So I had asked people a couple of months ago, what the purpose of the metal piece (shown in the picture below), was for. One person brought up that it was to keep from blinding the oncoming traffic. It made sense but my goal was to get more light out put since I was painting my headlights charcoal so I took a chance and went ahead and drilled it out.

Basically what I found was that it did give me more light out put. My headlights are brighter than before!!! What I think happened is, since all the chrome parts are now painted, that extra light coming out had no affect on the "blinding" I was afraid would happen. So allowing that extra light to pass through the lens really makes a difference. I do not recommend you doing this if you're leaving your headlights chrome!

Before I changed out my old headlights, I had really light tint film to give it a little contrast to the car instead of bright *** chrome headlights. It affected my light out put and cause stress cracks. So I changed them out, did this little mod, and now I couldn't be happier. With the old housing, I was always wondering if my headlights were even on. It bothered me so bad. Once I slapped these guys on, I felt like I bought the sun and threw it in my headlights! It really was a night and day difference for me so I felt like I should share.


Shown here is the metal piece that I drilled out to allow more light to pass through the lens. Note the gap above where I drilled. Nissan really blocked a lot of light because I removed a good chunk of that metal.




And this is what it will look like when installed with it's housing (not the whole housing)

 

do you have before and after pics of your beams? im interested in this as well as im not baller enough for 06 headlights, but hate the look of the 03-05 lights

 

+1 And I'm also going to black out my headlights

 

unfortunately I do not have before pics...but I could always get after pics! I'll check one of my friends who has the oem ones still on. Oh and FYI, I have oem HID so that probably helps with noticing the difference in light out put.

 

in for pic results

 

ill get pics up tomorrow

 

In for result pics.

Do both headlights have this?

 

I'm also curious about the pictures and how the tinted headlights look on your car.

 

I'm intrigued... BUt what you did there was remove the entire cut off shield! That is supposed to keep light from going above the horizon and blinding oncoming drivers! I can't imagine you still have much of a cutoff after this, except what is remaining from the reflector part of the headlamp, since it is a hybrid projector/reflector headlamp design.

I'd really like to see some beam pattern pics pointing at and driving along side a wall. You should have a nice straight cutoff with no excess light going above the horizon.

Post up pics, please.

 

yes

 

You're right. It looks like it was supposed to keep the light from shinning in the lower portion of the headlamp (which is your brights) but since it's painted charcoal, there's no reflection. I stood in front of the car as if I was oncoming traffic and it looks normal.

 

be carefull with tint if you're thinking about it. Once it got cold here, I noticed the stress cracks. But here is a pic with the tint on. From far away you really can't notice the cracks.

 

here's a pic with new lights. I left the majority of the section with the lens unpainted....if you can tell

 

Your car looks good boss. How come you left the amber strip in your headlights?

 

grassy ***! I like the oem look it gives i guess.

 

piks of lights on?

 

Really really want to see comparison pics with another Z and stock 03 HID's. Park side by side but about 1 car length apart as if driving side by side on the street... show how yours are brighter than stock and have no cutoff.

Still need pics of your lights aiming at a wall though.

 

I'll get the pics up as soon as I take them. more likely tomorrow night. I tried to take pics of them on with my phone before I went to work but the pics suck bad...

 

if anyone has 03-05 oem housing with HID, and you have a pic of your lights aimed at a wall with about one car length distance, post it up and i'll take a pic of mine with the same distance.

 

I'm thinking you're going to run afoul of the law. Headlights are DOT-approved, and modifications to increase their brightness are probably illegal.

That aside, I'd say you're not going to get much more light where you really need it. The light that hits that piece of metal is reflected back toward the reflector, and a significant portion of it ends up where it does some good.

What you'll end up with is a headlight that unnecessarily impairs an oncoming driver's vision. That's never a good thing.