venturous

About nine years ago I picked up a 2003 I35 with a bad motor due to a blown head gasket and sitting for a year. It has been an absolutely great car after I replaced the engine. The only disappointment with this car is the low beams are just not good. They are just not bright enough. I have even replaced the bulbs with some off road bulbs that even though they helped, they are still not good enough. My high beams are great.
Does anyone know of any non HID bulbs that will fit in the socket that I can rewire and bypass the HID equipment? I have posted my concerns about the HID's in the I35 section years ago, but got very little response, but did not ask for any bulb substitutes. I would really appreciate any feed back about this really great car.
Randy

User1

HID is superior. Drop some cash on some Osrams or something. Quit going cheap with the garbage you've been wasting your money on.

uptownsamcv

what do you mean you replaced them with offroad bulbs? just go to https://ddmtuning.com and order a 4300K 55 watt D2S kit.

how does your headlamp housing look? HID's put out good light but if the headlight housing cover isn't nice and clear the light output won't be as good. I took my maxima headlights to a body shop and had them wet sand and put a clear coat on it, it made a big difference.

TallTom

The HID lights are the best. Maybe you just need to clean the housing if they are now cloudy. Do not replace the housing if they are HID since aftermarket units are nowhere near as good.

You will never find a non-hid bulb to outperform an HID one. I'm not sure what temp bulbs you put in but anything higher than 5k will be bluer and not perform as well. Factory bulb temps are 4300 which simulates daylight.

uptownsamcv

I agree, I see people driving around with blue purple and green HID's all the time and it's so useless. what I have also come across is that cheap or weak ballasts make 4300K bulbs not fully whiten in color. I always go with DDM tuning the price is good and they have good products with lifetime warranty. I even have a kit on my motorcycle.

TallTom

Yeah, weak ballasts can bea factor but the OEM ballasts have always been the best from what I have seen.

I'm sure DDM makes good bulbs but I always stick with Philips 85126 since they are the german made bulbs from the factory. They do run about $50/bulb but they last for years so it's an investment to me, like NGK Platinum plugs.

uptownsamcv

OEM Ballasts are crazy expensive, from what I see on nissanpartsdeal.com they are $431.78 each and the bulbs from them are $183.18 each

when one of my OEM ballasts went bad back in 2014 I ended up going with a 55 watt 4300K D2S kit from DDM tuning ( $69.95 + shipping ).. haven't had any issues with the kit and the color is the same as OEM. along with reclearing the headlamp and putting some bright LED's in the high beam the lighting is really good.

venturous

Okay, a little more info.
My lens are fine and I polish them as soon as I detect any cloudiness.
The off road bulbs I used were in the 4300K range and were noticeably brighter, but still not good enough.
I replaced the left headlight assembly when the original got broken. It was used, but exactly the same as the other one for output.
This car has NEVER had good output on brightness on low beam.
I have had three previous Maximas in the last 25 years and none of them had any issues with low beam light brightness, but did not have the HID system..
The headlight adjustment is perfect on both low and high beam.
I am asking if anyone has changed over to something other than HID bulbs that will fit the housing and I can bypass the ballasts.
I do appreciate the responses and do not disagree with any of them, but MY HID system on both low beam lights have never been good.
Randy

uptownsamcv

what brand ballasts are you running? what brand are the offroad bulbs that you mentioned? how do the actual reflectors in the housing look?

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

How long did the clear coat last? I wears off quickly....

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

what do you recommend then? =) i use meguairs plastix but it only goes so far.

TallTom

I used this kit years ago with great results that lasted years. I just redid them with another kit this past August so hopefully they hold up as well as the first time.

I don't remember paying $40 for the kit. I think I paid about $20-30 those two times.

https://www.cureuv.com/collections/h...ting-value-pak

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

thanks man, i have seen that brand actually at a mechanic shop, looks pretty legit. thanks for the link. mine are ok luckily i have literally kept up with the meguairs plastix every couple months but it progressively has slowed /shortened how long it lasts.