ASD Dad

The high beams are Horrible on H13 lamps. I dont understand why either, it is just a newer version of the old H4 lamp and those have excellent cutoff for lows and very good highs. Where we live and SC in general doesnt do a lot of street lights, where I am we have zero so lighting is important! We have a lot of wildlife as well - deer, fox, coyote, turkey, etc. that like to run out into the road - so I've been looking at all sorts of options. My HID's have excellent low beam dispersion, zero glare and are quite bright. Much brighter than stock. The HID high beams are pretty bad and I tried a lot of bulbs and a couple kits. All of them had mediocre high beam throw. Philips makes the best H13 on the market with the Xtreme Visions and they're honestly just OK. A wee tiny bit better than stock but not much. They do throw more light for highs though. My new project I think will be this - keep my HID's for lows and disconnect the high relay and wire it so the lows are on all the time with low and high switch on. Take the high beam wire and wire that to a relay to trip a set of true driving lights. For throw you cant beat a set of good round lights even if cheap like Hella 500's but they could look out of place. LED bars or maybe small square/round LED's may work OK but a lot of those are for dispersion not outright distance unless you get into some of the specialized off road racing bars. The LED bar can be mounted a lot more places though - in the bumper opening, mod the grill, just on the bumper or I can put lights up on my roof rack. If all else fails I can go full safari style and mount some Hella Ralleye 4000 spots up on the roof rack! They'll light up something well over a mile away... Now flashing somebody with my highs with that setup?? Ya, that could get me in trouble...!

Welcome and congrats! We have 3 little guys and two large dogs with one large toyhauler so this was about the only thing on the market that made sense! 1 yr and 25,000 miles later (a lot of it towing) we're very happy with the decision. I drove a Tundra Crewmax and was out of room. Wife has a Sienna and that wont tow!

If the new V8 and the 7 speed show up I will seriously consider trading mine in. We do a fair amount of driving and towing (25K miles in one year) and the much added power and hopefully better shift points and fuel economy of the 7 speed would be very welcome. I envy you all with close dealerships. Mine is an hour away. My next closest is near 2 hours. I have 2 closer Nissan dealers but one told me they cant/wont work on the NV's and the other I dont like as a dealership.

Just curious if it was a member here! We were heading home on Friday 7/22 from camping on the NC coast when we saw a Blue NVP towing a travel trailer heading towards the coast. First time I have ever seen a fellow NVP towing a camper! We spotted 3 NVP's total on this trip which is more than usual. Did 600+ miles of pulling and got the normal 8-9 mpg. While there we had our 3 kayaks on the roof rack and I was only getting around 11 in normal driving! Talk about wind drag... We had our boats inside the camper garage for the trip there and back. If you're a member here - hello! My van/camper info is below in my sig line.

Just to update my old answer - since adding larger AT tires and a roof rack my mileage has dropped to about 13 mpg average. Can dip to the 12's easily unless I am easy on it. Towing is always the same - 8-9 mpg pulling the camper in my sig line.

Looks great! We're going camping next week up to Carolina Beach, NC. First time there for us, we normally head to FL or our coast. Is your boat on a rack? I am carrying 3 kayaks with us this trip (two adult tandems and my kids) but for the long haul they will be inside our camper garage. Once there I'll have them up on our rack to get to the various launch points.

Here you go - http://nissannvforum.com/topic/1007-vantech-h3-roof-rack-solve-my-noise-issue-or-buy-it-from-me/?p=6184 I did some more work to it since then, that was the first day I had it mounted. I extended two bars out on both sides to carry kayaks on J racks. I need to take some pics all mounted up, our kayaks are 3' wide so they stick up about 12' in the air! I can get those pics next week, we're going camping and taking the boats... You can also see my new Hankook AT-M Dynapro tires. Fantastic traction off road.

I think the last update was a couple years back. My area always has construction projects going on so some parts are out of date but most is OK. I have a brand new Nav unit coming in two weeks (mine went out, the 2nd one...) so I can check if they updated the SD card. I find my phone using Google Maps in a holder works much faster and better than the NV nav but it is handy to have built in Nav.

I have a rack now and so far it is working out OK. Not perfect but I modded it a little to help for what we need. It is the Topper Galvanized steel rack - 12 feet in length and supports 500 lbs. If I add two legs it supports 750 lbs but dont need that much up there! Using it this upcoming week for a camping trip. I'll have 3 kayaks up there. He Cary - how did you mount all 4 to your rack? I have two on J racks on the outside of the rack and one laying down in the middle of mine.

Is that a drift car or Time Attack? I LOVE those cars. The sound they make is just incredible. I'd buy one in a heartbeat over any other exotic.

Looking good! Can't wait to see the finished install.

I have 5000 miles on my Hankook Dynapro AT-M tires. Love them for the most part. They are much squirmier than the stock Firestones and the first 500-1000 miles they felt greasy on the road. I didnt like that but expected the squirm due to the large tread blocks. BUT - they are very quiet so far, they have waaaay better off road and wet traction and that is where we needed the help. So far so good. The stock Firestones were downright horrible on anything wet off road, especially the clay soil we have down South. It was like being on wet ice. The AT-M's have had much better traction in the same conditions. With the Firestones I actually had to get towed out of a spot. I was on wet grass/clay and ended up getting stuck.

I have seen one and it had out of state plates! It wasnt even the diesel model. This was just a few days ago too. My NV dealer has a few on the lot. Sat in a mid range XD and it was really nice inside. I think it was $56K so it should be nice! I have seen several reviews that say Nissan missed the mark by a lot with the XD. It weighs nearly as much as a 3/4 T truck but doesnt have the same capabilities. It has the same horsepower as a diesel 3/4 T / 1T truck did several years ago and the tow rating is only a couple hundred pounds off a new F150. The final issue is MPG isnt far off the big motors of the domestics while offering way less torque and power. The XD is like a 5/8T truck. A wee bit more than a 1/2 but not quite a 3/4 T but it costs the same as a 3/4 T Domestic. Now the new Titan V8 is getting good reviews. Excellent HP/TQ and very good transmission. I still want that motor in my NV.

I'm curious of the outcome, please keep us updated! Alignments are not rocket science, if it is pulling after 3 alignments then something is just flat messed up out front. What I dont understand is even if it were something not square you could still force an alignment to make it track straight even out of spec. I am guessing they are not allowed to go outside the factory specs but if they do force it and it does track you know something is bent or installed incorrectly. It cant really be something loose, you should be able to feel that and it would be intermittent. But again, even something as bad a bent tie rod can be corrected with enough alignment adjustments or even shims. I've run on road courses for years and have had to do pit alignments using just string and measuring tapes and my cars tracked straight even after a doing something like bending a tie rod! I would guess before Nissan took it back they'd start throwing parts at the front end, even a new steering rack and labor to install would be less than buying it back. They could then say they are acting in good faith to try and fix it so it doesnt go to arbitration yet (if FL has arbitration laws).

5 bars is 145*, 6 = 150* if I look at my tuner temp readout vs. dash. Looks like it should be 5* per bar once it starts registering.

Since buying it one year ago - Added tuner, tried some intakes, modded stock intake, tinted windows, added Tekonsha P3 in pocket under radio, turned off the DRL feature, added HID's. Most recently - added a 12 foot Topper Galvanized roof rack that I modded to accept two kayaks on the outboard sides (we carry 3) and swapped out the tires to larger AT's for better traction when camping (Hankook Dynapro ATM). Next is more lighting. I still hate the stock headlights! Havent quite decided what I will add yet, I need way more throw down the road. The high beams are horrible on this van but most H13 lights are bad for highs.

Just ignore this thread unless you're bored...

It is up to your state/county/city ordinances on what is allowed. Most places allow something quite light like 65-50% tint (the amount of light that is allowed to pass). Some areas are highly restrictive and only allow 85%. You need to search online for your area or call the DMV. Here in the southeast most cars run 25% and we have no issues ever. Some even go 15% but that gets really hard to see out of at night with no streetlights. Our van has ceramic 20% but it seems much lighter, more like an older 30% film as far as darkening. We like it though and have it on both of our vehicles. If your goal is to cut heat transfer vs. just privacy the ceramic tints do much better than straight film even with a light tint. It is mostly in the construction of the tint. Metallic tints are even better but some areas restrict those. That giant windshield does not do anyone any favors for heat, it's like a greenhouse!

EDIT: I did some searching for you since new members sometimes have issues - You can message any of the members from those pics for more info. http://nissannvforum.com/gallery/image/233-img-20141014-105117/ http://nissannvforum.com/gallery/image/80-kid-entertainment/ http://nissannvforum.com/gallery/image/320-image/ http://nissannvforum.com/gallery/image/321-image/

There were some pics in the gallery section of the site. Several have dual DVD's, one each on passenger and driver side since the dome lights are in the middle. I think I saw one had 4 players in back! A lot of members post photos in the gallery but never make an actual post on the forum. We just use the ones that attach to the head rests.

Nice job! That looks like it will be a fun camper when all is finished up.

Is it only under load so you have to be driving or can you sit in the driveway with the hood up and just goose the throttle to look for the sound? First guess is a loose hose/fitting causing a vacuum leak. Check all hoses and clamps along the intake, air box lid, etc.

Here is my input. I have a 2015 with 24,000 miles on it. I do a lot of driving for my kids therapy sessions and doc appts and we take a lot of camping trips! • How flexible is the seating in the real world? Specifically can I swap around seats as an able-bodied adult without needing to hit the gym every day? I love the idea of being flexible with seating, something that seems lacking in the segment, but I know sometimes expectations don't match reality. *** The seats dont recline. Many are surprised about that. The seats are heavy, especially the doubles. Two people should be needed to get it in and out of the van, the single I can handle solo. You can swap them around somewhat easily and you can even flip the first row backwards (there is a thread here on doing that and a YouTube vid). *** • Not concerned so much with fuel economy but I am wondering if there is any reason for getting the V8 if I never plan on hauling anything bigger than people and their luggage for a big trip? *** V8 was the only option for us due to towing. With a vehicle with a 6000# curb weight I think a bigger motor is always a welcome addition. If you truly only drive around town the V6 may be fine. *** • How easy is it to get from the front two seats to the rear of the cabin while on the go? Putting safety aside, it's nice when the front passenger can get to the kids if there is a spill or wailing or something before you can pull off the highway? Is the console that I've seen between the two seats an option or is it always there? (We've driven a Ford Transit and a Chevy Express so far and both of those have a pretty clear path to the back) *** The bin is nice and it is sturdy. I can crawl across it if needed and I am 200 pounds. It has a Ton of storage which is helpful. You can take it out if you hate it and then it will be a clear walkway. *** • Those of you who I have seen park your van in the garage, do you have standard 7 foot garages? Mine measures at a hair taller than 7 feet. Will I fit? *** Cant help, mine doesnt come close to fitting and even more so with my new roof rack!! *** • Reliability, would you say your NV has been a trooper? This will be our primary getting around vehicle so I'd like something I don't feel like needs to be in the shop all the time. Has your warranty felt like it protected you, have you been able to stick to standard maintenance by in large? *** Reliability overall has been excellent. There have been a few here with a serious problem but only a few. Warranty has been great, I needed it for a couple items and it was no issue other than waiting for parts. I had to wait over 5 weeks for a radio replacement and even longer for a seat issue but both were fixed. *** My last notes. MPG varies greatly and it is mostly due to your right foot. There are some that get 15 MPG while being pretty well loaded down and there are others that get half that (literally, half!). The average seems to be in the 12-15 range for mixed driving. Other things can come into play as well. I put on off road tires for camping and added a large roof rack and my MPG dropped exactly 1 MPG. I now average around 13 no matter what I do. When towing it doesnt matter, you'll get around 8-9 mpg. Get the tech package! If you dont, get an aftermarket rearview camera installed ASAP. With headrests installed you cant see out the back. I have my mirror tilted down to see my kids now since I cant see. The side mirrors are excellent though. Backing up the camera is invaluable with a big beast of a vehicle like this even with excellent mirrors. You do need to pay attention to dealers. Rad is right in that many Nissan dealers cant or wont work on the NV, they have to be certified. My closest dealer is 45 minutes away with no traffic. My next closest is almost 2 hours away. When you have an issue you dont deal with Nissan directly, you deal with Nissan Commercial which is it's own entity. They have their own contact info, way of doing things, etc. When travelling all over the SE area of the US I see way more Transits vs. NV's. Not sure why, I just do. The Transit was out immediately for us since it cant tow anything worthwhile for us. It could ride like a Lexus with 40 mpg, we needed a tow/family hauler. There really is nothing on the market similar to the NV with it's capabilities. Last statement - if my NV were totaled tomorrow, I would go buy one again in a heartbeat. It just does everything we need.

Mine is decent back there if I turn the fan up. The fan is always at 50% and if it is hot/cold I turn it up until it stabilizes temps back there. At 50% the noise isnt too bad, above that it gets noisy. This is living in SC so it gets quite hot! Over 100* is normal during the summer and my van is parked outside (I do have tint on the front windows but that is negligible help).

Towing our camper in summer heat through mountains my BD GT gauge is around 160-180*. These vans have a giant transmission cooler sitting up in front of the radiator right behind the grill. Would be really hard to overheat one! I had another post in here somewhere that documented temps vs. the factory gauge... EDIT - found the thread - http://nissannvforum.com/topic/935-trans-temp-while-towing/