Hello everyone. First time posting here. Something broke my headlight lens on the passenger side and I thought this would be a good opportunity to get my mod on. I have a Black 2003 G35 Coupe 6MT. After whatever happened, the headlight on that side works when it wants, but usually not. I am hoping this is either a bulb or an easy wiring issue because I am electronically brainless when it comes to those kind of problems. That is one part of my dilemma and the other is what assemblies to replace the factory with.

I have seen a lot of junky looking assemblies that have moisture in them on all kinds of aftermarket lights in cars. After doing some research here, it would seem that upgrading to some '06 Projectors would be an idea to look into. I like the halo look on some assemblies I have seen but have very little experience wiring things. I would love some suggestions as this is the first car I have had with HID's and am clueless about them.

Oh yeah, the headlights I have don't seem bright to me. Is it true that HID bulbs dim over time? When I got this car I was excited to be the guy blinding others with the retina searing power of HIDs for a change but I am very underwhelmed thus far. I live on the edge of farmland so the deer are crafty and would love to see them before they locked radar on my G car and as such, I would love to replace the bulbs and assemblies as well.

The only challenge I have is the overwhelming options, my very slowly evaporating ignorance, and a budget of about $500.

Thank you in advance for the help. I am new to the G35 scene, but love this car.

EDIT: Opinions on this? ------> https://www.ebay.com/itm/CCFL-Halo-F...daAd~b&vxp=mtr

 

The budget will be your limiting factor, probably going to need to just replace the OEM broken parts and put new lamps in it. You might have some high kelvin lamps (looks more blue than white) that are limiting your lumens.

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4300k is the best for light output.

I would recommend you check out TheRetrofitSource.com for parts and just modify your lights by your self.

 

If your budget permits/ditch the hid's for led's

You can probably source 05 lights for 50bucks each and the led headlights and fog/high would be pretty nice

 

No.... don't use LEDs In headlight output bulbs. They don't work, plain and simple. Down grade from halogen, except whiter. Retrofit or leave it alone.

 

If you use a quality led bulb the light output is superior to HID's especially at night. Hids do not penetrate or cast brightness at driving distances and they are not the most friendly to oncoming traffic. Just like anything else: you get what you pay for. Spend at least 50 dollars for the pair of leds and prepare to be wowed. Further, the "light-up" time on a LED is quicker than any other bulb and that alone increases safety. There was a time for HID and time moves on

 

The factory HID are instant strikes so you get 80% output in the first second with full brightness achieved within 3 seconds unless it is colder than 0°F, safety factor is irrelevant.

An LED will never be perfectly retrofitted to achieve optimal pattern from an enclosure designed for a reflection style lamp, at best it will be equal to but at worst (which is what usually happens) you end up with a lot of fragmented light scattering about and blinded oncoming drivers (which is much less safe).

As for lumen output HID is superior to LED (minimal increase however) but has a lot more components with a MUCH shorter lifespan. The only reason the industry shifted to LED is they literally last 4x longer than HID with fewer components and less heat byproduct.

 

 

Keep believing what shitty marketing tells you. LED does not belong in a reflector housing PERIOD.

LED has this cult like behavior surrounding it. If you don't run LED you haven't seen the light of saving energy on something that needs no energy saving... clearly. LOL.

HID Retrofit or GTFO headlight threads. Hope you get pulled over for blinding people.

 

Somewhat correct, but the Oem Industry buys these components from Kioto in a housing made for the LED array, they aren't just drop in bulbs like people believe.

FWIW, lots of BRAND NEW LED headlight cars fail the experimental headlight test by NHTSA. HID is still king of OEM, FOR NOW. I'll gladly switch over when that day comes.

 

 

I use HID and LED extensively in both the auto and industrial fields, I literally don't think there's a brand I haven't used except for vague chinesium brands since we only use mid-tier or higher quality materials. I can guarantee you are 100% wrong about what you're referring to as "dark penetration" or how far the light actually shines.

Here's a little background about one of the things I've been doing for the last few years (5 maybe?), I can't give the name of the actual clients or many details because of NDA's but we've been building structures that are highly secure and have very sophisticated security measures including tethered arial drones attached to ground drones, armed security personnel and damned-near fortress like structures.

Now why it relates to the LED/HID discussion, we've done EXTENSIVE lumen tests (how bright the light is and how far it casts) on our own, in the field, in an industrial setting the HID's have outperformed all brands of LED fixtures for lumen count beyond 100 yards with some assemblies still providing nearly 100 footcandle at 300 meters. Of course these are big industrial assemblies and this discussion is about automotive use but I'm trying to draw a bigger picture of my experience in this field.

We also retrofit a fleet of Jeep Wrangler XD, Patriot and Chevy Suburbans for the client. For the most part this is using factory headlight assemblies but we have retro'd all the patriots to HID because the stock halogens are JUNK. Each vehicle is also equipped with front/rear/side assemblies (HID front/rear, LED side) and a driver-controlled spotlight like a police car uses that is LED. We sourced and compared many, probably nearly 100, different styles, types, and manufacturers of light assemblies before we sent a suggestion report to the client for final approval, each included a footcandle/lux chart that we prepared ourselves to a maximum range of 100 meters usually in 10 meter increments. This included many retrofit options for the primary headlamps of each vehicles.

The results were mostly the same across the board for each LED and HID, the only variance was the light pattern, 1 inch to 10 meters the LED had a slight advantage, I suspect this is why most manufacturers use 25' as their comparison tests. From 10-100m the favor shifted to to the HID however and the 100m tests were definitely in the HID favor HOWEVER these were extremely low numbers at that range, usually it was roughly 8-10 lumen for LED and 10-15 for HID.

The important thing to remember about how well a lamp assembly actually illuminates the scene is what kind of pattern does it cast, your lumens are divided over the area that they cast, you can focus an extremely narrow beam and shine for a great distance however you will have VERY POOR total illumination for driving because you need to be able to see more than just a 1 meter circle at 25 meters, this is where the HID assemblies were light years better than the LED assemblies, footcandle dropoff measured at 25 METERS was substantially in favor of the HID assemblies tested, literally double the width of the LED while already exceeding the LED footcandle center measurements. Past 75 meters however all that peripherial light dropped off substantially, this is all directly related to the type of reflector used on the assembly. You want a wide flat beam of light coming from the front of your vehicle, without a specifically designed ASSEMBLY you're not going to achieve this, you're either going to get a narrow cone of bright light or you will be wasting lumens elsewhere by having oddly shaped patterns.

I haven't done ANY assembly testing on the G35 however, but just using my eyes the results of my 2006 coupe with OEM headlights they perform on par with all tested HID assemblies, it has a very well designed reflector and doesn't waste light.

Btw you're definitely not offending me, but I do love healthy discussion

You can buy a cheap footcandle meter for about $50, I strongly recommend getting one if you want to do actual comparison tests of assemblies. That tool is incredibly valuable and by making modifications to the existing headlamp assembly I'm sure you could find a way to make a well performing LED retrofit by tuning the beam to not waste lumens.

 

On a separate note the drones are freaking awesome, the ground units patrol a pattern, they have thermal, PIR and ultrasonic sensing and if they detect something they tether one of the aerial drones from the rooftop helipad and it flies down and illuminates the area and has a wide lens camera so security can get either a ground-level view or an aerial view and dispatch personnel as needed.

Joy's of being a nearly 1 trillion dollar company.

Also, the ground drones look a lot like CL4P-TP (Claptrap) from Borderlands

 

Read what cleric wrote, he works in the industry. Please learn! We want you to see at night, you are definitely causing glare with your LED in HALOGEN REFLECTORS right now. Upgrade to a NICE HID projector and you'll see so much!

I replied to your comments above. Stop believing marketing and do REAL research instead of trusting the company selling it to you.

 

I need out of the public sector LOL!

Love your experience.