Offroad Lighting

[Oswego]

Figured I would start a thread for it.

I have Piaa 510 fogs and the bulbs last less then a year. Anyone have any ideas what other bulbs would work besides their $16 replacements? Now that I look back at my poor purchase I should of gone another route all together. The Piaa lenses crack if you have them turned on (hot) and hit any sort of cold water + the seals on them suck. For the amount of money they were I would of imagined they wouldn't leak, but they do. Looks like Ill be siliconing them up as soon as I get some new bulbs. If I wanted leaky lights I would of just bought cheapo HF lights

[Pd3]

Seal em and you can run any H3 lamp. I run the Siverstars but they are a bit more than 16 beans. I like them because they put out real white light.

[Oswego]

Seal em and you can run any H3 lamp. I run the Siverstars but they are a bit more than 16 beans. I like them because they put out real white light.

How long are they lasting you? I had silverstars in my headlights and reverse lights but after they blew out 4-5 times in a year I reverted back to stock. They were under warranty, but I got tired of swapping them out.

[drew02a]

The Silverstar Ultras are supposed to last alot longer. No problems with them yet, but I've only had them for 6 months

[Pd3]

How long are they lasting you? I had silverstars in my headlights and reverse lights but after they blew out 4-5 times in a year I reverted back to stock. They were under warranty, but I got tired of swapping them out.

Strange and I have heard the same thing from many other people??? I have had Silverstars in the headlights for over 5 years and only have replaced one of them. My PIA 510's seem not to leak either, but you are correct about the em breaking if hot and hit cool water. They are made of glass so thats the issue.

[Pd3]

The Silverstar Ultras are supposed to last alot longer. No problems with them yet, but I've only had them for 6 months

AHhhh thats the dealio I didn't even know they made a "sub par" lamp?

[BearsFan07]

I've had ultras for a few years with zero issues.

[Pd3]

I've had ultras for a few years with zero issues.

Thats only because it never rains in TX.

[BearsFan07]

Very true!! But when it does it floods.

[thekidcatcher]

no shit man. had 1.5 to 2 feet of water at some places on the freeway yesterdat

[AlienXtx]

I've had ultras for a few years with zero issues.

That's what I'm running, no issues yet. Still need to put them in my fogs. I like my KC daylighters 30watts, need to swap to a white light instead of yellow just because it looks shitty with my ultras.
They kicked off on me this weekend, not sure why yet.

[Pd3]

That's what I'm running, no issues yet. Still need to put them in my fogs. I like my KC daylighters 30watts, need to swap to a white light instead of yellow just because it looks shitty with my ultras.
They kicked off on me this weekend, not sure why yet.

Maybe they had the "fever"?

[AlienXtx]

Maybe they had the "fever"?

Could be, might have gotten hot a blew a fuse...smart Ass

[SecretSquirrel]

Your lights are wavering and confused?

[AlienXtx]

Your lights are wavering and confused?

And then they died.....so sad.

[Oswego]

Strange and I have heard the same thing from many other people??? I have had Silverstars in the headlights for over 5 years and only have replaced one of them. My PIA 510's seem not to leak either, but you are correct about the em breaking if hot and hit cool water. They are made of glass so thats the issue.

I think your truck has a angel looking over it. Besides that shaft and lug nut issue your trucks been pretty dam bomb proof from what I know of it.

My front blew out twice (both bulbs) and the rear back up light blew out at least 3 times between both sides. I know we talked about this before & some said I may have a short, but the stock bulbs are still running strong with 3 years 70k on them minus the time the Silverstars were installed.

I never noticed the Piaa's leaked while they were installed, buy I never looked at them good. I removed them to paint the bumper so I gave them a good cleaning before putting them back in and noticed they sucked in water while cleaning them.

I haven't cracked a lens myself, but I know a local guy who cracked both of his within months of purchase.

The Silverstar Ultras are supposed to last alot longer. No problems with them yet, but I've only had them for 6 months

Longer then they used to or just longer in general? When I first purchased them I expected them to blow out quicker then OE as it stated so on the back of the box.

Ill give them a try for the fogs and see what happens. Also need to pick up some bulbs for Joe's old KC's so Ill swap them all out at once and see what happens.

[achirdo]

I have two procomp 130 driving lights on my truck with nothing but good things to say about them. And they only cost like $40 each. I just replaced the bulbs for the first time and its been 2 years. Bulbs were like $5 ea

[Oswego]

I read through many "light" forums tonight and while everyone's opinions in them varied like an opinion would, all of the guys who seemed to know their shit in them referenced Daniel Stern Lighting as the bible of lighting.

I found my issues with Sylvania's bulb burn out is most likely due to condensation while using aftermarket high output bulbs. It seems like the OE bulbs are better suited to the rough wet life opposed to aftermarket lights. I believe what I read because my cheap aftermarket tail lights leak from driving in the rain (not sub-runs), my PIA fogs leak, and my headlights are FUBAR and leak as well. Meanwhile they all toasted their "white" light bulbs and neither the OE head light nor the OE taillight have blown with the original bulbs.

Daniel Sterns site was harsh towards the US sold "Sylvania" lights as well as the emergence of blue coated bulbs into the US market. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...good/good.html



Consumer reports pretty much trashed every brand:

Consumer Reports
Not all bright ideas are the most economical

By the editors of Consumer Reports

Premium replacement-headlight bulbs are marketed as a functional and cosmetic improvement over the conventional bulbs found in most cars. But are they? Consumer Reports recently tested five top-selling models to find out.

Bulbs such as the APC Plasma Ultra White, GE Nighthawk, Philips CrystalVision, Sylvania SilverStar, and Wagner TruView try to mimic the whiter, brighter light of the high-intensity-discharge (HID) lamps that are standard equipment on some pricey vehicles.

HID lights can be brighter than conventional halogen bulbs, but illuminated distances are often just comparable. One clear advantage of conventional halogen lighting over HID is that, when the former requires replacement, you need only change the bulb — usually a simple task for most backyard mechanics. With high-intensity-discharge lights, the entire assembly must be replaced.

Premium halogen-replacement bulbs attempt to offer some of the benefits of HID lights while fitting into the vehicle's original headlight assembly.

The five bulbs Consumer Reports tested are priced between $26 and $40 a pair (two to three times the price of standard halogen bulbs) and are sold in discount or auto-parts stores. The test bulbs claimed Department of Transportation-standard compliance. Noncompliant bulbs may be marked as "for off-road use only."

CR's tests were designed to be both subjective (to determine how well distant objects could be seen by the human eye) and objective (measuring bulb illuminance, or brightness). Three test vehicles — a Chrysler Sebring, a Toyota Camry and a Honda Ridgeline — were used to provide a variety of bulb sizes and original equipment (OE) performance. (The Wagner TruView was not available for the Honda.)

To test claims of increased brightness, CR moved inside a dark building and placed a light sensor 50 feet in front of each vehicle — at different heights, both on center and to the right to simulate a shoulder.

Subjectively, all five bulbs emitted a whiter light than OE bulbs. That could prove attractive to buyers seeking the look of HID lights: Studies show that some drivers prefer driving behind whiter light than the more yellow light of most OE halogen bulbs. But that doesn't mean you can see farther.

In the distance tests, only the GE Nighthawk improved low-beam sight distance, and then just for the Honda Ridgeline. Generally, low- and high-beam distance either remained the same or decreased with the premium replacement bulbs.

Meanwhile, results of CR's brightness tests showed some localized improvements, but no one replacement bulb scored consistently better than OE. The Nighthawk and APC Plasma Ultra White improved illuminance in more tests than the other bulbs, some of which did not perform as well as stock bulbs.

Premium replacement bulbs may be cosmetically pleasing — CR's tests showed that they do yield whiter-looking light than original-equipment bulbs — but they don't offer a consistent performance advantage. In fact, they can perform worse than OE bulbs.

Bottom line: Outfitting your car with these dazzling premium bulbs may not be such a bright idea."


So after wasting the past 4hrs reading about stupid light bulbs Ill be grabbing some non-tinted Narva Rangepower +30 bulbs or Osram Silver Stars for my Piaa fogs and Hella 700's......if I can find them.

[AlienXtx]

I wonder if the failing bulbs/ condensation prob is tied in with the BHL mod? Seems that the folks having all the trouble have also done this mod.

[Oswego]

I wonder if the failing bulbs/ condensation prob is tied in with the BHL mod? Seems that the folks having all the trouble have also done this mod.

I have never messed with my lights but they have literally taken a beating...so they have some cracks on the inside of the housing and I'm assuming that was my issue. Others have said the Sylvania Silverstars only have a 250 hr bulb life and that could also be their issue. If you drive 4 hrs a night they would only last 3 months.

I have a set of lights a local TW member gave me I need to work on ASAP. One is a cheap flee bay BHL and the other is one he tried to BHL himself. Both currently leak, but they have all the tabs unlike mine. Ill be sure to use industrial sealant so they don't leak when I'm done with them, but either way I'm done with blue bulbs or anything that overpowers the bulb.

I'm just going to grab some sealed 4" round tractor trailer LED's, splice them into my reverse lights, and mount them in my bumper for the rear.