better head light lamps.

[ladyofluck]

okay, so i've decided to skip the auxilary head lights and go for better head lamps instead.

i saw few "PIAA" brands which the store said to be the best of what they have.

right now, i have on "Super Blue" and says 45W. the lights doesn't seem to reflect too much of the dark pavements, but the street signs gets quite bright reflections.

i was wondering if just changing the light bulbs to more expensive ones will make ground any brighter.... i mean by WHOLE ALOT, not just tiny weeny bit.

and i saw few cars w/ blue and very dull looking lights... and i don't want something like that.

i want to get good visuals on the dark roads w/o adding HID kit....

can my 88 camry do it?!? thx in advance. : )

[Skiermang]

Most of the brighter bulbs you can buy increase brightness by over-driving the filament. This means much shorter bulb life. The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs are notorious for it. You hear about bulbs blowing within months of installation. The Sylvania XtraVision bulbs, on the other hand, are properly built and can throw more light down the road.

Another way to increase brightness of your headlights is to get a headlight relay kit, or build your own. What this kit does is use relays combined with shorter wire runs with larger gauge wire to reduce the voltage drop from the battery to your headlights. I did this on one of my motorcycles and the improvement was amazing. Daniel Stern Lighting is a good resource.

[movement]

I have used Sylvania Silver Stars for years in two of my cars and no burn outs yet. The 1990 Camry has had them for 1.5 years and my 1996 Cavalier has had them for about 3 years. I am impressed with the level of brightness they offer.
N

[ReverendDexter]

I run SilverStar Ultras and am very happy with them - much better than stock.

I did a brief stint at Kragen while between real jobs - Silverstars do not "overdrive the filament", they use different gas and a different style of filament to get more light from the same amount of power as a stock bulb. The entire time I worked at Kragen, I sold at least 1 pair of silverstars/night (I only worked a 4 hour shift, and this was a very low volume store), and I only had 1 bulb ever come back for burning out early. If they are burning out, it's generally due to either getting something on the bulb or impact.

Edit: If you want more light, blue bulbs are the WORST. There's a reason fog lights are yellow (opposite of blue...), it's because yellow light gives you the best contrast, and hence, the best visibility. Blue lights are fail.

[Rockcam]

watching this
I bought new GE bulbs since of my stocker blew out..
the new 9004 GEs did not work at all!

so I am lost. a little

if the new bulb is in the drivers position,
nothing comes on
but the old bulb in drivers new bulbs burn dim on the other side.......

think I got bulbs that were dropped.
(both old bulbs burned great till water that was in the headlight hit the driver one.)

dern,. I was trying not to post jack....... um...

back to the bright bulb talk sorry.

[Skiermang]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter

I run SilverStar Ultras and am very happy with them - much better than stock.

I did a brief stint at Kragen while between real jobs - Silverstars do not "overdrive the filament", they use different gas and a different style of filament to get more light from the same amount of power as a stock bulb. The entire time I worked at Kragen, I sold at least 1 pair of silverstars/night (I only worked a 4 hour shift, and this was a very low volume store), and I only had 1 bulb ever come back for burning out early. If they are burning out, it's generally due to either getting something on the bulb or impact.

Edit: If you want more light, blue bulbs are the WORST. There's a reason fog lights are yellow (opposite of blue...), it's because yellow light gives you the best contrast, and hence, the best visibility. Blue lights are fail.

Osram bought the well-established American lampmaker Sylvania in the early 1990s, so Osram is now Sylvania's parent company. Sylvania also sells a line of automotive bulbs they call "Silver Star", but it's not the same product. The Sylvania Silver Stars have blue glass. Light output is of legal levels, but as with all blue-filtered bulbs, you do not get more light from them. The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs have a very short lifetime, because the filament is overdriven to get a legal amount of light despite the blue glass.

From http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...good/good.html .

[ladyofluck]

how about PIA brand? r they any good?

also, i heard the bulbs w/ brighter light via using higher wattage might damage car's wirings. is this true? (i was thinking just the bulbs won't get enough power not overly drawing power thru the lines....)

and how would i tell the brightness of different bulbs? do i look in Kelvins? or wattage?

and what r the numbers that is considered very bright? and decent bright?

thx. : )

[92MX83]

Check if there's an Osram Silverstar available for your car. The Sylvania Silverstars have a blue tint which reduces total visible light output, even thought they have the HID "look". The Osrams can sometimes be found on eBay, and they throw noticeably more light on the road. They are not tinted, unlike the Sylvania version.

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by ladyofluck

how about PIA brand? r they any good?

also, i heard the bulbs w/ brighter light via using higher wattage might damage car's wirings. is this true? (i was thinking just the bulbs won't get enough power not overly drawing power thru the lines....)

and how would i tell the brightness of different bulbs? do i look in Kelvins? or wattage?

and what r the numbers that is considered very bright? and decent bright?

thx. : )

Kelvin is color temperature, not brightness. Wattage, lumens or other measures tell you the brightness.

PIAA makes great fog lights, but I don't trust their replacement bulbs much (heard to many stories of early burn-outs). For replacement bulbs, go with the Sylvania or Osram bulbs.

-Charlie

[blu_91_cam]

If you dont want to go the HID route then I would suggest going the silverstar route. I've got them on my camry and its been about a year with no problems. They're alot brighter than stock but are a poor substitute for HID's. I don't think that they actually luminate the road that much better their just not yellow looking like normal bulbs are. Try looking at some GE Nighthawks read some really good reviews about them online but really haven't given them a try yet.

[89 2wd]

I had Sylvania Silverstars on my 88 for 2 years with no problems.

Clean them with rubbing alcohol before you install them and make sure your rubber gaskets are good.

They look really nice with the glass lenses too, unlike my Mustang...


Silverstar turn signal bulbs are cool too if you have clear lenses.

[ghostrider13]

I have used Sylvania Silverstars and recently I have been using Philips Crystalvision Ultra Bulbs. I now prefer them. They last longer than the Sylvanias and they are just as bright. I recently installed Hella 550 fog lamps and that has made a huge difference. I drive at night a lot where there are a lot of deer and they have saved me numerous times. I found them online for $90. Well worth the money.

[disregard]

I use Sylvania Extravisions for my Camry They are a good start.

Its to bad some aftermarket company's don't make clear lenses headlights for the older Camry's.
Like the 90 to 93 accord has but they are made of glass and have better light output.

[Axxis8203]

raptor HID kits are $40 at ddmtuning.com; that is comparable or cheaper than silverstars or most other blue tinted "high light output" bulbs ...

i know you said you didn't want to do HIDS, but if you want better light output, and lower wattage, there is no substitute. just make sure that you don't blind other drivers with excessive glare.

Good Luck

[PaulyJay]

I'm seeing all these problems with your lights, (by that i mean everyone here and ALL your problems.) and i'm thanking the Yota Gods that they saw sense and gave us the better head lights units here in aus. your 3 viable options are the Cheap HIDs (wouldn't recommend this as an option though, cheap price usually means questionable quality) the long hours of research into a better Globe (this can be extremely frustrating with out the opportunity to try before you buy) or install driving lights (this also has it's down sides too as you should really only use them as an addition to the high beams). your 4th and not so viable option is to upgrade your headlight units to the JDM/Aus headlight units. as can be noted in the apollo head light post you can see why, unless you want to really mod your car, this isn't a viable option. there are other options out there but to be honest i doubt any are worth it for a car of this vintage with out doing a lot of work. go the better globes, buy local, and go with a brand you trust. there are many good suggestions here, and i'd follow through on charlie's suggestion. he's always given good advice.

Apollo Thread just for kicks!