99 camry

[jasonsmaglites]

our 99 camry seems ok on high beam, but on low beam the beam is weak and we can hardly see anything.
it even seems a little more yellow on low.
can you recomend a bulb replacement with a brighter, truer white light.
help me light up the road.

also is it worth polishing or replacing the lens covers?
are they holding lumens back?

 

[-Virgil-]

Those headlamps are weak for a few reasons:

-weak long-life original bulbs (long life bulbs don't put out as much light as regular or high-performance bulbs). Pick new bulbs carefully, most of the "upgrade" bulbs (silver star, anything that says it puts out "whiter" light, anything sold based on a "kelvin rating", etc.) are a scam. You will want to put in carefully chosen bulbs from a reputable maker, that have a perfectly clear glass with no color.

-too much voltage drop in the headlamp circuit, Toyotas are known for this. This underfeeds the bulbs, and bulb output drops really fast (small reduction in voltage gives large reduction in output). This also causes a dingy brown light appearance. The fix for this is to put in better feed and ground wires, and add relays.

-degraded plastic lenses. These can be polished if they're not too far gone. The only way to replace them is to replace the whole headlamp housing assembly, you can't just replace the lens by itself.

You should be able to get detailed recos for your particular car from www.danielsternlighting.com .

 

[270winchester]

assuming the wiring is still good(which may need replacing after 10 years of service), get the Osram(not Sylvania) Silver Star bulbs. I put a set in our family's 99 camry, does wonders for the beam.

I believe it's the H4 base. Also get some Maguire Plastix rubbing compound for the plastic lens. the 99's lens was pretty bad before I put the compound on and it looked like new after wards, and the beam was definitely cleaner.

 

[jasonsmaglites]

got a link for those osram bulbs?

 

[270winchester]

i got them on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OSRA...004QQitemZ140187911433QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

i think H4 is the same as your 9003 base, but check your owners manual to make sure

 

[jasonsmaglites]

i just bought the EXACT ones in that link.
no research or anything.
i'm blaming you if it doesn't work.
lol, jk, thanks for the link.
i'm 99% sure it's an h4!