I put in some new headlight bulbs last night and they seem like a pretty good upgrade! These are OEM wattage so they won't damage the wiring harnesses. Also DOT approved so no legality issues.
Output is rated at 1000 lumens and 4000K - supposedly as close to HID Xenon as you can get. I'd say these are better than any of the other higher wattage non-DOT approved bulbs I used to use (three or four sets a couple of years back). I've been using OEM bulbs for the last year or so and these are definately a big improvment.
The other good news is that Advance Auto (AKA Discount Auto in other areas) has them on sale now - buy one get one 50% off. The pair was about $37.50. Then you get a $10 mail in rebate - so they're fairly affordable that way.
Anyone had good experiences with these? Do they tend to last as long as standard OEM bulbs?
Heath
Sylvania Silverstar
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jefftrexler
- Posts: 174
- Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2002 9:15 pm
- Car: 1991 Nissan Maxima
I replaced the yellow-ish stock bulbs in my mom's 1998 Chevy Prism LXI with the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs and I was truely amazed! The light is so pure in its whitness with no tint of blue or purple. I would say that they are definatly better than the Piaa PlasmaWhite and extreme bulbs at a competative price. Heck, when I get my JDM headlight housings for my 1991 Infiniti Q45 I may just have to switch out my Catz Galaxy bulbs for a couple of sets of Silverstars. That is...until I get actual HID lighting 
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Q45tech
- Moderator
- Posts: 14296
- Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2002 3:19 am
- Car: 1990 Q45 342,400 miles 22 years ownership with original engine
1995 G20t 5 speed 334,000 miles 16" 2002 wheels - 205/50/16 Sr20ve vvl
Just like household light bulbs the life is a function of wattage.And increasing above some optimum design is non linear: a 10% higher wattage might mean a 20% shorter lfe.
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/cm/cm40139.htm
http://clublexus.com/Informati....html
"What happends if I insert a brighter halogen bulb into an older headlamp? Let's say you wanted to buy the American Silverstar that has 20% advertised gain. Fact is that the 20% increase can only be achieved if headlamp is new. As an example, let us say that headlamp is 6 years old with plastic front glass. It has 100 000 miles (or 160 000km) so it will probably have high general pitting of front glass. That will lower the actual output on the road with maybe 40%. Then the 20% advertised increase will be reduced by 40%, and you end up with 12% increase. That's when you really wonder if it is worth putting in any new bulb at all... A difference by 12% is hardly noticable. "
http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/general-faq.htm
SO CHANGE YOUR LENSES EVERY 100k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/cm/cm40139.htm
http://clublexus.com/Informati....html
"What happends if I insert a brighter halogen bulb into an older headlamp? Let's say you wanted to buy the American Silverstar that has 20% advertised gain. Fact is that the 20% increase can only be achieved if headlamp is new. As an example, let us say that headlamp is 6 years old with plastic front glass. It has 100 000 miles (or 160 000km) so it will probably have high general pitting of front glass. That will lower the actual output on the road with maybe 40%. Then the 20% advertised increase will be reduced by 40%, and you end up with 12% increase. That's when you really wonder if it is worth putting in any new bulb at all... A difference by 12% is hardly noticable. "
http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/general-faq.htm
SO CHANGE YOUR LENSES EVERY 100k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Q451990
- Moderator
- Posts: 11030
- Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2002 8:21 am
- Car: 1990 Q45 - 118K, 2022 Toyota 4 Runner, 2004 Frontier M/T - 108K, 2012 Xterra (Mom's), 2023 Rogue (Inlaws)
- Location: Columbia, SC
- Contact:
Q45tech wrote:SO CHANGE YOUR LENSES EVERY 100k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's very true. The difference between "Q1's" 185K lenses and "Q2's" 47K lenses is quite noticeable. Q2 is from San Fran. too, which I'm told rarely sees rain - so the car is free of those bug splatters that also seem to cloud the lenses.
Heath
I actually put PIAA Extreme Whites in my Spec V and they are far better than the stock bulbs without question. They are a bit pricey but they had the heads and matching fogs whereas the Silverstars aren't available for my fogs. The PIAA's are pure white but have a tinge of blue when you get close to them. Overall I'm very satisfied with them. I even had a Lexus GS300 flash his high beams at me when I was just drving along on low beams.
Wagner "Brite Lites" give the same light (4000K) and wattage as Silverstars at about half the price.
http://www.brandsport.com/bulcomchar.html
[URL=http://www.brandsport.com/bulcomchar.htlm]
http://www.brandsport.com/bulcomchar.html
[URL=http://www.brandsport.com/bulcomchar.htlm]
) and all I can say is that these bulbs kicks A$$! I like the whiteness and has no tint of blue. With the light off, you can't see the "blue" reflections that the "hyper whites" does. I give it an A++TonyVQ wrote:I have stock HID's on my Maxima and have been thinking about swapping out the stock bulbs in my parking, high-beam and fogs to the Silverstars. From what I have read here and on some other boards, those that have them really like them. I may be upgrading my lights in the very near future.
Well this weekend I swaped out my stock bright bulbs for the Silverstars. Actually at first, I could not tell that much difference. I guess when you have true HID, the Silverstars right next to them still look a little yellow. I do notice that once they are warmed up that they are slightly whiter than the stock ones I replaced.