Alas, my stock headlight lenses have gotten to the point where polishing and waxing doesn't cut it anymore. So I have to look into replacing them. Since I am somewhat nightblind I need all the light output I can get. :-)
Scouting around eBay I saw several 'Cobra' style clear headlights. Some of them appear to come right of a Civic (JDM) where others are pretty decent looking.
Does anybody buy any of these on eBay and would I indeed notice a better lighted road? I'm intending to stick Sylvania Silverstar bulbs in them. I found some 'projector' kits on eBay but am very wary of those as they are less than $200 and I know those projector one are pricier than that.
I replaced my stock headlights with Cobra (not Cobra style) headlights years ago. Its a very noticeable improvement in looks and in night vision. Add the Silver Stars and its better still. I bought my headlights via one of the aftermarket suppliers. I'd go there or a Mustang salvge yard before I'd buy from ebay.
Sylvania silverstar are blue bulb junk. xtravisions from sylvania and a few others mentioned in daniel stern's recent posts in rec.autos.driving are the better bulbs on the market.
I recently put in '98 cobra reproduction headlamps (because I couldn't find anyone who carried real ford ones at a reasonable price. Of course now that I have them I found this northcoast performance has the real ford ones for a $140 each. the repros were $110 for the pair. other places wanted over $200 each for the real ford ones) with relays, new 12 gauge wiring and xtravision bulbs. The performance is rather good, second only to the audi rental I drove in europe given the sampling of cars I've driven at night. (which I admit isn't that big)
Silver Star bulbs are not blue they are WHITE. Not junk either, they perform flawlessly and use near stock current so you dont have to worry about melting your headlight or wiring.
I did the Osram Sylvania Xenarc HID upgrade to my four-eyed car. It's a true HID kit, not just colored lights. I was very pleased. Try,
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see what they have for your car. If Sylvania doesn't have anything, try a place like,
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to find out what else is available. After you find out what's available, see if your local parts store has it or can order it for you, it'll be cheaper.
OSRAM silver stars are good. Slyvanias are blue tinted. If you have the former, you are correct.
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The answer to (a) depends on how well you want to see versus how often to-> change the bulb. If you want the best possible seeing, you pick the Osram-> Silver Star. If you don't care as long as it works and you don't want to-> hassle with it, you pick the long life or Daytime Running. The answer to-> (b) is determined by how rich your company's shareholders want you to be,-> and is obvious: You want to sell the bulb with the shortest lifespan and-> highest price. That'd be the Sylvania Silver Star.
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GE NightHawk is an excellent new product line -- Tied with Philips-> VisionPlus as the best 9000-series bulbs (and least-worst sealed beams) on-> the general retail market in the US. And yes, good eye, they don't have-> light-stealing blue coloration to the glass like the Sylvania Silverstar-> junk.
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Sylvania XtraVision, GE HO, GE SUV, Philips High Visibility are-> high-efficacy bulbs.-> GE NightHawk, Philips VisionPlus, Narva Rangepower+50, Candlepower SBL are-> ultra-high-efficacy bulbs.
at 12 Jan 2005, Brent P [ snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com] wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
Thank you for this insight. I am well aware of the Philips VisionPlus line being from Europe. Glad to hear they are available in the USA now. Sounds like Cobra replica's or Cobra units are the way to go with either the GE or the Philips bulbs.
Maybe Sylvania has changed them since I bought them (several years ago)? I specifically did NOT want blue or blue tinted light (hate blue lights) and my Sylvania Silver Stars are not blue. They have a brilliant white light.. not a trace of blue or orange.. just white.
I dunno about how the light output looks, the description was for the blub glass. Online pictures seem to indicate the glass is tinted blue as per DS's posts. Keep in mind Osram owns Sylvania. However the US product is different than the european one despite the same name. Maybe the older ones were clear, I dunno.
Just because the bulb is tinted blue does NOT necessarilly mean the light will be blue. Some bulbs do use the coating to make the light blue. Some bulbs use the coating for color correction.. to make it more white for instance. It all depends on the design goals and what the coating IS.. not just its apparent color. Actual in-use color can only be deternined at specified voltage and current.
What the hell are you talking about.. wires, relays...????????
I'm done. Think what you will of Sylvania Silver Stars. I have them, have used them for years, and guarantee you they are NOT blue in use. Not a bit blue.. total pure white. They are reasonably priced, made my Cobra headlights perform better, and are totally compatible.
PS: If you're judging a bulbs light by their unpowered physical color instead of judging their light when powered up correctly.. you are ________________.
You started commenting on powering up bulbs fully, so I assumed you knew something about it.
Wire gauge is the thickness of the conductor, the copper. Thinner wire has more resistance per unit length, and therefore a higher voltage drop. Relays are simple electromechanical devices that switch a high current with a small current.
On my mustang I have rewired the headlamps with 12 gauge wire fed directly by the alternator. The headlamps are switched on and off by relays. One for low beam, one for high beam. This way there is little in the way of voltage drop. The bulbs get as close to alternator output voltage as possible.
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Ford like many manufacturers uses wire that is too thin to power the headlamps and routes the current through the headlamp switch on the dash. That's alot of distance of thin wire. It only gets worse with age. My mustang is 8 years old. The wiring could no longer feed the headlamps anything approaching properly. Thusly I put in the relays. The headlamp switch now just operates the relays which in turn switch on the headlamps.
They still are blue tinted, and this tint reduces available light for actually seeing where you are going. I did not say they were blue in use, I stated the blubs were blue. And they are blue in every photograph of said bulbs I could find. The last ones I saw in the store were blue as I recall.
Ahem. You are the one using subjective standards. I haven't compared light by 'color'. You're the one parroting the 'brightest and whitest' and other subjective judgements. I have not made any such judgement and have remained in the realm of fact.
The fact is slyvania silver star bulbs use blue tinted glass. That's a fact. I have supported this with photographs of said bulbs. They are made with blue tinted glass. This tint will act to remove light. There is no way they can put out more light than an equal clear glass bulb.
I have slyvania bulbs in my mustang, xtravisions. They are clear glass. As I hear more about the new GE bulbs I may switch, but the xtravisions were at/near the top of the 9007s for some time, still arent that far behind the better newer competition and were like $18 for the pair. I may go for the new GE bulbs that have taken over at the top in the future. I just don't see paying more for blue tint on the glass that removes light and gives some people the appearance of better performance.
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"The reason why the scam fools people into thinking their headlamps really work better has to do with the interaction of light that is tinted blue (to any degree) with the human eye. This kind of light has been shown in rigidly-controlled scientific studies to create almost 50% more glare than untinted light from a bulb with clear glass. But there's no 50% increase in seeing to go along with the extra glare; there's no increase in seeing at all, and in most cases there is a moderate reduction in actual seeing light. More glare, less seeing: Everybody loses."
whatever, I tried to be informative. You prefer marketing hype, not my problem.
at 14 Jan 2005, Brent P [ snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com] wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
Thank you for that link. Seems the 'SilverStar' confusion is because of the US version and the non-US version of this bulb being two diffent beasts...
Looks like I'm going with one of the ones recommended at the end of the article as soon as I can find a set of decently priced Cobra styly headlights for my car.
Thanks to all for replying and I apologize for opening this can of worms. I'll try to avoid that next time. :-)
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