So I was thinking about what color fogs i should get and i thought back to when i have watched the 24 hrs of le mans. Alot of the guys in that race had yellow headlights. Can you distinguish things better at night with yellow, do they cut through the fog better? I searched around but didnt come up with anything. Thoughts on this? I am torn between getting yellow(3000K i think) and 6000K to match the headlights.

 

3000k will give you best visibility in rain/fog.

 

yeah i used 6000K for fog lights and then switched them to 3000K to see the difference in effects and i have to say that 3000K really does give you more visibility in rain or fog, go with the 3000K, i can get u a kit too ;

 

PM sent

 

Yeah I have 6k fogs, and I really dont see any visibility during the day or in fog with them really, only when its pitch black, I see more light. I would imagine 3k would be alot better. It all depends on if you want looks vs visibility.

 

are 3000k supposed to be the same temp as halogens? because i can't see a damn thing in the rain whether i have halogens, 4300k, or 6000k HIDs

 

halogens are typically in the 4300K temperature range, its just with HIDs theres three times as many lumens, my HIDs give out 3200 lumens as opposed to a 1500 lumens by halogens in my 5000K HIDs. so if you got 3000K hids, i can guarantee you it'll cut through the fog since theres so many more lumens and yellow tends to not reflect like the white hids do

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=314928
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=336973

 

^^^thanks for the links. But they dont really answer my question, those talk about colors and how yellow the bulbs are. The second thread also doesnt have HID fogs.

 

Sorry, that's the limit of my spoon-feeding for the night.

 

no spoonfeeding needed. thanks for the input. was just curious.

 

fog lights will not really make too much of a difference when your speaking about visibility no matter whether your talking halogens or any temp hid, its more aestetics than ne thing. obviously the output will be greater with any hid kit vs. halogen, but i wouldnt reccomend using just your fogs as driving lights.

In the end it comes down to what you want. set aside 30 minutes and Check the great picture thread from the beginning. You can see the transformations of max's as the aftermarket support broadens, and make your best desicion through there.

just wondering, are you using hids on the stock 00 01 headlights or did you upgrade to the 02 03 pair. if you are using 00 01's i recomend matching hids, which is what i have (6k heads and fogs) What i would most recomend is if you are really looking for functionality of the light and not just the "flashiness" of hids, upgrade to the 02 03 housing, you will not be disapointed. Puttin hids in the stock 00 01 housing leaves alot to be desired (id kno im one of the idiots who did it)

It all comes down to what you are looking for.
imho, matching hids only look good on darker cars, lighter colors should have 6k heads and 3k fogs
Dont buy cheap hid kits either, spend the extra money in the beginning to be a satasfied customer in the end

 

I bet Dr. Roy would beg to differ:





Apparently he used 5000k HID's with yellow capsules. See here.

I wouldn't use them as driving lights, but they certainly seem to be more than aesthetic. I dare say they are not much worse than halogens!

 

wow ill shut up now
geez those lights look amazing, but i bet you with the amount of time he spent getting it right, i would lose my darn mind.
So i take it he had to cut chop mold and force until he turned blue, or yellow for that matter
so i retract my previous statement and enter another in its place - Dr. Roys fogs own all ------- just curious, how long did it take to do that retrofit...i read up on it a little while ago when i had the time, but i never queried on how long the actual job would take - i know that cost is next to nothing........

 

im gonna have HIDs in 01 housings. Im looking for functionality, but dont wanna pay 700+ for the housings then the HIDs on tiop of that. What is to be desired? did you not get better lighting with the HIDs?

I am going to either match the fogs with 6K in both heads and fogs, or go with 3K in fogs, leaning more towards 3K. Once again going for functionality. But at the same time like the look.

 

if you dont want to spend 700 and you want functionality, buy ebay housings, some sort of projectors, (i know e46's work) retrofit and hid it properly. All thogether your looking at around 450, someone correct me if im wrong. The light isnt bad out of the stock headlights, but like i said it leaves something to be desired. Also, be prepared for people flashing their brights at you with a 50w kit, i have 35 so no one really bothers me. Do it right the first time and you wont regret it. Also, like i said, its really up to you, i went 6k matching heads and fogs and they dont look half bad, but the output isnt the greatest.

 

what year e46? didnt know there was a 50w vs. 35w. Did you get yours from operatic?

 

our fog lights...like 90% of fog lights on cars now days...arent really fog lights...just lights on the bumper. so yes, our stock "fog lights" are just for looks. once modified, they become real fog lights.
i dont need lights for fog...so im fine with mine looking good.

 

You want the E46 single-xenon from HIDPlanet... They're supposed to be drop-in for the Ebay projectors. But, apparently HIDPlanet is out of stock on them, so maybe Ebay is your best hope.

 

that's why i'm looking into some super white LED fog lights to match every other light in the front of my car.. although i hear that some LED fogs give pretty good output.. if they don't, i don't care though.. as they are only useful for about 3 feet in front of your car anyway.. i'll get them mainly for the looks

 

So do I need 1 or 2 sets of projectors, ifI can find them? With ebay projectors are there high and low beams? And if I get e46 projectors, do I get bi-xenon or single hids and ballasts? Sorry for all the ???'s jsut not sure what to search for(and a lot of diff things to search for) and you seem to know what you are talking about, since you all have done it before. So basiclly wondering exactly what i should get if I want hi and low beam HIDs, wit projectors?.
Thanks

 

^ The Ebay projectors have a halogen projector for the low beam and a halogen reflector for the high beam. You'll want the E46 single-xenon, as the bi-xenon aren't drop-in replacements for the low beam halogen projector. I'd recommend OEM bulbs and ballasts; any OEM ballasts will do, as will any OEM D2S bulbs. You'll only need 2 bulbs and 2 ballasts, also.

 

I just retro-fit 6k HID's into my OEM 2k2 Fog's...I'm VERY pleased with the result. THE ONLY thing I don' like, is that the 6k makes my OEM 43ook's look YELLOW!
I maintained the inner metal cut-off reflectors, and they give a good wide disperal pattern. This is what FOG lights (IMHO) are supposed to do:
illuminate the roadside and the ditches.

I think color IS a personal thing...but how much DO you really drive in FOG?!?
I think the YELLOW is supposed to be more suited to cutting thru dense fog - but again, I'm no expert.

One thing I DID notice, is that the HID's in the my OEM fog's are 100% better than the stock filament style lamps! These baby's are BRIGHT!
i live in the country, and deemed these a total necessity -- and I wasn't wrong!
SO happy with the upgrade...and it's just a BONUS that it looks kewl too!

I run them in the daytime -- I like to BE SEEN....not just for bling -- but for safety. These beat the he[[ out of amber daytime running lamps ANYDAY!

gr

**Check out OPERATIC's group deal...got mine there...and they run strong!**

 

my 6k fogs have LOTS of output at night...I really do need to rewire my fogs so they come on without the headlights. I did notice over time they became slightly more blue...I like it tho

 

Agree. After wasting AS MUCH money on replacing RIDICULOUSLY exspensive PIAA filament bulbs....spending $160 on this rig was one of THE BEST upgrades I ever did to my max. The hardest part was re-wiring the OEM harness to fit the new bulbs....and that wasn't bad.
I wish I'd done it years ago -- but HID kits have only recently become affordable.
i disagree with spending more $$ on over-priced kits.
I think if these go bad - you can replace the ind. components Five to Six times and STILL never have spent as much as the intial cost of a "name-brand" unit.
This isn't high-tech stuff....been around forever. But it JUST got affordable!
Sometimes I actually LIKE the chinese~!

gr

 

You said a reflector for high beams, so are there high beams, just not HID? Im going to get 6K from operatic, so could I get bi-xenon from him? can i use the projectors and get hi/low HID beams.
Dang this is confusing, but thanks for the help.

 

GR, I thought operatic's kits were plug and play?!?

 

Well - the Fog kit (forget the number) isn't exactly, but close.
My camera was broken when I did this...so no pics. Sorry.

But, in order to retain the OEM housing, reflectors, and internal beam cut-off, it was necessary to cut the stock wires and thread (very tight) the new bulb wires thru the OEM rubber gasket. Silicone spray helped this....
This gives a perfect water-tight seal (using oem seal) with the new wires and kit in the stock bulb housing.
It could be considered plug-and-play, but to do it RIGHT some cutting soldering and shrink-tubing was required.
I tend to over-do all of my electrical work -- but i KNOW it won't fail or short, since I took the time to solder all the leads and make sure everything was sealed-up tight.

hope that helps a little....

gr

 

Correct, the Ebay projectors have halogen high beams (not sure of the bulb size, though). You shouldn't buy any bi-xenon if you use the E46 projectors, as you'll have to buy the kit with the wrong bulb size for the projectors. HID projectors always use a D2S bulb, nothing else should be used unless you want bad performance (read: glare).

You could pick up a kit for the high-beams, but you'll be using a halogen reflector with a HID bulb, which equals massive glare and eliminates the whole point of a retrofit. But then again, how often will you really use your high-beams? And you won't be able to flash people with HID highs (at least not easily), as you'll be killing the bulbs with the sudden on/off cycles.

 

i do a lot of backroads driving, so i use my high beams alot. But i am guessing the HIDs will improve my visibility quite a bit, along with HID fogs, so i might not need Hi HIDs.

So let me clarify, buy Ebay projectors/housing, buy e46 replacement projectors, a set of HIDs of whatever temp i want for a maxima, and a set of reg. halogen high beams when i figure out the size. And that will cover my haedlights correct?

 

^ You'll be good without buying the halogen high beams, as the headlights will come with all the bulbs (H3 low and whatever size high). Now, you may want to use Silverstar high beams if you'd like, but that's all up to you. As for buying a set of HID's in your desired color temp, note that if you buy anything aftermarket, the aftermarket D2S bulbs won't be interchangeable with OEM D2S bulbs, as I believe they have different bases. But there's plenty of aftermarket bulb makers, so you should be good there.

 

I dont have HIDs now, I am buying from operactic, so I will have the PnP wiring harness and ballasts and everything else, so I should be good.
I hope.

 

I don't understand this part, you are saying he cannot run one aftermarket D2S on one side and an OEM on the other?

 

You could... But IIRC, the plugs on the base of the D2S and D2R bulbs are slightly different... Just enough to make them not plug and play.

Even if he does have OEM on one side and aftermarket on the other, the color temps won't be an exact match, so they'll appear to be different colors.

 

so whats the glare factor like with your HID fogs using this process?

so, if you don't go through all this and just install the HID fog kit as recommended by the seller, then will the fogs produce a whole lot of glare?

 

Honestly - I get ALOT of people flashing their lights at me at nite...but I attribute this to two things:
1. Iowa Country-folk Don't know what HID's are...
2. Bright lights freak them out.

Let's face it: FOUR HID's firing forward ARE BRIGHT! And even cars equipped with HID's don't have HID FOG LIGHTS as well!!! :-)

I really don't think I have glaring issues above what other HID's look like to the non-HID owner, because I maintained the stock cut-offs in the OEM housing. The pattern is very distinct, and cuts-off low, and wide to the roadsides....

I'm pretty sure I have my low beams cranked-up a little too high - but I don't care, because it's so dark on the country roads that I drive on that I need more light on the roadsurface. If other driver's don't like...well - that tough titty for them.
There's a billion deer near my house too....and I REALLY don't want to hit any!

How I installed mine has nothing to do with glare -- but more about a seemless use of the STOCK rubber seals and fog light housing.
Also, the way I chose to integrate my wiring harness into the housing and stock wires, needed some soldering and shrink-tubing.
It's merely just insurance, and the proper way to do electrical work in an exposed environment....that's all.

gr

 

the higher the kelvin the more glare you have.

 

I've actually seen plenty of vehicles lately with HID fogs around 4100K-4300K and it looks pretty mean (and useful!). I plan to install the HIDTech yellow capsules soon and probably a 50W PNP kit later on. Honestly, I can't see the fogs causing that much glare to even be an issue.

 

well since the thread is fog lights color, I see MeanBeans 4th gen everyday and it appears almost as greenish-yellowish, and i've seen the same on some civic hatch. They're very similar. Does anybody have this yellowish effect that it appears light greenish when you glance it? any 5th/5.5 gens have this effect intsead of just yellow just like the Lexus. it looks good and at the same time appears brighter than just the yellow bulb

 

wow.. you maintained your stock cutoff with your HID fogs? thats pretty good.. mine were all screwed up with my HIDs in the 2001 max.. does that happen with everybody who installs the HID fogs? i might think about some myself