Silverstar vs other xenon headlights

I just put in silverstars tonight for both low and high beams. Big difference, they look awesome.

I put one side on at first and you could see the difference big time between the two sides going down our dark road.

I did that too. Just curious to see. Big difference!

I just got the Silverstars, they should call them Amber-stars. Look bone stock to me. Anyone else severely dissapointed with these?

your not alone captaincorolla- i was dissapointed as well- too yellow for my rice =P anyhoo- what you want is this: polarg shinning wizards- blue goodness- expensive but quality sh*t.. also- if your looking for cheaper- nokya arctic whites are always good- but they do consumer higher than stock wattage.. so you'll need al ittle harness.

shinning wizards: http://www.coolbulbs.com/polarg.asp

Maybe someone bought them, switched them out with stock bulbs, and then returned them. (He would have had to been impossibly good in opening and resealing the package so the switch would be undetectable.)

More likely is that you have an undervoltage or undercurrent condition, or too much resistance in the wiring.

I just hooked mine up two nights ago. I replaced my highs, lows, fogs, and amber turn signals. Fogs were probably unnecessary but I had an extra pair. All of the lights are crisper than the stock lights. I especially like the casing on the amber Silverstar with the blue swirls.

I don't know why yours look bone stock, have you replaced just one and looked at the difference?

I previously had KOBA bulbs, which are very blue and also very bright. One side burned out, I should take a classy photo of my car, one side bright blue, the other side, dissapointing silvertard. However, I'll probably just keep them, I've been thinking I need a more stock look. I've always been mildly concerned about tickets. The silvertards might be better than stock bulbs, but not by much. I guess I'll have to fork out the $300 for real HIDs. No resistance in my car, wiring is all good, and my lens' are in excellent condition (actually brand new). I do like the blue ricey look, regardless of how much of a faux pas it is now.

I could tell a huge difference when I only had one side low and high beam switched to silver stars, and then went driving down a fun twisty dark back road.

Anyone recommend a good 55/60w xenon bulb? I hate the idea of buying a stupid heavy duty harness. I'm gonna leave the silvertards in for a while, see how I like em.

Silverstars...

I swapped in a stock bulb and compared it to the silverstar, the silverstar is brighter, but the color is the same. Not worth the money to me, once these burn out I'll probably get some more cheap-o eBay bulbs. The last set I had were 90/100W and they did not melt my sockets or wiring.

POLARG!!!! <a href="http://www.coolbulbs.com/polarg.asp" target="_blank">http://www.coolbulbs.com/polarg.asp</a>

The Nokyas are less then 40 bucks bro. It's like 20 something a pair if not less. Just depends on hookups and where your buying them, but I do like these bulbs the best out of all the ones I tried.

"All Polarg bulbs draw only stock wattage but produce nearly twice the brightness of a stock halogen bulb!"

Their chart shows the light output as an expression of wattage-- but light output is measured in lumens, not in watts. Efficiency of a bulb is expressed in terms of lumens/W. It's doubtful they can get twice the luminous flux out of the same wattage bulb as other bulb manufacturers.

If they are talking about perceived brightness, they have an even more difficult time proving their claim. Doubling the luminous flux of a light source results in only about 1.5x the perceived brightness-- and as intensities get higher, it takes even more of an increase in luminous flux to cause an increase in perceived brightness (it's a logarithmic progression, not a linear progression.)

And "Shinning Wizard"? Reminds me of that Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V:

Good luck with your "shinning" wizard, I'll stick to bulbs from companies like Osram.

IMO.....I dont like the Silverstars....I had a pair of silverstars on my 94 and i did what everyone did.....compare my stock lights with the silverstar lights.....and yes, they are brighter, but thats it....as for color....the light BARELY whiter than my stock lights....and if you look in your headlights at different angles, it seems to have some kinda color effect just like lights inside of a projector headlight....but still the light is overall...not what i expected....so definately not worth $40......Now, i do recommend anyone to buy Nokya artic white lights...theyre the best set of lights ive ever used...If you change out your stock headlights to these headlights, you will see what i mean....the color and lgiht output turns night into day and even tho it has that blue-ish look to it, it makes everything seem whiter and not blue-er....I am using Nokya lights with JDM black headlights, similar to what FastRolla96 has....actually we both have the same exact setup as far as headlights go....when u use these Nokya lights with a headlight that has a crystal clear lens like what i have, it looks like your car is like some custom or some rich car rollin down the street. I remember FastRolla96 was on the otherside of an intersection and i thought his car was a 240sx S15 from the looks of the headlights...then of course i turned and the light wasnt in my eye anymore so i saw that it was his corolla...but still, these Nokya's will really set of any car so I highly recommend them...and for $40, which is the same price as the silverstars, id say that they are, far more, well worth your money....

I changed my harnesses already cause I had one melt. Now it works perfect.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the difference in bulbs, you can either get eBay cheap-o bulbs that are super blue and will get you a ticket, or something like silverstars, that are barely whiter than stock. Why can't someone take the time to make something in between, which is what we all REALLY want? Would it be that difficult to up the blue on a bulb like silverstar just one degree?

To sum it up, why are bulbs only one extreme or the other?

How many of you guys with the nokya artic whites use beefed up harnesses/sockets? I'd try those bulbs, but I really don't want to spend the money or time putting in upgraded harnesses.

I'm not sure what the fascination is with blue-tinted light. It may appear more intense to us, but it also interferes with seeing detail, as blue light scatters more easily and does not focus well in the eye.

Blue light is also believed to contribute to macular degeneration and other retina damage.

Here's more info about those blue bulbs from Daniel Stern Lighting:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/...ue/bad/bad.html

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/.../good/good.html

According to Daniel Stern, the SilverStar from Osram is a good bulb-- but only those purchased from sources outside North America. The domestic ones have the blue tint on them-- the untinted ones are only commonly available overseas. Also, they have a reduced bulb life over more conventional bulbs.

I have PCP (procarparts) brand headlights. my friend gave them to me cause he had extras. so yeah, i'm suprised by their brightness. i was driving behind my friend for about 1 hour and he calls me telling me that im blinding him. i'm satisfied, i can see on the road at least.

ok, so after a few days with my SilverStars in...

I am reasonably happy with them. It's just hard getting used to them when my last bulbs were so extremely blue.

I heard once that getting an upgraded harness/socket would increase the light output of ANY light. Any truth to this?

Of any light that was previously installed in socket/harness that was insufficient for the light, and for which the socket/harness was the main impediment to getting enough power to the lamp.

The word "any" is a bit too strong, here. I would suppose that there are MANY lights for which this upgrade could help, but there are many other factors at play, for example, the condition of the battery and the rest of the electrical system, and the other electrical demands at the time. And if you had a 4W bulb in place, upgrading the electrical system probably won't do much-- the bulb is only drawing 4W. If you're putting 75W bulbs where a 55W bulb is typically expected, then you might run into problems. However, putting a 75W bulb in may be unlawful in many areas. Legal issues aside, the bulb will also put out a lot more heat. Perhaps the harness can handle it, but can the headlight lens handle it? The body of the headlight?

ok alaricD, you seem like professor frink about this stuff: can you explain this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...7945669780&rd=1

stage 1 artic white nokya's pull 12V 55W = 70W/80W output, is this running along the lines of higher lumens you mentioned b/f? would this be safe to put in my car w/ stock wiring? huyven labin...

For it to draw 55W and produce the light of a 70W bulb, it would have to be much much more efficient than a halogen bulb usually is, ahar-hem. A halogen bulb converts most of the electricity supplied to it into heat. Glaven! Therefore, this particular lamp should burn COOLER than a standard 55W halogen, and your wiring, and the neighborhood, and oh, my GOD the children, what about the children! would be safe from melting. Aher, hoy!
(Ok, enough of Professor Frink)
However, the light output of a bulb is not measured in watts, but in lumens. Household light bulbs and automotive headlamps usually have the output of the light, in lumens, indicated on the packaging. General Electric lost a huge lawsuit with their claims that their energy-efficient light bulbs used less power and delivered the same amount of light as the bulb it replaced. They had a 52W bulb that supposedly could replace a 60W bulb, however, this 52W bulb did not produce the same luminous flux as the 60W bulb it replaced.

For more information on lights, from flashlights to oil lamps to HID dive lights (yes, HID lights you can hold in your hand and swim with), go to www.candlepowerforums.com .

thanks m8! the kicking, and the punching, and HURRRRRRRRTINNG....

I hate to ask, but I can't seem to find any decent part stores online. What part number do I need for sylvania silverstar on 02 corolla?

Nevermind.. I found this site:
http://www.brandsport.com/sylvaniabulbs57.html

Do I need to replace low and high beams, or can I just get away with just doing lowbeams since I don't use highbeams that often?

If you are looking for a "blue" bulb... Then you will get reduced visibility... The silverstars did provide me with more light output... And as for looks, on mine they have a very slight whitish/purplish/bluish tint... I will try and post some pics...

My G has stock Xenons and those are bluish... Sooo unless you go for the real deal, the ebay bulbs will give you nothing but a blue look... And if you are more concerned about the color your bulb gives, over its light output... Then well...

That's true, and we've beaten the subject to death now i think, you should be able to find extensive lighting threads if you do a search of old posts.

Essentially - you have a light source. the fake "HID" bulbs are just an ordinary bulb with a blue filter on it, so you're filtering out all the blue light. So you're gonna get less light output cuz you're filtering out one wavelength of the entire spectrum. Bulbs that claim to output 70w although they're 55/65's dont ACTUALLY put out 70w, they "look" like they put out 70w, kinda like those japanese ones that say 55/65 but then in bigger, much bolder/colorful text they say 135w/150w.

I used to have those, and the light output was abysmal, and I went everywhere from cheap ebay bulbs, apc bulbs, polargs, raybrigs, silverstars, etc. They all lasted a good... 3 months. DRL's off. Then I bought one of those high-current wire harnesses off Jae on VVTi (i don't see him on anymore?). They did make the light output brighter, but essentially the light output was comparable to my stock output.

Then I got sick of wasting money on bulbs and bought HID's.

If you want a more efficient halogen bulb, then look into getting HIR's (Halogen Infrared). I expect them to be cheaper than HID's, but costlier than standard bulbs. They're 30% more efficient than standard halogens cuz they've got a special coating that allows light to pass through, but infrared light to reflect back and keep the filament running at its optimum.

I haven't seen too many aftermarket applications yet - perhaps this will become the most cost effective solution for those wanting to do HID's. I believe these are what come as standard on luxury vehicles with strangely bright/non-HID headlights.

That's not safe...heh -- I haven't been flashed yet for Silverstars on low.

I bought mine for the brightness, not for the color..if you want blue, go elsewhere -- if you want white, buy Silverstars.

are the fog bulbs the same as your low beams?