which headlight bulbs to buy

[ensteele]

My Cool Blues don't look blue. They are very bright though and I can see very well.

[n00b on demand]

Originally posted by drivemusicnow
What did you like about the blue color? Headlights are about seeing well at night. The silverstars put out more and brighter light.

Personally I think my vision at night is more important than it looking like i'm pretending that I have HIDs.. when i don't. and its obvious that I don't....

Actually for your information my vision was completley fine with the cool blues. Visibility was just as good as the stocks. And no i dont like going around thinking i have fake HID's. Everyone likes different things right? I like the cool blues better than standard halogen...simple as that.

[drivemusicnow]

Originally posted by soobiesvx93


Actually for your information my vision was completley fine with the cool blues. Visibility was just as good as the stocks. And no i dont like going around thinking i have fake HID's. Everyone likes different things right? I like the cool blues better than standard halogen...simple as that.

My point was towards the 9005s are almost twice as bright (1700 vs 1000 lumens) compared to 9006s if i remember correctly. which is BRIGHTER than stock..

True, different people like different things. however IMO brighter (whilst still aimed correctly) is always better.

Sometimes cleaning the lense (both front and back) really helps... from my experience the light is amazingly white.. no yellow tint in it at all with mine

[n00b on demand]

Originally posted by drivemusicnow


My point was towards the 9005s are almost twice as bright (1700 vs 1000 lumens) compared to 9006s if i remember correctly. which is BRIGHTER than stock..

True, different people like different things. however IMO brighter (whilst still aimed correctly) is always better.

Sometimes cleaning the lense (both front and back) really helps... from my experience the light is amazingly white.. no yellow tint in it at all with mine

Greg, which bulbs do you have? Do you have the sylvania silverstars? I havent tested them out at night yet...i will get to on my way home from work. Hopefully it will be 50 dollars well spent.

[drivemusicnow]

i have the silverstar 9005s in my low beams... i also have regular "stock" (whatever the previous owner put in ) 9005s in my high beams. when i turn the highbeams on.. its kinda yellow ish, when they're off.. just beautiful white light

[n00b on demand]

Yeah the silverstars is what i bought as well. And i actually noticed today that my highbeams are also sylvanias. People used to comment on how awesome the highbeams were in terms of visability...but then again their supposed to be bright

Lastnight I installed two Hi-Lite 9005 bulbs that I had laying around the garage. Funny thing is, these being the fake HID blue bulbs got put on the shelf months ago and replaced w/ Silverstars because allthough the color was cool, they were much too dim and hardly functional. But when one of my silverstars burned out a few days ago I decided to try this mod w/ the spare HID 9005's. Man, this mod does give you extra light! I think that if I were to use Silverstar 9005's they may even be too bright and cause attention from the local law enforcement (which w/ my driving record, I definately don't need). But these crappy hi-lite bulbs in the low beam slot are juuuuust right.

Very cool mod, took 10 minutes.

PS, I'd reccomend the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs to anyone as they do put out quite a clean and bright light. However, $25 per bulb is asking a bit much, and there are lights out there that are just as good for at least $5 less per bulb.

People complain about the PIAA headlighs burning out too quickly, but then how many of those people actually used gloves when installing them to keep skin oils off of the glass? Allways use gloves when installing headlight bulbs; it will make the difference between months and years of bulb life.

[mbtoloczko]

Originally posted by mohrds


The best solution is to buy new headlamps and install new readlight circuits. Years of microscopic dirt and stress fracturs kill the optics on the SVX. The wiring was OK when new, but corrodes quickly.

Stock bulbs in a new headlamps are amazing.

As for bulbs, I run Sylvania 9006 XV/2 (Sylvania XtraVision) and am very happy with them.

Doug

ok. I did a little bit of reading. When you say new headlamp, do you mean the item that costs about $300 per side? If yes, then ouch! Is there any way to restore the original headlamp? Next, apparently the 9006 is for the low beam. What about the high beam?...Do you use the stock bulb? Is the 9005 the correct part for the high beam? Where are the readlight circuits?

Mychailo,

9005 is the correct bulb for the high beam on the SVX headlamp.


quote:
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Originally posted by mohrds


The best solution is to buy new headlamps and install new readlight circuits. Years of microscopic dirt and stress fracturs kill the optics on the SVX. The wiring was OK when new, but corrodes quickly.

Stock bulbs in a new headlamps are amazing.

As for bulbs, I run Sylvania 9006 XV/2 (Sylvania XtraVision) and am very happy with them.

Doug
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I'm not so sure that this microscopic dust thing can really have any problems attributed to it. Of course some dirt can be introduced where and when the bulb is inserted, but to claim that this adversly affects (kills) the optics is not true in my opinion. There's a reason there is an O-ring on the base of the bulb; to keep moisture and dust out. The only wear factor I see present possibly affecting our headlamps is the type of plastic used for the lense.

As far as wiring degradation is concerned, whatever resistance is now present because of corrosion has just been compensated for by a bulb w/ 10 more watts. I mean really, how much headlight intensity do you think we've lost?

Too bad the glass headlight assy's aren't available for purchase... Those would solve all of our lighting issues.

[mohrds]

Originally posted by mbtoloczko


ok. I did a little bit of reading. When you say new headlamp, do you mean the item that costs about $300 per side? If yes, then ouch! Is there any way to restore the original headlamp? Next, apparently the 9006 is for the low beam. What about the high beam?...Do you use the stock bulb? Is the 9005 the correct part for the high beam? Where are the readlight circuits?

Yup, the $600 ouch is what I meant. You can clean the lenses and the covers, but you can't undo the corrosion on the projector body or the hundreds of stress cracks in the lens.

I doubt that you'll ever recover more than 80% of original power by cleaning 10 year old optics.


As for the "Readlights" that was a typo, I meant headlights. The wires in the headlight harness get corroded, the mechanical connection at the sockets loosen and the result is a higher voltage drop across the harness which means less voltage at the bulbs. A few aftermarket relays, some 12Ga wire, new high quality sockets, and some time will provide great results.

Doug

[mohrds]

Originally posted by SEA Sleeper

I'm not so sure that this microscopic dust thing can really have any problems attributed to it. Of course some dirt can be introduced where and when the bulb is inserted, but to claim that this adversly affects (kills) the optics is not true in my opinion. There's a reason there is an O-ring on the base of the bulb; to keep moisture and dust out. The only wear factor I see present possibly affecting our headlamps is the type of plastic used for the lense.

All capsule based headlights have a rubber vent tube to allow pressure equalization inside the headlamp. That lets in dirt, oily air, chemicals, etc. The chemicals eat away at the reflective coating and you lose efficiency.

I recently replaced both headlamps on my wife's BMW. What a huge difference it made. The cutoffs are crisp again and the intensity is back. They are also 9006 projector based units.

Doug

[n00b on demand]

Ok so i just got back from night time driving and wow! The visibility is incredible...and it isnt that yellow color i mentioned before....its very white and bright. I love it!

[mbtoloczko]

Thank you all for the info. YA project for my SVX! :-)

[drivemusicnow]

Originally posted by soobiesvx93
Ok so i just got back from night time driving and wow! The visibility is incredible...and it isnt that yellow color i mentioned before....its very white and bright. I love it!

told ya so! just kidding.. but thats what i meant. its WHITE... not that blue or yellow or anything... i like it, and it even looks like i have headlights in the rain. I do agree about completely cleaning (by opening them up) the headlight housing. lots of crap gets in there (look right in front of your low beam projecter.. I'd bet you have lots of little glass chips that are actually OFF of the progector itself.) a full cleanup does wonders. search for a post i believe by Lwin (Seraph = screenname)

[n00b on demand]

our headlights are awesome....ive always loved the 2 beams of light that shoot out.