Best brand of headlight bulbs??

[djkeev]

Headlight bulbs have been discussed a bit in various posts, often dealing with one brand of bulbs and you've always got the "put in HID's" guys shouting out, but I haven't found a post that compared bulbs to each other and how they worked and how long they lasted.I'm curious, what are the BEST replacement 9003 BULBs for the headlights on a Vibe?? The choices are staggering even within a manufacturer's family!!My Vibe came from the factory with GE 504800-H4 in them. They lasted from the summer of 07 to December of 09.I put in Silverstar 9003/HB2 SU/2 bulbs on 12/09 and just replaced them this weekend 08/10 due to one burning out.I always replace any burned out bulb in pairs, be they headlights, tail lights, turn signals, marker lights, etc. Same age, same hours, only a short time until the "twin" dies as well!!!I just put in Phillips Night Guide Tri-Color beam 9003/H4 bulbs.How are these?What have others used?How have they lasted for you?Were they bright enough?I know I can disable the DRL's but I want to keep them, the safety aspect of having them is very real, I realize they shorten bulb life but for me the safety factor they offer is worth it.This site has been referred to and is very interesting but doesn't go into what brands and types are best.http://forums.nasioc.com/forum...54736Dave

[vibenvy]

I know 99.9% of the members here despise Silver Stars, but I personally had great luck with them. They were the first "mod" I did to my '09 GT when I bought it last April. I had them in the fog lights (9145), low beams (9006) and high beams (9005). None of them had burned out yet when I decided to switch back to regular halogen bulbs back in July (approximately 15 months of use without a burnt out bulb). I did wear rubber gloves when installing them though, so I don't know if that had any effect or not.I am going to be giving DDM Tuning's HIDs a shot here pretty soon. I want to see if they really live up to all the hype.I can honestly say, my '09 GT has by far the best halogen headlight housings of any vehicle I have had though. Even the regular halogen bulbs are great at night IMO.

[Whelan]

I have probably been through more lighting than you can imagine. Everything from PIAA, SilverStar, HID, HIR, and currently running Phillips Xtreme Power bulbs. Granted I use a 9006 being an 05 Matrix but here is what I found in a nutshell:PIAAOverpriced and use higher wattages to get more power. This causes premature filament burnout and potential frying of wires. Plus at $60+ for a set they are not worth the cash.Silver StarMy experience was always horrid with them. I went through 3 sets in my 02 Civic with a 9003 bulb and one set in my Matrix before I ditched them for good. The SilverStar Ultra is supposed to be somewhat better but not in light output. the Ultra name was given to them because they lasted slightly longer than a regular SS. If you look at the packaging they give you the Kelvin scale for light output and that is off. Any bulb with a coloring on the glass will put out less Lumens than a standard halogen. Kelvin is a color temperature scale while Lumens is actual light output. Also note that SS is rated at 300 hours, your stock halogen has a 1000 hour lifespan. Hence people who drive a lot at night or with DRL's will see a much sooner burnout.HIDI had a Xentec 6000K set. Again the numbers on HIDs mean the color temperature, not light output. A regular stock HID set for say an Audi or Acura runs between 4200-4400 respectively. They utilize projector lenses and reflector tinting to get the color you see as at that Kelvin temperature they are equivalent to daylight. Most kits are 6k, 8, 10k, 13k! Which is nuts and reduce light output but changes color to blue, purple, pink as you go higher. Yellow is achieved at 3200-3500K for some foglamps or rally/Le Mans cars, just fyi. The kit worked nice for a bit, light output did suck and in the rain or weather it blew big time. Glare and refraction made it harder to see. So after one bulb went after a year of use I ditched them altogether.HIROne of my favorites so far, and I still use them in my fog lamps since they have yet to blow out. I had them in my low beams for awhile before Phillips came along. The HIR is Halogen Infra-Red technology developed by GE and then sold to Toshiba. As the story goes, John Deere recruited GE to make a lightbulb that was 80% the light output of HID without the huge costs of HIDs that were still new to the market years ago (remember when kits were like $1,000). So they came up with these bulbs and sold the patents to Toshiba who perfected the technology. What they did was create a bulbous shaped bulb instead of the capsule tube you see. They coated it with IR film and this caused the invisible light to be reflected back onto the filament creating a brighter burn without the use of more power. Meaning you got more light output from the same 55W. The result was a halogen low beam that produced 1000-1100 Lumens compared to a standard 700 Lumen. And a high beam that produced 1700 Lumens compared to 1000. These were for a time only available on the new Dodge Viper (first generation) and cost $150 a bulb. JD was selling them for their tractor replacements and enthusiasts soon picked up on this. So for the price at JD of $9 a bulb you could get these in 9011 and 9012 sizes. Comparable to 9006 and 9005 with very tiny modifications to the bulb plastic holsters. When I picked them up JD had realized the market and started charging $15 a bulb, still a bargain and GREAT light output. But only available for those with 9006 and 9005 bulbs.Phillips Xtreme PowerSounds gimmicky and like the other name brands trying to sell you bulbs. But they produce 80% more light than a standard halogen and utilize the similar HIR technology in a capsule tube form. Phillips took Toshibas tech a step further basically and made the technology viable for mass production and many different bulb types. Whew! and yes that was a nutshell.

[zionzr2]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »I have probably been through more lighting than you can imagine. Everything from PIAA, SilverStar, HID, HIR, and currently running Phillips Xtreme Power bulbs. Granted I use a 9006 being an 05 Matrix but here is what I found in a nutshell:PIAAOverpriced and use higher wattages to get more power. This causes premature filament burnout and potential frying of wires. Plus at $60+ for a set they are not worth the cash.Silver StarMy experience was always horrid with them. I went through 3 sets in my 02 Civic with a 9003 bulb and one set in my Matrix before I ditched them for good. The SilverStar Ultra is supposed to be somewhat better but not in light output. the Ultra name was given to them because they lasted slightly longer than a regular SS. If you look at the packaging they give you the Kelvin scale for light output and that is off. Any bulb with a coloring on the glass will put out less Lumens than a standard halogen. Kelvin is a color temperature scale while Lumens is actual light output. Also note that SS is rated at 300 hours, your stock halogen has a 1000 hour lifespan. Hence people who drive a lot at night or with DRL's will see a much sooner burnout.HIDI had a Xentec 6000K set. Again the numbers on HIDs mean the color temperature, not light output. A regular stock HID set for say an Audi or Acura runs between 4200-4400 respectively. They utilize projector lenses and reflector tinting to get the color you see as at that Kelvin temperature they are equivalent to daylight. Most kits are 6k, 8, 10k, 13k! Which is nuts and reduce light output but changes color to blue, purple, pink as you go higher. Yellow is achieved at 3200-3500K for some foglamps or rally/Le Mans cars, just fyi. The kit worked nice for a bit, light output did suck and in the rain or weather it blew big time. Glare and refraction made it harder to see. So after one bulb went after a year of use I ditched them altogether.HIROne of my favorites so far, and I still use them in my fog lamps since they have yet to blow out. I had them in my low beams for awhile before Phillips came along. The HIR is Halogen Infra-Red technology developed by GE and then sold to Toshiba. As the story goes, John Deere recruited GE to make a lightbulb that was 80% the light output of HID without the huge costs of HIDs that were still new to the market years ago (remember when kits were like $1,000). So they came up with these bulbs and sold the patents to Toshiba who perfected the technology. What they did was create a bulbous shaped bulb instead of the capsule tube you see. They coated it with IR film and this caused the invisible light to be reflected back onto the filament creating a brighter burn without the use of more power. Meaning you got more light output from the same 55W. The result was a halogen low beam that produced 1000-1100 Lumens compared to a standard 700 Lumen. And a high beam that produced 1700 Lumens compared to 1000. These were for a time only available on the new Dodge Viper (first generation) and cost $150 a bulb. JD was selling them for their tractor replacements and enthusiasts soon picked up on this. So for the price at JD of $9 a bulb you could get these in 9011 and 9012 sizes. Comparable to 9006 and 9005 with very tiny modifications to the bulb plastic holsters. When I picked them up JD had realized the market and started charging $15 a bulb, still a bargain and GREAT light output. But only available for those with 9006 and 9005 bulbs.Phillips Xtreme PowerSounds gimmicky and like the other name brands trying to sell you bulbs. But they produce 80% more light than a standard halogen and utilize the similar HIR technology in a capsule tube form. Phillips took Toshibas tech a step further basically and made the technology viable for mass production and many different bulb types. Whew! and yes that was a nutshell. A great big Nut!! And very well put!!

[Water boy]

I got the next level up from stock at Wally-World.Was noticeable improvement from stock/OEM.Not enough to get "flashed" by on-coming.Will get again.

[areles]

Thanks Whelan!

[ehoff121]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Phillips Xtreme PowerSounds gimmicky and like the other name brands trying to sell you bulbs. But they produce 80% more light than a standard halogen and utilize the similar HIR technology in a capsule tube form. Phillips took Toshiba's tech a step further basically and made the technology viable for mass production and many different bulb types. I will second the comments from my fellow Nutmeg Stater.I got these for both headlights & fogs when my stock right headlight burned out and they are nearly pure white compared to standard bulbs. The difference is noticeable every time I pull up behind a dark colored SUV at a traffic light at night- the reflection is much whiter and brighter than standard bulbs.Bought them here: http://www.bulbs.com/eSpec.aspx?ID=14828 - 9003 http://www.bulbs.com/eSpec.aspx?ID=14829 - 9006Bottom line: expensive but worth it so far- hopefully, they'll last 5 years...

[Water boy]

Quote, originally posted by bwflorida »What does "the next level up" mean? Brand name? Stock number?I'm not sure exactly what I got.I looked up the number and there was the stock/OEM bulb. Next to it was a package of the same bulb number but advertised that it was an improvement over the stock bulb. It wasn't much more money so that is the one I bought.Next time I'm in Wally-World I'll look up the details.

[vibenvy]

Quote, originally posted by Water Boy »I'm not sure exactly what I got.I looked up the number and there was the stock/OEM bulb. Next to it was a package of the same bulb number but advertised that it was an improvement over the stock bulb. It wasn't much more money so that is the one I bought.Next time I'm in Wally-World I'll look up the details.I'm guessing probably these...Sylvania's bulbs go as follows (1 being the "best" bulb; 5 being the standard halogen):1. SilverStar Ultra2. SilverStar3. Cool Blue4. XtraVision5. Standard halogen

[AKLGT]

i do NOT recommend Silverstars. they constantly went out on me and way to expensive! at that point, better to invest in HID's. you can get plug n play ones fairly inexpensive and easy to install.http://www.apexcone.com (I believe) I bought a set from them for my LGT a few yrs ago.

[lowincash]

I tried the HIR too and they are the best as far as halogen goes. Little bit of modifying the bulb then fits right in and you get noticeably brighter light output. now that you mention it, whelan, when I bought my first HID kit back in 2002 it was $650 lol now a days I can get a complete projector retrofit for around that amount...how times have changed lol

[lovemyraffe]

I would avoid SilverSucks. I burned through them at an alarming rate. I switched over to the Phillips Xtreme Power bulbs and haven't looked back since.

[Water boy]

Quote, originally posted by J_TO_ENVY »I'm guessing probably these...Sylvania's bulbs go as follows (1 being the "best" bulb; 5 being the standard halogen):1. SilverStar Ultra2. SilverStar3. Cool Blue4. XtraVision5. Standard halogenYep.9003 me thinks.$18.88 for the 2/pk.

[shaeet]

the slyvania "silverstar" we get stat-side is NOT the real deal. Its cheap overpriced garbage!Get some Osram Silverstars imported from Europe if you want the real deal. They are awesome bulbs, optics on them are great but kinda pricey.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by lovemyraffe »I would avoid SilverSucks. I burned through them at an alarming rate. I switched over to the Phillips Xtreme Power bulbs and haven't looked back since.Extreme!!! NSFW (language)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ex=21

[Ls1jorge]

Does anybody here have "cool blue" Headlight if so post pics, my passanger side Headlight went out & I need to buy new headlights need to decide