Replacing Headlight Bulbs

[mzhang86]

Hi, my ls-400 has the default yellow headlights. I would like to make the road more visible at night as well as make my car seem newer by installing bright white ones. I was on Sylvania's site and they selected the Silverstar 9004ST. It has 700/1200 lumens. The 1200 refers to when it's on high beam right? What is the lumens for the default yellow ones? Would it be worth it to upgrade the wiring so that I can use something like the 9003ST with 910/1500 lumens? I have heard of people ugrading their wiring but i'm not sure what it involves. Can I just walk into a store such as Autozone and ask for wiring?

Thanks

[wwest]

Search google for:

HID hylow

About $600 but is the only really good answer to your problem.

[tansupplyman]

Been using Xenon high intensity WHITE bulbs from JC Whitney for years----these are 100W/80W. much better than the stock. Note 'white'-----not 'blue' !!!!! New wiring not required.

But will "break-the-bank" at $25. for two.

[wwest]

Standard 9007 high/low bulbs are 65/55 watts.

100/80 watts represents a 50% amperage overload for your wiring, maybe not enough to start a GOOD fire, but certainly enough to melt insulation, if you're not lucky.

In the meantime you maybe living with something less than 100/80 due to voltage drop in the under rated wiring.

Use a relay.

[98 LS]

wwest is absolutely correct on this. :chairshot:

If you are going to over-amp your headlights by using higher wattage units ...... use a relay and/or confirm that your connectors, wiring and housings can take the extra heat-load.

[tansupplyman]

Sure is funny that I have been using 100w/80w bulbs in all my cars for the last 14 years[started with Ciba Z-beams in a '86 635CSI] and nothing has burned up yet!!! They use only 7 amps each--- just how big a wire does that take!!!

The fuses are rated at 15 amps which is normally 20% less than the wires can handle, and that is why the fuse burns out before the wire does !!!!!!

Even if the bulbs were 500 watts each the wires would never burn---of course, they would only stay on a split second since the fuse would burn out.

Guess I will just continue to live dangerously.

[ToddLS400]

Sure is funny that I have been using 100w/80w bulbs in all my cars for the last 14 years[started with Ciba Z-beams in a '86 635CSI] and nothing has burned up yet!!!  They use only 7 amps each--- just how big a wire does that take!!!

The fuses are rated at 15 amps which is normally 20% less than the wires can handle, and that is why the fuse burns out before the wire does !!!!!!

Even if the bulbs were 500 watts each the wires would never burn---of course, they would only stay on a split second since the fuse would burn out.

Guess I will just continue to live dangerously.

Yeah, I'm using the wire burning 100w/80w super white bulbs too. I've also used them in my past Nissan 300ZXs without a problem for the last 5 years. Then I tore the tag off my matress after installing the bulbs. If only riding my sportbike at 150mph was that dangerous? I've really had my bike up to 158mph, that's no joke. ;)

[CanadaCraig]

Oddly enough - I suppose - I really LIKE the yellow fog lights!! I have them on almost all the time. AND because they're yellow - no one thinks that you have your high beams on. That said.. the low beams could be a little bit brighter - but I think I've spent enough money on my car already!!

Craig!! :)

[98 LS]

Sure is funny ..........

Guess I will just continue to live dangerously.

While a few of the "Young Guns" here have had success at this by over-amping the lighting system ....... the real culprit is the extra heat-load in the housing/connector. It may work fine in your application ...... I think what wwest and I are trying to point out is that it would be imprudent to hop-skip along and find out later that it is not always going to work out without damaging some components?

The strategy of ... "Well it didn't blow a fuse!" ... is oversimplifying the situation a bit.

For my money .... I'll stay with the stock HID's ...... now that's "Pimp-Daddy" ......... meanwhile 100w/80w ....... well.... that "Sure is funny .....".

[silvermate]

i'm not sure if ur talking about the headlight bulbs or the fog light bulbs. if ur talking about the headlight bulbs, yes i would recomend the sylvania silverstars they shine very white and bright rather than yellowish color of stock bulbs. u can really tell the difference. and they also look a lot classier than the cheap looking blue bulbs u see on a lot of the ricers. they run about 45 dollars for 2 bulbs.

[wwest]

Aen't modern tecnology wonderful??

When halogen bulbs first came on the scene some of you will remember that they had a strange propensity for failing early in their use. Then next we heard that the battery and alternator wiring had to be "solidified", hardened, to prevent voltage spikes.

What it finally came down to was that the Halogen bulb filament could not withstand the super high current inrush during repetitive on/off cycles. All incandescent bulb filaments have a temperature coefficient that causes the resistance to increase, dramatically, as the filament heats. Halogen bulb filaments have an unusually low starting resistance meaning the initial current inrush can be extremely high.

Now-a-days vehicles that are shipped with halogen bulbs have factory wiring that is designed to have just enough series resistance to overcome the sudden inrush and thereby prevent premature halogen bulb failure.

Look at the wire guage on an earlier headlamp assembly vs one for halogen, halogen wiring guage will look as if it isn't up to the task in comparison.

But to be sure, the most common failure I have seen from 100/80 watt headlamps was/is at the lamp/bulb connecter itself, nearby bulb HEAT and higher current than connector contact design provides for I suppose.

[UCF3]

I swaped my H4s for SPW H4Dbeam. The HIDs are much better. you'll loose the use of your highbeam and the fog lights though.

[wwest]

HID hylow reference.

Is a HID bulb with built in solenoid that physically moves the ARC from the low beam position to the high beam position.

But why would you lose the fogs??

[mzhang86]

Thanks for the responses so far. How much of a difference between real HID lights and Silverstars are there? Those $300+ HID kits are a bit too much for me to spend on car headlights but i'll keep them in mind.

[wwest]

Find someone with HID that will let you drive on a dark street.

World of difference.

Color night vision is vastly improved for us old folks.

[silvermate]

there is a world of differnce between the two, but i think silverstarts are the closest bulbs to hid, as far as looks go, some may say the piaas' are better. this topic has been discussed many times in here. i think there is a thread just on this very topic in the general forum on the main board. i had the plasma purple lights. but i thought they looked cheap, even though they weren't, they were like 80 bucks. but i switched to the silverstars and i really enjoy them. 40 bucks, and it only takes 10 mins to install. its a good cheap way to have a little headlight upgrade on ur ride, instead of paying for the pricy hid kits, and installation

[wwest]

"as far as looks go......"

Do you mean "on-lookers" think you really have HID, or do you mean "looks" as in better vision for the driver. Personally I care not about the first.

[silvermate]

i don't care what u really care not for . he asked a question, and i was trying to give him a little of my personal opinion and insight to help him make a descision. because i have had several different sets of bulbs. thats what this forum is for. to help other LS. owners

[mejojo]

It appears to me that he's interested if it's the latter, and he's not interested if it's the former.

No need to get defensive. Just a simple question.

Joe

[silvermate]

no, wwest didn't even post the question. he's in here being a jerk, he posted a comment to a question i had. and he replied, its simple a microswitch. and thats all he put. that really helps out. he's just replying for the hell of it, not to help anyone, like all the others do in this club

[wwest]

Silvermate,

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend.

Your HID answer truly did appear to be ambiguous to me. It wasn't clear if you mean to say that the HID alternative looked good from an on-looker's prospective, or looked good from the driver's viewpoint.

Please recognize, on my behalf, that many folks use HID alternatives only to look good, not necessarily to see well.

[silvermate]

ok, sorry west for jumping on u, i thought u were being rude. i actually meant that the bulbs burn a brighter white than the yellowish looking stock bulbs. and the reflection of the white light gives u a better view of the road. unlike the plasma bulbs that i once had that just looked a purpleish color. but u could hardly see on a dark road at night, thats why i changed bulbs

[wwest]

Silvermate, more...

Sorry, had to go looking for wwest & microswitch.

Two points, please.

When I suggested a microswitch or limit switch adjustmet might be the problem I had a very clear vision, picture, in my mind of the e-brake pedal and the switch location and it truly did not occur to me that the reader might not.

And yes, you did follow up and ask for more detail. But by the time I discovered that, tansupplyman had already responded with what appeared to me at the time to be sufficient clarification.

Sometimes I get too verbose and sometimes to brief, sorry again.

[silvermate]

thanks west, i think the problem with the brake light was simply i was low on brake fluid. and something as simple as that just didn't cross my mind thanks for the suggestion.

[LEXDOGG]

I ran silverstars in my car and I loved them untill I got my Hid's. Hid's are unbelivable. I light up the whole freeway. I will never go back to a regular bulb.This is just my opinion.

LEXX