So like the title says, I just replaced both my low beams with new Sylvania Sylverstar's because my passenger side bulb gave out about 4 hours ago. I had no choice but to get something fast, because for some reason, Chicago police likes to stop people for the most random of crap and I drive at night a lot too.

Anyway, I just wasted 40 bucks on the sylverstars, and now I wonder if I made the right choice. Should I have gone with another bulb? Are others really better than these?

 

It's been my impression that folks have had poor luck with lifetime in our cars. And no increase for that $20 per bulb. I've had them in for 3 years, but few actual hours.
I have them in all of my family's cars (5) and they ARE brighter. By a good bit. But I see NO improvement in the Crossfire. Maybe the projectors? IDK, but they work great in the regular housings.

 

From the older bulbs in it, they do seem to be around 30% brighter? Not quite sure how much exactly, but it's noticeably brighter. The thing is, could I have bought something else that would be better in any way?

 

This has been discussed a number of times (SilverStar/Ultras vs. regular/generic halogens) a number of times.

When I lost a bulb waaaay back in '08, I replaced both lows one at a time. And took pictures (somewhere in my gallery). When I had one SilverStar Ultra and one OEM factory bulb in, I could see difference in neither output or color.

However, when I did the same thing in my Tahoe, the improvement was... startling. Much whiter and much brighter. Somewhere there is a thread, (I don't know if I started it or not-happy hunting!) in which I stated such.

It just doesn't seem to matter what halogen H7 is installed in our housings, they all seem to be somewhat limited in output, and any change in "color" results in decreasing output, as can be expected.

If you want higher usable light output, you will have to go the HID route. How much you spend is entirely up to you. $40 or $140.

 

I have a set of Osram 65 watt bulbs to put in when I get around to it. The 65 watt bulbs are H9 burners in an H7 base. These are 10 watts more than the OEM bulbs, 55 watts is the max allowable legally.

Sparkie SRT6 has them fitted and likes them, I have two for him so that he can do all four lights.

My original OEM bulbs in my old NA lasted for about 20,000 miles and they were on all the time due to DTRL's on Canadian cars, which is not bad.

I have a pic on this forum somewhere showing a regular Phillips versus the Sylvania Silver Star Ultras, You can not tell the difference at all. The Sylvania bulbs actually say Osram on them.
The Ultras appear to last a lot less than normal bulbs, supposedly brighter but at a cost.

There is also a pic of the HID lows (3,500K) and the OEM highs against a white wall, the OEM highs look like egg yolks sitting in the egg white. Quite an obvious difference in color.

 

I'm guessing my old bulbs were crap then, because there was a jump in brightness when I put the sylverstars in last night. But crappy bulbs aside, the only reason I havent gone HID yet is because I tried to look up a decent kit, and got 10 different answers on which to go with lol. Another thing is the install for those, as I've never done an HID install before.

EDIT: I shouldn't say brightness maybe, but the beam did look to be more focused? That's what probably made me think it's brighter.

 

If there is a change in "pattern", there may be an issue with bulb seating?

 

I thought the seating might have been off on the old bulbs, but they had the slot in the little bottom part put in properly just like the new ones. What I did notice as well was that the coated tip of the old bulbs had cracked and mostly worn off hahah, so guessing that might have affected it?

 

Sorry to double post, but I've made a decision and now have my setup for the lights.

I decided to go ahead and ordered a Morimoto HID Elite kit from the retrofit source guys. It'll be here in 2 days, and more than likely I'll have Rudy do the install for it since he's close to me in chicago.

Anyone wanna chime in if I made the right choice with this kit? It was $150 hahah, so it was a chunk of change.