Sylvania Silverstar Died Prematurely

[thisisludicrous]

Less than a year ago, I picked up a set of Silverstar bulbs for my headlights on my 95 LS400. I was very pleased with the results, if less than wholly satisfied with the almost-$40 pricetag for two of them. Now, one of my lowbeams has already gone out. (Yes, I'm POSITIVE I didn't touch the bulbs with my fingers)

Rather than shelling out $20 for another Silverstar, is it possible to simply install a $10-or-less regular replacement bulb, then aim the headlight slightly higher for better illumination - hopefully without blinding oncoming traffic? Anybody tried this before? I remember with the old bulbs, it seemed like I could barely see more than 6 or 7 car lengths in front of me. But they lasted a while...

Thanks in advance for any input.

[silvermate]

a years use out of them is pretty average, i had mine in for 2 years, and wanted to try some others.

no, another bulb will not work........it won't match, and/or the beam pattern and light output will not be the same. Silverstar bulbs are bright white and wouldn't match a regular "yellow" type of bulb. it would look like crap

your options are: 1 buy a replacement silverstar

2 buy a new set of bulbs

[1990LS400]

Wagner BriteLite Xenon bulbs seemed to last a lot more than a year on my 90 LS. Whether they have any Xenon gas in the bulb is a matter of debate. I can, however, tell you that these uncoated bulbs produce much whiter light than standard bulbs. I think they draw the standard wattage which might be why they last longer. They seem to sell for about $10 each both locally and on-line like from this seller: http://www.brandsport.com/w9003.html

Aiming your lights higher than spec is really bad for us old folks who have enough problems with glare from on-coming car's headlights.

[thisisludicrous]

Sorry, gents, I wasn't very clear. If I would go back to regular 'yellow' bulbs, then I would definitely replace both headlamps, not just one, because Silvermate, you're absolutely right, that would look ridiculous.

But going back to the yellow bulbs, hopefully for a longer life, would also mean the decreased illumination distance I had before. So that was my other question, could I aim the headlights a little higher to achieve more than 6 car lengths of illumination. My thinking is that in aiming the headlights higher, I would simply come up to par with what most other vehicles on the road have, roughly 10+ car lengths of illumination. But as 1990LS400 pointed out, I certainly would not want to exceed this, otherwise I'm blinding folks.

I'll definitely check out brandsport.com, thanks for the tip!