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Thumbs down on the Sylvania SilverStars


misterp

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I read a couple posts here from other forum contributors recommending the Sylvania Silverstar halogen light bulbs. I bought a pair, and they suck. They are blue alright, but dimmer than stock, definitely cannot see as far as with the OEM bulbs. I've switched back.

 

Just my $0.02...

Mr. P. :)

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I read a couple posts here from other forum contributors recommending the Sylvania Silverstar halogen light bulbs.  I bought a pair, and they suck.  They are blue alright, but dimmer than stock, definitely cannot see as far as with the OEM bulbs.  I've switched back.

 

Just my $0.02...

Mr. P. :)

 

 

Exactly, your $0.02

 

I had quite the opposite results. ;)

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I had the same experience with them on my '02 Avalanche.

 

I originally had a set of PIAA hyperwhites or superwhites. I LOVED them.

 

I lost a low-beam, so I cheaped out and got some silver-stars.

 

Comparing the PIAA lows, to the silver-star lows, was like driving on a clear night, and then driving in the rain. The rain being the silver-stars.

 

.....then this is the weird thing. Driving in the snow, my PIAA high's worked great. Super bright, super white. When I'd switch to the lows, the silver-star light looked green and dull. Back to the high's, and the PIAA's were great. The high's looked close to HID color - like that purplish white light from a crack of lightning.

 

I ended up taking them out for the stock bulbs, which were a touch brigher.

 

I emailed sylvania on it, and they wanted me to send them back for another set. I never got around to it.

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I have the bright white silverstar bulbs in my Blazer, and its alot better then regular bulbs. I haven't yet got them for the SS since its bright enough with just the stock bulbs in it.

 

I have fun driving that SS at night, people are always flashing there high beams like I have mine on, or watching the person in front of me covering there mirrors with there hands. :D

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I love my SilverStars, I'd buy another set in a heartbeat.... they are much brighter than stock, have the cool blue hue, and are cheaper than PIAA. Which is a very good bulb, but not worth the difference in $$ compared to the SilverStars to me.

 

My 2¢

 

 

I guess it's just darker in Texas at night

 

:devil::jester::jester::jester:

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Yeah, one thing I found interesting...

 

In my old truck there, I ended up wiring the high's and lows to come on together. The Silver Stars DEFINITELY had a very silvery white look to the headlight itself. They looked real good from 'that' angle. The PIAA's looked purplish.

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Okay, here is the skinny from almost a THOUSAND users on my old board. This topic comes up every weekk or so, and there are 25,000 member on the board. I know of hundreds of guys who have tried silverstars. I actually GAVE MINE AWAY.

 

Before buying the Silvy, I had a Nissan Maxima, followed by an Infiniti I30 (mechanically, the same car). THye run a 9004 headlight bulb for highs and lows. We have a poo-poo housing, so good bulbs are essential to good lighting.

 

Whe the silverstars first came out, everyone was on their nuts about how HID-like they are- IN GOOD WEATHER. This is true- for regular, over-the-counter lighting in GOOD, CLEAR weather, the silverstars are the best for your money. This is assuming proper aiming of the lights, of course. HOWEVER, their off-axis lighting is not that great, and the particular color range of their light diffuses very quickly in adverse weather conditions such as rain, fog, or snow.

 

IF YOU RUN SILVERSTARS and want good poor-weather lighting, it is recommended to run a high-quality (such as Narva Gold or PIAA Crystal Ion) yellow fog light bulb for bad weather. In good weather, the silverstars are the best bang for the buck, but like I said, people seem to have compromised lighting in bad weather.

 

The above statement about the step-down "Cool Blue" headlights is not entirely accurate- in overall performance measures, they have more light on the road in front of you than the silverstars. HOWEVER, when you look at the bulbs themselves (while they are on), they do NOT look as bright as the silverstars. BUT in side-by-side comparisone on the same vehicle under the same conditions, we (www.maxima.org) found that the cool-blues laid down more light on the road. Even the Sylvania XtraVision bulbs beat out the silverstars, in terms of viewable light. In bad weather, both "step-down" bulbs trounced the silverstars.

 

Me personally? I will be running the Narvas or PIAAs in my fogs with coolBlues in my headlights.

 

Your experiences may vary. The silvy bulb design may have different properties than the 9004s I used, but that was my experience with them.

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