Headlight upgrade

[marragtop]

I want to put brighter low beam bulbs in my 96. I don't want the 'blue light' looking ones, and I want to make sure I don't put something in that may overload it from a wiring perspective. I'd appreciate recommendations. Please be somewhat specific in terms of manufacturer and type bulb. In other words I need more than just 'sylvania'

thanks

[Silent Runner]

Originally Posted by marragtop

I want to put brighter low beam bulbs in my 96. I don't want the 'blue light' looking ones, and I want to make sure I don't put something in that may overload it from a wiring perspective. I'd appreciate recommendations. Please be somewhat specific in terms of manufacturer and type bulb. In other words I need more than just 'sylvania'

thanks

If your looking for something (a better light bulb) that will make you say: "Gee thats great, thats a whole lot brighter and better", its just does not exist, sorry. Well, actually an HID bulb conversion will make it shine like crazy, but will drive oncoming cars even more crazy. HID, systems briefly demand more power at start-up, but actually draw much less power to operate. (Toyota puts HID lights in its Prius for example) To do this right however, you will have to go big time custom. Search the threads, theres lots of material.

edit: 4900K will give you nice white light.

[Yuko]

If you needed addition light, you can always install white/clear fog lamps in the bumper and aim it low to the road. (>$20 for a kit) I drive home late at night having the two extra driving lights helps a lot.

[sarsman45]

You could place 9012 instead of 9006's. The run brighter and keep the same plugs. All you gotta do is cut some of the clips on the 9012 to fit the housing.

http://shnu.us/HIR%20Trimming%20Stock.htm

[fenixus]

^+1

[PhatRoyale]

Or you can run 9005 bulbs in place of the 9006's if you're on a budget. Same modification applies.

[fenixus]

I wouldn't recommend using high beam bulbs in place of low beam, because they will burn out really fast (months at most).
if I'm not wrong high beam bulbs are designed for only 300 hours of continuous use at full power (65W), so even when running them at low beam power (55W) they won't last as long as true low beams.

numbers could be wrong, but the difference is there.

Originally Posted by PhatRoyale

Or you can run 9005 bulbs in place of the 9006's if you're on a budget. Same modification applies.

[BCRolla]

In response to "fenixus" the wattage draw is determined by the bulb not by the connector.

If you hook up a 65W bulb to a 55w connector it will still draw 65W. Providing that the wire is not bottle necking the current flow by being too small of gauge, and that the wire thermally(insulation wont melt) can handle the increased current load. It should since its only an increase of 0.83 A from 4.53 A which is about a 18% increase in current at 12V.

I checked though and the wire gauge on my 93 Camry SE V6 is the same for both low and high beam bulbs therefore the low beam can handle a 65 W bulb without issue.

As for service life, that is determined by the bulb manufacturer there is no standard run time for bulbs. It comes down to filament wire gauge and gas composition inside the bulb, check with the bulb manufacturer in order to determine the bulbs average life time.

Just last night I did this mod, for my low-beams and modded the connector rather than the light since I didn't want to repeat the work for the next set of bulbs i put in. There are two plastic ridges down the center of the connector, I shaved them off with a brand new razor blade came off like butter took about 15 mins for both lights.

I'm running PIAA 9005 Extreme White Plus which is a 4000 kelvin bulb, I noticed a significant difference in light. I left the passenger side stock bulb in and replaced the driver side with the PIAA bulb and the light projected easily 40% further than the stock bulb, as well as spreading the light further laterally which aids with peripheral vision at night. It was also very white compared to the yellowish color of the stock bulb.

http://piaa.com/Bulbs/Bulbs-9000.html

The other benefit to running 9005's is that the top of the bulb is clear thereby projecting more light forward, I attribute this to the gain in light projection.

[fenixus]

^ you are right on wattage draw, my bad.

well, I may try using 9011 trimmed as 9006 on my V6. when I get to adding more (HIR) lights, I will get 4x 9011 and trim one pair for low beams and the other for high beams.
the current 9012 (trimmed as 9006) will get moved down to fogs (mine are 9006 compatible).

I am only worried about high beam bulbs longevity when used a lot, that's pretty much all. I wouldn't like to see them burn out after 2 months or something hehe

The "correct application" Toshiba HIR low beams (9012/9006) can do up to 3 years. Philips could probably last longer as they are newer revised design.

[sarsman45]

IIRC Toshiba doesn't make them anymore and john deere jacked the price up after finding out what car modders were doing. I got a set of Philips off Amazon.

[RNMCGUIRE]

I recently installed the Sylvania XtraVision bulbs and they're pretty decent for the price. I didn't want to go with the Ultra because they prolly wouldn't even last a year and for $50 I'll pass.