Martin Bolhuis

You should have a look at danielsternlighting.com This guy is an expert in all aspects of automotive lighting. He talks about all the different products on the market and knows the science behind it. There is a comparitive chart on lumens output of all the competing bulbs showing how each sizes up. If you are going to buy halogen bulbs there is only 1 as far as I am concerned. HIR or Halogen Infrared technology is far superior to the Silverstar or anything Sylvania has. They are a little tougher to find but I have just told you where to purchase them. He doesn't list them in the products for sale but he does sell them. They cost somewhere around a hundred bucks for 4. Lumens output on the Silverstars from their own site are; 1000 lowbeam and 1700 for the highbeam. The HIR are 1870 and 2350! They are standard wattage and last as long as OEM bulbs just a really significant advance in technology. I believe that they are OEM in several of the european sports cars and high end north american. Do not buy the ones that IPF make ( I made that mistake) as their bulb shape is fragile. I am pretty sure that when I emailed the guy above he said he sells Phillips. Any questions email him he is truly a lighting genius. He comments on the blue tinted bulbs and the legality of changing over to HID. He showed me how to aim my headlights correctly with the new bulbs in. I know that with my headlights on the LX450 on highbeam it is truly mind blowing how much the road lights up.

Go and look at danielsternlighting.com and have a look through at all the different types of bulbs and read what this expert has to say. I have purchased a set of OEM wattage HIR (halogen infrared) bulbs which represent a significant advance in the technology. I also upgraded the harness which is the first thing to do. There are 2 brands of HIR bulb. Do not buy the IPF as they are inferior design. Phillips is available through the link above if you just email him and they are very reasonable at somewhat less than a hundred bucks. If I am not mistaken these bulbs were stock in Vipers and other high end cars pre HID. The output of the lowbeams is 88% higher than a standard bulb and the highbeams are 60% brighter. Life expectancy is at least the same as OEM.

I have owned Blizzak ws50's for 5 winters and was really happy with them. This year on my LX450 I put studded hak LT's. Very comparable performance with the only differences being the Nokians are noisier from the studs and they do better on the ice. I have to concur that that no matter what the Blizzaks do tend to have a feel that is not as tight on the road at highway speeds. I accept that as a result of softer compounds which give better traction.

Have a look at http://www.danielsternlighting.com The definitive expert on automotive lighting including comparison of light output. I upgraded the wiring harness to the headlights. Higher output bulbs may actually have less light output from less efficiency due to wiring. I found that the best standard wattage bulb out there (which makes them legal) is the HIR technology (Halogen Infrared) they are absolutely wicked! They are documented to have 88% higher output than OEM on the low beams and 60% on the high beams. Don't make the mistake of buying IPF brand as the quality is inferior. Phillips is great quality. I don't think Sterns website lists them for sale but he does sell them. If you email him he is great with replys and help and the price is way under a hundred bucks a pair.

There is a lot of really good information on Amsoil's website on all the different properties of oils and how they compare. Actually I work beside a plant that makes true synthetic oil and refining is my career. Motor oils are chain hydrocarbons, Refining fossil fuels to extract the correct length chain for motor lubrication is the traditional method of manufacture. The trouble is that distillation does not yield an absolutely pure specific chain length, In fact there is a small portion of very heavy oils up to and including tars and asphaltenes. This is one reason for the darker color of this type of motor oil. Synthetic oils are typically manufactured by using natural gas which is a mix of 2 and 1 carbon molecules. Using a catalytic process the molecules are reacted to combine into longer chains and making very pure, very specific chain lengths. They make anything from oil well drilling lubricants and soap additives with some of the longer ones to feedstock for synthetic motor oils for shorter ones. Where I work next door we use one product as a feed for making polyethylene plastic. I understand there is now a very different technology for making synthetic oil but I am not sure what that is yet. Anyway making a short story long, the lack of all the tars and heavy ends is why the lubrication is far better and engines run cooler on synthetic. It is also a reason why some people experience seal leakage when they make the switch on a vehicle with more miles on it. The synthetic is merely cleaning the dirt from the worn seals. As for switching back it is not a problem at all just a step down in quality.