Almost $400 for a B8 S4 lightbulb?

[maskinut]

What do you think about this? What am I missing?

I see bulbs for small money on part sites. Even if it takes 2 hours to do this job this seems high.

[SwankP3RF3ct10n]

Can't see anything, but swapping out bulbs isn't difficult. You just need to take the headlight housing out. Could be intimidating to some, but search for a DYI. See if it's $400 intimidating I guess. Haha

[sonic32]

To pull the headlights out is like 10 min per headlight maybe 15 if you never done it.


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[viceroy1976]

To pull the headlights out is like 10 min per headlight maybe 15 if you never done it.


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Not even 10 minutes.

1.) Open hood.
2.) remove screw on top of headlight.
3.) loosen screw front right of headlight about 5 turns.
4.) loosen 2 screws down rear of headlight about 5 turns.
5.) unplug headlight.
6.) remove headlight.

If it takes 2 minutes to remove a light, that's a lot.

[deewan]

For $400 you could almost pay to fly me from Iowa to Cali and have me do it for you. I offer free labor. :)

As the guys above mentioned, unless you REALLY do not like fairly simple DIY projects, saves yourself the money, spend 10-15 minutes and do it yourself. And since they normally suggest replacing both bulbs at the same time, do both sides and saved yours nearly $800. Which would pay for my plane ticket. HA!

[RingLeader02]

Fuck that!

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[968Reckless]

Takes 2 seconds, give it a shot...


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[jlaudio]

amazon sells OEM phillips bulbs for $70/each. D3S is the bulb you need.

[doughboy17]

Hey, it's better than that job in my B7 A4 -- the recommendation is to drop the front bumper. When attempting to replace the city light in my A4 without dropping the bumper, I employed my 11 year old daughter to try to remove the city light ... apparently, I need a 9 year old girl to do it. Her hands were too big.

[grovlet]

Yeah $400 is laughable for labor - may be closer if your talking dealer parts (2 Bulbs) + labor - but even then....

But it's actually not difficult at all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afd2J_XpXr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgylsxai-sQ

http://www.audiworld.com/forums/s4-b...ments-2772160/

For Bulbs:
HID Concept has a 2 pack for $178 (+15% off?)
http://www.hidconcept.com/d3s-philip...-hid-50-bulbs/

So I would agree $400 is too much - DIY and get brighter lighting out of it + satisfaction you saved some $$$.....

[grovlet]

Takes 2 seconds, give it a shot...


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Actually not quite on these cars.... but it is not that difficult - took me ~30 minutes and I took my time to avoid scratching anything or dropping bolts down into the depths of the under carriage.... so I bet both sides can be done in 15 minutes including getting out/putting way the tools and proper planning....

Gone are the olden days when you turned a cover and simple unclipped a bulb though.....

[maskinut]

Here is the image from my bill. I'm sending them a note trying to figure out what the $199 is for.

[maskinut]

This was a throw in while at the dealer for the scheduled service. I could have gone to a nice dinner and changed the bulb between the appetizers and main course and paid for the dinner without even really getting my hands dirty.

[maskinut]

confirmed. 1$78 for the single bulb and $199 for the service. T'is a bit of a f&$K you.

[Mr.Tan]

they didn't call you to tell you it was going to cost that much, etc...? most places are required to get an OK before they go ahead with something that is going to cost you money UNLESS you told them ahead of time to just do whatever it is/costs.


either way its a ripoff

[grovlet]

Yeah - They got you good:

For the Bulb - It cost that much for TWO Phillips Bulbs that are actually 50% brighter....
And as you already have discovered it takes 1/2 hr at most... The $199 sounds like they charged 1 1/2 hrs....

If it was me - I would go back and have a discussion on how long it takes and the absorbent cost of the bulb - they may be willing to provide you some money towards your next service or maybe even free service? But I have heard that some dealers will work with you if you let them know you discontent and plead a reasonable case.

Edit: I would also let them know you are willing to switch dealers (if possible) over treatment like this - that may help as well... But that's why my cars rarely get serviced by the dealer - highway robbery

[blackfunk]

FYI its no different than a $200 oil change. Both are laughable.

[SwankP3RF3ct10n]

Yeah - They got you good:

For the Bulb - It cost that much for TWO Phillips Bulbs that are actually 50% brighter....
And as you already have discovered it takes 1/2 hr at most... The $199 sounds like they charged 1 1/2 hrs....

If it was me - I would go back and have a discussion on how long it takes and the absorbent cost of the bulb - they may be willing to provide you some money towards your next service or maybe even free service? But I have heard that some dealers will work with you if you let them know you discontent and plead a reasonable case.

Edit: I would also let them know you are willing to switch dealers (if possible) over treatment like this - that may help as well... But that's why my cars rarely get serviced by the dealer - highway robbery

Dealerships charge "book time", not actual time. That's how the mechanics make their money. They do a 1 hour job in 20 minutes or a 1.5 hour job in 30, all depends on the skill of the individual. I've known mechanics to work on multiple cars at once if there was waiting involved with one of them (say like updating maps or MMI firmware, etc.) They'll start that and then go do something else and they charge like they never stopped working or paused to wait. It's all bs if you ask me. I updated my own MMI in like 15 min tops. Dealership would have wanted 2 hours worth of money, which is laughable.

[Quidproquo]

Yeah $400 is laughable for labor - may be closer if your talking dealer parts (2 Bulbs) + labor - but even then....

But it's actually not difficult at all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afd2J_XpXr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgylsxai-sQ

http://www.audiworld.com/forums/s4-b...ments-2772160/

For Bulbs:
HID Concept has a 2 pack for $178 (+15% off?)
http://www.hidconcept.com/d3s-philip...-hid-50-bulbs/

So I would agree $400 is too much - DIY and get brighter lighting out of it + satisfaction you saved some $$$.....

Has anyone been able to find a DIY for the 8.5? I could not get mine out due to a different mounting bracket than the B8.
Had to take out the air box (PITA), driver's side was easily accessible without taking light out.

[whiped]

Has anyone been able to find a DIY for the 8.5? I could not get mine out due to a different mounting bracket than the B8.
Had to take out the air box (PITA), driver's side was easily accessible without taking light out.

The headlights or the bulbs?

I've done both probably a dozen times now. (It's a long story)

Removing the headlights is pretty easy:

Remove the radiator shroud (Push the dimples down until they click once then pull up)
Remove the 2 T30 screws on the top of the headlights. (Note that the one with the courser threading goes on the inside as it goes into plastic, the one with the finer threading goes on the outside)
Remove the long T30 bolt near the top of the headlight by the white adjuster thing. (Loosen the bolt then pull up, it only screws in a little bit on the bottom)
Loosen the 2 T30 screws on the bottom
Disconnect the plug on the back of the headlight.
Pull the inside part of the headlight out and disconnect the hose (This might undo itself)
Pull the whole headlight out kind of swinging it from the inside out.

Done.

To replace the headlights you don't need to remove the whole housing unless you have things in the way. (In my case the AWE Coldfront reservoir makes it impossible to switch without removing it)

Remove the larger rubber grommet on the back of the headlight housing.
Unplug the headlight bulb by pulling down on the plug.
Rotate the headlight about 90degs and it should come out.

Do the reverse to put it back it in/on.

The $179 for the bulb and $199 for the service the dealer charged is insane.

You can get a set of upgraded extreme vision bulbs for $160 on sale. The install even if you have to remove the stock airbox shouldn't take any more than an hour even if you don't know what you're doing.

[doug97gxe]

had a buddy with a maxima they were charging $270 labor to change the headlight bulb but i had to take the wheel and fender liner off to replace it

[jlaudio]

Yeah - They got you good:

For the Bulb - It cost that much for TWO Phillips Bulbs that are actually 50% brighter....

Actually the Philips XV bulbs are terrible and not worth the money... I swapped mine out after almost 18 months due to how blue and how dim they got. I was an early adopter of those bulbs. It became dangerous when it was dark and raining, there was no contrast between road surface and the light output. 50% brighter is a marketing gimmick, at no point were the XV bulbs brighter than the oem bulbs. I think that's one of the reasons why you see HID concept offering them for almost 50% off of what they cost when they were introduced.

@OP stick with OEM D3S 4300k bulbs from amazon. they are 69.50 each ($140 for 2x shipped) and it takes maybe 15 minutes tops per headlight to swap out. For that price you can swap them out every two years and still be under the cost of one bulb from the dealer.

As a reminder, HID bulbs dim with age. HID Concept's comments that it takes 100-200 hours for the XV bulbs to reach full lumen output/light output is another marketing gimmick. I feel like they tell people that so they don't return the XV bulbs, LOL.

[whiped]

Whatever XV bulbs I bought are noticeably brighter.

Then again, I bought them primarily for their color.

Here is a good picture of how to remove the bulbs.

Pull down on 1, rotate 2

[Quidproquo]

had a buddy with a maxima they were charging $270 labor to change the headlight bulb but i had to take the wheel and fender liner off to replace it

Yup... Same thing with the Nissan Zs.

[A.C.]

Good to know for future reference!

[Quidproquo]

The headlights or the bulbs?

I've done both probably a dozen times now. (It's a long story)

Removing the headlights is pretty easy:

Remove the radiator shroud (Push the dimples down until they click once then pull up)
Remove the 2 T30 screws on the top of the headlights. (Note that the one with the courser threading goes on the inside as it goes into plastic, the one with the finer threading goes on the outside)
Remove the long T30 bolt near the top of the headlight by the white adjuster thing. (Loosen the bolt then pull up, it only screws in a little bit on the bottom)
Loosen the 2 T30 screws on the bottom
Disconnect the plug on the back of the headlight.
Pull the inside part of the headlight out and disconnect the hose (This might undo itself)
Pull the whole headlight out kind of swinging it from the inside out.

Done.

To replace the headlights you don't need to remove the whole housing unless you have things in the way. (In my case the AWE Coldfront reservoir makes it impossible to switch without removing it)

Remove the larger rubber grommet on the back of the headlight housing.
Unplug the headlight bulb by pulling down on the plug.
Rotate the headlight about 90degs and it should come out.

Do the reverse to put it back it in/on.

The $179 for the bulb and $199 for the service the dealer charged is insane.

You can get a set of upgraded extreme vision bulbs for $160 on sale. The install even if you have to remove the stock airbox shouldn't take any more than an hour even if you don't know what you're doing.

Yeah, I got stuck at the T30 next to the adjuster thing... Just couldn't figure out how to get that thing out. It looked like I was screwing up the headlight adjustment, and I put everything back. At that point I had already taken out the airbox twice so I was comfortable doing that instead.

[doug97gxe]

Yup... Same thing with the Nissan Zs.

yup did that on my Z and my ex's altima .. Nissan freaked out after all the 2002-2003 maxima HID headlights were getting stolen and a class action lawsuit was started as to how easy they were to steal.. so they started with the complicated bullshit

[whiped]

Yeah, I got stuck at the T30 next to the adjuster thing... Just couldn't figure out how to get that thing out. It looked like I was screwing up the headlight adjustment, and I put everything back. At that point I had already taken out the airbox twice so I was comfortable doing that instead.

Unscrew it then pull up.

Only the last bit of the bolt actually threads into something.

Once you put the headlight back in you will want to manually level them again.

[grovlet]

Actually the Philips XV bulbs are terrible and not worth the money... I swapped mine out after almost 18 months due to how blue and how dim they got. I was an early adopter of those bulbs. It became dangerous when it was dark and raining, there was no contrast between road surface and the light output. 50% brighter is a marketing gimmick, at no point were the XV bulbs brighter than the oem bulbs. I think that's one of the reasons why you see HID concept offering them for almost 50% off of what they cost when they were introduced.

@OP stick with OEM D3S 4300k bulbs from amazon. they are 69.50 each ($140 for 2x shipped) and it takes maybe 15 minutes tops per headlight to swap out. For that price you can swap them out every two years and still be under the cost of one bulb from the dealer.

As a reminder, HID bulbs dim with age. HID Concept's comments that it takes 100-200 hours for the XV bulbs to reach full lumen output/light output is another marketing gimmick. I feel like they tell people that so they don't return the XV bulbs, LOL.

Well - all I can say is maybe you received some bad bulbs - I bought a set in June of last year - and they are noticeably brighter - and have been since the day I installed them..... Hell I just got my Subaru back on the road and immediately thought there was an issue with it's lights (which are upgraded H7 55W Osram bulbs in projectors).... Simply due to driving around in the S4 with the Phillips bulbs and getting used to the added lighting....

[jlaudio]

Well - all I can say is maybe you received some bad bulbs - I bought a set in June of last year - and they are noticeably brighter - and have been since the day I installed them..... Hell I just got my Subaru back on the road and immediately thought there was an issue with it's lights (which are upgraded H7 55W Osram bulbs in projectors).... Simply due to driving around in the S4 with the Phillips bulbs and getting used to the added lighting....

They were great for the first year, I'll admit. Color of the bulbs looks nice, almost like the LED bulbs that toyota's use now. After the first year they became significantly bluer and reduced light output. I don't think i got a bad set i just don't think they are quality bulbs in the long term for visibility.

Simple logic tells us that if an OEM bulb produces 3200 lumen and an XV bulb produces 3200 lumen (which it does), but OEM is 4300k and XV is 4800k, the 4300k bulb will be brighter. The higher the kelvin temp the bluer the output is, which means less visible light.

I have no problem if people are using XV bulbs for color purposes, but to say its +50% light is a massive marketing gimmick, especially when the lumen stats for both bulbs are the same.

[whiped]

I have no problem if people are using XV bulbs for color purposes, but to say its +50% light is a massive marketing gimmick, especially when the lumen stats for both bulbs are the same.

It does seem to throw further. The brightness of the bulbs could just be a placebo from the color.

I'm very happy with them. Hopefully they will last longer than a year!

[Quidproquo]

yup did that on my Z and my ex's altima .. Nissan freaked out after all the 2002-2003 maxima HID headlights were getting stolen and a class action lawsuit was started as to how easy they were to steal.. so they started with the complicated bullshit

Yeah, I had the HIDs stolen off my 2003 Maxima twice before I started hiding the car in garages. It was horrible, I got so paranoid I didn't want to take the car anywhere where I had to park outdoors!!
I even got video of one of the thefts. It took three guys 30 seconds to rip the lights off the car, and split!! Cops couldn't believe what they were seeing!! Too bad there wasn't YouTube back in 2003, or I'd have posted it to embarrass Nissan.

[doug97gxe]

Yeah, I had the HIDs stolen off my 2003 Maxima twice before I started hiding the car in garages. It was horrible, I got so paranoid I didn't want to take the car anywhere where I had to park outdoors!!
I even got video of one of the thefts. It took three guys 30 seconds to rip the lights off the car, and split!! Cops couldn't believe what they were seeing!! Too bad there wasn't YouTube back in 2003, or I'd have posted it to embarrass Nissan.

Guys on the maxima forum had fabbed up brackets


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[Luna's S4]

The headlights or the bulbs?

I've done both probably a dozen times now. (It's a long story)

Removing the headlights is pretty easy:

Remove the radiator shroud (Push the dimples down until they click once then pull up)
Remove the 2 T30 screws on the top of the headlights. (Note that the one with the courser threading goes on the inside as it goes into plastic, the one with the finer threading goes on the outside)
Remove the long T30 bolt near the top of the headlight by the white adjuster thing. (Loosen the bolt then pull up, it only screws in a little bit on the bottom)
Loosen the 2 T30 screws on the bottom
Disconnect the plug on the back of the headlight.
Pull the inside part of the headlight out and disconnect the hose (This might undo itself)
Pull the whole headlight out kind of swinging it from the inside out.

Done.

To replace the headlights you don't need to remove the whole housing unless you have things in the way. (In my case the AWE Coldfront reservoir makes it impossible to switch without removing it)

Remove the larger rubber grommet on the back of the headlight housing.
Unplug the headlight bulb by pulling down on the plug.
Rotate the headlight about 90degs and it should come out.

Do the reverse to put it back it in/on.

The $179 for the bulb and $199 for the service the dealer charged is insane.

You can get a set of upgraded extreme vision bulbs for $160 on sale. The install even if you have to remove the stock airbox shouldn't take any more than an hour even if you don't know what you're doing.

Another satisfied customer. Would have taken 20 minutes for both but needed a ratchet extension thought I already had. Went with the Philips OEM from HID Concept @ $65 a piece. Dealer wanted $160 each. Thank you and others for the directions.