Here is a video of my 03 at night. On bright I can barely see 15 feet in front of my car. I live in the country and deer are a real issue. I am waning I find some headlights that I could see half a mile minimum.

The only headlights I can find (aside from modding my current housings and getting refractors) are spidyers. Are these the only option I have when I want to get brighter lights? I cant find any 06+ near me, no junk yards have parts around here.

Are the 06's that much brighter? What should I do?

 

Buy a light bar.

Shove it in your grill.

 

I have a friend that just mounted one on top of his e30. I'm not going to lie, I have thought about a light bar. How do they compare cost/efficiency wise vs traditional lights?

 

If your going for 06+ OEM lights the light bar will be MUCH MUCH cheaper and have a much higher and cleaner out out assuming you guys a quality made bar.

If your going spyder a quality light bar will probably be the same or less depending on output and size you choose. You can go 10" to 42" single row, multi row bars. The output of a standard bar is usually about 20x to 30x what any standard high beams would do.

Assuming you buy a quality piece and not a $40 eBay or amazon special from China. A quality mini bar should be any where from $150 to $200 where a full rack bar about $200 to $400.. but that's probably over kill for you. Those shts literally light up deserts and canyons for race trucks going 80mph in pitch black rough terrain.

GG lighting is a good company. You can probably start there and compare from there on.

 

Crap video but to the point and a clear example of light bars va headlight/high beam output and what you'd expect from a light bar install.

 

My 03 touring has stock OEM HIDs and are pretty bright, and are much brighter then any aftermarket headlight said that I've come across and stand n Cj and neck with 06's, I would get them adjusted to point up a little higher, mayb buff and wax the headlight housing and possibly swap bulbs and ballasts.

What model 03 do you have, that would help , if you don't know, are your seats leather , do out have a bose sound system, are your OEM wheels 17s , do you have factory brembos

 

i would replace the bulbs first, they dim over time ... especially if they are the original ones

 

I have the track model. I guess they could be pointed down more then they should be. Mine are hid as well, with the brightest silvania silverstar's.

I need to replace the front bumper anyway. Adding a light bar could be interesting.

 

If your going to replace the bumper anyways I would find one that has some openings that can house some bright *** led off road lights on each side that look like fog lights... A light bar will look like the poopoo

 

A friend had pointed me to these a while back, but you have to cut and apoxy your housing to get them to fit. Apparently they are the brightest headlights you can get?

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...-fx-r-3-0.html

 

Depends a lot of people do bar tucks into bumpers since the tech has adnavced so much in the smaller ones. Half my buddies have light bars in their grilles and bumpers on trucks and a couple cars and you literally don't even see them until they turn them on and they unleash the suns genitals.

 

My car had the same issue when I got it. It had the earlier type headlights with two different type bulbs for high and low beam. Installed a set of Depo 06+ type and now have plenty of light at night and imo they look nicer.

 

Sylvania Super Star?? Presume you're referring to your high beams because all models except Base use the HID D2x low beam with halogen highs.

In any event, strongly recommend that you check all your wiring, ballasts (especially the ballast, which is the key to lighting performance), relays before taking any replacement action. if that all checks out OK, as Travlee said, swap the bulbs for another pair of D2x.

There are alternate, higher output replacements for the 4300K D2S bulbs. Perhaps the best are the Osram CBI or Phillips units (read: $$$). OTOH, the Morimoto CB35 (NOT the one you linked) is a direct D2S replacement and a lot cheaper. I had a pair of those (in D2R, not the shielded units the Z takes) in my now departed Volvo. Awesome performance for not a lot of money.

HOWEVER, again, would troubleshoot to find the root cause of your dimming before investing in set of these uber bulbs. They'll be just as useless without fixing the original fault.

Light bar is an option if you're off road.... else wise, probably illegal. Your stock or slightly upgraded projectors should handle just about everything but for maybe a rally application running in a forest at night.

 

From watching his video he looks about close to living in a forest rally stage with how pitch black it is and no street lights in sight. Which is why I reccomended a light bar. He also mentioned deer country and light output to half a mile. I don't think your standard h-beams will cut it for that request.

But OP while your at checking all that if your lights have hazed over (foggy plastic) that could also screw up the output a lot as well.

 

Those FX-Rs have amazing cutoff, output and flicker. I retrofitted them into another vehicle and highly recommend them.

As far as their "brightness" or lumens, that's going to depend on your ballasts, bulbs, and kelvin rating.

They're some big projectors, though. If you're not experienced with retrofitting or if this is your first project, I would highly recommend sourcing some spare housings in case you mess up with trimming and fitment.

If you want an easier retrofit, get some 06+ and swap the STi-R lens in there.

 

I will snag a pic at lunch and throw it up here. I just found new shrouds for 123 each, so, replacing the old plastic shouldn't be an issue. I have tried sanding and clearing in the past, and it just doesn't hold.

https://www.go-parts.com/2003-nissan...ts-41-673.html

 

Would something like this be ok for a ballast replacement, or would I need a higher quality part?

https://www.amazon.com/Factory-Headl.../dp/B00TZ94RO2

 

This is what I did, and it will light up the world up to the horizon. Get one off amazon or ebay and just make sure they are made with CREE LED's. 32" fits perfectly in the grill if you mount it on the bumper beam.

Get a curved one to match the bumper my square one looks kinda funny. I wired in a plug and use wing nuts on the ends of the bar that connect to the mounts so I can take it out for Caffine and Octane and HPDE's.

 

Here are the pics of the headlights. The drivers side def needs some attention.
http://imgur.com/a/RDFvt

 

Have you adjusted your head-light beams? It is an easy job, all you need is a screwdriver.

The low-beams on my 04 were also terrible, however, I am came across a thread at one point about adjusting the beam angle higher and that really improved the lighting situation. They are far from being the best HID lights out there, but with the adjustment they are good enough for my needs.

I will update my post, if I find a link.