PDA

View Full Version : What a difference.



A-TownNavi
02-21-2006, 08:02 PM
A while ago i bought some Blue xenon bulbs for the Navi. and what a difference they made from stock. 100x brighter and whiter. well about 2 months ago both the foglights went out at the same time. and i know its the bulb because ill take out the power source for it and plug it into my stock bulb and it work. well yesterday my passenger side bulb went out. so i went to Advanced Auto parts where a buddy of mine works and got some "Cool Blue" bulbs by Silvania. yall they look identical to Stock. they suck. i dont know how i went so long on stock bulbs cuz the difference between them and blue Xenon are incredible. youll never know until you drive with em.

Matt34
02-21-2006, 09:32 PM
I only get the Silverstars, most bang for your dollar IMHO.

A-TownNavi
02-21-2006, 09:44 PM
my buddy got silverstars for his mustang GT. i wasnt impressed lol. good lights. their bright. but just not white.

Matt34
02-21-2006, 11:28 PM
my buddy got silverstars for his mustang GT. i wasnt impressed lol. good lights. their bright. but just not white.

They are as white/clear as can be. I can't stand the blue tint stuff.

Mase
02-21-2006, 11:42 PM
Watch out with those "blue xenon" bulbs. Many of my friends have tried them and the bulbs melted their harnesses or scorched their reflector housings. Those bulbs are manufactured with a blue film to make them whiter. To make them brighter, they use filaments that burn hotter and at a higher wattage. As much as 110watts compared to the safe 65watts stock.

IMO, a genuine hid xenon lighting system is the only way to go if you want light output. Complete with xenon capsules, ballasts, and ignitors. They're about $300 a pair. I installed 4 pairs on my cars and they are so much better than overwattage halogens.

About the silverstars, before I went HID I replaced the stock phillips hi beams with silverstars. I honestly didn't notice anything. I even ran them side by side and didn't notice any increased light output, beam pattern, or color temp. Wasted $40 for me.

A-TownNavi
02-22-2006, 09:30 AM
yeah i know i didnt get a true xenon kti but the bulbs were pretty dam good. oh well.

yeah matt i dont know, maybe you got a "freak" of set of bulbs :lol: . just like Mase said, i couldnt notice a diff between his stock and the silverstars.

amoney
02-22-2006, 09:46 AM
The silverstars are the best value for the money and the whitest possible. If you want the "tint" of HD then you have to drop the cash, one of the best is PIAA, but that dont last long, and at that price, you will choke.

What brand of bulbs did you buy Atown. I just dont trust the cheap "tinted" bulbs that say they do the trick as you discribe.

Another fact is that those fancy bulbs suck in bad weather because of the shorter wave length of light. Price you pay for the cheap look of HID (although very cool).

A-TownNavi
02-22-2006, 09:58 AM
no name brand :oops: from taiwan. but it was a kit that came with bulbs for the Headlights and Foglights. and they did dam well, even in bad weather. i just couldnt believe how white they were. i still have no idea why both my foglights went out at the same time. the bulbs still look good. and i checked the fuses for the foglights and everything was fine.

yesterday i bought two 9007 'Cool Blue' bulbs by Silvania. there not bad, but theres def. no blue. and their def. not white. oh well. sh*t happens.

f_399
02-22-2006, 10:02 AM
i got those white lights before but then they blew after a couple of months

they are much brighter

went back to stock and no problemo

amoney
02-22-2006, 02:58 PM
no name brand :oops: from taiwan. but it was a kit that came with bulbs for the Headlights and Foglights. and they did dam well, even in bad weather. i just couldnt believe how white they were. i still have no idea why both my foglights went out at the same time. the bulbs still look good. and i checked the fuses for the foglights and everything was fine.

yesterday i bought two 9007 'Cool Blue' bulbs by Silvania. there not bad, but theres def. no blue. and their def. not white. oh well. sh*t happens.

Yeah, there are alot, everyone buys them, I used to know all the names, NIKKO or something was one, if you rememebr let me know, I know that some actually are worth the cheap proce, but then there are some that are just the same as those crappy cool blue (which I have tried). The only difference is that the cool blue by sylvania will last. Like wise the silverstars are great.

But going for that HID "tint" white/blue NOT full neon smurf blue looks like crap. So just want to know the name if you got. Unless the packaging is written in japanesse/chinese then I understand which ones you got. :D

Oh and about your fog light going out unexpectedly, well some say those higher wattage bulbs (inorder to get the bright white effect), they are not really xenon, they have some small percentage of gas but in addition they are over pressurized with halogen, the xenon is just a mix to give it the extra kick. The bluish tint or purple, etc comes from normally paint on the bulb itself. Anyways back to those extra wattage bulbs beware you may melt your electrical cable. Thats another reason I don't want to F up my (was) new Accord. Those highwattage bulbs could have sucked on the electrical system so much that it inadvertintly caused a surge to the fog lights.

A-TownNavi
02-22-2006, 03:31 PM
yeah i went back to AAP today and got some OEM for light bulbs for $6 a piece. there was a set of Silverstars that were $40 for the dam foglights. what a rip, they dont look any different than stock. yeah if i can find the name ill tell you

Dilip
02-22-2006, 08:50 PM
The difference between true Xenon HID"s with the ballast and starter, compared to those silverstars or other higher wattage xenon lookalike bulbs is so big, its like a day and night difdference.

Atown, i suggest if u really want light output, u save up for real xenon HID's for your low beams and maybe also for your fog lights.

I use HID's for low beams, and my HI beams i use those high wattage 100Watt bulbs, but clear lens, no whitish/blueish colour, that way i can get max brightness. I have heard that the 100 watt bulbs can cause problems with melting the light housings, but that shouldnt happen on new cars. On my old mazda 626 i used it for a year without problems on my low beams. But for my new mazda 6, i dont want to risk it. I just use it for high beams coz they are seldom on.

As for fog lights..... if u can afford it, then HID them also. I didnt touch my fog lights coz my car stock comes with TWO PAIRS of fogs already.

amoney
02-22-2006, 09:40 PM
As for fog lights..... if u can afford it, then HID them also. I didnt touch my fog lights coz my car stock comes with TWO PAIRS of fogs already.

For looks, sure, but actually the yellow fog lights are the best for their purpose, the longer wave lentgh of light allows it to penetrate the fog farther.

HID are know doubt the best, the projectors are the key to see further. The "lookalike" bulbs, the better quality ones, are good, but you can start to see the decrease in distance especially if you are chasing the fancy "blue/purple" color. There is no comparison like you said between true HID.

Anyone doing a conversion, be sure you read up thoughly and get good quality ballasts and wiring, don't want to end up killing yourselves.

Dilip
02-22-2006, 09:44 PM
yes thats true. Yellow fog lights are better in REAL fog conditions.

But if ur just looking for super bright lights on the street, then HID is the way to go.

Mase
02-22-2006, 10:46 PM
yes thats true. Yellow fog lights are better in REAL fog conditions.
HID bulbs come in 3000k color temps (yellow). That's what I installed in my wife's fog lights. Looks very nice at night and it evens out the bluish-white HID headlights.

Dilip
02-22-2006, 11:24 PM
oh wow, i've not seen 3000K HID"s in HOng Kong! Everyone buys 6000K or 8000K Maybe i never asked for it......

I might consider putting those on my fogs......

amoney
02-22-2006, 11:42 PM
I saw a ricer completely yellow out his head lights, he was real cool. I gotta give him credit picking a different color other than smurf blue (I had a trick bike once in that color, then it was stolen... bummer).

Iknox
02-23-2006, 12:55 AM
how come everything nice that we own gets stolen or damage and yet now we seem to say it was nice to have for the period we had it lol._knox