HID aftermarket headlights

[pwgrated]

Hey everyone,
I've seen some posts regarding replacing headlights with HID aftermarket kits...The one I was looking at was recommended here in the forums from www.HIDkit.com. For $70, I thought it was worthwhile giving it a try. Has anyone had any issues with these??? Are there any other kits that are any better??
I just find that the existing non-HID headlights on the EX to be weak compared to the ones on the G35 I had, which were factory OEM HID lights.

Thanks for your help in advance.

pwgrated

[MaximA32]

It all comes down to what the actual headlights were designed to do. If you put an HID bulb into a headlamp designed for halogen lighting, it will look like crap. I would just pick up some higher end halogen bulbs and put those in. You'll see a difference I'm sure.

[XIS]

I wouldn't skimp and I would make sure I got a dedicated wire harness.

I went with the retrofit source... Morimoto 35W 4300K

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/produc ... ts_id=3955


As happy with these as I would be with OEM... I found them on ebay also and paid with a "Best Offer" lower than what they were asking...

[danncas]

Bottom line you get what you pay for. Just changinger the bulb for a better bulb will get you bright and crappy looking . A harnes and ballest will be better , But if you not willing to spend the money for Housing,reflector, lamp ,and ballest you will not even get close to OEM. Then there is proper alignment, and focal point.

[XIS]

I think the morimotos are right there with the OEM... Not better but not worse... Color, output, cutoff, etc are great... There hasn't been a time where I have said to myself, I wish these were better. The best $125 I have spent on my ride. Certainly not crap! Not whatsoever.

[M1DN1GHT]

XIS - Do I need to know how to cut/splice wire to add the morimotos 3fives to fogs and or high beams, or are they just plug and play? I can certainly perform routine maintenance but splicing wires makes me a little nervous if that is what it requires.

thanks

[pwgrated]

XIS- I also wanted to ask if you are satisfied with the 4300K's or would you have gone higher?? from what I understand, most OEM systems are 4300k's.

pwgrated

[R1chard]

I think the morimotos are right there with the OEM... Not better but not worse... Color, output, cutoff, etc are great... There hasn't been a time where I have said to myself, I wish these were better. The best $125 I have spent on my ride. Certainly not crap! Not whatsoever.

Morimotos products might be acceptable to you but the bottom line is they are of very low mediocre quality and they are nowhere near OEM.
The only thing Morimotos (ballasts and bulbs) are better than is the trash DDM sells.

I tried DDM then Morimoto ballasts and bulbs (trash with streaky output!!!!) and ultimately said I had enough of it and moved on to true OEM products.
I have factory Matsushita Nissan / Infiniti ballasts, OSRAM CBI 5000K D2S bulbs and Lexus RX350 Bi-Xenon D2S projectors there is no comparison on the output.

Not trying to be an a** about it just don't expect the $125 to give you anywhere near OEM quality output and reliability.

Another thing to consider I feel very comfortable knowing if one of my bulbs goes out when I'm on the road I can just pull into any dealer (be it Nissan or not really) and purchase a D2S replacement bulb.
You can only get the specific plug and play kit bulbs at very limited online only suppliers hence the poor quality of the bulb.

@pwgrated: Here is my build new-lights-no-dialup-t555420.html

@pwgrated: If you're just going to add HIDs onto the factory projectors you will only end up with HID Low Beams; this setup will all be plug and play (no splicing necessary).

However if you want bi-xenon (meaning HID Low and High beam) you will need to change the projectors to a bi-xenon spec projector. That will require splicing the solenoid wires ( the metal piece inside the projector that moves in and out of the way ) onto the OEM halogen high beam cable to enable a bi-xenon setup. Just beware this step is not an easy task to do for a beginner.

For comparison this was the Morimoto plug and play setup (ballasts with 5K bulbs) onto the factory projectors I tried looked like.
This setup offers quite a bit of "squirrel finders" (the spots above the headlights that allow light to escape and blind oncoming traffic) and also streaky output (not an even light projection onto the ground).





and this is my OEM setup





Hope it helps!

[XIS]

I would still go with the Morimotos.. No... they are quite a few steps above mediocre... Not streaky. Not trash. Great output. Great color. Great price. Great warranty. Great reliability. GREAT PRICE. Again, I don't need to spend a grand or more to make me think I got decent lights... They are just as good as OEM Acura or Infiniti to me....and I don't feel I took it in the pooper when I paid for them. Bottom line is that they are about 100x better than the stock halogens that some EX's came with.

M1dn1ght - No splicing. It was pretty simple. So very worth it..

pwgrated - 4300 is perfect. I really don't like the Ricer-Blue output that some prefer. I like 4300 so it does look it came with them stock.

[XIS]

interesting ...
post6326913.html?hilit=morimoto#p6326913

[R1chard]

interesting ...
post6326913.html?hilit=morimoto#p6326913

Oh, a TRS based package?

They seem better than anyone else and that's what I had before my full conversion.
Good lucK!

Maybe you need reading comprehension and not try to skew the conversation to fit your needs. Back then "they are better than anyone else" as far as eBay HID China aftermarket kits go because that's what were talking about.

Just now you were comparing OEM with an eBay HID aftermarket kits.... there is NO comparison. Compare apples to apples not apples to oranges.
Buddy if you're happy with your setup ... enjoy it but don't pick and chose what you want to say to mislead someone.

I see you say you live "in the desert" that's interesting. In case you didn't notice the OP lives in NJ.

Just wondering .... do you know how the Morimoto setup works with Northeast weather?
I already know the answer.

[XIS]

Richard - thank you. Do you provide a reading comprehension course? What am I skewing? The 'interesting' part was recalling my installation experience, the photos and your comments as well. You might need to take yourself up on that reading comprehension course and pay special attention to the chapter about reading too much into something....

Do I think mine (or even REAL oem) are as good as yours? No. Could I justify what YOU spent on your light fetish? NO. Not a fukcing chance.
Do I think mine are close enough to oem to make me and 99% of other users very happy? Yes. Absolutely.

Is the difference between yours and my HID upgrade greater than the difference between the morimotos and stock hallogen? Nope.

Do I think that if someone had a problem with using them in Northeast weather would get warranty consideration from TRS? Yes. They have a 5yr warranty or something like that...

[XIS]

Oh my - just looked at Dan's again after reading that old thread. Oh my, now THAT is an upgrade. Although I don't have that kinda cash lying around that my wife or kid's haven't already claimed, that looks amazing and certainly would lessen the psychological blow to the wallet.

[pwgrated]

Yeah, I don't have the cash to do a major investment in the headlights. Willing to try it out for $150.

XIS- did you use the CANBUS harness or the regular one?? Not sure if the CANBUS is even necessary.

Thanks again!!
pwgrated

[XIS]

I used the HD wire harness and not the canbus. You should be able to get TRS down another $25 on the price too.

I am pretty confident you will be super happy with the upgrade! I know I am.

[danncas]

No You don't have to do the Can Bus. I would go with 5000k nice bright crisp. Dont go any higher. Or your ride will look RICE. If you have a way of messing with the focal point of the lens that makes a differene. Thanks for the complment XIS.
I use to work with alot of lasesr and foucal point is key. But even so my upgrade I did not want to tackle that project not that I could'nt. I opt to pay someone to do it for me. I very Happy with it

[pwgrated]

XIS- Is there a discount code that you know of to get the price down??

[XIS]

Well I searched for them on ebay and found them with a 'buy it now' and 'best offer'. I offered $125 and they accepted.
I told another member here about that but they just called TRS and told them about the 'best offer' and my purchase and they sold them to him for the same $125.

Good Luck!