Head Light Bulb Upgrade

Beware of increased-wattage bulbs. Although some people say they have had good luck with them, they create extra heat caused by the increased wattage. If you try one of these, don't blame me if a lens or wire melts, and/or you blow a fuse.

Also another new trend is "blue ion" bulbs. AVOID THESE! They are simply regular halogen bulbs dipped in a very thin blue paint. Visibility is actually *REDUCED* with these bulbs, all in the interest of trying to imitate the real "Xenon" bulbs in the high-end Mercedes models. Those are a completely different technology -- it's called High Intensity Discharge (HID), and it's the same principle as the fluorescent lights in the office buildings... The electricity has to "jump" across a gap between two metal leads through a gas (in this case, Xenon). Those require thousands of volts of electricity at the bulb and thus have built-in transformers and everything.

Maybe one day there will exist a retrofit HID kit for the Maxima (JC Whitney is already selling them for other cars). However, expect the price of this to exceed $1,000. One other thing you should know about HID lamps in the USA: in bad conditions like rain or fog, they actually hurt visibility because their bluish light is reflected off the moisture and causes glare. Euro-spec headlights don't have this problem because they have a sharp cutoff to not blind other drivers. However, USA DOT-approved headlights have a soft cutoff that glares upward (to light road signs ABOVE the roads; LAUGH). So if you do decide to spend the money to buy a HID kit, I propose a better use of your money: order a set of Maxima QX headlights from a European Nissan Parts Department. These should cost $400 for the pair but they will offer much better visibility than any USA-spec headlights. Also, because of the longitudinal filament used in the H4 bulb (used in the Euro-spec headlights), they respond much better to wattage increases, i.e. visibility improves a lot with wattage increases, whereas with USA-spec headlights a wattage increase usually will not grant you much better visibility.