GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I was at walmart turning around at the car section.I was stop at the philips bulbs,it was a collection;bluevision,crystalvision,visionplus,hi-visibility,longerlife,standart,24v,weatervision.Wowwwww,seem"s very interestinghttp://www.nam.lighting.philip...x.phpAnyone know"n this philips collection.Maybe,we will have a alternative of silverstar.

I have them in my fogs. bought a set after one of my silverstars. Side by side they're the same brightness and cheaper..lets see how long they last

opps...I bought the crystal vision

Paul which Walmart were you at? The one near me in Lasalle carries almost nothing in the car department.I just bought another set of SilverStars and am counting the months before I have to replace them lol.Were the prices good?

I was at centre laval walmat.If i remember well,1 crystal vision bulb was 16.95$I"m thinking seriously to try them.I guess i arrived to late for you,you already buyed You already open?Soon,my crystal vision on and you sylvestar on,we can compare the light beam and the bulb life long.

Quote, originally posted by POLO »I was at centre laval walmat.If i remember well,1 crystal vision bulb was 16.95$I"m thinking seriously to try them.I guess i arrived to late for you,you already buyed You already open?Soon,my crystal vision on and you sylvestar on,we can compare the light beam and the bulb life long.Merci Paul and yeah I would like to see our Vibes side by side to compare the lights

So are the Philips any better than stock? I was looking at the Philips Vision Plus. The stocks are just way too dim to be safe without using highbeams.

i have the Philips visionplus in my headlights. i have had them in there for about 7 months with no problems. they a much better than stock, they are brighter and they also last longer. i got mine at napa for around 30 bucks for a pair.

The bottom line with halogens is that anything with a tinted bulb is going to put out less light than stock. The tint simply reduces the Lumens being put out and changes the Kelvin color. Not literally like an HID bulb will do, but by its coloring. This is why you see bulbs that are tinted for coloring of yellow, purple, blue, etc. have wattages that exceed the manufacturers input of 55W. They have 80-100-150W bulbs to compensate for the loss of brightness which in turn in some vehicles can cause burned out wiring and also a HUge decrease in the life of the lamp.If your thinking of getting $30 bulbs for the color, then have fun. If you want to actually see, then spend a little extra and get an HID kit.

Good post Whelan... Also remember that a hotter bulb may cause problems inside the lamp (melting/outgassing-fogging). Your pic says MATRIX - you own a vibe or trix?Just curious.- Jim

I wouldn't mind trying one of these out. Never replaced a lightbulb yet. Would be interesting. My stock ones are starting to get a little dim...

i think it's the white light that these blue tinted bulbs give out or just the advertisement themselves that make people think it's brighter...but like whelan says any tinted bulb will reduce lumens unless they are using higher wattage which then will increase the chance of frying something. output wise, i think stock gives out the most usable light compared to all the other tinted bulbs that claims to be brighter...actually the only halogen bulbs i will ever use, other than stock, are the HIRs...those actually give out more light yet using the same power as stock bulbs. on my accord i've went thru piaa, silverstar, philips and even those generic brands and nothing gives brighter light until i switched to real HID's =/

The bulbs in question did not appear to be tinted, just advertised as a oem replacement with 20-50ft further visibility.

The only two bulbs that are replacements for stock halogens that produce more light noticeably and safely are the following.GE NighthawkToshiba HIRsNow your in another realm. HIRs (Halogen Infra-Red) are bulbous shaped glass with a coating of IR film on them (very slight rainbow tint). This coating refracts light back onto the filament producing a birghter burn and glow without the need for higher wattage. Thus you increase your lumen output. A stock halogen does about 700 lumens. A low beam HIR bulb will put out around 1100. A high beam halogen is rated at 1200 max. The high beam HIR is rated at 1750. I had these in my Matrix for a long time with no problems.Issue is they only come to fit 9005 and 9006 bulb housings so unless you own a 09+ Vibe you can only use them in your foglamps as those are identical to the Matrix. Toyota utilizes the 9006 for both fog and low beam. Then a 9005 for a high beam since we do not use the same bulb for both. They were made for at the request of John Deere to GE when they wanted a cheaper alternative to HID replacements for their headlamps on farm tractors. GE could not perfect the technology and sold it off to Toshiba who is now the SOLE manufacturer of the product. They are in sizes 9011 and 9012 because there are little tabs that are slightly larger than what is made for a car, so trimming is needed on the base for them to fit, but other than that, no issues. Sidenote: The first gen Dodge Viper utilized an HIR bulb system. But back then the bulbs cost $100 a piece instead of the $25 they do now.Anyways, back to the post. In response to someone on here a few up, yes I own a Matrix. An 05 XR AWD to be exact with about 86,000 miles on it. I drive a lot. I removed pretty much all my info due to issues that are known to the veteran members. But make no mistake I know my stuff (replace with explicative if needed, lol). The best route for any upgrade would be an HID set. I did get mine off Ebay for $70 and it is immensely different and improved over anything stock. However I only have them for my low beams as my high is on a separate bulb. For the older pre 09 Vibes you would have to look into what is called a bi-xenon kit that allows both hi and low on the same HID. They are more pricey for sure.Also note to yourselves whatever bulb you replace you would want to look into disabling your DRLs. Reason being is that you will burn out your bulbs faster and it is a known fact that bulbs with higher wattages or coatings burn out faster than normal.Take for example the Silverstar. If you do a good amount of night driving stay away. Why? Simple. The bulb is rated for a life of 300 hours. A stock halogen gets around 1000 or more. I was replacing mine every three months to the day almost.

Used GE Nighthawks on my old Frontier (98) and they were great. Very bright... but they didn't last a year. So I went back to a cheap high output Sylvania. Before the Nighthawks, my son and I bought a set of Silverstars and we both burned them out in a short time. Where did you find the Toshiba HIRs. Would be good for fogs.

I called up my local John Deere Tractor store and ordered them. They have a different part number through JD. The part number is AH211917 last I checked for the 9012 low beam bulb. Here is what the bulb looks like.You will notice the IR film I told you about around the bulb. The only thing you need to do to these is trim a tab with a pair of nail clippers. It is slightly larger than needed for the twist in. Takes a few seconds, and wear gloves so as to not get any oil or residue on the bulb and shorten its life. I have had my HIRs in my lamps for over a year now. I had them in my headlights then put them into my fogs when I got the HIDs. Love them.Here is some more info.http://www.hirheadlights.com

btw i'm selling my HIR bulbs if anyone is interested =P

Quote, originally posted by vibe11 »i have the Philips visionplus in my headlights. i have had them in there for about 7 months with no problems. they a much better than stock, they are brighter and they also last longer. i got mine at napa for around 30 bucks for a pair. ok i'm gonna try the philips... the latest bulbs i had are junk. don't get netami bulbs. i thought they'd work better, since i'd replaced the sockets with their hi-heat ones, but the driver's side lasted a grand total of about 3 freakin months... (removed)

Note to all, by the time you are done spending all the money on replacement bulbs, colored bulbs, higher output bulbs, etc. You could probably have easily afforded an HID kit.

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Note to all, by the time you are done spending all the money on replacement bulbs, colored bulbs, higher output bulbs, etc. You could probably have easily afforded an HID kit. hahaha, very true! That's why i bought a cheap set of bulbs bc I knew I was getting not only the HIDs, but also the projectors from Keith in his group buy over in MO

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Note to all, by the time you are done spending all the money on replacement bulbs, colored bulbs, higher output bulbs, etc. You could probably have easily afforded an HID kit. hahahatouché whelani'll learn...

Some more questions for poor Whelan. Which tab do you have to take off those HIDs... and do I have to do that to fit them into the Vibe fogs? Also, I imagine you put the low beam 9012 in your fogs, right?