Sylvania Silverstar Headlights

[toraurora]

All I can say is wow.... AAP has these on sale until tomorrow for 27.88 a pair. I changed mine and not only are they substantially brighter, but I am also no longer night blind. I recommend them to anyone replacing your headlights.

[JimW]

You'll love em for about 4 months, then they'll burn out. Or such is what we find with SS bulbs on our cars in particular.

[Aurora40]

Yes, the rated life of them is quite short. I prefer the XtraVision bulbs myself because they have a normal life and the brightness (but not whiteness) of SilverStars.

[Superdemon]

I am on my 2nd set in 2 years and I just had another one burn out. These lights suck. I like the look but replacing them yearly is getting old.

[Deleted]

They come with a 1-year warranty. I always take mine back at the 11 month 29 day mark. Just recently I had one burn in the Bravada, I took both back and got the ultras. Definitely worth it, however with these projector lights I get a lot of people flashing me.. I always smile as I give them a taste of the real high beam

[Aurora40]

Maybe you need to adjust your headlights down a little? They should be level so that the beam doesn't go higher as it gets further out. I use high beams in the low beam and no one flashes me. The cutoff is below a drivers eyes. Though if you pop over a hill or something they can be quite bright (not unlike people with HIDs).

[BlackButy]

HID's are awsome! I know they are illegal to install on vehicles not factory equiped with them but with my poor night vision they really do it for me. I have my lights aimed quite low as well and I never get flashed. Silverstars are better than factory lights, but I believe the Xtra Vision and Hi-Visability by Philips are even better. And even better yet, in my opinion, are the GE Nighthawks. I have them as high beams and they do not have a blue filter on the outside, just a really bright halogen.

[LSkrabut]

www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?f=bylogo&logourl=RoadshockLogoTM%2EGIF&brand=Road%20Shock

Anyone brave here? its only $190 plus shipping

[austinator]

I actually got my kit off of ebay for right around $100 and have been very happy with it so far. I was going to install projectors also but they aren't blinding so I haven't bothered yet.

Also, I've never had brights flashed with them so far. I just aimed them well so that the beam isn't going up at all.

[scottydl]

toraurora said:

All I can say is wow.... AAP has these on sale until tomorrow for 27.88 a pair. I changed mine and not only are they substantially brighter, but I am also no longer night blind. I recommend them to anyone replacing your headlights.

My HiLite Superwhites were $45 for the entire set ... high beams, low beams, and fogs. They've been in somewhere around two years and I haven't lost one yet. Your Silverstars will be blown most likely within months. Not trying to rain on your parade, but that's the experience of the average Silverstar user. Since you already bought them, KEEP YOUR RECEIPT AND PACKAGING and I believe Sylvania will replace them if they fail within a year. Problem is most people don't/can't take advantage of the offer because they have no proof of purchase.

Headlight choices have been discussed a lot in the past if you search some older threads. Here's a recent one.

[KliffsAurora]

I've been on the same set of Silver Stars for about 7 months. Although I do very little driving that requires headlights.

[scottydl]

kliffsaurora said:

I've been on the same set of Silver Stars for about 7 months. Although I do very little driving that requires headlights.

That's one way to make 'em last for YEARS!

[austinator]

scottydl said:

kliffsaurora said:

I've been on the same set of Silver Stars for about 7 months. Although I do very little driving that requires headlights.

That's one way to make 'em last for YEARS!

Still won't conquer the engineered failure at 1 year and 2 days though

[alecbeaton]

I just got done putting an ebay HID kit in mine. WOW does that make a difference.

A few notes for anyone wanting to do this: One- You MUST use a relay and associated wiring to install these. Do not run them from your factory headlight wiring. They will not be able to supply sufficient power to ignite the bulbs from a cold start. And two: you need to aim them lower, as previously stated. The beam may not seem higher, but the glare is. Dropping them down a minute amount will keep you from getting flashed.

[austinator]

interesting...mine ignite just fine without the relay.

[alecbeaton]

Hmm... idk. I couldn't get mine to fire without it. Well, it's for the better. I've heard horror stories of people running them off the factory leads and burning things out, and besides the factory wiring is like 20 gauge at best. No wonder my lights weren't very bright. I upgraded with a 10 gauge wire to the relay in, 12 gauge out to the ballasts and 12 gauge ground. That way i knew they would ignite and be as bright as possible. Sure makes the high-beams useless now though haha.

[austinator]

i know what you mean about the high beams...i don't even turn them on in the open because they are darker than the others. You realize that the xenon's take less power than the halogens don't you?

[alecbeaton]

Oh yes i'm aware of that, but i did a lot of reading up on them while i was considering the purchase, and even though they only draw 35w of power and ~8A when at full operation, the startup can jump to as high as 30A of power, which is more than the factory wiring was designed to handle. I don't know any of this from first hand knowledge, this is just what i read from everyone who had done a halogen-to-xenon conversion on their vehicle. I figured it was a lot cheaper to wire in my own stuff that it would be to replace the headlight harness if i burned it out.

[Superdemon]

From the Wikipedia: At the end of life, many types of high-intensity discharge lamps exhibit a phenomenon known as cycling. These lamps can be started at a relatively low voltage but as they heat up during operation, the internal gas pressure within the arc tube rises and more and more voltage is required to maintain the arc discharge. As a lamp gets older, the maintaining voltage for the arc eventually rises to exceed the voltage provided by the electrical ballast. As the lamp heats to this point, the arc fails and the lamp goes out. Eventually, with the arc extinguished, the lamp cools down again, the gas pressure in the arc tube is reduced, and the ballast can once again cause the arc to strike. The effect of this is that the lamp glows for a while and then goes out, repeatedly.

This should be noted for people with aging HID lights. As they begin to die they will start cycling which will put a higher electrical load on the wiring. While it may work for now it is best to have a relay system installed to protect your stock wiring.

[austinator]

I'll see, but they're fused so i don't really see a problem. Did you fuse the relays or just run them straight off the positive?

[toraurora]

I work at an auto parts store so im not worried about them burning out. I have all the warranty info I need and ill get them replaced no questions asked. They have an awesome look and I got them for cheaper then normal. So far I like them. If there are any problems ill let you guys know.

[alecbeaton]

I fused the input of the relay with a 30A inline blade-type fuse.