Ok, so im looking for a brighter way to light up the street without doing any HID retrofit or the stock high beam bulb in the low beam spot. I know the high beam in the low beam spot aint bad, but our reflectors suck, cuss I had this mod on my 4g hatch and it was brighter than our cb's.
So I was looking at my parents car, Nissan sentra; and they have pretty decent lighting. Its not hid, but it got the nice sharp cutoff. So I went and got a bulb the same thing for that Sentra; and decided to retro fit it into my old headlamp since it has that nice sharp cut line like the hid do.
The results were not that bad even though I never got the cutoff line that I wanted. At first when I only had the low beam on it showed way different pattern compare to stock. It threw out almost a rectangle pattern light. Switch over to the high beam and bam, it lites up like the whole wall but it almost is like faded. So I decided to light both high and low beam, boom, it gets a really nice bright shine. The light was not focus on one spot like the stock one is, but its more rather spread out and brighter.
Only thing is in the center out farther in front bout 15'ft, you have a little darker shadier spot where the lights actually dont shine too, but when u turn ur high beam on it shines right in that spot britening it up.
The pictures are like this. The right side is with the stock high beam bulb in oem spot (never used in pictures) and retro lite in the low beam spot. The left side only had a high beam bulb in the low beam position. The car I estimated about 15'-20' feet away from wall.
Here, I had the flash on so that u can see how the light shines. As u can really tell, the stock left side had most of its shine foucused on that that spot that is really brite while the right side is spread out thats why u really cant see it!
Here is the picture of both compared. The left side is high beam bulb in low position and the right side is retrofit bulb in low position. As u can see, the left side is a lot briter in one little spot as like in the picture above; while the right side's shine is spread out and not as directly focused as like the stock side. YOu also notice that the right side shines up a little higher to, and more to the side but dat MAXIMA just gott have its but in the way! (sorry no key to move it and the only wall that i have.) You see how high the light shines on the left side up the left windows hieght; actually its from the right side that is shining there, and you see how hight the right side shines, looke in the next 2 picture and you can cleary see what I mean.
Here is the stock high beam in low position pattern, i was standing in front of the other headlight to block it! As you can see, it shines really strong in the center and fades out to the sides. And also notice how low it is, it never even reaches the window height.
Here is the right side, as you can see, it is more spread out and not focused on the center like the stock is. You see how the center is little darker, i dont know why but its not shining there, but when u turn on the high beam it shines there. Also notice how high it shines and how far out it shine, compared to the stock.
Last pictures are comparisons.
Left picture is both lamps with retro fit lights in the low beam spots...the right picture is the 2nd picture on top goin down and it has the stock high bulb in the low beam position in the left lamp with the right haveing the retro in the low beam position. Notice how the left picture is brighter than the right. Remember how i said the stock had the brightness focused on that little spot like in the previous pictures and the retro had it all spread out. Well, when u got the 2 retro lamp and its all spread its brightness pattern out all over and when u x2 u get it to be brighter all over. As for the stock goes, it dont even compare to 1 retro lamp.
In conclusion, I had to run both the high and low in the retro fit or else dont even bug with it cuss its crap compared to stock low with high beam bulb. I will need to get the oem style plug for the lights when I can get my hands on them. I will be using a relay harness to power up the lights. The temp setup I used the low to power both high and low, it does get somewhat warm, I dont know if it will burn your harness up or not because I did not run it long enough; its pulling 55watts/60watts from one harness i think it a lot. The relay harness is a bigger guage wire and will provide more power and safety.
The lights do look bright head on, but its not foocken bliding like when someone has there highs on, i try to adjust the lamp so that it is shining towards the ground, but it dont seem to work, oh well. As for the ground spots lumen, it is a lot better than the stock even with the highs in the low spots. Although the brightness is not not as focused as it would be in close proximity like the high beam bulbs in the low position is, it does spread the light out more ahead of u and to the side alot further.
This is another way of getting brighter without the cost of hid, and more shine than the high beam bulb mod. As for cost, its rather cheap, bulbs cost about $14 (9008) each, unless u get the cheapies off ripoffbay (ebay), 4min jb weld $5. Those were sylvania brand and were the lowest model which is the cheapes one; u can get the higher model and pay I think like $30 each and they claim to be brighter, but dont know, because I dont believe it. Its clear glass not that blue crap tint. OH, and you will be making your own plug unless you can get a set of the oem style plug,( i look but no luck).
picture courtesy of uncle_el cb member
I was just comparing mine to his to see what it would look like compared to HID retro. Totally no cutoff line, but also didnt cost me a fortune!
So I was looking at my parents car, Nissan sentra; and they have pretty decent lighting. Its not hid, but it got the nice sharp cutoff. So I went and got a bulb the same thing for that Sentra; and decided to retro fit it into my old headlamp since it has that nice sharp cut line like the hid do.
The results were not that bad even though I never got the cutoff line that I wanted. At first when I only had the low beam on it showed way different pattern compare to stock. It threw out almost a rectangle pattern light. Switch over to the high beam and bam, it lites up like the whole wall but it almost is like faded. So I decided to light both high and low beam, boom, it gets a really nice bright shine. The light was not focus on one spot like the stock one is, but its more rather spread out and brighter.
Only thing is in the center out farther in front bout 15'ft, you have a little darker shadier spot where the lights actually dont shine too, but when u turn ur high beam on it shines right in that spot britening it up.
The pictures are like this. The right side is with the stock high beam bulb in oem spot (never used in pictures) and retro lite in the low beam spot. The left side only had a high beam bulb in the low beam position. The car I estimated about 15'-20' feet away from wall.
Here, I had the flash on so that u can see how the light shines. As u can really tell, the stock left side had most of its shine foucused on that that spot that is really brite while the right side is spread out thats why u really cant see it!
Here is the picture of both compared. The left side is high beam bulb in low position and the right side is retrofit bulb in low position. As u can see, the left side is a lot briter in one little spot as like in the picture above; while the right side's shine is spread out and not as directly focused as like the stock side. YOu also notice that the right side shines up a little higher to, and more to the side but dat MAXIMA just gott have its but in the way! (sorry no key to move it and the only wall that i have.) You see how high the light shines on the left side up the left windows hieght; actually its from the right side that is shining there, and you see how hight the right side shines, looke in the next 2 picture and you can cleary see what I mean.
Here is the stock high beam in low position pattern, i was standing in front of the other headlight to block it! As you can see, it shines really strong in the center and fades out to the sides. And also notice how low it is, it never even reaches the window height.
Here is the right side, as you can see, it is more spread out and not focused on the center like the stock is. You see how the center is little darker, i dont know why but its not shining there, but when u turn on the high beam it shines there. Also notice how high it shines and how far out it shine, compared to the stock.
Last pictures are comparisons.
Left picture is both lamps with retro fit lights in the low beam spots...the right picture is the 2nd picture on top goin down and it has the stock high bulb in the low beam position in the left lamp with the right haveing the retro in the low beam position. Notice how the left picture is brighter than the right. Remember how i said the stock had the brightness focused on that little spot like in the previous pictures and the retro had it all spread out. Well, when u got the 2 retro lamp and its all spread its brightness pattern out all over and when u x2 u get it to be brighter all over. As for the stock goes, it dont even compare to 1 retro lamp.
In conclusion, I had to run both the high and low in the retro fit or else dont even bug with it cuss its crap compared to stock low with high beam bulb. I will need to get the oem style plug for the lights when I can get my hands on them. I will be using a relay harness to power up the lights. The temp setup I used the low to power both high and low, it does get somewhat warm, I dont know if it will burn your harness up or not because I did not run it long enough; its pulling 55watts/60watts from one harness i think it a lot. The relay harness is a bigger guage wire and will provide more power and safety.
The lights do look bright head on, but its not foocken bliding like when someone has there highs on, i try to adjust the lamp so that it is shining towards the ground, but it dont seem to work, oh well. As for the ground spots lumen, it is a lot better than the stock even with the highs in the low spots. Although the brightness is not not as focused as it would be in close proximity like the high beam bulbs in the low position is, it does spread the light out more ahead of u and to the side alot further.
This is another way of getting brighter without the cost of hid, and more shine than the high beam bulb mod. As for cost, its rather cheap, bulbs cost about $14 (9008) each, unless u get the cheapies off ripoffbay (ebay), 4min jb weld $5. Those were sylvania brand and were the lowest model which is the cheapes one; u can get the higher model and pay I think like $30 each and they claim to be brighter, but dont know, because I dont believe it. Its clear glass not that blue crap tint. OH, and you will be making your own plug unless you can get a set of the oem style plug,( i look but no luck).
picture courtesy of uncle_el cb member
I was just comparing mine to his to see what it would look like compared to HID retro. Totally no cutoff line, but also didnt cost me a fortune!
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