Why I'm going to spend $700 on HIDs..:

[pcpower]

Rather than getting aftermarket HIDs for $250ish, I'm getting the official Nissan HID's plus casing and all that for roughly $700. Mechanic knows someone @ the Nissan dealership, so is getting a decent price for the real deal.

The reason I think this is a good deal is because if I trade in the car say a few years from now, then I can be compensated for the HID's as well. but if there were aftermarket lights in there, the dealer would not factor that into the trade-in value.

Thoughts?

thx

[0wn3r]

Rather than getting aftermarket HIDs for $250ish, I'm getting the official Nissan HID's plus casing and all that for roughly $700. Mechanic knows someone @ the Nissan dealership, so is getting a decent price for the real deal.

The reason I think this is a good deal is because if I trade in the car say a few years from now, then I can be compensated for the HID's as well. but if there were aftermarket lights in there, the dealer would not factor that into the trade-in value.

Thoughts?

thx

I have a thought...why are you selling your car back to the dealer?

[pcpower]

To clarify, if several years from now I were to trade in to any given dealer for a new car. I won't be trading it anytime soon though... Just preparing for down the road.

[mcheddadi]

700$ is too little money to still have any value in a couple years if you do trade it in.

you'll get 300$ back at best,... well I don't know what I'm talking about, so anyways don't mind me

[rjdmmfl1]

Just to add my .02..

1. aftermarket conversion kits are as inexpensive as $100, not $250.. so the savings of going aftermarket are substantial.

2. If you do install an aftermarket kit, it is 100% reversible!

3. I own both a 2.5S A/S w/ conveneince package and 3.5SE A/C w/ premium package.. the 3.5SE came with factory HID and I put aftermarket HID's onto the 2.5S... now, the aftermarket HID's both look better and brighter than the STOCk HID's IMHO.

4. With all that said, if you can get both the HID headlamps and factory HID kit for 700 installed, that is a steal! The headlights themselves cost $1800($900 a piece) from the manufacturer!

**note** and contrary to what other folks have said regarding the headlight housings, according to the factory website, the headlight housing ARE NOT the same in vehicles equipped w/ HID lights vs. non HID vehicles.

http://www.trademotion.com/par...gid=2

[BMAR240SX]

Sounds like a steal since your getting the housing, do it

[pcpower]

cool, from your responses, I agree that it is a steal. just hard to part with that amount of $$ no matter how good the deal, hence the topic. =)

my mechanic convinced me that after-market HIDs are illegal and I would be caught and fined for having them..... That's ridiculous though because police don't care about lights on a car, only about how fast people drive the cars. ah well I will post once they have been installed and let u know if I am happy with the decision...! :P

[BMAR240SX]

I agree with some lights being illegal you dont know how hard it is to drive at night with some wanna be having blinding lights crusing behind you or on the opposite side

[rjdmmfl1]

my mechanic convinced me that after-market HIDs are illegal and I would be caught and fined for having them..... That's ridiculous though because police don't care about lights on a car, only about how fast people drive the cars.

Yeah, I've heard folks claim that, yet I know of no one that has been stopped and pulled over for their headlights, not withstanding the blue/ purple headlights...

A lot of cops don't know HID from halogen, let alone how to effectively spot an aftermarket 4300K or 5000K kit and tell it apart from a factory one. (No offense Eric, you're obviously an exception) I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, please chime in if anyone feels opposite.

[shortys408]

for 700$ you could do a projector retrofit.

[generic808]

Funny you brought up this subject because I just got pulled over 2 nights ago. The officer was asking me about my car...

"Is this an 07 or 08? Wow, this car is nice. Those are some nice rims you got there. They even come with HID's these days, huh?"

I'll tell you what... If you go with 5000K, know one will know the difference. Save yourself $600 and when you decide to buy a new car, just remove the aftermarket HID's and install them in your new car. All you would need, shoud the bulb size be different, is new bulbs. The ballasts are universal.

[SHIFT_COUPE]

Don't bother purchasing the headlight housing themselves. They are the same on both HID and non HID models. A plug and play kit would work just fine for what your using it for.

[kamikazestorm420]

i highly doubt the headlight housing for HIDs and halogen is the same.

HID and halogen uses different reflector/optic setups so you should contact your nissan dealer before you assume its the same

[rjdmmfl1]

**note** and contrary to what other folks have said regarding the headlight housings, according to the factory website, the headlight housing ARE NOT the same in vehicles equipped w/ HID lights vs. non HID vehicles.

http://www.trademotion.com/par...gid=2

please see above, the headlight housings are NOT the same!!! about $630 difference per housing, $1260 total!

[SHIFT_COUPE]

Let me clarify what I mean when I say the "same". The price difference on the link you posted is including the ballast and bulb etc. When I say same, I mean that the design of the housing or the reflective properties are the same from what I've seen. Obviously the backside of the assembly is going to be different because the connections differ from the halogen setup. Thus the difference in price. But of course your right, essentially the setup is different. I'm just saying that its not worth switching to a different assembly simply for the Nissan ballast setup etc. You can achieve the same thing by using a plug and play kit and better yet by using a re-based D2R as previously discussed.

[pcpower]

The difference might run deeper than that... According to my mechanic, but I wouldn't know either way... :P

He says that the casing could possibly melt if u leave the stock casing in and stick in the official HIDs, so the casing/ballast whatever its called is required for safety.

[rjdmmfl1]

Let me clarify what I mean when I say the "same". The price difference on the link you posted is including the ballast and bulb etc. When I say same, I mean that the design of the housing or the reflective properties are the same from what I've seen. Obviously the backside of the assembly is going to be different because the connections differ from the halogen setup. Thus the difference in price. But of course your right, essentially the setup is different. I'm just saying that its not worth switching to a different assembly simply for the Nissan ballast setup etc. You can achieve the same thing by using a plug and play kit and better yet by using a re-based D2R as previously discussed.

Sorry to keep correcting you Tyler, but that is just not correct. The ballast is $296, the xenon blub is $105, and the headlight assembly is $906

the headlight assemblies may look they same, but they are not. The mechanic at Nissan stated the same to me today as well.

[generic808]

The difference might run deeper than that... According to my mechanic, but I wouldn't know either way... :P

He says that the casing could possibly melt if u leave the stock casing in and stick in the official HIDs, so the casing/ballast whatever its called is required for safety.

A 35w HID set-up will in no way melt your light housing. Stock halogens run at 55w and aftermarket bulbs run up to 65w. The HID's will NOT melt your lens, but the 65 halogens most likely will.

Save yourself $600 and go aftermarket!

[SHIFT_COUPE]

Sorry to keep correcting you Tyler, but that is just not correct. The ballast is $296, the xenon blub is $105, and the headlight assembly is $906

the headlight assemblies may look they same, but they are not. The mechanic at Nissan stated the same to me today as well.

I guess I stand corrected Thanks for clarifying all of it for us.

[Shift_3.5SE]

I have a question...you mention "casing," so does this mean projection style??

[rjdmmfl1]

no, no projector available... if you want projector headlights, you have to do a retrofit!

[gotak]

Get the factory one. In tests by CR they found that after market bulbs and HID kits don't always provide more light then stock halogen. Mainly because the design of the reflector need to be specific to the bulb in use. So if you get the factory HIDs you are for sure going to get good illumination where as HID kits might look good and "feel" brighter but in reality could provide very bad illumination.

[generic808]

Oh believe me, the aftermarket 5000K HID's are MUCH brighter than stock halogens, by far. Everything, and I mean everything for 1/8 mile down the road is lit up. And my lights aren't blinding either. I drove my gf's car because it was having problems and she followed me with mine, and there's no glare or blinding effect from them whatsoever. You really can't tell the difference between these and the stock HID's.

[D-Roll]

I love my 6k HID's from xenonlink.com $135

[rjdmmfl1]

Oh believe me, the aftermarket 5000K HID's are MUCH brighter than stock halogens, by far. Everything, and I mean everything for 1/8 mile down the road is lit up. And my lights aren't blinding either. I drove my gf's car because it was having problems and she followed me with mine, and there's no glare or blinding effect from them whatsoever. You really can't tell the difference between these and the stock HID's.

I agree 100% with Eric.. my wife's aftermarket HID kit is fantastic, heads and shoulders brighter than the halogens, with no glare