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2DaMax i hope you mean 9004 not 9006, cuz 9006 is a totally different bulb. Having the one upper nub is just fine. The nubs only keep the bulb from being inserted wrong, ie upside down, or putting in a wrong bulb, like the 9007. I have no problems with water, thats what the rubber O ring is there for. I can take a pic of the lit free way thing for you tonight. The difference is very noticable. I think i will take some engine bay pix too so you can see the routing of the wires.
Yep, I meant 9004 (edited the last post to correct that too). Thanks for the replies, I'm definitely doing this mod with the harness upgrade, not sure what over-wattage bulb to go for yet. Any suggetions would be helpful. Can't wait to see more pictures later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxima10to1
2DaMax i hope you mean 9004 not 9006, cuz 9006 is a totally different bulb. Having the one upper nub is just fine. The nubs only keep the bulb from being inserted wrong, ie upside down, or putting in a wrong bulb, like the 9007. I have no problems with water, thats what the rubber O ring is there for. I can take a pic of the lit free way thing for you tonight. The difference is very noticable. I think i will take some engine bay pix too so you can see the routing of the wires.
Nice.....the beams on your Max is still distinguishable from the QX4's, I hate it when a car next to me with brighter beams make mine invisible. BTW, I went to wally world across the street from work, they didn't have any upgrade harnesses. My next stop is Autozone on the way home. If need be, I'll check Pep Boys nearby as well. If no luck, then I'll order online.
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Hello Fairlady Z!!!
So, I'm gonna do this mod soon. I'm still curious though, in the photo showing the lens from behind, where is your silver center cap that sits in front of the bulb? I'm wondering if that will affect the pattern. Thanks and good job on the mod and write up!
Excellent writeup. I've been running with Mtec 100w/80w (true wattage, "looks" like 170/150) with no melting, since Feb I think. Don't fear the overwatts... no discoloration of headlight housing or melting, as long as you clean and grease your connections.
Congrats to all who contributed!
Jae
I've not been successful with the Mtec brand at all despite my being uber careful and all with the 9004 bulbs. They didn't last past 4 weeks. I wasn't happy with the 100s/80w at night and in the rain because of the color.
Since going the 9007 route using the same bulbs as Maxima10to1 I get alot more distance with them as well as being able to see better at night and in the rain.
Oh yeah, I found out that I had turned the wrong headlight adjustment knob!
I've not been successful with the Mtec brand at all despite my being uber careful and all with the 9004 bulbs. They didn't last past 4 weeks. I wasn't happy with the 100s/80w at night and in the rain because of the color.
Since going the 9007 route using the same bulbs as Maxima10to1 I get alot more distance with them as well as being able to see better at night and in the rain.
Oh yeah, I found out that I had turned the wrong headlight adjustment knob!
Any of those super white, hyperwhite, silverstar, whatever bulbs will have decreased light output when compared to normal bulbs. The blue coating will decrease light output and worsten visibility. I ran PIAA superwhites for a long time then changed to Sylvania Xtravision after reading some extremely reliable sources who said that they were junk. I found that visibility was appreciably better when I changed.
I'll be using Xtravisions whenever I get the harness...
I found a set of 9007 upgrade harness (12 guage) for $5 at a local auto boutique. This harness doesn't let you rewire your headlights directly to the battery's positive lead. The harness basically has 3 - 12guage wires: green, black w/ white tracer, & red. Here's a pic: http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...87_28_full.jpg .
Question, which one should be the low beam? I know the ground is the black w/ white tracer (middle) wire.
BTW, I'll be using a pair of Nokya 100/120watt arctic white 9007 bulbs. I'm pretty sure the 12 guage wires can handle it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxNismo1
Do those Nokya bulbs have a solid lifespan, or are they as crappy as Silverstars? I'm thinking of converting to 9007 and then using white-white aftermarket bulbs.
Honestly, I dunno...however, the Nokya brand is pretty popular. Probably as popular as Silverstars but that doesn't say much for quality obviously. I haven't tried the Nokya bulbs but for $20 for the pair, I'm not worried about it. I just need over-wattage 9007 bulbs to see how this harness holds up. Most of all, I wanted a brighter headlight beam.
My 9007 conversion is done after less than an hour. I figured out which wire on the harness goes with what after comparing the two sockets, nothing to it! Somehow, the Nokya 9007 fits way tighter than the Silverstar 9004 that was there before. But I used a really sharp blade and did a few trimmings along the opening of the headlight housing. The bulbs fit in there really snug, perfect for keeping things sealed up inside.
My first impression with the Nokya bulbs is as follows:
1) the bulb gives off a more whiter beam than the Silverstars.
2) the bulb gives off less of the purplish tint, bluish tint can be seen when looking at the headlights from an angle, but very white at dead on.
3) the bulb seems to have a better color temperature than the Silverstars, although perhaps its because of the difference between the 9004 and 9007
I've yet to drive around with them at night so we'll see how it goes tonite, I got my digital camera with me today so hopefully I can take some useful pictures, my digital camera is not the greatest but it'll do what its suppose to do. Also, the harness I got didn't come with any relays since its not the kind that connects directly to the battery for power source. But the wires are pretty heavy duty with thick insulations. I compared the stock socket with the upgrade socket and the connectors inside of the upgrade ones seem to be the same size as the stock sockets. We'll see how this harness holds up, for $5 for the pair, ya can't ask for too much.
**Edit**
For the most part, I think these aftermarket bulbs don't last very long because of current draw especially from over-wattage bulbs. So the end-result is either a melted socket/harness or burned out bulbs or both. Hopefully, with the upgraded harness, the probability of this happening will be reduced. We'll see from those who have done this mod so far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdm71488
so if i do the mod... without making the harness... something will burn up? you think so anyways?
Based on personal experiences:
I have never used over-wattage bulbs on my Maxima til now. My new 9007's are over-wattage bulbs. I have used over-wattage H4's on my truck and they burned out in a very short time (in like a little over 4 months). I quickly got tired of shelling out $65 for a pair of super white PIAA bulbs. I've never burned or melted a harness/socket. However, I reverted back to stock wattage bulbs. I believe the Silverstars are stock wattage bulbs but I've heard that those burn out too quickly as well. I've had mine, in my Maxima, since last July and still going. However, my fogs (which are also Silverstars) didn't last very long. After 4 months, the right side burned out. For my particular situation, I'm beginning to think that its not the bulb since the previous bulb in there were H3 halogens with stock wattage and it burned out as well, same side at about the same duration.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdm71488
can you explain over-wattage please...
That's where the FAQ comes in handy. This has been discussed before and I'm sure its in the FAQ. You can also do a search in the forum. Or do what I do, go thru the entire forum and look thru the subject lines cuz I'm too cheap to contribute.
Impressions:
Well, the 9007 is definitely brighter at night! Although I feel that it could be a lot brighter. It's been discussed in many threads that the blue-coated bulbs are less brighter than clear bulbs and this is evident in my case even with the 9007 mod. My crappy digital camera cannot even pick up the headlight beams so taking pictures wouldn't do much good at all. I was only able to take pics from infront of the car with the headlights on. No wonder some of you guys, who did the mod, used Xtravisions. I definitely can see the beams from my headlights spread across the road ahead but moreso, the headlights' reflection off a tailgate of a truck or a car's rear bumper appear to be a lot more intense. Still, I think my headlights need to be reaimed more and as soon as these Nokya's burn out (hopefully real soon), I'll opt for the Xtravisions. I'll also try to ground the bulbs directly to earth. Is anyone else, with this mod, using a different brand of bulbs?
-Dennis 9004-9007 headlight mod, courtesy of Maxima10to1.
Not sure why there's a purplish hue in the picture but if you are to look at them dead-on in person, its nothing but white.
Since my headlight harness isn't a true upgrade, just basically 12" guage wires connected straight into the oem wires, I did the re-ground mod that kevlo911 did to his maxima many moons ago and many others did it with very good results. If interested, read this thread. What an improvement....I was able to see more of the road now!!! The beams are more intense!!! I had to readjust the headlights again so I don't blind oncoming traffic. I'm pretty happy with the way this project turned out.
BTW, I'll be using a pair of Nokya 100/120watt arctic white 9007 bulbs. I'm pretty sure the 12 guage wires can handle it. Any inputs are welcome.
Do those Nokya bulbs have a solid lifespan, or are they as crappy as Silverstars? I'm thinking of converting to 9007 and then using white-white aftermarket bulbs.
Regular 9004 wattage bulbs: 45W low & 65W high
9004 high wattage bulbs: 80W low & 100W high
Your stock headlight harness isn't built to handle that much wattage so it'll melt IF you put higher wattage bulbs in it. To run higher wattage bulbs, you'll need to put in a new harness & new wires so that it can handle that much power.
If you're converting to 9007 bulbs and you want to use regular bulbs then you're fine, but if you want to convert to 9007 and use higher wattage bulbs then you need to replace the harness and wires so it won't melt.
Can someone please post how to re-aim the lights? I found the knobs to use but regardless of which way I turn them, the light fails to move in a consistent direction. For example, when I turn them counterclockwise, the beam will go down but when I continue to turn, they come back up.
That's weird.......that is the right way to aim the headlight down. Unless something is messed up in there. Does the passenger side behave the same way? As you turn them, the headlight moves down slightly so it'll take a lot of turns to get them to adjust that far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by THT
Can someone please post how to re-aim the lights? I found the knobs to use but regardless of which way I turn them, the light fails to move in a consistent direction. For example, when I turn them counterclockwise, the beam will go down but when I continue to turn, they come back up.
Just wanted to thank you again for the write up and idea. I did the harness upgrade but used 12 AWG Romex. I decided on Sylvania XtraVisions but miss my Silverstar color so I may switch back when a bulb blows. Otherwise, this is a great mod. I can't believe how much better the road is lit up at night - It's incredible!!! Do it. Btw, I did have to angle my lights down just a bit.
The only thing I noticed about the 9007 upgrade is that the high beams just make the headlight shine brighter not the usual high beams where you can actually shine the beams thru the rear window of the car ahead of you. I guess that's where the 9007 lamp housing correctly dispurses the light beams.
ok i put 1 9007 bulb in on the right side and i swear that it is the opposite of the driver side one. like when i put my brights on it is dim and when i take my brights off it is on brights, is this possible? did i mess it up somehow?
The bulb's socket end has a flat side, that needs to point up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fishpony
ok i put 1 9007 bulb in on the right side and i swear that it is the opposite of the driver side one. like when i put my brights on it is dim and when i take my brights off it is on brights, is this possible? did i mess it up somehow?
I bought the 9007 harness upgrade w/ bulbs from ebay for $50 shipped. The seller was ntbk and I got the kit in 4 days after I made payment. The kit is good quality (12AWG) and only lacked inline fuses. I have since solder some 30A fuses into the harness that I purchased at Autozone for $1.29 each. The cable length is perfect and the relays fit perfectly in the fuse box right behind the driver side light so everything is nice and hidden.
Hey Meanbean,
The harness upgrade kit you brought from ntbk, which side of the car did you plug the "mating socket" into? I got the ntbk kit too. I know the kit did not have two sockets for the left and right headlight socket. I'm trying to convert my 96 headlight and most of the people converting to 9007 are 97 and up. Kind of confusing to me b/c i'm kind of blanked out in the electrical wiring department. Is there anything else you need other than the harness upgrade kit? I thinking of getting the kit and plug it in without doing any major changes. Anyway, I appreciate if anyone can give me some info. I'll try to work on it this weekend.
I did it on my 95. It's all plug-&-play. Look at wiring kit from ntbk. Red wires go to positive terminal of the battery. Female 9004/9007 socket plug into stock male that your car has. I plugged it on driver side so power red wires would reach the battery easy. Then male ones of the harness plug into your new 9007 bulbs. Then just ground black wires that go out of new plugs.
I did it on my 95. It's all plug-&-play. Look at wiring kit from ntbk. Red wires go to positive terminal of the battery. Female 9004/9007 socket plug into stock male that your car has. I plugged it on driver side so power red wires would reach the battery easy. Then male ones of the harness plug into your new 9007 bulbs. Then just ground black wires that go out of new plugs.
Hope this helps...
Vlad
Hey Vlad
Thanks for the info. Just checked out your web page. Look nice with the LED.
If I'm not wrong, your car headlight housing is very similar to my 96. Did you make any adjustment to fit the 9007 bulb? ex. Filing nub on headlight, refiling the 9007 light bulb? Thank you for the information.
The harness upgrade kit you brought from ntbk, which side of the car did you plug the "mating socket" into? I got the ntbk kit too. I know the kit did not have two sockets for the left and right headlight socket. I'm trying to convert my 96 headlight and most of the people converting to 9007 are 97 and up. Kind of confusing to me b/c i'm kind of blanked out in the electrical wiring department. Is there anything else you need other than the harness upgrade kit? I thinking of getting the kit and plug it in without doing any major changes. Anyway, I appreciate if anyone can give me some info. I'll try to work on it this weekend.
Looks like Vlad has already answered your questions. The only thing that you may want to do after you are done is to reaim your lights. The 9007s have increase output so the cutoff is raised which translates into you blinding oncoming traffic. I ended up lowering mine a few to avoid being high beamed all the time but I still do get the occasional one. Anywys, have fun modding. This one is easy and will give you the iche to do more.
i bought the headlight harnesses from southwest autoworks. they are just a replacement plug and about 6 inches of 12 gauge wire that i had to splice in place of the stock harness. are these not as good as the ones like that guy on ebay sells?
I got crappy light output when I converted 9004 to 9007. Here's what I did:
- File the two nubs from the two headlights. Only the top nub showing, with a bit of dust particles in the headlight casing.
- Swap the ground and low beam wires on the ntbk harness. I did the swap at the "mating socket" instead of headlight socket. Does it matter?
- Plug all the wires to the correct location. + to the battery, - to the ground and metal bolt.
- Plug the two relay that came with the harness.
- Plus the lightbulb into the headlight and BAMB!!
Crappy light, its even worst than the 9004. I think my Mag flash light is brighter. It might be the crappy light bulbs I got from culumination.com. I'm going to do a bit more testing and see if I can find the problem. I'll get a pair of xtravision to see if I can resolve this issue.
you need to reverse the stock low and ground wires. switching the low and ground wires on the new harness wont work. this is beacuse the way the relays are wired. it messes thing up. put the new harnes back to they way you bought it and switch the stock wires.
you need to reverse the stock low and ground wires. switching the low and ground wires on the new harness wont work. this is beacuse the way the relays are wired. it messes thing up. put the new harnes back to they way you bought it and switch the stock wires.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meanbean
"purchasing the bulbs seperately. The bulbs he sends you are made by Opti and are rated at 100w/80w and give off a very nice super white with no blue tint even though the bulb casing is blue. One final note, make sure you swap the low and ground wires on the connector for the 9004 socket on the harness since the wiring for 9004/9007 is differenet like Maxima10to1 stated in his first post."
Guys i'm a bit of confuse here. Meanbean mention to swap the wires on the ntbk harness kit. Now Maxima10to1 mention it needs to be splice on the stock socket. I'm using a Ntbk harness kit smiliar to Meanbean uses. Any advice to clear this up is greatly appreciate.
Ok, here it is again. The harness kit you bought is wired for the standard 9007 bulb socket and is a "upgrade harness" to that bulb socket so that you can run higher wattage 9007 bulbs. Now the reason you have to switch the wires on the harness is because you are using it for a 9004 bulb socket. This bulb socket is the same size as 9007 but the wires are in different places. Hence, why you have to switch the low beam with the ground on the harness to get it to work with 9004. Ok, so now you know so get to work and let us know how much you luv your new lights. Good luck.
Ok, here it is again. The harness kit you bought is wired for the standard 9007 bulb socket and is a "upgrade harness" to that bulb socket so that you can run higher wattage 9007 bulbs. Now the reason you have to switch the wires on the harness is because you are using it for a 9004 bulb socket. This bulb socket is the same size as 9007 but the wires are in different places. Hence, why you have to switch the low beam with the ground on the harness to get it to work with 9004. Ok, so now you know so get to work and let us know how much you luv your new lights. Good luck.
i think you have your 9004's and 9007's backwards.
Nope, I got it right. It is easier to swap the low and ground wires on the 9007 upgrade harness side than it is to do it on the 9004 bulb socket side. Of course, this is because I am using the ntbk wiring harness so I cannot comment on other harness kits. Anyways, if there are still questions, try reading over Maxima10to1's excellent writeup again. It's all in there so take it slow if need be. Now get outta here and go mod something.
The only other thing I would add is to make sure that you orient the 9007's correctly. Since there is only 1 nub rather than 3 to ensure proper fitment make sure that the 9007 is inserted so that when you attach the wire connector to it, the clip is on the top towards the hood. Good luck. I love my 9007's.
- I don't think it matters if I swap wires in the ntbk harness or OEM socket. I made the swap on the ntbk harness kit. Maxima10to1 said I need to swap it at the OEM socket. That's my question?
- I'll try to get another pair of light bulbs this weekend to see if I get the same result.
- I have a 96 maxima. I'm not sure if my setting differ for 97+ maxima.
I'll leave the current setting as it is. (Swap line on harnesss)
I'll consult the electrical diagram on my Haynes manaul also.
I only have this done on the driver side, because I bought all new bulbs for the rest of the front (-fogs). and was planning on only doing the driver side for comparison... but the 9007 silverstars don't match up to polarg white corners... so i need a "whiter" pair of headlights. but for now, they are ok.
back to the conversion... wow, it to me looks awesome.
The harness from suvlights is of good quality EXCEPT that the connectors for the lights are very flaky! The dude who runs suvlights suggested that I flip the wires in the bulb connectors rather than on the adapter harness, so that might have something to do with it...but it does make for a clean install. I have never had a problem while driving but during the install They were being REALLY retarded and flipping on and off and generally screwing with me. The first time they **** up while I'm driving I am pulling them and soldering in new ones. It's odd because I pulled them apart and made sure the tabs where bent upwards so that they stay on the tabs on the bulbs, but they are still flaky. Very strange.
Other than that, though, I am really impressed with the harness. I liked being able to just swap the wires in the harness rather than having to cut and solder them. Only modification I had to make was to solder in fuses....don't want to short out the electrical sytem. I actually have to pull the passenger side...and hopefully get the bolt I broke out...at some point to re route the wires. I realized after I was done that the hood wouldn't close (OOPS) and the location I ran the wiring through is less than ideal at the moment. You can run it underneath the bar that the hood latches too along some other wires that are already there. Make sure you lay out the wiring and close the hood before you bolt everything together when you do this.
The upgrade is not as huge a difference as I would have liked, but it's definitely better than the crap *** stock bulbs.. I still need to reaim the lights somewhat, so that should help.
As I was doing this I could only find a cicular file to file off the nubs. It took me forever and made me so annoyed. Then I'm doing the second one and I say to myself, "Umm...don't you have a dremel there ****head". Used the dremel and it was done in 2 secs.
Overall it's a good upgrade. I like the idea of not using the crap *** stock wiring especially.
I really need to work on my speed. I figured this would be a 2 or 3 hour project, max, and it ended up taking me a lot longer. I did a good job, but I should have been able to do it in half the time.
from reading the above post... im kind of scared. i don't really know much on electrical stuff, and from the amount of stuff endus went through to what i did was unreal... the pic on my cardomain site shows what i did. but now from the post above talking about shorting out electrical systems and soldering in fuses... i feel my setup will do something terrible... you can easily tell what i did if you check out the picture.
can someone tell me if thats ok, or if not, then what should i do? cuz i just turned 16, no job, and my grandpa bought me the car so if i screw something up... lets just leave it at that...
from reading the above post... im kind of scared. i don't really know much on electrical stuff, and from the amount of stuff endus went through to what i did was unreal... the pic on my cardomain site shows what i did. but now from the post above talking about shorting out electrical systems and soldering in fuses... i feel my setup will do something terrible... you can easily tell what i did if you check out the picture.
can someone tell me if thats ok, or if not, then what should i do? cuz i just turned 16, no job, and my grandpa bought me the car so if i screw something up... lets just leave it at that...
Did you install a new wiring harness that connects directly to the battery? Or did you just adapt the wiring that was existing? If looks like you just adapted the existing wiring by cutting the wires and using connectors. If that's all you did you're fine since the stock wiring already has fuses. That said, those connectors are a bit lame...you might want to solder the connections as well if you know how or can learn....or at *least* wrap the connectors in electrical tape to help keep water out of them. Other than that, no big deal.
The fuses only need to be installed if you install an aftermarket wiring harness that connects directly to the battery.
conversion complete, and boy do i love it, i even got my high beams back, check that out, and i have them aimed just how i want them, my high beams shoot out alot more light and increase distance, but i dont get any flashes when people drive by, i love it, its like HID without HID lol. definitely recommend it.
Whooaa!!! You had to use a dremel???? The knubs on mine came right off with a sharp buck knife. No debri or saw dust in the headlight housing. Done in less than 30 seconds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by endus
I was doing this I could only find a cicular file to file off the nubs. It took me forever and made me so annoyed. Then I'm doing the second one and I say to myself, "Umm...don't you have a dremel there ****head".
I was only able to take pics from infront of the car with the headlights on. No wonder some of you guys, who did the mod, used Xtravisions. I definitely can see the beams from my headlights spread across the road ahead but moreso, the headlights' reflection off a tailgate of a truck or a car's rear bumper appear to be a lot more intense. Still, I think my headlights need to be reaimed more and as soon as these Nokya's burn out (hopefully real soon), I'll opt for the Xtravisions. I'll also try to ground the bulbs directly to earth. Is anyone else, with this mod, using a different brand of bulbs?
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