# not impressed with Silverstars



## Jasper (Apr 2, 2004)

i picked up a set of Sylvania Silverstars today. installed one, then turned on my headlamps to check em against my EUROLITE's (Xenon Super Plasma ones)... the euro's are definately whiter. i was pretty pissed. $40 for a set of headlamps, and they arent even as white as my euro's. oh well. guess that teaches me a lesson. oh well. ill have my full HID conversion done this summer.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Well,
I had HID in my '02 maxima and after they got stolen twice I replaced with my silverstars. Color wise its practically the same. projector HID is a little 'whiter' but this reflector HID wasn't as white, so looks similar. However in terms of actual lighting performance, these are 85% as bright as the HID. To me the lumens produced was more important than the color of the light as I want headlight performance first, not cosmetics. I got silverstars for the performance aspect, and the fact that they look HID'ish in color, not rice blue, makes it look cleaner and is a bonus. But yeah, sylvanias next rung down is like half the price.

Seth


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## Cali SE-R (Jun 13, 2003)

Give it some time, mine weren't white at the beginning either, I noticed that they got whiter the longer you use them!!


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## Jasper (Apr 2, 2004)

sethwas said:


> Well,
> I had HID in my '02 maxima and after they got stolen twice I replaced with my silverstars. Color wise its practically the same. projector HID is a little 'whiter' but this reflector HID wasn't as white, so looks similar. However in terms of actual lighting performance, these are 85% as bright as the HID. To me the lumens produced was more important than the color of the light as I want headlight performance first, not cosmetics. I got silverstars for the performance aspect, and the fact that they look HID'ish in color, not rice blue, makes it look cleaner and is a bonus. But yeah, sylvanias next rung down is like half the price.
> 
> Seth


the euro's arent rice blue :/ im anti-rice. they were superwhites. i kno they're not as bright as the silverstars, but i miss that HID look :/ ... who knows. ill keep goin with em. maybe they do get whiter as they go


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

The Silverstars (as well as PIAA) aren't as good looking as some ricey bulbs because they are actually the same wattage of stock bulbs. The rice bulbs are generally way too high a wattage and while they look great for a month or so, they blow out and fry your wiring big time. HID kits are starting to get a little iffy. If one gets an HID kit, the light housing should be designed for HID or else you are going to blind everyone else who sees your lights because they cannot be focused properly. The brightest light you can get that looks almost HID is the PIAA Super Plasma GTX which are over 5000k and look similar to the BMW color lights (purple-ish). I have PIAA X'treme White which are very white (4000k headlamps, 4150k fog lamps) with a very very faint shade of blue.


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

sethwas said:


> To me the lumens produced was more important than the color of the light as I want headlight performance first, not cosmetics.


The colour difference between HID and halogen light is more than just "cosmetic". The colour of light drastically impacts the way a human eye perceives objects at night.

For reference purposes, natural daylight is ~4500K, whereas stock halogen bulbs are ~3100K, and the OEM xenon bulbs used by Mercedes/BMW (and others) are usually either 4100K or 4600K. Anything much over 6500K and the increased night vision effect is lost (in fact, reputable manufacturers like Philips and Hella don't produce bulbs exceeding 6500K)

In addition to the benefits of the "closer-to-daylight-colour" light produced by HID systems, they also emit about 3x the quantity of light (commonly measured in ANSI lumens). This vast quantity of light is also better controlled through the use of high-quality projector lenses, whereas a traditional halogen setup uses a less-precise reflector to aim its light.

Thus, both the quantity and the colour of the light very much affect the overall "performance" of a car's lighting system. 

And btw, those aftermarket blue-ish halogen bulbs generally have reduced light output when compared to standard halogen bulbs. This may not be perceived by the driver, but the tests I've seen show a reduction in effective light output anywhere from 15% to almost 50% (measured using a calibrated light meter).


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

blitzboi said:


> The colour difference between HID and halogen light is more than just "cosmetic". The colour of light drastically impacts the way a human eye perceives objects at night.
> 
> For reference purposes, natural daylight is ~4500K, whereas stock halogen bulbs are ~3100K, and the OEM xenon bulbs used by Mercedes/BMW (and others) are usually either 4100K or 4600K. Anything much over 6500K and the increased night vision effect is lost (in fact, reputable manufacturers like Philips and Hella don't produce bulbs exceeding 6500K)
> 
> ...


i agree.. if you want the HID look why not save up and get the custom set up like i did. 

i went through 5-10 sets of them blue ricer bulbs and each didnt come close to what i have now the european A6 bixenon projectors and hid retrofitted to my housing.

if you want the hid look my opinion is why not get the real thing


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## Jasper (Apr 2, 2004)

LIUSPEED said:


> i agree.. if you want the HID look why not save up and get the custom set up like i did.
> 
> i went through 5-10 sets of them blue ricer bulbs and each didnt come close to what i have now the european A6 bixenon projectors and hid retrofitted to my housing.
> 
> if you want the hid look my opinion is why not get the real thing



i might, but thats last on a VERY long list of mods lol. since then, i guess ive sort of broken the silverstars in? it seems they need to heat up, because they do get brighter as i drive. all in all, i am pretty happy with them now. i COULD get a set of 9007 HIDs for $300 (7200K rated), my only problem with HIDs is lack of a high beam. in MA, you need high beams in order to pass inspection, so i can't exactly modify my headlamp harness for HIDs and put regular bulbs back in for inspection.

*edit* that, and aftermarket HIDs are now illegal, so if i dont get them now, then i probably wont get them at all, which, to be totally honest, doesnt quite phase me.


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