joecurr

Hey all, does anyone know why the output of the OEM Maxima xenon projectors isn't as good as other D2S E55 projectors?

I currently have the halogen projectors with a 9006 HID kit and I hate it, so I'm considering changing my headlights. I've seen Maximas with OEM xenon headlights and although the output looks a lot better than my setup, it doesn't look good enough to justify spending the extra dough on.

I've seen a couple threads of people swapping out their projectors for other D2S E55 projectors, is there a difference between the OEM Maxima xenon projectors and other ones? If there is, which ones would be good to use?

ChrisMan287

iTrader: (34)

E55's are E55's man. Swap in some better projectors, the E55's aren't the greatest.

SmokinMaxSE

iTrader: (1)

I might be wrong but the E55 projectors gives a better deeper xeon color. Our oem hid projectors have a different projector lense than the halogen version. The lense is what gives our 4200K a purple look. I will say that hids look much better in a hid housing not a halogen housing with hid bulbs.

joecurr

The E55's seem to be drop-in, so that's why I'd like to stick with those, although other projectors would be nice to have. I've looked at other threads of E55 retrofits and the output appears better than the stock OEM xenon's I've seen, although I haven't seen retrofitted one's in person.

I'm not so much interested in the blue/purple look as I am in the output on the road. Even with my foglights on, the output doesn't even compare to other cars with only their xenon headlights on.

Kryogen

Whats the best drop in projector upgrade?

mrkhone

i just did a lens swap but am considering the e55 swap. the lens made it sharper but the output felt the same to me. i'm running morimoto mini projectors in my accord and they are way better then the max.

joecurr

As far as I know, E55's are the only drop in projectors.

mrkhone, do you have halogen or xenon headlights? If you have xenon's, aren't they E55 projectors already? I've seen that about the clear lens swap, it pretty much only gives a sharper cutoff and intensifies the color at the cutoff.

Kryogen

They are already E55 stock. Light output is pretty average to me compared to other vehicules. I dont know why. It seems like my GF stock halogen rav4 lights up more than my HIDS.

joecurr

Oh, I was assuming you had halogens. I'm trying to see if people who have done the halogen to E55 retrofit have compared their output to stock HID's. I saw the picture of sonikbewm's output with his E55 retrofit and it looks nothing like the output of stock HID's, but it's hard to tell in pictures since cameras can make it look better than it actually is. I need to figure this out soon because one of the bulbs from a crappy HID kit blew out after less than a month and I'm tired of the quality and horrible output.

Kryogen

Crappy HID kits are total junk.... I ordered some HIDs from operatic here (made in china sold on ebay type) for my fogs, they were nice, then both bulbs burnt. Then I got a replacement set, one would not even work. Paid for another set, they lasted 6 months. I removed all that crap and put back regular halogens in the fogs.....

When looking at the bulbs, you could see that the glass had melted and that the plastic part of the bulb was all cracked and melted. According the the factory in china, this was the "first time they saw this", and would only send a replacement if I sent back both bulbs to china and paid shipping... omg. Was cheaper to order a new set.

Oh, and the heat from the 50w bulbs burnt the reflective coating inside the fog housing, so now fogs are useless anyway, and it looks all dark in there.

My installation was fine, with all soldered and waterproof connections.

If you want hids, get real hids.... And btw, 6000k output is crap. There is a reason why stock is 4300k

mrkhone

i have stock hids.

joecurr

Because sharing is caring. I found this a while ago in my research but have been researching again, might as well throw it out there.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/show...!-PICS-Inside!

According to this thread, the Maxima E55 projectors have a foreground shield in the projector bowl that blocks a fair amount of light. This probably explains why Maxima's don't seem to have as much output as other cars that have E55's without foreground shields. Now what I'm wondering is the effect of not having that shield, since the Maxima projector is recessed in the headlight. Will the "foreground" light bounce off the bottom of the headlight and cause glare? I'm assuming there is reasoning for the foreground shield and the placement of the projector, but I would like to go without the shield if I can.

6.5affiliate

My guess would be that the shield for 6th gen E55 projectors is to save the ability to have high beams. Not sure though.....