# Osram Silverstar +50% bulbs



## BUZ (Jan 22, 2007)

I've been wanting to get some new brighter bulbs for my car and was told these are pretty high quality (and very bright too)! Anyone here use them or ever heard of them, from what I can tell they use the same wattage so I shouldn't have any problems with the light housing of harness melting.


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## Monolith (Jan 22, 2007)

If it matters, H4's are not DOT approved.


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## BUZ (Jan 22, 2007)

Monolith said:


> If it matters, H4's are not DOT approved.




My car came with the h4/9003 aren't they the same?

99' civic


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## Monolith (Jan 22, 2007)

BUZ said:


> My car came with the h4/9003 aren't they the same?
> 
> 99' civic


9003's are DOT approved. H4's and 9003's are the same, just a certification difference. You'll also notice that outside the US the brand is Osram and inside the US it's Sylvania. I've had better longevity with the Osram branded bulbs.


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## electromage (Jan 23, 2007)

Monolith said:


> If it matters, H4's are not DOT approved.



H4 is the same as 9003 and HB2. I've seen my local auto shops selling Sylvania lights in both "H4" and "9003/H4" packaging. The "9003/H4" bulb was $1 more, yet contained the exact same bulb, identified by the printing around the base (which only said H4 and not 9003!). The person at the counter couldn't explain the logic behind that .

I have H4 bulbs in my (Hella E-code) headlights, and they work well. I believe they're a 50% xenon mix, but it could be 100%. I don't know what exact percentages that works out to. I'm sure there are some differences in the interpretation between manufacturers, but mine are Hella.

As long as the wattage and voltage are the same, the current draw is the same. The only difference might be the temperature of the bulb itself, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Matt


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## leeleefocus (Jan 23, 2007)

These are my favourite bulbs because they are brighter(you can actually see the difference when you put them in although the difference is not massive you can see it though) they are long lasting and i love the colour tempreture of the silverstar bulbs. They are very very white.


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## soffiler (Jan 23, 2007)

They won't last as long. They are drawing the same 55W yet they produce more light (+50%) and they do this by running the filament hotter. You'll probably like the results of the extra light, so go for it... just carry spares.


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## unclearty (Jan 23, 2007)

I had an interesting experience with them. Bought them for my wife's Camry...looked great..nice...bright..white. Ten months..one bulb blows out. She mentioned that she thought something was wrong with her headlights..Checked them on Saturday, 4 days later.....both were blown!. I pulled them out and put the factory originals in for the moment. I called Sylvania's customer help line. I was told .."Yeah..they're only good for about 11 to 12 months"! I was curious about the price to performance ratio..."how come they only last less than a year...for that much money???" She was nice,..and even set me a new set..but said..they only last about 11 months of normal use.
I did a little more research and found that the next bulb down..the EXTRAs are almost as bright...and people are getting 2 to 3 years out of them. I sold the replacement set to a kid at work and bought the Extras for less than half the price.


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## Phaserburn (Jan 23, 2007)

I like to mod as much as anyone, but to me my car's headlights are NOT a place to fool around exchanging dependability for brightness. My life and those of my family depend on those lamps; dependability is KING for this application. Less than a year's life is just not acceptable to me. I would strongly encourage anyone thinking along these lines to look elsewhere for improvements. If you want to go HID for the $$, that's ok. But having what amounts to hotwire mods in your headlights is potentially hazardous. Carrying spares is simply not practical, as changing them in a storm, etc, will be difficult. It's not just you losing a light here; it's suddenly becoming potentially less visible to nighttime traffic, as well, should you lose them both together. Unlikely, true, but I'm not willing to stake my life on it, either.


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## 65535 (Jan 23, 2007)

I personally prefer HID headlights, when I get my car they will be on there I feel HID is more reliable brighter and I prefer the blue tint personally.


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## PursuitSS (Jan 23, 2007)

If you REALLY want to shorten the life of Silverstar bulbs, upgrade your wiring harness. If they are hit with 13.2 - 13.8 volts...........the life is double digit hours!

The finest H-4 bulbs on the market are German manufactured Narva bulbs. They are a true WHITE light at around 4000 - 4300 kelvin. They can be purchased from Automod in Atlanta GA. Here is their contact info:

Automod
[size=-1]5940 Peachtree Rd
Atlanta, GA 30341
(770) 457-9663[/size]


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## ryball (Jan 23, 2007)

Monolith said:


> 9003's are DOT approved. H4's and 9003's are the same, just a certification difference. You'll also notice that outside the US the brand is Osram and inside the US it's Sylvania. I've had better longevity with the Osram branded bulbs.



I agree. I've had both the Osrams and the Sylvania's and the Syl's are garbage. The Osrams are much better quality and will last much longer. I will not buy, nor will I recommend the Sylvania's.


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## 2xTrinity (Jan 23, 2007)

I personally would stay away from halogen replacement bulbs that are filtered to look more "white". All this does is reduce the amount of usable light on the road for the sake of cosmetics -- it's not the same as an HID bulb that naturally runs at 4000-5000k, which can have its benefits. A standard halogen will run at around 3000-3200k (distinct yellow tint). To make a filtered bulb (like the silverstars) look brighter than stock they need to be heavily overdriven, since they already lose a significant fraction of their light in the filter.



> the EXTRAs are almost as bright...and people are getting 2 to 3 years out of them. I sold the replacement set to a kid at work and bought the Extras for less than half the price.


Sylvania Xtravision bulbs look like they are a better choice. They are unfiltered halogen, so they can make it noticeably brighter than stock without making it run so hot that it severely compromises the lifespan of the bulb.


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## BUZ (Jan 23, 2007)

Thanks everyone for all the great info!

Found this link, pretty good info here too:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html


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## PursuitSS (Jan 23, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> I personally would stay away from halogen replacement bulbs that are filtered to look more "white". All this does is reduce the amount of usable light on the road for the sake of cosmetics -- it's not the same as an HID bulb that naturally runs at 4000-5000k, which can have its benefits. A standard halogen will run at around 3000-3200k (distinct yellow tint). To make a filtered bulb (like the silverstars) look brighter than stock they need to be heavily overdriven, since they already lose a significant fraction of their light in the filter.



That is why I run Narva's, they are NOT coated. A lot of the HID bulbs are now in the 6000k to 9000k range which can run to a purple color.

PursuitSS


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## 270winchester (Jan 23, 2007)

I'm running Silver Star Ultras, and they work quite a bit better than the Silver Stars I had. The coating is less agressive(but then again the original Silver Stars did not have that much coating on them in the first place) and more usable in wet conditions. I think they are phasing out the SS for the SSUs which would address some of the life-time issues.

in this pic I'm running the SSUs but they are devestated by my auxiliary light setup.





Oh yeah I carry a set of Xtravisions in my car as spares. They are good bulbs but I like the SSUs better.


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## BUZ (Jan 24, 2007)

270...............that's quite the setup you got there!


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## Diesel_Bomber (Jan 25, 2007)

It should be known that in the European market Osram/Sylvania's Silverstar line is completely different than the US market Silverstar line. In Europe, Silverstars are respected bulbs, on par with Hella, Cibie, Narva, or Phillips, and have no coating. In the US Silverstars are of debateable utility and respect; they have a coating.

:buddies:


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## 270winchester (Jan 25, 2007)

does anyone know of how the Xtravisions compare to the osram Silverstars?


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## soffiler (Jan 26, 2007)

Diesel_Bomber said:


> It should be known that in the European market Osram/Sylvania's Silverstar line is completely different than the US market Silverstar line. In Europe, Silverstars are respected bulbs, on par with Hella, Cibie, Narva, or Phillips, and have no coating. In the US Silverstars are of debateable utility and respect; they have a coating.


 
+1 !

an interesting site that gets into this subject in detail, a must-read for photon fanatics:

www.danielsternlighting.com


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## BUZ (Jan 27, 2007)

Well I installed the +50 osram H4's into my headlamps and the +30 H3's into my fog lights and man these suckers are bright (about 30% more overall output) and they are a pure white! The lamps are a defanite improvement over the stockers, here is the ebayer I purchaed em' from (BTW I got em' in two days flat nicely packed): 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...RK:MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=140076582289&rd=1,1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...RK:MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=140075844511&rd=1,1


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## V8TOYTRUCK (Jan 28, 2007)

11-12 months!! Maybe for my truck since its easy to change bulbs, but on my s2000, changing bulbs seriously take 1-2hrs! Good thing it has a really good OEM HID system.


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## ROVER (Jan 31, 2007)

This same discussion pops up on a couple of my favorite honda forums from time to time, so I'll just summarize their popular opinion. 

The concensus there seems to be the output from the sylvania silverstars you can buy in the united states, the osrams, and phillips visionplus are pretty similar. The durability, however, is the big difference. The sylvania bulbs in stores in the US seem to often fail in about a year's time. The european bulbs seem to be about double that.

I've had good results with the phillips visionplus and like buying from england at www.autolamps-online.com , which I've posted before because I really like them.


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## snakebite (Jan 31, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> I personally would stay away from halogen replacement bulbs that are filtered to look more "white". All this does is reduce the amount of usable light on the road for the sake of cosmetics -- it's not the same as an HID bulb that naturally runs at 4000-5000k, which can have its benefits. A standard halogen will run at around 3000-3200k (distinct yellow tint). To make a filtered bulb (like the silverstars) look brighter than stock they need to be heavily overdriven, since they already lose a significant fraction of their light in the filter.
> 
> 
> Sylvania Xtravision bulbs look like they are a better choice. They are unfiltered halogen, so they can make it noticeably brighter than stock without making it run so hot that it severely compromises the lifespan of the bulb.


+1
btw i have a bunch of the blue ricer bulbs....on my test bench as loads for power supply testing.thats all they are good for.anyone find something to strip that coating?


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## BUZ (Jan 31, 2007)

ROVER said:


> This same discussion pops up on a couple of my favorite honda forums from time to time, so I'll just summarize their popular opinion.
> 
> The concensus there seems to be the output from the sylvania silverstars you can buy in the united states, the osrams, and phillips visionplus are pretty similar. The durability, however, is the big difference. The sylvania bulbs in stores in the US seem to often fail in about a year's time. The european bulbs seem to be about double that.
> 
> I've had good results with the phillips visionplus and like buying from england at www.autolamps-online.com , which I've posted before because I really like them.



I had a pair of silverstars that I got from the local schucks (the coated bulbs) and the osram bulbs are brighter and give off a pure white light unlike the US silverstars.


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## BullPar (Feb 2, 2007)

I have had my silver stars in my ranger for 3 years now. I do a paper route in the morning so the headlamps are on every day. so far they have not failed me.


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## 2000xlt (Feb 2, 2007)

speaking of an s2000 here is a cool video of one, he has an 2" titainum exhaust with hybusa cans at the end, http://videos.streetfire.net/video/7b8f8171-f04c-49dd-9921-98a6010f4ef9.htm

Sorry to hyjack....but back to the topic i just want to say that i have not had expierence any of these bulbs mine are stock, although with my other truck i had these http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/9004...tegoryZ33710QQihZ014QQitemZ330081151593QQrdZ1 I had a problem with a headlight flicker, not to mention i had the projector headlight in the ford ranger http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/98-0...tegoryZ33710QQihZ017QQitemZ270084860984QQrdZ1 Any way one headlight started to get slightly dim once in a while, go outside and tap it it fine now, well one night i went to go home and i had no headlights hi or low beams did not work. I had to have a friend lead me home, I had to take a personal day off from work the next day and i went to my other bosses shop with a set of headlight harnesses i had purchased a year and a half befor. They consisted of the plug that goes to the bulb and about a foot of wires, out came the grill and headlights, then open the harness after discovering the plugs were melted on the inside, they both get cutback a bit, butt connected on the new ones....Any way here is how my stocker bulbs look on the HEMI
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=2550645

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=2550628

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=2533954

THe poor ranger R.I.P
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3253369

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3253358


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## RoyJ (Feb 4, 2007)

If you have 9005 and 9006 bulbs, I would highly suggest trying out HIR bulbs.

They're much brighter than the high efficiency halogens (Osram SS, Vision Plus, Xtravision, Nighthawk, etc.) at 1700 lumens for low beam, 2500 lumens for high, and their life is higher than even standard halogens at 1000 hrs for low, 300 hrs for high.


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## Sigifrith (Feb 9, 2007)

I just replaced my drivers side bulb. Can't find the old packaging right now, but they were Silverstars.
About a year old, & Osram on the base with a light
blue cast to the bulb.


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## 2000xlt (Feb 13, 2007)

Ok my head is going to explode.

There are so many choices, I might have made a decision on these bulbs for my fogs, 9006's for my 05 ram, after seeing the comparason on this website from standard halogen bulbs in a BMW to these bulbs in the same car. I read that you can get the 9005's to work with some dremeling, but then again, there is a reason why they have 9005's and 9006'.....etc etc etc, any way thats that..

http://www.hoen-usa.com/


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## Led-Ed (Feb 14, 2007)

I have used the Osrams at the start of the post with very good results-except they don't last as long as the oem bulbs.The Aforementioned HIR bulbs that Roy J brought up are the real deal and really are much brighter than the stock bulbs at the same wattage.I got them from Ebay but there are other places you can get them. The ebay guy I got them from is hir_headlights- his ad is 100% true.I have used these bulbs for approx 2 years in my 2002 Celica and they make the high beam crazy bright.
After using the 9011 HIR bulb I would never think of going back to the 9005 again.


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## pedalinbob (Feb 14, 2007)

It looks like HIR's are real butt-kickers.
Are they typically used for low beam, high beam or both?

Also, don't you have to worry about being pulled over for them (if used in low beams) being too bright?


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## Led-Ed (Feb 14, 2007)

I have only used them for high beam, and as such can not advise to use them for any other purpose.I have been using them for high beam and the Osram Hyper 65W H7 for low beam with no problems for years.When using a high output bulb you can't go wrong to use it for high beam ,since it is off when there is any approaching traffic.
Supposedly the 9012 can be used for low beam , but if it is really that much brighter it may cause problems for other drivers on hills or if you get pulled over.


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## 2000xlt (Feb 17, 2007)

I took the plunge and got the HIR's for my fogs in my RAM, so we will see what it looks like hopefully by wednesday.


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## Mass. Wine Guy (Sep 19, 2011)

Monolith said:


> If it matters, H4's are not DOT approved.



It doesn't matter to me. The OEM headlights in my 2003 Jetta were so poor they should have been illegal. My H4 Hella Ecodes are much, much better.


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