# I Just Want to Say (Pertains to Headlights)



## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

That PIAA sucks. They look great and offer great sight, but they dont last worth jack crap. This seems to be common with our cars as well as others. I bought SilverStars today after my second blow out. The color and sight of the SilverStars are good, although not as nice as the PIAAs. The cost was a lot nicer though at less than 40 dollars for the set. While PIAAs will not hurt your wires and offer exceptional visability and color tone, they will hurt your pocket as they blow too often. After the purchase of 80 dollar headlights, one initial blow out with warranty replacement and one being 4 days after my warranty expired (after asking if there was anything they can do, the authorized retailer that I bought them from said: "You can come in and buy a new set."...needless to say I hung up the phone.), I am officially saying screw PIAA.

Why didn't I contact PIAA directly? Is it worth it considering that even if I get a replacement that my lights will blow again in a few months? I personally think not, so I cut my losses and went with something else.

My friend is on his third set of PIAAs since September. He has a different vehicle and a different trim light.

So be warned, they look and perform great...until the blow out. A guy who sells PIAA told me that the majority of their lights do not last much over a year, if that; well #&^% that.


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## b14sleeper (Dec 31, 2004)

good lookin out, i heard that raybig makes good lights.


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## craigqc (Feb 10, 2005)

im over a year with PIAA extreme white h1's. no problems so far. although my fogs are a differnt story. oem 1 went out in 3 months. bought a pair of eurolites, went out after 6 months. bought some yellow xenon ones off of ebay, one blew in three months, the other almost melted my fog housing. just bought silverstars this past wednesday. waiting to see what happens with them...


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

b14sleeper said:


> good lookin out, i heard that raybig makes good lights.


raybrigs really suck.. nothing is great besides XD5 with oem wattage or Silverstars


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

craigqc said:


> im over a year with PIAA extreme white h1's. no problems so far. although my fogs are a differnt story. oem 1 went out in 3 months. bought a pair of eurolites, went out after 6 months. bought some yellow xenon ones off of ebay, one blew in three months, the other almost melted my fog housing. just bought silverstars this past wednesday. waiting to see what happens with them...


They seem to hold up the best. If something goes wrong, I'll shoot the shit and go HID. If I bought 3 sets of PIAAs, I could afford the HIDs themselves


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

and you used to rant and rave about the piaa's :hal: 
i think im going to try the xtra-visions next, i love my SS output and the xtras are the same but without the blue hue, so they will work better in rain and fog.


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## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

My XD5's were the best. Until i went through 3 pairs in 3 months. For the price, I couldn't complain, but enough is enough.

Coughed up the money for the silverstars, and have been running em since October I believe. Not nearly as bright as the XD5 bulbs, but they also work better in the snow, and about the same in the rain.


.......Now if i could only afford to get the matching foglight bulbs. Anyone know why the fog bulbs are more expencive than the headlamp ones? Is it me, or is that kinda retarded?


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

what are these "XD5" bulbs? i have never heard of them. i did a search on ebay and found some for $8. is that them?


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## himbo (Sep 20, 2003)

damn, i heard that silverstars, as great as they are, blow out like crazy, is that true????


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## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

1.6pete said:


> what are these "XD5" bulbs? i have never heard of them. i did a search on ebay and found some for $8. is that them?


yes.


Look for the seller globalpremier i think it is, thats where most of us on here that got em, got em from. good guy appearently.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

himbo said:


> damn, i heard that silverstars, as great as they are, blow out like crazy, is that true????


I've heard they last pretty long. They are pretty cheap so I'm not too worried.


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

iv had mine for close to a year now, still fat and happy.


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

Slayer2003 said:


> yes.
> 
> 
> Look for the seller globalpremier i think it is, thats where most of us on here that got em, got em from. good guy appearently.


www.globalpremier.com or their direct website.


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

alot of this talk on the site sounds like bogus ebay speak.......but they are 1/4 the price of silver stars so im going to give a pair a shot for shits and giggles. thanks for the link liu.


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## himbo (Sep 20, 2003)

yes, somebody be the gunuea pig, i'm too broke to experiment


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## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

himbo said:


> yes, somebody be the gunuea pig, i'm too broke to experiment


These were the lights recommended to me by a ton of people on here when i first got my headlights from LIU, like, almost a year and a half ago. There is no more guinea pigs. just buy em ya cheap bastid lol.


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

XD5 = 5.99x2 = 11.98 + 6.99 shipping = 18.97

PIAA Star White H3 = 24.99 + 4.00 = 28.99

so is it worth spending the extra $10 dollars for the PIAA's?

i have had both PIAA Star White 85W and Xtreme white 110W and i have had problems with the Xtreme 110W, never with the Star 85W.. so maybe its just the higher watt bulbs that have a tendency to burn out.. also, i have heard that Sylvanias are very durable, but not close to the quality of light from the PIAA bulbs... i have to admit PIAAs look awesome and give great lighting.. now ive never tried these XD5's, but if you guys say they are worth it, i might just try them out... but for an extra $10 i can get PIAAs, so its a hard decision... help me lol...


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

*Y0*



UnkalledFor said:


> XD5 = 5.99x2 = 11.98 + 6.99 shipping = 18.97
> 
> PIAA Star White H3 = 24.99 + 4.00 = 28.99
> 
> ...


Get the Silverstars unless you are willing to spend money to replace the bulbs. PIAAs do not damage the harness, but they are crap in terms of reliability. If you are very interested, I can put the 1 remaining PIAA X'Treme white plus that works in one of my headlights and leave a Silverstar in for the other. You will see a side by side comparison of how the color tone and brightness differs. If other people think this will help their selection, I will gladly do it sometime this week (obviously a night picture will be better than day).


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

justin (ninety-nine sel ) had the XD5 5800 on his car before he wrecked it ill see if i cant dig up some output pix.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

LIUSPEED said:


> justin (ninety-nine sel ) had the XD5 5800 on his car before he wrecked it ill see if i cant dig up some output pix.


I am taking the 5800 is for 5800K?!?! Halogen?
Okay, it is 5800K...all I can say is wow!


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

LIUSPEED said:


> justin (ninety-nine sel ) had the XD5 5800 on his car before he wrecked it ill see if i cant dig up some output pix.


i would be very interested to see these.


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

low beams










high beams


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

im guessing the right light is the XD5? i can see a slight color differance and it looks quite nice. i wonder what the beam would be like on the b13 composite lens. ill pick a set up in a few days and ill take some pics like this too, and compair them to the OEM bulbs in there now. and i have silver stars in my b14, so ill take both for a drive at night and compair accual lighting to each other.

edit: thanks for looking those up liu.


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

1.6pete said:


> im guessing the right light is the XD5? i can see a slight color differance and it looks quite nice. i wonder what the beam would be like on the b13 composite lens. ill pick a set up in a few days and ill take some pics like this too, and compair them to the OEM bulbs in there now. and i have silver stars in my b14, so ill take both for a drive at night and compair accual lighting to each other.
> 
> edit: thanks for looking those up liu.


those are both XD5 5800 bulbs in the crystal clear headlights.


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

NickZac said:


> Get the Silverstars unless you are willing to spend money to replace the bulbs. PIAAs do not damage the harness, but they are crap in terms of reliability. If you are very interested, I can put the 1 remaining PIAA X'Treme white plus that works in one of my headlights and leave a Silverstar in for the other. You will see a side by side comparison of how the color tone and brightness differs. If other people think this will help their selection, I will gladly do it sometime this week (obviously a night picture will be better than day).


that would be nice to see.. :thumbup:


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## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

.......I was told anything over the 5400k's were purpleish.........

I used the 5100k's and it was pure white.


here's an old pic. The passenger side is the stock OEM flavor of bulbs, the driver's side is a 5100k XD5. And the fogs are wally-mart $25 specials.


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

Slayer2003 said:


>


they look yellowish to me...

my fogs were PIAA look at the diff










look how nice they light up the grass









man i love those PIAAs


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## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

....and that camera was a 1.3MP piece of shit lol.


Besides, that PIAA ricey blue is illegal here in NH.


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

blue + fog light dont make sence..... yellowish is good.


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

1.6pete said:


> blue + fog light dont make sence..... yellowish is good.


i dont have to worry about fog here in Miami.. maybe like 5 times a year it might get foggy and its never really bad... either my lights are driving lights rather than fog lights.. thats why i would want them to be whiter and brighter..


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