Xterra Talk-LED Headlight and Fog-light Upgrade (How To, Nissan, 2nd Gen, Frontier, Pathfinder, DIY)
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- On this episode of Xterra Talk, I'm going to walk you through the LED headlights and fog-lights that I installed on my Xterra. I've been running them for the last couple of years.
I'm sure I'll hear in the comments from you all on your thoughts on running LED headlights in stock housings. Overall, I would say I agree that the proper/best way to do it would be to do a full projector retrofit. However, that's big money or at least lots of time and combing the junkyard for the right vehicle to pull the projectors out of.
While I think that there are for sure some vehicles with lights that are ill-fitting and overly bright, these have worked really well for me while giving me a significantly brighter light than stock with a good light cut and a temperature that's not overwhelming for other drivers.
Thanks for watching and if you enjoy the video, please click the thumbs up and consider clicking subscribe and the bell to be notified when new videos drop! Lots of new Xterra content coming in the future!
Here are links to the headlights and fogs:
Auxbeam LED Headlights for Xterra (verify your fit on your vehicle): amzn.to/38ZwOBN
Another LED headlight option that has great reviews and was brought to my attention by a member of thenewx.org (thanks HanCholo!) are these: amzn.to/3c0S7XF
Yellow LED Fog Lights: amzn.to/34YV7wR
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-Mike Hurley
Those yellow fogs are sick, definitely doing that too
Thanks! I like them. I'm sure they'll look good on yours too!
I just got the Auxbeam ditch lights because you spoke so highly of Auxbeam.
Nice! Excited to see what you think of them. They're pretty inexpensive too. Those spots on my roof are my favorites so far.
Good polish on the lens always helps. Remeber to spray uv clearcoat to prolong the polish. I love my led replacements.
Yeah, you can definitely tell that these OEM housings are 15 years old. Overall, I’m really impressed with how they’ve held up. Wouldn’t hurt to hit them with a lense polishing kit for sure. Glad you like your LED’s as well! Thanks for the comment!
Looks good. Thanks. I was just planning on doing the same to my '02. I appreciate the links too
Anytime! Glad it was helpful!
Good luck!
Solution for LEDs with fan exposure in the OEM housing??? It's a square box.
ALSO... regarding LED brightness... the light frequency is higher than standard bulbs which is what bothers people regardless of the Lumens.
Also, incorrect installation can lead to blinding others.
Ironically, people with LED lights are most often the ones flashing their lights at others, at least around here.
👍 Good points.
Great video, Subbed
I have a 2010 xterra off road model but not the ProX.
Thanks William
Those Xterras are fantastic. Welcome to the channel!
@@AllThingsOverlandingThanks for welcoming me! I have owned it 2 years but never had it in 4 wheel.
@@williammoore6952 That's great. They're really great vehicles. It'll surprise you how capable it is off road too if you go exploring.
awesome video bro!
thanks for the review!!!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks man!
I've got LEDs in my Xterra as well. The stock lights were horrible. I haven't had anyone bright light me with them. Well, unless I had my brights on lol.
Yep, exactly! :D
Great video! Would of loved to see some night shots! Hello form a fellow Hoosier! Like and Subbed! 👍
Thanks John! Happy to have you as a subscriber! What part of IN are you in?
I bought these lights from your Amazon link for a 2008 Xterra and ran into trouble with the white retaining clip. Basically the wire that runs out of the back from the fan at 90 degrees runs into the clip and doesn't allow the clip to be completely reseated, and the light to be installed. If you could make a follow-up explaining HOW TO actually install/breakdown, that would definitely be helpful for anyone looking to buy these, because it's definitely more in depth than just plugging it in. I'm actually returning mine because from what I could tell, the only way to avoid that would be to sand down or dremel the retaining clip to allow for the wire to pass through without being bent too much.
Hey Kyle, good feedback. It's been a little while since I installed them, but that's a good question. I'll pop everything apart and make a new video showing the install more in depth. It's possible I had to slightly mod something to get them to fit. If it didn't take much modification, it's very possible that I just dremeled a notch to make them sit perfectly. I'll make an update and drop it ASAP. Thanks again for letting me know!
Hey Kyle, got an update for you. You were right that there is a slight (super easy) modification that you have to make to the plastic retaining clip. I'm putting together a video on it and it should be up by early next week. Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. I'll ping you when it's up! Thanks for the great question!
@@AllThingsOverlanding Awesome! Definitely will be cool to see that aspect of the install.
@@kyleeckert378 Sweet! As soon as it's up, I'll let you know. Have a good weekend!
Hey Kyle, that vid is up! Here's a link: ua-cam.com/video/35NQZ8IQKTM/v-deo.html
I have read where using amber lights off roading will help you see through dusty situations.
I've definitely had a good experience with them.
I have a 2004 Nissan Frontier.I have tried two different brands of LED headlight bulbs,and the retaining ring won’t work with the bulbs.Any ideas? What brand of bulbs did you use? Thanks
Not sure if it’s different in the first gen trucks but in the video, I believe I show how I modified the retaining ring to make it work. I linked to the bulbs in the description too if it helps!
Hi, I would like to know if there is a big difference between high and low beam with your headlights. I often read the there is no much improvement when you use high beam with led comparing to halogen... I’m not to sure about the Improvement to switch from halogen to led... but I live the look !!! And love the channel... from Montreal.
Hey Sebastien! Yeah, there is a pretty big difference between high and low. Most of it is really orientation of the light. As the names indicate, it gets a bit brighter and illuminates higher/further out. The difference is definitely noticeable. I generally don't run the "high beams" though because it cuts off the fog lights. So, I usually turn on my ditch lights and my Hella spotlights on the roof when I want to see far out. Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed in the Hellas and will probably be swapping them out at some point in the future, but the LED headlights are awesome and I love them. Thanks for the comment and the love!
How do you access the fog light? Mine has a piece of plastic covering the light inside the wheel well. I saw a video where the guy had to remove the whole front bumper but I’d imagine that’s not necessary. Thanks in advance!
You should be able to just remove the fender liner by taking out a few of those plastic clips with a flat head screw driver and then you can access the back of the fog lights pretty easily! Hope that helps!
do you have to remove the entire fender liner of just the front portion where the fog light is?
Hi I'm loving the contents of your channel. I have regarding the led headlight. What's the correct positioning of the led bulb? Does it have to be vertical or horizontal?
Thanks
Good question. It's been a little bit since I installed these, but I don't think it matters.
Are you able to see the cut-off from the beam when driving, and is the beam pattern evenly dispersed? I've had to replace my headlight housings and have tried multiple LED bulbs, but all of them have uneven light output and dark spots everywhere!
I think it’s evenly dispersed. They are significantly brighter than the stock bulbs they replaced. I’ve had them for several years and they’ve been great for me.
Pardon my ignorance, but what's the difference with not using projectors with the LEDs? I'm new to the headlight world, but need to figure out how to make my Xterra's headlights brighter. Seems like a simple fix?
Well, on online forums and Facebook groups, there are always big arguments about running LED lights in non-projector (stock) housings because the stock housings weren't made for the much light output which means that you get a "brighting effect" even when just low beams are on.
I haven't really had any problems with that with these headlights, but we've all seen vehicles driving towards us with aftermarket lights that are blinding, so it can happen.
The bad thing is that you basically either have to buy full projector, aftermarket headlights which are pretty pricey, or tear up a couple of different headlights to retrofit the projector portion into a stock Xterra headlight. People have done this but it's a fair amount of work and/or expense, so I chose just to deal with it. The headlights are much brighter with these LED's so I love them, and again, I've seen them and they have a decent light spread without blinding oncoming drivers in my experience.
@@AllThingsOverlanding I just replaced these today! Thanks for the recommendation. They were quite the process to get out - but once we realized why we couldn't get the socket disconnected from the bulb, the switch was pretty easy. I find that they're still a little loose in the housing, though. Have you found the same with yours? I just used the links in your video to get the parts, so I think that we have all the same things.
@@megancostello Hmm, mine aren't loose at all, but I also modified the retaining clips to make them work perfectly. Not sure if you saw this other video I put out in response to a question on this video, but it might help! Here's a link to how I installed the lights and modified the retaining clips: ua-cam.com/video/35NQZ8IQKTM/v-deo.html
Awesome lights, just installed a set on my '05 OR and I can see so much better! The only issue though is that my high/low beams are reversed now. Not a huge issue at the moment, I just flick the switch to high, but it will potentially be an issue when I need to use my fog lights. Any idea what the issue could be?
Do you have the exact same ones? That's really weird. I'm not sure what the issue could be, but I found this video that explains that you may need to swap around 2 of the positives to fix the reverse polarity. Again, not sure if this is the problem, but it's a potential solution. ua-cam.com/video/hEkqssfg4Fk/v-deo.html
@@AllThingsOverlanding exact same. looking over the reviews on Amazon it looks like it happens occasionally. I'll have to look into that polarity fix
As for highs/lows being reversed, depending on what brand/style you installed, you may have installed them upside down. (yes, it's a thing)
You might have bought 9006 lights instead of 9007 they are slightly different where the connectors for the high and low beams are in different locations
Hi I have an 02 Pathfinder and have run LED headlights for about 6 months now and I love them all but for one problem. I had the bad luck of hitting a Checkstop. The police gave me a warning for not having daytime running lights. Do yours work? Do you know how to get them to work? Or do you know if there are LEDs that come with that feature? I don’t have fog lights so I can’t use them as DTRL. I’m not sure what to do because I am loath to go back to crappy headlights. I am prepared to install a set of extra spot lights to fill in as DTRLs.
Huh, that’s weird. Pretty sure vehicles that old didn’t come with DRL so I don’t know how they could expect you to have them. My 05 doesn’t have DRL and I’ve never been pulled over.
All Things Overlanding Maybe it’s just in Canada. It does have DTRL. Or rather it used to before the LED install. Unfortunately I can’t find any that come with that feature. Unless I’m missing something obvious.
Honestly I don't see what the issue is. LEDs have come a long way and they have figured out ways to disperse the light better
Yeah, there's a ton of hate out there on the internet, but I don't think these have any worse of a light "cut" than traditional lights. And they're way brighter and really resilient (I've had mine in for about 4 years now and been through multiple deep water crossings and no problems).
What year is your Xterra ?
It’s an 05
I don't care what anyone thinks I should run in my stock housings.Especially when they're running down the road with ridiculous light bars on squatted mall crawlers blinding everyone.
I mean, I don’t want to endanger anyone but everyone (with no experience using these lights) always defaults to the line about the housings not being made for LED’s and they assume they will blind people. I think we’ve all seen those vehicles that have far too bright or dispersed lighting and these don’t do that, so I don’t feel bad.