Hello everyone, This isn't a write up but rather more of a product review! I made the mistake of going out and going crazy buying differant bulbs for my explorer till i got what i wanted.. I wanted a H.I.D. imitation.... now I CAN say, for the money i spent experimenting with differant bulbs, I could have easily bought a cheap REAL H.I.D. kit..
I'm going to stress this right now... if you want your lights to really look like HIDs... go out and buy a HID kit, your never going to get the perfect hid like light no matter what.... if you want to be close enough and have a nice tint to your lights,, read on. some frown upon these kind of HID simulator lights, but all i can say is to each there own prefferance...
My experiment went like this... hang in there... it's LONG! scroll to the end if ya wanna skip my blabbering for some pictures.
I always knew about the silverstars, I had them in my jeep (sealed beam type, rather than bulbs) They definetly made a differance in my jeep. But they had a sale on cool blues ($30, rather than $40)... So i picked some up, thinking.... well they're called cool blues, though i'd maybe get a slight blue tint to them (NOT ricer blue! just a slight blue tint in the white light).
they were nice lights, and definetly brighter than the stockers (which were regular sylvania 9004 hologens...which actually weren't too bad.. so i kept them as spares) but I didn't get what i wanted..
Picked up a set of silverstar ultras.. $50 VERY bright i must say! but still not what i was looking for...
by now thats almost $100... No big deal, although I should have asked around more!! searching on this forum helped, but there wasn't enough threads explaining the color outputs, or hardly ANY pictures... so I kept on with my search...
Picked up a set of Pilot Xenon 'cyber white' blubs from wallmart. came in the little hard plastic case. now i must admitt, these bulbs were only $20 and they were DAMN BRIGHT.... compatable with the silverstars IMHO... but i'm sure the silverstars are still a couple shades brightter...
anyways those pilots gave me a nice white light, and a SLIGHT purpleish tint in the corners... but not what i wanted.. (For the $20 though i'd definetly buy em again, good alternative to $40-$50 silverstars, even if they aren't as bright, they're close....at least to the eye and surroundings..
)
SO.... finally... I was in pep-boys picking up my flowmaster I ordered and I decided to take a stop in the lighting section (my girlfriend was ready to kill me at this point haha).... they had everything i had aready tried... I asked up at the counter if they had any differant bulbs and they directed me to the 'NEON light and accesory isle' so i'm thinking, oh great.... this is going to be full of dulled out coated purple and retard blue ricer lights. Now I DID want a SLIGHT blue tint to my lights, BUT i didn't want retardedly blue beam... ricer lights that put off Horrible light...
I was right for the most part about the selection... but then I came accross a pair of 9004 American Auto Accessories '3-A Racing Performance' Crystal Hyper White Xenon bulbs.. now the wattage is 65/45w but i can honestly say these appear brighter and way higher quality than any of the lights i tried, including the silverstars.... HOWEVER... the light output on the street and surroundings is no where as good as the silverstars... but it's not horrible either. these lights are more for looks, than actually lighting performance..... but they aren't useless like most coated bulbs. according to the package they are REAL 4200º K!
now, for a note... they say for off-road use only.. Honestly I think thats rediculous and they don't blind you oncoming, no where as bad as the newer cars even with there regualr hologen bulbs.... HIDs are another story, I feel like i'm looking at a UFO coming down the street or 747 Landing lights on some HID equipped cars... they're rediculous! haha.. anyways, I mean if you decide to go with them- do at your own risk because I guess they are for off-road use only, howver i've driven by a few cops, even followed one at night just to see if he said anything (I had my 'COOL-BLUE' package in the truck still, that says '100% street legal') so i figured i'd show him that if he decided to let me pass him so he could pull me over.
I'm a little aggravted because these were $50 and if you add these and all the other bulbs I tried, like said before I could easily have a cheap H.I.D. kit... definetly going to still do a HID upgrade but I guess that will have to wait! but over all I'm very happy with these bulbs, had them in a full day/night and already have gotten many comments, even a few asking if i had HIDs... (but obviously they weren't too lighting educated,.... HIDS are in a league of there own!! and while my light is VERY bright white with a hint of blue.... it's NO WHERE near anything a true HID would put out.
but for those of you interested in simulated HID w/ blue tint without the pricetag. or without doing what i did and experimenting with various lights till you get what you want.. give these a shot!
enough talking! picture time...
heres what the case looks like...
edit, those aren't the 3A bulbs in that case, those are just the old Pilots just put em in there to keep em safe. the 3A bulbs themselfs have a blue coating over them.. will get pictures of the bulb themselfs up if wanted.
I'm going to stress this right now... if you want your lights to really look like HIDs... go out and buy a HID kit, your never going to get the perfect hid like light no matter what.... if you want to be close enough and have a nice tint to your lights,, read on. some frown upon these kind of HID simulator lights, but all i can say is to each there own prefferance...
My experiment went like this... hang in there... it's LONG! scroll to the end if ya wanna skip my blabbering for some pictures.
I always knew about the silverstars, I had them in my jeep (sealed beam type, rather than bulbs) They definetly made a differance in my jeep. But they had a sale on cool blues ($30, rather than $40)... So i picked some up, thinking.... well they're called cool blues, though i'd maybe get a slight blue tint to them (NOT ricer blue! just a slight blue tint in the white light).
they were nice lights, and definetly brighter than the stockers (which were regular sylvania 9004 hologens...which actually weren't too bad.. so i kept them as spares) but I didn't get what i wanted..
Picked up a set of silverstar ultras.. $50 VERY bright i must say! but still not what i was looking for...
by now thats almost $100... No big deal, although I should have asked around more!! searching on this forum helped, but there wasn't enough threads explaining the color outputs, or hardly ANY pictures... so I kept on with my search...
Picked up a set of Pilot Xenon 'cyber white' blubs from wallmart. came in the little hard plastic case. now i must admitt, these bulbs were only $20 and they were DAMN BRIGHT.... compatable with the silverstars IMHO... but i'm sure the silverstars are still a couple shades brightter...
anyways those pilots gave me a nice white light, and a SLIGHT purpleish tint in the corners... but not what i wanted.. (For the $20 though i'd definetly buy em again, good alternative to $40-$50 silverstars, even if they aren't as bright, they're close....at least to the eye and surroundings..
)SO.... finally... I was in pep-boys picking up my flowmaster I ordered and I decided to take a stop in the lighting section (my girlfriend was ready to kill me at this point haha).... they had everything i had aready tried... I asked up at the counter if they had any differant bulbs and they directed me to the 'NEON light and accesory isle' so i'm thinking, oh great.... this is going to be full of dulled out coated purple and retard blue ricer lights. Now I DID want a SLIGHT blue tint to my lights, BUT i didn't want retardedly blue beam... ricer lights that put off Horrible light...
I was right for the most part about the selection... but then I came accross a pair of 9004 American Auto Accessories '3-A Racing Performance' Crystal Hyper White Xenon bulbs.. now the wattage is 65/45w but i can honestly say these appear brighter and way higher quality than any of the lights i tried, including the silverstars.... HOWEVER... the light output on the street and surroundings is no where as good as the silverstars... but it's not horrible either. these lights are more for looks, than actually lighting performance..... but they aren't useless like most coated bulbs. according to the package they are REAL 4200º K!
now, for a note... they say for off-road use only.. Honestly I think thats rediculous and they don't blind you oncoming, no where as bad as the newer cars even with there regualr hologen bulbs.... HIDs are another story, I feel like i'm looking at a UFO coming down the street or 747 Landing lights on some HID equipped cars... they're rediculous! haha.. anyways, I mean if you decide to go with them- do at your own risk because I guess they are for off-road use only, howver i've driven by a few cops, even followed one at night just to see if he said anything (I had my 'COOL-BLUE' package in the truck still, that says '100% street legal') so i figured i'd show him that if he decided to let me pass him so he could pull me over.
I'm a little aggravted because these were $50 and if you add these and all the other bulbs I tried, like said before I could easily have a cheap H.I.D. kit... definetly going to still do a HID upgrade but I guess that will have to wait! but over all I'm very happy with these bulbs, had them in a full day/night and already have gotten many comments, even a few asking if i had HIDs... (but obviously they weren't too lighting educated,.... HIDS are in a league of there own!! and while my light is VERY bright white with a hint of blue.... it's NO WHERE near anything a true HID would put out.
but for those of you interested in simulated HID w/ blue tint without the pricetag. or without doing what i did and experimenting with various lights till you get what you want.. give these a shot!
enough talking! picture time...
heres what the case looks like...
edit, those aren't the 3A bulbs in that case, those are just the old Pilots just put em in there to keep em safe.
the 3A bulbs themselfs have a blue coating over them.. will get pictures of the bulb themselfs up if wanted.
