hey BigDawg yeh i tried the led lights for the front they wont work there is only 5v at the blinkers and the led needs 12v to work. As far as the fog lights you can do it 2 ways either conect them to the headlights so they always come on when the headlights come on or what i did is i ran the wires trough the body pannels on the passanger side and in to the fuse box arera(i followed the door wires ) and under the dash to the driver side and put the switch on the dash (witch was the the only dilling i had to do) the whole install took 15 mins for 3 wires.

 

figured I'd update you all on the headlamps I recently bought. I bought the sylvania ZXE, apparently this is the bulb to get and its a step down from the hid set up, Xenon fueled, same wattage as oem bulb etc. No pics yet but I did have a side marker light blow out so when I replace it I'll post pics. They are pricey, they look alot brighter than 4200k. I also bought those led switchback lights for the dtrl. Led bulbs will work if you have the load resistors.

 

I believe the 4200 K relates to the "whiteness" of a bulb, not the brightness. I may be wrong ...

 

You are correct, k value (kelvin) is the color range, 4200 being the standard white HID light range, 5k is white, 6k has a slight blue tint and then up to 10k etc which are some crazy neon pink colors,etc....

Lumens is the output/brightness of the bulb. I bought the Osram Sylvania (highest output halogen available) last year, about $65 direct from Sylvania (not available in stores,etc) and were noticeably brighter but one just burned out after a year's operation.

I'm probably going to install an HID projector setup (not the ebay kits) as I have one on my Altima and are among the best cutoff (no light glare/blobs) and output on the market but not a cheap option. A complete kit with projector lamps (not just "HID bulbs") run about $300 plus the need to bake the lights apart, modify/fab/install the projector lamps,etc but it was worth it to me.

Have fun!

 

I'm almost 68 yrs old and have owned a lot of vehicles over the years. I find the OEM headlights on our Uplander to be quite sufficient, best of any vehicle I've owned.

 

If you want my honest opinion Pap I think we're both right I see white as brighter than the standard Yellowish Oem light or am I just being silly?

 

I think you guys misunderstood what I was trying to say...

 

Acutally, you're right, they're related. If you took two different bulbs, one at 4200k and the other at say, 8000k both rated the same, the 'whiter' light would look brighter and illuminate things better.

And yeah, the stock lighting is not bad but after having a true HID projector system on my nissan, I feel like I'm wearing sunglasses in the Uplander lol...

I can't remember for sure off hand, you guys might know, but I read somewhere that our stock bulbs, H11, can be swapped with H9 bulbs which are claimed by folks to have even better output for some reason. They just need a tab filed down to fit or something. May be something to try since I'm not spending over $30/bulb again lol....
Here's one example:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/t960...u_bulbs__.html
Here's a good link that quotes Daniel Stern (google him, a auto lighting guru) A potential big jump w/the H9 over H11 lumens...
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/s...d.php?t=261744

 

I've heard that as well but can't remember where, I want to get the hid set up but don't want to spend all that money and go to set the lights up and look dumb founded if it isn't the plug and play. There is so many cheapies out there and from what I've heard they are garbage. Maybe the 6000k anything higher in temp bothers my eyes like those purpley pink and really bluish ones

 

I guess you could try one of those $40 kits, DDM-Tuning is a hugely popular online kit venor that many people like alot. If there was too much glare, etc, you wouldn't be out much and could resell it.

The projector HID setup I used is really a good price for such a complete kit, around $275. It's not cheap but it looks as good or better than many of the high end factory hid setups from Acura, BMW, etc (my brother has a 540i V8 and my setup blows his factory setup out of the water!).

It almost seems that newer halogen reflector housings (what we and all non HID factory setups have) are a little more forgiving with HID kits (ebay, DDM Tuning) when it comes to glare than older cars since the housings are much larger. It might be worth a shot...