hids, light bar or both

[threedogs]

I have both like a lot of ppl here not convinced you have enough reaction time
with a light bar at 110kph the fastest speed you can do in Vic. They are getting there [bars ]
but for high speed hwy work my 9" 100 watt HID will shine the way till something better comes along.
If going for a bar get the smallest angle possible as a spread beam you lose too much light, double row Cree 15 Degrees
or single row Cree are 10 degrees I think, speak to Paul on what you want I'm sure he'll sort you out

[Bloodyaussie]

I have been thinking of removing my spotlights as I dont really get any benefit from them for the driving I do... they are Narva HID's.

[Wizard52]

My IPF 900's with HID conversion -one spot and 1 flood are more than adequate with excellent distance and good width.
Last long weekend over on Fraser, I was parked just above high tide mark and saw someone coming down the beach with just high beam and a light bar on the roof. Light bar was bright as hell but when he went past me, I looked around to see how far he could see, and it wasn't far at all. A lot of light just going no where and pretty useless in that situation. Obviously do not know what brand and whether it was aligned properly but distance is more important than width when looking for best way through the cut up loose sand south of Indian Head or where waves are washing up on the beach.
Also I am reluctant to alter the air flow any more into the intercooler scoop as the standard Nissan bulbar already creates turbulence and I'm certain reduces the efficiency of the intercooler. I have been tempted to buy a light bar and if I did, it would have to go on the roof.

[bindi]

Sounds fair Wizard, and reckon as you say it depends on whether his bar was flood/combo or spot, and which brand too, as I dare say there will be huge differences between a cheap and quality light bars.

I too am concerned about the airflow into my intercooler with my standard alloy nissan bar and if I fit a 20" light bar it will have to be mounted to the front of the top bar as opposed to on top of it so as to not interfere with airflow. It might just look a bit silly, which is another important consideration for me.

A colleague of mine tried mounting his light bar on the roof and had to take it off as he got horrific reflection issues from his bonnet and bull bar, and he said the reflection was a real pain and really hurt his eyes. His truck is white and mine is silver so mine might even be worse. Yes I can put black tape all over the back of the bull bar, but i don't fancy painting my 18month old bonnet matt black (doh).

So, in terms of where i'm at, I currently have the standard 100w Nissan IPF900s and am thinking I might go HID before i try a light bar, but if I do go light bar (as well as the IPFs) I will go for a quality brand like a 20" Aurora bar.

Did you find that a HID conversion of your IPF900s was worthwhile? I have heard conflicting views on this re beam pattern and black spots etc.

Let me know how you go if you take the plunge and decide to roof mount a light bar.

Cheers
Mark

[Ronin]

Did you find that a HID conversion of your IPF900s was worthwhile?
Mark

I did the conversion of the IPF900 on my 2012 Patrol and it looks good. I bought the kit off Mick and the ballast etc all fits inside the spotties itself. so its all neat and tidy as well as water proof too.

[BigRAWesty]

My IPF 900's with HID conversion -one spot and 1 flood are more than adequate with excellent distance and good width.
Last long weekend over on Fraser, I was parked just above high tide mark and saw someone coming down the beach with just high beam and a light bar on the roof. Light bar was bright as hell but when he went past me, I looked around to see how far he could see, and it wasn't far at all. A lot of light just going no where and pretty useless in that situation. Obviously do not know what brand and whether it was aligned properly but distance is more important than width when looking for best way through the cut up loose sand south of Indian Head or where waves are washing up on the beach.
Also I am reluctant to alter the air flow any more into the intercooler scoop as the standard Nissan bulbar already creates turbulence and I'm certain reduces the efficiency of the intercooler. I have been tempted to buy a light bar and if I did, it would have to go on the roof.

Sounds fair Wizard, and reckon as you say it depends on whether his bar was flood/combo or spot, and which brand too, as I dare say there will be huge differences between a cheap and quality light bars.

I too am concerned about the airflow into my intercooler with my standard alloy nissan bar and if I fit a 20" light bar it will have to be mounted to the front of the top bar as opposed to on top of it so as to not interfere with airflow. It might just look a bit silly, which is another important consideration for me.

A colleague of mine tried mounting his light bar on the roof and had to take it off as he got horrific reflection issues from his bonnet and bull bar, and he said the reflection was a real pain and really hurt his eyes. His truck is white and mine is silver so mine might even be worse. Yes I can put black tape all over the back of the bull bar, but i don't fancy painting my 18month old bonnet matt black (doh).

So, in terms of where i'm at, I currently have the standard 100w Nissan IPF900s and am thinking I might go HID before i try a light bar, but if I do go light bar (as well as the IPFs) I will go for a quality brand like a 20" Aurora bar.

Did you find that a HID conversion of your IPF900s was worthwhile? I have heard conflicting views on this re beam pattern and black spots etc.

Let me know how you go if you take the plunge and decide to roof mount a light bar.

Cheers
Mark

I would be getting hold of some coloured string and taping length of 100mm all over your bonnet, every 200mm and go for a drive at 50-70 and 100km/h and see how much the air is farked by a simple bull bar... Then add your light bar and see how little impact it would have on the already disturbed flow..

[megatexture]

Bindi I have a silver gu with 2 light bars mounted under my roofrack and have no issues, if you mount it on top the rack you will more then likely have issues as I initially did untill I moved them under the rack and moved the rack back slightly and have no reflections now . You may however be blinded if you have a white fibreglass antenna on your bull bar but that's a simple fix of using some black heat shrink or paint.

[bindi]

Bindi I have a silver gu with 2 light bars mounted under my roofrack and have no issues, if you mount it on top the rack you will more then likely have issues as I initially did untill I moved them under the rack and moved the rack back slightly and have no reflections now . You may however be blinded if you have a white fibreglass antenna on your bull bar but that's a simple fix of using some black heat shrink or paint.

Nice to hear, looking a your motor you have plenty of lighting there mate

[megatexture]

You can never have too much !

[Wizard52]

Sounds fair Wizard, and reckon as you say it depends on whether his bar was flood/combo or spot, and which brand too, as I dare say there will be huge differences between a cheap and quality light bars.

I too am concerned about the airflow into my intercooler with my standard alloy nissan bar and if I fit a 20" light bar it will have to be mounted to the front of the top bar as opposed to on top of it so as to not interfere with airflow. It might just look a bit silly, which is another important consideration for me.

A colleague of mine tried mounting his light bar on the roof and had to take it off as he got horrific reflection issues from his bonnet and bull bar, and he said the reflection was a real pain and really hurt his eyes. His truck is white and mine is silver so mine might even be worse. Yes I can put black tape all over the back of the bull bar, but i don't fancy painting my 18month old bonnet matt black (doh).

So, in terms of where i'm at, I currently have the standard 100w Nissan IPF900s and am thinking I might go HID before i try a light bar, but if I do go light bar (as well as the IPFs) I will go for a quality brand like a 20" Aurora bar.

Did you find that a HID conversion of your IPF900s was worthwhile? I have heard conflicting views on this re beam pattern and black spots etc.

Let me know how you go if you take the plunge and decide to roof mount a light bar.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark

Did conversion about 5 or 6 years ago and no problems or dark spots. Bought kit for about $220 from Nissan dealer in Morayfield and installed inverters behind headlights and had to drill bigger holes for wires to go in back of light. Before I moved up here from Brisbane, was doing a lot of night driving and could not ask for or need better lights. Great on the beach. Only problem is the chrome surrounds on the lights rust from inside out so have had to replace them and this time painted the in sides to reduce chances of rust again.

On the subject of turbulence from bull bar, when driving at any speed in the rain, you can see water drops coming off the bull bar and over the top of scoop. Also, when looking down on intercooler, front half is clean and original colour but back half is discoloured and from time to time has debris in it. This would suggest air flow into scoop is not as it should be.

cheers

Peter