Want to upgrade stock headlights Scion Xb 2008

zeroburns69

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
1
Hello everyone. I am new to this forum as a member but have been reading around it for some time when i got questions about LED lights for housing or other questions that have been answered here. My question to the comunity is the following and hoping some of you guys can help me out on this. I have a 2008 Scion Xb and recently (yesterday) the Hi beam got blown so I have to replace it and felt while I am at it might as well change both low and hi beams. The 2008 Scion Xb came with projector style low beams and regular hi beams. Using H-11 for low beams and 9005 for high beams. I was looking around different car part stores and my options are the following:

6000 or 8000 HID kits

LED

Regular Sylvania headlights

Sylvania sylverstar Ultras

(I live in Puerto Rico so the stocks here on different manufactures and lights are very limited)

I am looking for what would be called the brightest option for my car while keeping it legal (although I have seen a lot of people with HID's and cops won't do nothing here) but I have seen some Scions with HID and they seem to light very poor and can barely see the road so i feel the HID's are out of the question on my part. Any help would be greatly apreciated.
 

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
Welcome to the board.

The best H11 bulb is this one, though as long as your headlamps are aimed correctly and you don't load your vehicle heavily (which would lower the rear and raise the headlamps into other drivers' eyes), your projectors would also safely accept a much higher output H9 bulb. The premium H11 and the H9 both have a similarly shorter lifespan compared to the original H11 bulb -- that is the tradeoff for the higher output. Both linked bulbs are DOT-certified.

As for the high beams, get HIR1 (9011) bulbs, which are fully optically and electrically compatible, DOT-certified, and put out a lot more light than the original 9005s. You will have to slightly modify this new bulb (see this page for details).

Also take a careful look at your car's lenses. If they have begun to cloud up and turn hazy, that has to be corrected (see this thread).

As for the other options you mentioned:
Sylvania's Silverstar bulbs, like all other brands of bulb claiming to produce "whiter" light, are another, different scam. They put out less light, not more. See here.

"HID kits" and "LED conversions" (no matter what specific kit, no matter what specific lamp or type of lamp, no matter what kind of car) are dangerous and illegal. See this detailed article for a full explanation focusing on "HID kits" -- the same principles apply to "LED conversions". Both kinds of product are fraudulent and unsafe, not capable of allowing halogen headlamps (any halogen headlamps) to produce legally or technically adequate safety performance; they are certainly not the "upgrade" they're claimed to be.
 
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