Ditching The HIDs

[drift7one]

going against all common sense and reasoning, I purchased a HID kit for my Bonneville not too long after I bought it. the 8000K looked nice, I thought they looked cool, my friends liked them, and I never saw another Bonneville with them in the area.
recently we've been getting a lot of rain in NW Indiana and Ive been doing some night driving... man these things suck. I mean, I know they sucked before from a functional POV, but in rain they SUCK.
my dad has been wanting some HIDs for his Trailblazer. luckily they use the same bulb. so Ta-Da, happy Bday Dad (Dec. 14).
I put the regular halogens in that came with the car. but now Im looking for something a little more functional for the winter. I tinkered with the thought of buying 3000K HID kit, but figured Id be better getting something better.

what would you guys recommend for winter driving?
we get some thick snow and slush in NW Indiana winters from Lake Michigan.

P.S.- I have Nokya Hyper Yellow 2500K bulbs in my foglights, and I am kinda considering purchasing the same bulbs in a 9006 for the headlights this winter.

[sandrock]

It's funny...the factory fog lamps are made by Blazer, and honestly...they suck.

I'm upgrading to HID projectors in my build. Not sure which ones yet though. I may even ditch the driving lamps altogether and instead run LED switchbacks.

[drift7one]

I'd like to upgrade my foglights, to more of a driving light (pencil beams) sooner or later. Unfortunately my trans overhaul has sucked me dry for the next couple months. so it'll probably wait until spring. Does anyone know if the GXP fog light assemblies are swappable to an SE?

[00Beast]

GXP foglights suck, and no, they're not.

[gweg_b]

Yeah, HID's in anything but a projector beam suck. When I put the 6000K's in my Buick, I thought I was being cool, and they did look cool, but when inclement weather hit, I would cuss up storm while trying to see. So, I switched back to halogens.

[repinS]

GXP foglights suck, and no, they're not.

They're actually not that bad once you get an HID setup in them. (Mainly for others' information) There is little/no glare to speak of since it's a projector housing to begin with.

[nunesjeff]

I only use SILVERSTAR'S to this day! I love them lots wet or dry & great in snow $20 a piece worthy of the extra bucks!!! My 880 fogs just pooped but replacing soon...

[drift7one]

for the record, and time being of the year, I went with the Nokya Hyper Yellow bulbs in my headlights to match fogs. have had them for about 8 weeks now, and they have not disappointed me at all w/ night driving or driving in inclement weather.
I had an HIR setup that I was going to get w/ relays, but the guy selling them took a better offer on the spot instead of having to mail them.
I steer clear from Silverstars, have never had a good experience with them in any of mine or family's vehicles.

here's my old 8000K HID setup, which is now in a box in my garage.
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and what I have in the car now, Nokya Hyper Yellow 2500K

[CMNTMXR57]

Did you make sure FasGP or whatever his name was sees this?

Your answer = HIR2 (low beam), and HIR1 (high beam) bulbs.

A few posts above mentions Silverstars. Unless these are imported German Osram Silverstars (which I am 101% positive they're not), the Sylvania Silverstars sold here at Pep Boys are absolute smurfing garbage. I don't care what "experience" you have had with them, they're are absolute horse manure!

Here are the cold hard facts about regular 9006/9005 bulbs and a Silverstar 9006/9005 bulbs (I posted these in the Lighting thread in the general area a week or so ago);

Your stock bulbs are 9005 (high beam), and 9006 (low beams)
9006 Lumen Output: 1,000 lumens
9006 Kelvin Rating: 3,100k
Life: 1,000 hours

9005 Lumen Output: 1,700 lumens
9005 Kelvin Rating: 3,100k
Life: 320 hours

Now, here are the Silverstar specs;
9006 Lumen Output: 1,000 lumens (the same as the stock 9006)
9006 Kelvin Rating: 4,000k
Life: 200 hours

9005 Lumen Output: 1,700 lumens (the same as the stock 9005)
9005 Kelvin Rating: 4,000k
Life: 100 hours

Silverstar Ultra's
9006 Lumen Output: 1,000 Lumens (same as stock)
9006 Kelvin Rating: 4,100k
Life: 200 hours

9005 Lumen Output: 1,700 lumens (same as stock)
9005 Kelvin Rating: 4,100k
Life: 100 hours

So... to sum up this little excercise, all Silverstars are, are blue tinted capsules. In order to maintain the OEM level of lumen output, they OVERDRIVE the filament in the capsule. This overdriving of the filament leads to a Silverstar having the shelf life of a loaf of bread. This means, you LOSE 800 hours of light bulb life between low beams and 220 hours of life between high beam bulbs. But because of the increased kelvin output due to the color capsule, you *think*, you're seeing more and "whiter" light. YOU'RE NOT! All you're doing is changing the light color temperature. Otherwise you're still putting out the same actual output (as measured in lumens). Because you "think" you're seeing more and that they're brighter due to the illusion of the color temperature, when they burn out in a week, you run back to Autozone or wherever and plop down another $30, $40, or $70 for another set, rinse and repeat. These are not my opinions, these are facts provided by Sylvania.

Silverstars are garbage! Repeat after me... SILVERSTAR'S ARE GARBAGE... Save your money, buy the regular bulb... it has the IDENTICAL output! Or if you want more lumen output, buy a set if HIR bulbs. Here are the HIR stats;

HIR2 Lumen Output: 1,875 lumens (or an 875 lumen increase over a stock 9006 bulb)
HIR2 Kelvin Rating: 3,600k (or a 500k improvement over a stock 9006 bulb)
Life: 800 hours

HIR1 Lumen Output: 2,500 lumens (or an 800 lumen increase over a stock 9005 bulb)
HIR1 Kelvin Rating: 3,600k (or a 500k improvement over a stock 9005 bulb)
Life: 300 hours

To sum up, vs. the low beams, these provide 875 more lumens of output vs. the stock bulbs or Silverstar (garbage) bulbs, you only pay a 200 hour penalty (but that's 600 hours MORE than the Silverstar crap), are a 500k higher than stock bulbs and about 400 - 500 k less than the Silverstar (garbage) bulbs (depending on the Silverstar crap you go with). Similar increases are to be had vs, the high beam bulbs too!

Don't waste time with freaking Silverstars!

[drift7one]

you have no idea how close I was to just copying all those specs from the "Lighting" topic in the General Chat forum.

[CMNTMXR57]

I knew you knew it.

[2000Silverbullet]

The Bonneville fog lights with Silverstars suck compared to the projector fogs on the Torrent. Huge difference.

I haven't put that many miles on the Bullet's Silverstars but when they burn out it will be HIR's. Thanks for the recommendation.

The Silverstars I installed in my daughters 94 Grizz did burn out so I replaced them with stock bulbs last year.

[CMNTMXR57]

Make sure you guys get the right ones with a P20D base. Those should be the old Toshiba versions. I'm not sure if the newer Phillips versions are the same.

[drift7one]

yeah the HIRs I had almost got were the Toshiba bulbs, with the visible IR coating. have read a little about the Philips HIR2, and people saying they're just glorified halogen bulbs w/o a visble IR coating on them.

[BonneMe]

SS do suck, and i knew this.... but I bought some on a sale anyways when my car popped a light after 6 months of ownership. They didn't last long! It's got Sylvania Xtravision in it now and am looking into HID retrofits.

If you're doing HID, DO NOT put them in your nomal headlight, or you will deserve:
Alternatively, swap in projectors and you deserve:

And stick with 4300k or 5000k bulbs for the headlights, and 2500-5000 for the fogs.

[CMNTMXR57]

I gotz 6k in the Caddy! No love for 6k? About the end of the threshold for kelvin rating before losing lumen output.

Also have my 6k DDM kit for the GTO coming.

[2000Silverbullet]

Tell us more about the 6k dmm kit

[CMNTMXR57]

They're cheap (so if the go out, I didn't spend much), the GTO guys seem to be pretty favorable to them and are pleased, so I figured WTH. The other hot choice among them is the Morimoto 3 5's kit. But they aren't as cheap.

You can chose your wattage and kelvin rating, then chose what bulb you're putting them into. Prices start at $30. I would caution that if you go with a 55w kit, you get the $10 harness that helps for the on-surge when you turn the lights on.

Link here;
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-H ... 35W-or-55W

[bsan63]

I bought a set of these. Modified the bracket a little and they fit great in the opening.

They look and work great.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-4-Rou ... 96&vxp=mtr

[drift7one]

the 8000k kit I had was from DDM as well. hook up in about 10 minutes. only thing was that they take about 2 weeks to come in from "California", which is why everything on the box is written in Chinese.