Headlight replacement: Silverstar Ultra vs. Philips HIR2?

[turbo110]

Bought some cheap 9006 low beams for my '95 300zx turbo and can barely see anything at night. Wading through loads of forum posts and trying to figure out how to get brighter bulbs without going HID. Have narrowed it down to Silverstar Ultras (about $27/pair) or Philips 9012 HIR2 (about $50/pair; will have to chip off some of the plastic to fit, but seems doable). I keep reading mixed reviews of both--some people say the Silverstars aren't any brighter than stock, just a little whiter, and burn out quick; some say the HIR2s aren't much brighter, either. Any advice?

[Ace2cool]

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/z32-pr ... aning.html

Silverstars are a waste of money. Anything short of full on HID's are no real upgrade. You may get like a 10 lumen difference. Negligible. Cleaning and aiming will yield far better results.

[NolimitZ32]

The BEST halogen bulbs available on the market today: Phillips X-treme Vision or OSRAM Night Breaker Plus. These are the bulbs that have come standard on a lot of european vehicles in europe where HIDs are a luxury and not as often available as standard equipment. This is the best you are going to get without going HID or LED. They are not available through most US retailers but can be ordered through Amazon or a number of other sites. I have had plenty of Phillips & OSRAM (Sylvania) bulbs and I can tell you that the BS that silverstars are is not for lighting its for ricers. If you want good output you have to go with either of the two I mentioned, be weary though, if you have to go through a grueling tech inspection better keep a set of standard bulbs around as neither of the two I mentioned are DOT legal (which usually means they are better)

[Ace2cool]

The DOT inspection is stupid and extremely outdated anyways. They're using a reflective surface housing to test, while almost all cars are coming with projectors now.

[NolimitZ32]

Most DOT & NHTSA rules are dated and useless at best, downright retarded at worst.

[turbo110]

Thanks for the info so far! Cleaning is a great idea; haven't looked in there to see what state they're in. I'm checking out Philips X-treme Vision or OSRAM Night Breaker Plus... there doesn't seem to be much info on the latter, but the Philips get great reviews on Amazon (the SilverStars have about 10x as many). Looks like the X-treme Vision 9006 are DOT compliant though? Or were you suggesting some sort of modification to a different bulb?

[NolimitZ32]

I didn't realize the x-treme vision are DOT compliant, if they are thats great. I havent had them on a car in a while, the Osrams(sylvanias) night breakers are awesome, they came factory on my e39 and when one blew and I had to go buy a standard bulb it was incredible how much dimmer the standard one was. I would say that honestly the Osrams are at a halfway point between standard cheap sylvania halogens and factory HIDs. really bright and a nice white light.

[turbo110]

I bought the X-treme Vision and a grabber tool to try to clean out the inside of the headlight... we'll see if it's an improvement!

[Ace2cool]

The cleaning will do wonders. No joke.