[FLfinfan]

Had HID bulbs (highs and lows) and a ballast for each (4) professionally installed in the stock head lights. This shop did work on my 2004 Titan and my 2008 350Z, both gone now.
Have not driven any meaningful length but it seems way better, headlights look aligned ok, and the lows don't seem to piss anyone off. Had other eyes, friends and family, look too.
My questions are, because I can't remember, when you turn on your high beams should you lows stay on too, cause they do now. And when you turn you high beams on should your fogs turn off, cause they do now.
On a side note, the fogs will be done as soon as the bulbs come in. They will be LED though. Right now they are still the old yellow lights.
They HID lows are so good the old fogs basically do nothing to improve the situation when you turn them on. You have to get out of the truck to know the fogs are even on. The shop has a lined shop door, and when the fogs get put in I will have a look at the level of all lights.
Any does or don'ts from folks with this type of system please chime in to warn me of any problems or pitfalls, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[LaxDfns15]

Lows stay on with highs? Yes.

Fogs turn off with lows/highs on? Yes.

That's how it's supposed to work. I have a jumper wire on my fuses between the parking lights and fog lights that allows me to run my fogs without the lows on and it keeps them on when I turn the high beams on.

If you're not blinding people and still content with the amount of light you're throwing then the only downside I see to what you have is that HID's take a little time to warm up when being used so they're not effective in instances where high beams are separate (reflector housing instead of projector).

 

[FishnAlaska]

Yes, low beams stay on when high beams go on and fogs go off. When you do add the HIDs make sure you adjust your headlights down just a tad, this will keep you from pissing people off and blinding them. Just remember, that the High beam HID's will take up to about 10 seconds to warm up and get bright every time you turn them on, it won't be instantaneous every time.

 

[FLfinfan]

Thanks for the replies. At first I was worried that the highs were malfunctioning or not up to snuff, cause I remember the 2011 Murano I had was amazing at how ruler straight the light line was on the horizon. But it had projectors. When I went from lowes to highs with the new HIDs in the truck I didn't notice a change, but remembered the brief warm up time and then when they hit street signs and houses to n the distance I was relieved. Getting harder to see at night and the trucks lights were no help.
Thanks again.

 

[Worleyburd]

LEDs have came a long way too. I swapped my HIDs out and I like them a lot more because of not having ballasts and all the extra stuff, and they don't need to warm up if you don't like dealing with that


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[FLfinfan]

Just bulbs, no ballasts? Stock head light housings? Sounds interesting. Do you find them as bright, perform as well etc....?

 

[Worleyburd]

Yessir just as bright and straight up plug and play. They do have a heat exchanger with a tiny fan on the back of them but it's not much longer than a regular bulb. I got the JDM ASTAR G2s (8000 lumens) and they might even be a tad brighter than the HIDs I had . Ran with them on for 18hr drives multiple times and haven't had a flaw yet. And I have the black housings but they're the same as stock


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[LaxDfns15]

LED's won't compare to HID's in projectors, but in the stock housings I feel like they're the best hands down. That's what I run in all my vehicles, even in my wife's Maxima that has projector low beams.

 

[FLfinfan]

Got the fogs switch out from OEM to LED today. The shop ordered the best ones that would not melt the fog light lense or cause other problems. They said it was the brightest I could get with out problems, and they match the color of the HID lows and highs. Can't wait for tonight to see how they look.
The light dude at the shop it really cool and is looking into some form of DRL set up to put behind the grill. I had really great LED DRLs on my 2011 Murano. The lights were specific to the car for Nissan, from Japan. OEM blended in perfect, dealer installed. Never saw anyone else here with them, miss having them. If I can get a clean looking install that fits behind the grill and can serve as a good DRL and does not look like I and trying to copy a Raptor, I will do it.

 

[all torque]

I also didn't want to mess with ballast and stuff so I went with the Retro-Solutions LEDs for every light bulb that I could change out and I think that they look great. They are definitely a lot brighter. I highly recommend them.

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[holi]

When i decided to upgrade my headlights, I was very sure of what i wanted so i decided to contact a retrofit company to build my headlamps. I went with hidretrofitkit.com from Fl and i was very happy with the results. They did to my headlights exactly what i was wanting, love the clean work they did to this beauty style.

 

[FLfinfan]

So far so good with the HID hi's and lows. Been checking them out in shop windows and from friends cars heading towards my truck on long straight roads, so far not flashed by other drivers, nor complaints from friends or family.
Thinking of doing 2 KC highlights flex cubes in the lower grill, spots not floods. Would try to install in the holes that are in the bottom of the chrome bumper center piece, where plastic push pins hold the black plastic shroud of the lower grill opening to the chrome bumper.

 

[FishnAlaska]

I had some KC lights mounted in the same spot before putting my light bar in there.

 

[FLfinfan]

I know the light bar gives off way more light, but how did you like the KC's in that spot? I don't do a lot of night 4x4ing, mostly in daylight, but I do alittle when I visit family during Christmas vacation up north. I want alittle extra focused light (spot not flood), without a big light bar begging to be stolen. I like the barely noticeable size of the KC's.
I did alittle home project yesterday using "Everbrite" lights for the porch and yard and while I was waiting for concrete to set, I was screwing around with the lights and placing them in my lower grill and on the roof and took pics. Got me thinking about placement of actual auto lights.

 

[LaxDfns15]

Those KC's look to be 10W and 250 lux (lux to lumens is 1 to 1). I have 2 spot lights on my truck now and they're 18W with claimed 1600 lumens each. I highly doubt they're that high, but even then it's claimed at 6 times higher than yours. You won't even be able to tell the difference with them on or off. I will be replacing those lights soon with a 10k lumen 20" light bar. I currently only use them with an amber cover for fog/dust/rain/etc lighting and they just don't cut it.

 

[FishnAlaska]

The KC lights were certainly more adjustable to focus the beam, I ran 3 smaller ones in the upper grill. I did like the fact I could focus the 2 outer ones to hit the sides of the road better, mainly to look for deer to avoid hitting, but the LED bar certainly puts out more light.

 

[FLfinfan]

Both sets look good on your truck. I think the little KC flex lights I am looking at are substantially smaller than the ones you show. Hard to tell though. They are like 2 inches all around, and maybe 3 inches front to back. Thanks for the feedback and info. Will post pics if I get this done soon.

 

[FLfinfan]

Those KC's look to be 10W and 250 lux (lux to lumens is 1 to 1). I have 2 spot lights on my truck now and they're 18W with claimed 1600 lumens each. I highly doubt they're that high, but even then it's claimed at 6 times higher than yours. You won't even be able to tell the difference with them on or off. I will be replacing those lights soon with a 10k lumen 20" light bar. I currently only use them with an amber cover for fog/dust/rain/etc lighting and they just don't cut it.

Good info to know. I will need to look into this more before making a purchase.