Hi,

is there any way to fit brighter bulbs or a HID retrofit into the R50 and remain legal ?

best
Bubba

some will argue yes, but no not really. I only know what I know through LOTS of trial and error. Basically the brighter the bulb as far as watts, it's not good for your wiring and could possibly melt the stuff. The bulbs that are whiter (not HID) have a coating over it to filter out yellow light. This DOES make the light dimmer. it's physics, there's no arguing against that. SO manufacturers will up the watts to compensate. It is still legal because it's not actually putting out anymore light, but as I said it can do bad things to your wiring.
Now as far as HID goes, I had bad experience. And based on my experience I won't bother with another kit, but some people out there claim to have luck witth them. Here's my write up of my experience with that
http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... ght=#39195
Now these HID kits are not legal (in Michigan) however everyone has them on their cars and I've never heard of people getting pulled over for having them, or even a cop mentioning them on a stop. Basically they are illegal due to beam pattern (that is my understanding), but the HID kit I had fixed that issue so I'm unsure if it would still be illegal or not.
Good luck! But I've given up on my pathy with that issue.