Best Buy a Bad Bust in (Hi-intensity bulbs)

[geocor]

To any out there who want to upgrade their 9006's or 9005's ,the ones at Best Buy burned out in my Camaro 2 times in 2 months.The bulbs were 100W for both Hi & Lo beams but the light out on the Hi's were marginally better if that,the lows were only slightly better than standard halogens.

The end result is they have a year guaranty, & I'll be getting my money back this time.

OK I've tried,Silverstars( IMO very little if any diffence),"Eurolights" (the same as the "stars"),Cool Blue's(no diff. than stock hallogen).So this I ask of any here: Without going to the very pricey true HID's does'nt any manufacturer make a bulb thats a noticable improvement over the standard hallogens?Has anyone tried the "HID" bulbs at LAPD,they claim their's are the best & the closest thing to true HID's?I've read in "search' that a lot here don't think PIAA's were an improvement.What have some of you tried? Any good ones out there?

[hockeyman]

I've tried the silverstars, cool blues and a few knock-off xenon bulbs. They all gave off about the same wattage, and made little difference in night time visibility. I do not like the bulbs that throw off a blue, red, green, & purple light bulbs. It's just crap that kids use when they want to get attention, but don't really care about seeing in front of themselves at night.

You won't get much performance from any bulb because our stock electric system only puts-out so much wattage (no matter what the bulbs output wattage is). If you want to really upgrade, you'll need to get the whole HID setup which will cost you quite a bit, but I personally think it's worth it if you do alot of driving at night.

[hockeyman]

Oh, and not sure if you know or not, but you're not supposed to touch the bulbs with your fingers. It makes them burn out extremely fast!

[F1GT]

Originally posted by hockeyman:

You won't get much performance from any bulb because our stock electric system only puts-out so much wattage (no matter what the bulbs output wattage is). If you want to really upgrade, you'll need to get the whole HID setup which will cost you quite a bit, but I personally think it's worth it if you do alot of driving at night.

Our wires can handle 100watt bulbs with no probs. It's the housing that is working against us. Even if you get an HID set up, there are no cut-offs and the reflectors are not making the most of the light output. The easiest thing you can do is get a/m driving lamps on the car, otherwise you will need to custom make your own headlamp.


edit: If you are using 9006, then I assume you have a 98+ camaro, unless you cut the sealed ones and siliconed the 9006 in. I've used at least 15 set of aftermarket bulbs out there and let me tell you, it's a lost cause. You can put higher wattage non-colored bulbs, that will help somewhat, but again, it's the housing that is limiting it. I have Silverstars and they were a tad bit brighter and a whiter and I compared them side by side and these were by far the most reliable with an actual slight result.

I can go the easy route and replace my fogs with Pilot 2028s (~$35) and I will have major illumination improvement. Either that or get PIAA 1100x, but thats $200, but it sure looks nice.

[ January 21, 2005, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: F1GT ]

[F1GT]

check out the fogs on this Camaro, super bright for ~$35!
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/259814/5

[geocor]

Thanx fellow forum members! I Thought that it would probably be hard to find a good hi-intensity bulb to improve on standard ones.Yes I have a '98 & yes I was extremely carefull not to touch the bulbs before I installed them.
I'm going to to look into the Pilot 2028's.This topic also generates of a lot of interest at the Corvette Forum & the consensus there on HID's & upgraded lights there are about the same.To get the HID's to work decently on a C5 some say you have to switch to the European Export glass type headlight casing.Some even say the European H4's are = to or better than with this set up.
This would be a challenge to see if some manufacturer out there could make a marked improvement ,in a bulb, with reflector systems used in most American marketed vehicles.IMHO not impossible.

[Razzer]

I have seen complete hid kits that are a direct bolt in for the bulb and a little wiring that will fit in our cars. I believe the kit cost 400$ and it is a true hid system. http://www.hidking.com/8000K1.htm

There are some neat options out there to try.

[v6droptop]

what options are there for the 93-7 birds?
mine suck at night
put Silverstars on my 01 and like them but havent seen a good replacement for sealed beams
Im ready to cut some up and glue in better bulbs
BTW factory wiring isnt a real problem just use it to power a relay and run fused power with 10awg wire to the relay.