Comments about Sylvania SilverStar headlights?

[LaVaDog]

I have a 2000 Ford Eddie Bauer Expedition and I put silverstars in my headlights and fogs and love them! A lot better performance then factory!

 

[dano]

I didnt know this thread was here...Anyways, I stuck a pair of Silverstars in my WRX, and I don't have any blue tinted beam. They are a bit whiter than stock, and I disconnected the DRL's (daytime running lights)...

--dan

 

[Orion]

Dang, dano. You are one lucky individual. I've been lusting over the WRX for quite some time, but can't flip the bill for one at this time [plus my current car works just fine]. I would love to have something that has over 200 horsepower, with all wheel drive, and have the reliability that Subaru has.

Lucky guy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[FalconFX]

...Maybe it's time to save up for the WRX STi... Or the Evo-VII...

Anywho, I took out my SilverStars, stuck in some PIAA Plasmas, took them out and stuck in some Rallye bulbs, and all I can say is, even though it's less white, the Rallyes put out more light (no lickity), and are there to stay... And more light's always good, even if it's 100W/130W...

 

[Chevy]

I have Sylvania Silverstars on my 2005 Chevy Silverado (Headlights and Foglights), and they work great, and are very white and have a long viewing distance.

Although, the foglights suck, I have had to replace 3 in the past 3 months, but the headlights have been working great ever since I've had them.

 

[CYBER4WOLF]

I have used Sylvania SilverStar & Sylvania SilverStar Ultra & PIAA Extreme White Plus & OEM stock all with the lowbeam 9006 socket.

I also have KC HiLiTES 6"slimlines with a 130 watt blue-ice bulb (white lite) & 3x5 Wide Beam LX2 Driving Lights with a standard KC halogen 55 watt bulb on the front of my 07 chevy trailblazer.
The KC HiLiTES 130 watt blueice bulbs which originally sold for $37.89 each, Now sell for just ten dollars, all their WHITE lite bulbs are dirt cheap now. My 3x5 lights with standard halogen bulbs add the extra contrast needed to see in bad weather, back roads & off road.

All the 9006 bulbs I mentioned above are WHITE lite AND without the 3x5 lights I would not be able to see in bad weather very well, I tried. Thats why I had the 3x5's installed.

Now to which 9006 is the brightest and whitest, that goes hands down to the PIAA. DO NOT BUY Sylvania SilverStar Ultra - I STRESS - ULTRA, the Sylvania SilverStar regular are GREAT. The Sylvania Ultra bulb loses the gas inside over a short time and then the bulbs are much dimmer
than stock bulbs. The ultra's have a short life and then they are horrible. You will not have this issue with PIAA Extreme Plus ($85.00 set) or Sylvania SilverStar ($37.00 set) "regular".

Honestly I am planning on taking out my PIAA's and installing regular stock bulbs ($14.00 set). Whiter and brighter does not mean you will be able see any better, it just means that you will blind oncoming traffic much easier. Whiter and brighter are simply horrible bulbs in any environment that is not open, clear & dry. That means they are bad in the rain, snow, back roads & off road, but they are truely absolutely GREAT for DRY night highway driving. They are acceptable in the rain ONLY on roads with reflectors embedded in the roadway signifying the lanes which alot of highways now have.

I owned 4 Dodge Neons, 3 with factory driving lights and Sylvania SilverStar "regular" headlight bulbs and never ever had difficulty seeing in bad weather at night when combined with driving lights. I felt silverstars were better than stock in that vehicle, but only when used with driving lights. I owned 1 Neon without driving lights.

Yes the vehicle makes a difference, I feel the stock bulbs are better in my trailblazer due to its light housing & assembly\reflective properties. All I can say is make sure your stock headlights are properly adjusted and if you still cant see in the rain consider having driving lights installed because most new vehicles have the abilaty to come with driving lights installed now.

For clarification: In the rain, white lite will allow you to see the deer/HUMAN infront of your vehicle that you are going to hit in 2 seconds but, you will not see it standing on the side of the road, you will only see it when it is in front of you and then it is too late.

I have been driving with PIAA's for over a year on back roads with lots of deer in the rain. Thankfully my KC slimlines produce 600,000 candle power so I can see if I need to in the rain.

PIAA Extreme White Plus is Horrible, Horrible, Horrible in the rain, Silverstar regular are only OK, but the best bulbs for rainy bad weather is OEM STOCK bulbs or a bulb that emits all the colors of
the spectrum. NOT just WHITE !

I hope this helps to save somebody some time and money.

 

[CYBER4WOLF]

The only bulbs LEGAL for use on USA highways & roads have a MAXIMUM of 55 watt lowbeam and 60 watt highbeam & 55 watt driving\fog, the bulb MUST be US-DOT approved. My KC slimline's are installed as auxillairy lights to my highbeams, this means they are wired in and only will work with the highbeams and will not work any other way, they also must have a kill switch to make them stay off & does nothing else but stop the lights from coming on with the highbeams. They are legally installed auxillairy lights, their usage is questionable, but in the rain on a desolate road with no other vehicles or people around who is going to be there to complain. You just have to use common sense or you will have to deal with a $125.00 fine and a really mad police officer. I flick them on and off for visabilaty of the road ahead and only in the rain, I NEVER EVER leave them on & I only turn the master switch on when it is raining and I am on a desolate road. I have flashed people with excessively bright lowbeams (not US-DOT aproved or altered highbeam bulb) or highbeams, they turn them down or OFF Real Fast. How well could you see with OVER 1,000,000 candle power blasting you in the face. So I STRONGLY recomend if you are in the USA that you only use all US-DOT approved legal wattage except possibly your Auxillairy lights to your highbeams and you should have them legally wired in, so you will not flash somebody by accident\mistake.

 

[-Virgil-]

The only bulbs LEGAL for use on USA highways & roads have a MAXIMUM of 55 watt lowbeam and 60 watt highbeam & 55 watt driving\fog, the bulb MUST be US-DOT approved.

None of that is correct. There is no all-encompassing wattage restriction on bulbs producing any particular forward illumination function (low beam, high beam, fog, etc.). And even if there were, it wouldn't be 55w on low and 60w on high. Each and every type of bulb used in forward illumination lamps is regulated as to its maximum allowable power consumption, and there is no restriction in terms of particular bulbs being usable only in low beams, only in high beams, only in fog lamps, etc. You can find the actual wattage limits for each bulb type in easily-readable format here. Wattage is specified at 12.8v, which is the specified test voltage in the US regulations. Note that the actual wattage differs in some cases from the nominal wattage commonly stated at 12v (such as the "60/55w" HB2, for example).

Also, fog lamps and "driving lights" (auxiliary high beam lamps is the correct term) are not regulated at the Federal level, but rather by each individual state.

Also, there is no such thing as "DOT approved". The US DOT does not type-approve regulated vehicle components including lights and bulbs, as is done in Europe and Japan and many other countries. Instead, the US regulations work on a self-certification system: the manufacturer of the bulb (or headlight or seatbelt or whatever), by applying the "DOT" mark to the bulb or lamp, certifies (i.e., states and promises) that it meets all the regulated specifications. The DOT has the authority to force recalls and issue fines and other penalties if they decide to check a component offered on the market and find it's not compliant, but there is no "DOT approval" required (or possible) before selling regulated components in America.

My KC slimline's are installed as auxillairy lights to my highbeams (...) in the rain on a desolate road with no other vehicles or people around who is going to be there to complain (...) I flick them on and off for visabilaty of the road ahead and only in the rain (...) I only turn the master switch on when it is raining

High beams and "driving" (auxiliary high beam) lights are never appropriate for use in the rain.

I have flashed people with excessively bright lowbeams (not US-DOT aproved or altered highbeam bulb) or highbeams, they turn them down or OFF Real Fast. How well could you see with OVER 1,000,000 candle power blasting you in the face.

Your KC Slimlites do not produce anywhere near 1,000,000 "candle power" (or candela), no matter what the box might've said — and not just because they're KCs. There aren't any automotive auxiliary lamps that come close to that figure. Not even a little bit close. With your particular lamps, if you've got the fog version, your peak beam intensity is around 10,000cd with a DOT-certified bulb. If you've got the "driving" (aux high beam) version, peak intensity is around 45,000cd with a DOT-certified bulb. Put in a 100w bulb instead, and add about 60% to the peak intensities. Still several orders of magnitude below the "million" claim.

Now to which 9006 is the brightest and whitest, that goes hands down to the PIAA.

Nope. Blue-glass bulbs are never, ever the right choice for optimal safety performance (seeing) from vehicle lamps -- period. It does not matter whether they're branded PIAA and cost $40/bulb or branded Sylvania and cost $40/pair or branded anything else and cost anything else. Blue-tinted glass does not make the light "whiter" or "brighter" in any way, shape, or form. It does not improve anything about the light. All it does is change the appearance of the operating lamp and reduce the beam performance. It's just simple physics, really.

Presently the best 9006 bulb is the Philips Xtreme Power. It runs right up against the upper limit of allowable flux for the 9006 (HB4) bulb type, has a very high luminance, compactly-wound filament very precisely focused within the bulb glass, and does not filter the light through blue or other-color glass. That is the recipe for optimal performance out of a bulb.

 

[-Virgil-]

Polarg and Raybrig both appear to be using the same hyped nonsense as all the other "blue" bulb companies.
What led you to believe they were "nice quality"?

The hype and nonsense, obviously! Most people claim not to be influenced by advertising, merchandising, and marketing, but that is the ugly beauty of marketing psychology: it works, it works very well, and it leaves people truly believing they're acting of their own free will with no outside influence. Advertising and marketing just plain work! If it didn't, if everyone who believe themselves to be immune to its effects were actually immune, advertising would stop happening. But it's a multibillion dollar industry showing no signs of slowing down because it works. Even when presented with rock-solid facts and data, people will dig in their heels and swear that their Nokya, Polarg, Raybrig, Sylvania Silverstar, PIAA, etc. blue-glass "white light" bulbs are better. Oh yeah, they're totally immune to advertising...not!

The fact that all of their bulbs use the Hx designation instead of the 9xxx tells you that they were not made with American drivers in mind. Those designations are not only sizes -- they refer to ANSI and ASTM standards. A bulb with only the Hx designation means it was never tested to American standards.

That's not correct at all. There are at least nine types of bulb that are allowed and common in the US market that have only Hx designations.

 

[-Virgil-]

Higlandsun,
Before you condemn the SilverStar bulb, experience one and then give us your opinion.

There is no more need to try out a blue-glass "whiter light" bulb than there is to try out a square wheel. Tinted glass = less light. Always, every time, no matter the brand name or price or advertising claims.

 

[tay]

That's not correct at all. There are at least nine types of bulb that are allowed and common in the US market that have only Hx designations.

AFAIK, there are only two bulbs that are both H_ and 900_ - the 9003/H4, and the 9008/H13

H1, H3, H7, H8, H9, H11 - what are the other three?

 

[-Virgil-]

AFAIK, there are only two bulbs that are both H_ and 900_ - the 9003/H4, and the 9008/H13

"9008" isn't an official designation. It's being used as a referent to the H13 by at least one OEM (Ford) and at least one aftermarket supplier (Sylvania) but it's made up. The one and only official designation for that bulb is H13. There are more like this, too; there's an all-glass maxi-wedge base amber bulb used on (mostly Japanese) vehicles for turn signals, called a 7440NA or 7440A. It appears in many application guides as "992". That number is (are you ready for this?) a date code found on the bulb scrutinized by the guy who puts together the data for all the lamp/light/bulb application guides in North America. So, the nonexistent "number 992 bulb" materialized in parts catalogues.

H1, H3, H7, H8, H9, H11 - what are the other three?

H10, H12, H13…also H15 soon if not already, and perhaps eventually H14 (which is a Japanese design, basically an H13 on a base similar to that of an H4).

Then there are the "HB" designations:

HB1 = 9004
HB2 = 9003
HB3 = 9005
HB4 = 9006
HB5 = 9007

Then HIR1 = 9011 and HIR2 = 9012

Because, y'know, it's really important that the US not use the same designations the rest of the world uses, right?

 

[tay]

H10 and H12? What do those even look like? I've never even heard of them.

 

[-Virgil-]

H10 is essentially a 45w version of 9006/HB4.
H12 is essentially a transverse-filament version of 9006/HB4.

See ECE Reg 37 for details.

(Whoops, can't really count these on the list of bulbs with only Hx designators; in America the H10 is also called the 9145 and the H12 is also called the 9055. Here again, obviously very important to have different special USA-only designations...)

 

[Random Guy]

...Here again, obviously very important to have different special USA-only designations...)

Gotta prevent the Commies from finding out what kind of headlamp bulbs we use, ya know?

 

[tay]

Gotta prevent the Commies from finding out what kind of headlamp bulbs we use, ya know?

Maybe for consistency? They don't like having bulbs without a 900x designation because it would be confusing? I don't know

 

[-Virgil-]

Naw, that ain't it. Headlight bulb types approved for use in US headlamps are:

HB1 ("trade number" 9004)
HB2 ("trade number" 9003)
HB3 ("trade number" 9005)
HB3A ("trade number" 9005XS)
HB4 ("trade number" 9006)
HB4A ("trade number" 9006XS)
HB5 ("trade number" 9007)
9500 (Sylvania/Ford DC HID bulb, no other designator)
H1
H3
H7
H8
H9
H10 ("trade number" 9145)
H11
H12 ("trade number" 9055)
H13 (pretend trade number 9008)
HIR1 ("trade number" 9011)
HIR2 ("trade number" 9012)
H15
D1S
D1R
D2S
D2R
D3S
D3R
D4S
D4R

So there are eleven and a half bulbs with more than one designation, and fifteen and a half bulbs with only one designation. I put "trade number" in quotes because...uh...why do we need a special "trade number" for <--those bulbs but not for -->these bulbs?

 

[LED Boatguy]

If you're lucky enough to have 9006 or 9005 bulbs as your headlights, Toshiba makes an HIR version (explanation in the link) of them that:
Are at least 50% brighter.
Are about the same color.
Have the same radiation pattern.
Use the same watts.

I bought a pair and just replaced one to see if there was a difference. There was a difference all right. It was astounding! Had them for over a year now (they do double duty as DRL) and LOVE THEM! Oh, no one has blinked their brights at me, so I know my beam pattern isn't annoying anyone.

I'm not affiliated or anything, but these bulbs do everything this guy says they do. http://hirheadlights.com/ If you have voltage loss (and no "Bulb Out" computer), these rascals could be even brighter with a wiring/relay job.

$.02

 

[-Virgil-]

If you're lucky enough to have 9006 or 9005 bulbs as your headlights, Toshiba makes an HIR version

No they don't -- not any more. Toshiba stopped making 9011 and 9012 bulbs early in 2009. There were filament-position problems with the last batch of 9012s, which is even more crucial than normal with the old-type HIR bulb, because not only does an out-of-position filament change the beam pattern, it also means the spherical bulb glass reflects heat onto nothing instead of onto the filament. Short life results; Nissan (Toshiba's main OEM customer for the 9012) got upset with Toshiba and said, in effect, "We don't care who you sell these to but we won't have them". Toshiba remaindered them out to the vendor you linked, who is selling them off.

GE devised the HIR technique for headlight bulbs about 15 years ago, but their bulb was staggeringly expensive and very mechanically fragile, and had poor filament geometry. Then Toshiba had a try. Their bulb didn't have the mechanical fragility of the GE item, and they produced a good amount of light, but the filament luminance of the 9012 low beam bulb wasn't so great. Filament placement accuracy in the Toshiba product was certainly precise enough optically until the machines wore enough to require replacement (which Toshiba decided not to do, hence the discontinuation), but the geometry of the filament, particularly in the low beam 9012 bulb, was not optimal. The Toshiba 9011 high beam was better.

Philips will commercialize their all-new 3rd-generation 9012 bulb soon. There's a detailed thread about them here.

I don't know what production batch hirheadlights' 9011s are from; the Toshiba 9011s I got from Candlepower a couple weeks ago checked out A-OK according to my lab rat (assistant).

 

[jhc37013]

Well I am not sure about the Silverstar but I just replaced my standard Sylvania bulbs the most base model with the Silverstar Ultra 4100k and they are a heck of alot more brighter then the standard bulbs.

I would say these photos from their websites is exactly what I get from them and the difference between the old bulbs and my new one's is accurate. The downside is their $49.99.

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/HighPerformance/SilverStarUltra/