme of things 15 bucks isn't that bad. Did you end up using a relay with your kit, or did you just plug and play with the nissan harness?

Thanks for the tip by the way, I've been searching for an inexpensive but reliable company to buy from.

Last edited by ANNINO; Oct 30, 2009 at 08:19 AM.
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 08:40 AM
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Originally Posted by longisland09maxima
I think you can protect yourself if you have the dalership install the part.
And I doubt that your dealership will install headlights that aren't DOT approved and aren't street legal.
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 09:57 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by ANNINO
Ya, that's not bad at all. And don't get me wrong, we're dealing with light bulbs - I'd rather pay a bit for shipping and guarantee they show up in perfect condition. In the scheme of things 15 bucks isn't that bad. Did you end up using a relay with your kit, or did you just plug and play with the nissan harness?

Thanks for the tip by the way, I've been searching for an inexpensive but reliable company to buy from.
Mine was completely plug and play with no relay but then again that car was also almost 20 years old. I am pretty sure that it would be the same with our fogs. Glad I could help you out

Last edited by Mreim769; Oct 30, 2009 at 10:04 AM. Reason: Edit: Brain fart. Meant relay not harness
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 07:47 PM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
I had to take off the wheels in order to reach the headlight bulb...

Is there some other way to reach it???
I think that is the only way

HID install or just changing out the H11 bulb? If you are installing HID, don't you have to pull the front bumper off for mounting the ballasts?
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 07:59 PM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Na I just mounted them inside the hood at some random place :P
do you have photos of that?
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 08:11 PM
  #35  
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in for pix of random mounting of ballasts
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 08:50 PM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Will take them tomorrow!
thanks, I appreciate it. I have not seen any photos of ballasts mounted on these cars yet
Old Oct 30, 2009 | 09:54 PM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Whats the big deal about mounting ballasts dude? We just have to put them anywhere with 3M... right?
true and I have installed HIDs on the latest gen Civic Si (have to pull the front bumper). I just want to see where people are putting them on the Max
Old Oct 31, 2009 | 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Pics for ballast mount:



Doesn't look like 10,000k at all.... Maybe it's the picture?
Old Oct 31, 2009 | 09:58 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Pics for ballast mount:
very neatly done. care to do mine?
Old Oct 31, 2009 | 11:45 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by gibbusoft
Dude Kmoney already mentioned it... NODDE SE advertises it as 10000K... But its actually 8000K!
That's lame...



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