Sylvania Headlight (Bulbs)

[E300TD99]

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone has experience with Sylvania Headlight replacement bulbs. I am looking to install them in my 99 E300 TurboDiesel. What is the difference between the "blue" -vs- "Ultra Bright"? I was advised against Xenon. I also don't want to pay that kind of money either.

Any recommendations are accepted.

Thanks!

[pawoSD]

The silverstar and silverstar ultra's put excellent light on the road IMHO. I've had good luck with them in our W124....

In my W126 I have some generic "Blue" bulbs....and they are pretty darn good too, very white light on the road.

[babymog]

Hella makes bulbs with more light output/stock wattage, and they're not blue.

[LUVMBDiesels]

I have the ultra brights in the Suburban. They are great. I have the regular ones in the SDL so far. I am waiting the one to blow before replacing them.

[mobetta]

I'm running the stock wattage +30's. like 'em.

[E300TD99]

I will give them a try. Just a little expensive to get them without asking first.

Thanks for all the feed back.

[H-townbenzoboy]

Originally Posted by E300TD99

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone has experience with Sylvania Headlight replacement bulbs. I am looking to install them in my 99 E300 TurboDiesel. What is the difference between the "blue" -vs- "Ultra Bright"? I was advised against Xenon. I also don't want to pay that kind of money either.

Any recommendations are accepted.

Thanks!

Before getting blue bulbs, you might want to read these and make a decision after reading.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/bad/bad.html

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Originally Posted by H-townbenzoboy

Before getting blue bulbs, you might want to read these and make a decision after reading.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/bad/bad.html

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html

I'm not sure how old that report is, but Sylvania does make a +50 bulb now. It is called the Silver StarUltra. I bought a pair at Schuck's for $50. There was an instant $10 rebate and a $10 mail in rebate. They are the white not the blue bulbs. They are definitely brighter than by old bulbs.

Amazon has them for $22 after the rebate.

[dagObx]

Originally Posted by pawoSD

The silverstar and silverstar ultra's put excellent light on the road IMHO. I've had good luck with them in our W124....

What he said........

I have these in my 124 & love 'em.

[pawoSD]

Standard silver star lamps are much better than plain $9 halogens......I'd say they're at least 25% brighter....I put a set in our W124, and it made a noticeable improvement.

[::matthew]

I've got the silver star ultras in my w123 with cibie lights and I'm very happy with the output.

[rhodes2010]

The light on a Silverstar is great. Think I paid $30 a piece at Kragen.
Brighest off the shelf headlamp I have ever used.

But..... after 6 months they died (while driving at night),
got them replaced under warranty and was told by Sylvania Tech Support that
these expensive bright headlamps are not for people who use their headlights a lot
(WHAT!!!????).

I ended up carrying a spare in the trunk just in case.

When the second set failed in about 6 more months they insisted I get replaced with a different lamp (some kind of Heavy Duty).
H6054XV Ultra-Vision.

So... I went and bought $7 GE lamps and have not had a problem in about 2 years.

This subject has been covered a lot on this board. The conclusion was that Silverstar headlamps do not last and it says so on the box.
Only good for a few hundred hours.

In my driving I use my lamps 3 hours a day 5 days a week about 240 days a year.

So if you don't NEED headlamps, but like the bright oh so pretty light....

[RML]

I bought the ultrabrights and found it makes a noticable difference. I think I paid $50 with a rebate, which was too much. I had a burned out lamp and needed them right away. A few weeks later I saw an ad in the Sunday paper from a national chain and they were selling them for $25. This may have been after rebate.

They came in a pack of 2 and I only changed the one that was burned out. This way I have an extra bulb on hand. There is a noticable difference between my two headlights. I am too cheap to change the other one before it burns out and don't really care if they are different.

Maybe I should install a device that turns my headlights on and off every .25 seconds, thereby using them only half the time and making the bulbs last twice as long. I would probably get through traffic faster as well.

[babymog]

Two problems with that, maybe you're joking but:

The initial inrush current and temperature cycling is much harder on the light-bulb filament than steady on/use.

Also search "halogen cycle", the reason that quartz-halogen bulbs are brighter is that the filament is running hotter, the quartz glass and halogen glass is the trick there, once everything is up to temperature the sputtered-off tungsten vapor is designed to re-deposit on the filament and extend their life (otherwise they would die fairly soon running that temp).

One key in bulb life is the quality control. If the filament thickness is VERY closely controlled, it is relatively the same resistance=temperature across its length. If the thickness varies even slightly, the thinner spot(s) get much hotter than the rest of the filament/wire's length and lead to early failure.

Hella bulbs and Phillips have treated me well.

Originally Posted by RML

Maybe I should install a device that turns my headlights on and off every .25 seconds, thereby using them only half the time and making the bulbs last twice as long. I would probably get through traffic faster as well.

[pawoSD]

We've had silverstars in our Rav4 for over a year and they haven't blown yet....we use the W124 a lot at night and those are fine so far too....we'll see how long they last.