masospaghetti
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- October 22, 2006
- Messages
- 1,526
- Reaction score
- 160
- City, State
- Huntington Beach, CA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 98 XLT, OHV, 4D, 4x4, 5M
The blue tint is just filtering out the yellow light that the filament puts out, which means less total light on the road. Those claims that "55w=135w!" are ridiculous - how can adding a filter increase light output? It's true the light is more white, but the ability to see more clearly is just an illusion - there's less light on the road, period. Things will not light up as well.
The other issue with the tinted bulbs is their life expectancy. Since the blue coating reduces their output, most of these bulbs are "overdriven" to make up for some of the lost light.* Overdriving improves efficiency, but makes the filament burn out more quickly. A Sylvania Silverstar bulb, for instance, has a 150 hour rated life, IIRC. A standard halogen has 1000 hour life for most capsule sizes. The Silverstar also is rated at 910 lumens nominal for low beam, while the standard halogen is rated at 1000 lumens nominal (for the 9006 capsule size).
Without overdriving, these bulbs would be even dimmer than they already are.
Just FYI, Sylvania Silverstars are tinted bulbs; Osram Silverstars are not. (Yes, I know they are the same company.) Osram Silverstars are a European spec bulb only so they don't make it in the 9007 size for Explorers, but if you have a chance to use one in a different vehicle, they are excellent bulbs.
Regarding Truview bulbs - they have the same problem as Sylvania Silverstars - they are tinted, and therefore cannot perform as well as a non-tinted bulb.
*As a general rule, all incandescents can trade off between luminous efficiency and life expectancy. Overdriving a bulb will make it put out more light at the same wattage, but will burn out more quickly. Likewise, slightly underdriving a bulb will make it last much longer, but emit less light. If you check "long life" bulbs, they always put out less light at a given wattage.
