Hey guys 1st I wanna say wattup to everybody! I haven't posted in about 5yrs for a multitude of reasons, but hey it’s nice to be back. Recently my left light went out and it was time to replace. I have an ‘04 coupe with stock reflectors. I picked up these projectors from Spyder Auto with black housings. http://www.spyderauto.com/product.ph...adlights-Black

Overall, I'd say I'm very satisfied with them 4.25/5 I got them on eBay for $320. The light output is MUCH greater than what I had and overall the quality is very good. A note about the light output...my OEM Philips were 9 ½ yrs old and had 105k miles on them, so obviously these should be much better. I also went with the OSRAM 5000k CBI bulbs for the housings http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=10591 These bad boys ain't cheap, but damn they look good. They take maybe 15sec to fully warm up but cast a beautiful bright white light with a nice hint of blueish/purple Everything from the Spyder's fits really great.

A note about how I have wired these... I personally DESPISE halos on anything but BMW's or sportbikes, neither of which my G is. Again, this is my own personal opinion but I think Halos on anything else simply looks like a poser. If I wanted a BMW I would have gotten a 3 series instead of the G. Luckily, the wiring harness on the back of the headlight housing is very easy to work with. The Halos are wired separately from the main connector so I just left them off. Also the side strip Audi style LED is wired in the harness like the stock cornering bulb so they come on with the parking lights or headlights. I didn't like this and I wanted DRLs. Again the wiring is very easy to follow so I cut them off the connector and ran the +12V wire to a wire in the IPDM that has power in "start" or "run". Now I finally have true DRLs!! The LEDs are definitely bright, but I don't think the beam pattern is as wide as those on Audis, I don't think you can see them from quite the wide range of angles. Of course I haven't left the key in the car and checked them out from a football field away for obvious reasons, but looking at them I don’t think they are quite as good as Audis, but I really love having LED DRLs..
Installation really wasn’t hard at all. Pull the old housings out, gut ‘em and transfer the insides to the new ones. The only difference is on the stock socket, there is a ground wire connected, on the Spyders the neg ground is connected to the ballast. By far the hardest part of the installation was removing the damn bumper! There are directions that come with it, but I really didn’t need them, this is pretty much a self-explanatory DIY. ALWAYS pull your neg batt cable though!!

So why 4.25 and not 5?? Number 1 reason is the aiming!!! If you look at the directions the very last step says something like they are pre-aimed for your convenience. In my case, this was complete BS!! After I got them in, tested them put the bumper all back on I went out for my first night drive.. UM…..are my lights even on!?!?!? I had that terrible sinking feeling of buyer’s remorse. After getting on the highway, I noticed that the reflectors on the lane lines were as bright as I had ever seen, they looked like they had their own dedicated power source. I realized that my aiming was likely off so I went to do the projector aiming thing only to find out it is damn near impossible to do when the housings are in!! If you contort your hands in an unholy and painful manner you can JUST BARELY get to the vertical adjustment screw which is a 8mm bolt. The horizontal left/right adjustment…..FORGET IT… Completely impossible with the housing bolted in. I’m way too lazy to pull the bumper off again to properly adjust them, so I just winged it in the up/down direction. Left/right wasn’t too bad, but like I said my lights came aimed at the ground out the box. I have no idea why they couldn’t keep the stock design to adjust them but this is a major flaw! The black housing color is also a flat black not a glossy black. I guess this is another personal preference, but I think glossy would look better (I SOMETIMES wash her after all...)The only other problem is with the little rubber dust caps on the back that protect the sockets. The stock ones are heavy plastic with rubber rings that lock the cap in place. The ones on the Spyders are simply a thin rubber dust cap that just looks like it will leak. This was easily fixed with a nice little bit of 100% silicone caulking. We had a pretty nice rainstorm the install night and pulling back into the garage I had no problems with fogging or leaking. Everything was completely dry in the housings.

Anyway like I said I know there has been a lot written about these lights, but for $320 (+ bulbs) I’m very happy with my purchase over all. I know there are better options out there with Morimitos and retrofits and all that stuff, but for a completely drop in swap… I’m very happy 4.25/5…just remember AIM these badboys BEFORE you bolt your bumper back on!! Enough of my yapping….on to the pics!!

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wanna sell your old lights, can you pm me pictures?

 

Personal taste, but I feel they look hideous. Remind me of a cheap ebay Altima coupe.

06 Projectors would have been a direct drop in swap as well, plus look and perform better.

 

Of course everyone has personal tastes, but like I said for what I paid I'm happy. I didn't see any '06-07 projectors for under $500. Plus I needed the dang bulbs, and I FINALLY have LED DRLs

 

So you despise Halos because the car isnt a BMW, but bought ebay lights because you wanted to have LED DRLs like a Lexus?

 

Wow really? I despise Halos because I don't think they look good on anything but BMWs and sportbikes like I said. I bought eBay lights because they were cheap and I like LED DRL's. I didn't think LED DRLs were a hallmark of Lexus they way halos have been in every BMW since the late 90's Audi, Buick, Honda, AND Lexus among other manufacturers have all adopted LED DRLs in the last few years or so, while OEM halos are only on Bimmers. It seems as though you're trying to reason me liking what I like, which is about as logical as me trying to justify your opinion. Like I said, we all have our personal tastes...
In terms of the '06-'07 projectors performing better, while I have no data on that I've certainly seen many posts that have them as very good performing projectors. Again though coming from '04 reflectors, these cheap eBay projectors are a definite upgrade.

 

Without a doubt it has been said hundreds of times that the 06+ projectors are the best lights you can buy for the G35 (except for maybe a properly built retrofit). Your cutoff is clearly evident of the poor build quality, as is the difficultly in adjusting (oem can be done without removing bumper) and the cheap dust caps.

The sad part is that your "review" of lights (a safety feature btw) is completly devoid of distance or foot-candles tests... ya know... the entire point of lights. That is like doing a food review based purely on presentation and cost but nothing about how it tastes.

Yes replacing 10 year old bulbs may seem like the perform better, but it really says nothing. Not to mention they are not DOT certified and illegal in almost all states (mayland included). At a minimum a light review should compare old vs new. You could have alteast taken some pictures to show the light output in high/low with acouple refrence markers. This is less of a "Review" thread and more of a "Hey guys see what I found on ebay thread" (there are plenty of those here).

Example


When it comes down to it, you shouldnt ever replace safety features of a vehical with cheap ebay crap. Lights, Wheels, Brakes, and Restraints should always be OEM quality or better, the safety of you and everyone else on the road depends on it.

 

I think we're getting off point a little. The issue was with me not wanting halos vs DRL LEDs and looking like a BMW vs looking like a Lexus. That is simply an issue of what I like and don't and rationalizing or not rationalizing it, which of course is a moot point.

To address some of your other points, I consider distance measurements, foot candles and the like to be actual TESTING of a product. As I said I meant for this to be a detailed review, not an empirical testing of their performance, so I didn't deem it necessary to go through all of that. In my review I noted the crappy aiming and the cheap dust caps. When it came to the performance, I noted that I was going from OEM reflectors and bulbs with over 100k miles on them. This was meant to say that "your results may vary" and not to go around yelling that these are the absolute best lights possible and what not. I thought it was obvious that I didn't take standardized measurements and compare them to 9.5yr old OEM lights. If that was the case, I would have titled the post "review with test results" or something like that.

I think we simply have a different idea of what a "review" is, which is fine. I noted that I was aware that there are other options out there that will perform better. However, I stand by my review that for the price and the simple drop-in swap needed to install, these are fine. Also considering what I was coming from, and the very fact that I can see better now, I don't think the safety is an issue, now that I know the aiming isn't blinding oncoming traffic. If someone out there has '05+ reflectors, wants to do a full retrofit, or wants to spend more than $320 or so.. then this probably isn't the option for them. I'm not employed by these guys, Infiniti, ,eBay. or Morimoto so what other people decide to do really doesn't affect me, but at least there is information out there in the form of what I call a review and what you call "look what i found on eBay". Either way, it's fine with me, toMAYto toMAHto.