OK we had a heated discussion a while back about silverstars and wether they were actually brighter or a gimmick (me vs. chris) and it just so happens I am looking to upgrade my cars lighting now, and for unimportant reasons silverstars are out. We have all heard the name PIAA thrown around but are they really any good? Who else makes good bright bulbs, factory replacements, that really get the job done?

I am NOT interested in HID anything.

10/6/2005 1:30:48 AM

SYLVANIA!

10/6/2005 2:09:12 AM

hid

10/6/2005 2:28:05 AM

phillips vision plus are pretty bright, and even though they are technically a blue bulb, the light is very white. the h1 phillips bulbs are much more reliable that the sylvania silverstar h1s

10/6/2005 3:51:03 AM

osram silverstars are the real deal. ive read a few independent tests comparing bulbs and these always come out as advertised and ahead of the others

10/6/2005 8:15:47 AM

stock or HID. Blue filters on a bulb acomplish NOTHING. BOOYA

10/6/2005 11:00:49 AM

dont put hid bulbs in a non-hid housing.

10/6/2005 11:01:36 AM

yeh, in those tests blue filtered bulbs put out like 65% of the light of a standard oem type bulb. craptastic

10/6/2005 11:05:34 AM

Quote :

"dont put hid bulbs in a non-hid housing."

for the most part yes, but not always. Projectors work great with HIDs.

10/6/2005 11:07:06 AM

some say HID conversions are ok in e-code housings since they have a sharp cutoff

10/6/2005 11:21:41 AM

HIR's http://www.theaccordforums.com/showthread.php?t=49

10/6/2005 3:30:35 PM

numerous other losers with 96-99 bonnevilles have bought silverstars and they fail in a year or less. as I said before, I would like to explore options. silverstars are out, US versions or otherwise.

Quote :

"stock or HID. Blue filters on a bulb acomplish NOTHING. BOOYA"

Quote :

"in tests blue filtered bulbs put out like 65% of the light of a standard oem type bulb."

Understood, and I am not fucking light wave scientist, but it seems to be that how the way a light meter measures light, and how light affects the human eyeball MAYBE, JUST MAYBE are different? What I am trying to say I think is that if OEM bulbs emit full spectrum light, and your basic "performance bulb" (silverstars for example) emit slightly bluish purplish whitish light, then I have no doubt that the "performance bulbs" wont register as high on the light meter as the OEM ones. But to me its more about which bulb works better to help my vision on the roads at night. If you really know what the hell you are talking about, feel free to chime in with the straight dope.

10/6/2005 6:56:27 PM

find the other thread you posted a long time ago and read why.

10/6/2005 7:03:44 PM

Really a brighter/better bulb in a shitty OEM US headlight is only going to get you so much improvement. Get a 'name' brand replacement bulb in stock wattage and call it a day.

10/6/2005 7:19:10 PM

Quote :

"but it seems to be that how the way a light meter measures light, and how light affects the human eyeball MAYBE, JUST MAYBE are different?"

thats true, blue filtered light is going to glare more in the human eye than the light meter, so its not really going to help you see better

really though it should make sense why putting a filter on a blub decreases the light, even if you aren't a light wave scientist

10/6/2005 7:28:32 PM

Quote :

"its more about which bulb works better to help my vision on the roads at night."

and the glare issue you mentioned is interesting- but the goal isnt lights that look brighter than stock when standing in front of my car, but lights that actually allow me to see more.

Once upon a time, I had a lil toyota

i swapped out the stocker bulbs for silverstars and they kicked freakin ass. wayyy better than even new stock bulbs. can anyone explain that?

10/6/2005 9:46:17 PM

yeah

its the same reason people see fuel savings with the tornado
plus... they "looked cooler"

10/6/2005 9:48:34 PM

actually i thought they looked dimmer, in kind of an incandesant way

after you actually explain what i asked of you in my last post, you can explain that maybe?

10/6/2005 9:51:31 PM

wait, so what do you still want explained? i guess i dont understand what you are asking

10/6/2005 9:55:22 PM

just pretend your brights are your normals. my brights are about as bright as the low beams on the latest cars.

fuck em, every suv has not only bright as shit lights but they are right in your eyeline

problem solved



[Edited on October 6, 2005 at 10:28 PM. Reason : - ]

10/6/2005 10:27:37 PM

how much do you care to spend?

for $16 bucks at wal-mart i purchased phillips xtravision bulbs.

those are the closest bulbs we have to the osrams (tightly wound filament, no glass coating, good gas inside) without having to order them and spend $30.

they are much brighter (noticeably) and are very well constructed.

PIAA bulbs are just hype.

your new more efficient bulbs won't mean much if you have poorly made diffuser lens headlights.

[Edited on October 6, 2005 at 10:46 PM. Reason : i hate the fact that i have diffuser lenses on my HID's]

10/6/2005 10:45:15 PM

wtf is diffuser? like those?

Quote :

"just pretend your brights are your normals."

I dont know if thats actually illegal, but its begging to be pulled over. Not congruent with my goals. Not to mention, thats taxing your car's electrical system, and potentially a danger. It is also not my goal to be the cause of a traffic jam while the FD puts out my smoldering sedan.

10/6/2005 11:08:06 PM

nah what i'm referring to is those old cars with the either plastic or glass lense in the front that is made up of little slits.

like the old headlights on your cutlass.

those are SHIT. i hate mine. and mine are HID from the factory.

almost every car with the exposed reflectors (like yours) have a much better/clearer beam pattern.

i'm guessing your car uses 9006 (HB4) low beam bulbs. i don't believe osram makes 9006 bulbs in silverstars. only h4's and the like.

your choices for good bulbs are:

phillips xtravision.
phillips premium ($5 more expensive).

10/7/2005 12:34:30 AM

yes my car uses the 9005/9006 bulbs for the lo/hi beams, and they used not to sell silverstars in US in those sizes but now they do. I dont know why that is/was.

On my old camry, back when my gf drove it, we got her some headlights at walmart also, and they were nice and bright, maybe GE something or other? maybe my brother remembers...

10/7/2005 12:59:54 AM

stop being gay and leave the stock bulbs in there.

10/7/2005 2:11:47 PM

the reason why they were so nice and bright was that all bulbs dim over time.

i had the factory bulbs in my 10 year old car. i didn't notice a difference, b/c you get used to it, but after replacing them it was like it had replaced the whole assembly.

most any well made bulb will do that for you.

Quote :

"and they used not to sell silverstars in US in those sizes but now they do. I dont know why that is/was. "

i believe you are referring to sylvania, not osram. two different bulbs. i haven't been able to find osram silverstars in the US/UK for a while now. i'm not saying that they don't make them, just that i can't find them. i took a trip overseas and only found h4's b/c that's primarily what they use over there.

10/7/2005 2:29:01 PM

powerbulbs.com for osram

10/7/2005 2:32:56 PM

Quote :

"for the most part yes, but not always. Projectors work great with HIDs."

i was refering to parabolic reflector type housings, not projectors.

10/7/2005 2:33:22 PM

Quote :

"i believe you are referring to sylvania, not osram. two different bulbs"

You do know Osram and Sylvania are the same company right?

10/8/2005 12:11:00 AM

^ my exact thoughts.

10/8/2005 2:16:59 AM

Quote :

"You do know Osram and Sylvania are the same company right?"

you do know that osram is the german arm of sylvania right?

they don't sell osram here.

that's why i make the distinction EVERY time i talk about it.

totally different products, totally different product line.

[Edited on October 8, 2005 at 3:33 AM. Reason : eh]

10/8/2005 3:29:43 AM

^ Osram bulbs are available in the states. Worldpac offers them, who supplies most parts places around.

10/8/2005 9:04:28 AM

do they carry the osram SS's?

10/8/2005 12:02:00 PM

^
no.

[Edited on October 9, 2005 at 2:20 AM. Reason : not DOT approved or something.]

10/9/2005 2:12:38 AM

thought so

10/9/2005 10:20:18 AM

WHO THE FUCK CARES ABOUT LIGHTS? CHANCES ARE IF YOU HIT SOMETHING IT WILL BE A NIGGER WITH HIS EYES CLOSED! AND AT THAT POINT. WHO CARES?

10/9/2005 10:43:07 AM

don't forget about the blinker fluid too

10/9/2005 6:05:22 PM

I'll let you know what I think of the silverstars. Advance had a set on sale for $19 so I picked them up.

10/9/2005 9:37:56 PM

doh... i shoulda read 1st


[Edited on October 9, 2005 at 9:39 PM. Reason : .]

10/9/2005 9:39:17 PM

Quote :

"CHANCES ARE IF YOU HIT SOMETHING IT WILL BE A NIGGER WITH HIS EYES CLOSED!"

you mean mexican don't you?

Quote :

"I'll let you know what I think of the silverstars. Advance had a set on sale for $19 so I picked them up."

you are now a ricer.

10/10/2005 4:29:26 PM

I can't see shit with my low beams on.

I put in silverstars and I still can't see shit.

If you have poorly designed headlights, as I do, no bulb is going to help much.

I've thought about just leaving my brights on, but what held me back is that it would be inconsiderate. I didn't even think that it could be dangerous--does it really put that much strain on the electrical system?

Someday I'll probably just add a good pair of foglamps/driving lights and call it done.

I just realized that this is formatted like one of KOL's posts. Oops.

10/10/2005 5:33:12 PM

hella makes some great bulbs
you can get them in >legal wattages too

10/10/2005 6:08:45 PM

Quote :

"I put in silverstars and I still can't see shit. If you have poorly designed headlights, as I do, no bulb is going to help much."

Same story with my mom's Chevy Venture

10/10/2005 6:54:37 PM

my headlight just burnt out after 18 months of driving with a crack

10/10/2005 7:28:14 PM

Quote :

"I can't see shit with my low beams on. "

how much are the facotry hid's?

does your car have diffusers or a exposed reflector?

10/11/2005 3:35:27 AM

Get some philips rally bulbs from powerbulbs.com. I put some in my car and they made a big difference over factory. The ones i have are 130 watt low beam and 100 watt high beam. I think the stock factory wattage was something like 60 watts. I have had them for about 3 years and they havent melted anything or caused any damage to my truck. http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/default.asp?prodtype.asp?PT_ID=108&strPageHistory=cat

10/11/2005 7:38:45 AM

^keep your nose open for smoke...

10/11/2005 10:14:10 AM

Quote :

"how much are the facotry hid's? does your car have diffusers or a exposed reflector?"

Factory HIDs would run $800-$1000 just for the parts. The current (non-HID) units are diffusers, but the HIDs might be exposed-reflector, they look noticeably different from outside the car. I'd have to take a closer look to know for sure though. I've heard it's a worthwhile upgrade, just damn pricey.

10/11/2005 10:28:38 AM

how about other lamps, i need a 3157NA that appears silver or chrome, not blue purple or orange when not lit

i went to advance, the silverstars there werent on sale i dont think the color will look good anyway

10/11/2005 8:21:26 PM

jesus,

took me a fucklong time to put those goddamned bulbs in.

Had to take out the battery and the airbox to get to the fuckers.

The SS's are brighter, but thats only just because my old lamps were probably the stock ones that came with the thing back in 1999... aka dim.

10/11/2005 10:03:24 PM