I have read all the threads on HID and Silverstar Ultra upgrades. I have also read a number of articles that discussed the future of aftermarket HID products. Being the conservative guy I am, I had decided that I would upgrade my truck's lights when it arrives to Silverstars until the aftermarket HID situation played out.

So... I was out on the internet checking prices and started reading the customer reviews that were there. I found a number of complaints of these bulbs burning out within a year. Even Sylvania publishes a disclaimer on these bulbs "Since our SilverStar(r) ULTRA headlights are up to 50% brighter than standard halogen, they will have a shorter life span when compared to our other products. Part number 9005SU will last for approximately 125 hours of "on time", 200 hours for part 9006SU."

When you start doing the math, between night and lights on with wipers "on time", the 125 to 200 hour life is not very long.

For those of you that have them, are you experiencing the same thing?

 

[quote=Marauder92V;9631670]I have read all the threads on HID and Silverstar Ultra upgrades. I have also read a number of articles that discussed the future of aftermarket HID products. Being the conservative guy I am, I had decided that I would upgrade my truck's lights when it arrives to Silverstars until the aftermarket HID situation played out.

So... I was out on the internet checking prices and started reading the customer reviews that were there. I found a number of complaints of these bulbs burning out within a year. Even Sylvania publishes a disclaimer on these bulbs "Since our SilverStar(r) ULTRA headlights are up to 50% brighter than standard halogen, they will have a shorter life span when compared to our other products. Part number 9005SU will last for approximately 125 hours of "on time", 200 hours for part 9006SU."

When you start doing the math, between night and lights on with wipers "on time", the 125 to 200 hour life is not very long.

For those of you that have them, are you experiencing the same thing?

I've had Silverstars in my 08 since it was new, around 47,000 on it now.
jr

 

Actually, I've had my SilverStars since January of '05 and they are both still working fine. I use them as described above in rain, dark, etc. and have yet to have either burn out. So far, so good. And, they did improve over the OEM lights somewhat.

 

Are the Silverstars you have installed the "Ultra" version? I think that is the one that people are having trouble with.

 

Sorry...my bad. I've got the regular SilverStars. As a matter of fact, I looked for Ultras to replace mine a while back and couldn't find them.

 

i had a set of Ultras couple of years back..

1 side died within 8months.. since i couldnt replace just a single bulb ( local store only sold em in pack of 2)..

i said screw it and replaced em both with GE nitehawks.. nitehawks are almost as bright and so far have outlasted the Sylvanias by along way..

i'd say skip teh Ultras and get the GE's...

 

I know mine are the Ultras , put them in when truck was a week old. Have 47K miles and roughly 1700 engine hrs. on them with no problems.
jr

 

I am going to do some more research on them. The two sites that I went to that sold them had customer reviews. A large percentage of customers complained about short life on them.

I will find some more sites and see if the same is said there. If it were isolated comments I would have ignored it. But it was said a fair amount of times and has me wondering.

 

I used them on my Expedition for a couple of years before I sold it. They were, ok I guess. They were a little brighter than the factory bulbs maybe but they never burned out.

 

I bought my first set of Silverstar Ultra's in December of 2007. One of them went out in early November of this year and I replaced both of them with another set.

I don't use my headlights a lot, as I don't like driving at night. But I do use them whenever the visibility is at all reduced.

One thing I also did that helped was to put in an aftermarket wiring harness that powers the headlights directly off of the battery through two relays (one for high beam, one for low beam). My belief was that what appears to be 14 gauge wire, along with a couple passes through the fuse box, the headlight switch and the multifunction switch wasn't allowing for all of the juice to get to the bulbs. I got a plug and play kit from dfuser.com. It's OK but I've had to solder a couple of the plug crimp connections because they haven't lasted like they should.

 

Had them in my GMC for about 20000 miles, no problem. Also did not notice any difference in the brightness.

GM's have an issue where the headlight B+ goes through the the headlight switch. This tends to eventually burn out the switch assembly.

I added a kit that used relays and power directly off the alternator to power the headlights, using the switch to only activate the relays.

Anyone know how the SD's are wired?


Another advantage to the kit I used was a small jumper harness that allowed the low beams to stay on with the high beams - that really worked well.

 

I have/had Silverstars in both my F150 and F350 headlights and foglights. They didn't make the H13's or the 9145's in the Ultras when I checked. Stock bulbs were just too dim for me to see anything, particularly on the F350. Either that or my eyes are really going :-(

I've had them for 3yrs on the F150, a year on the F350. No burned out bulbs yet and I drive approx 1hr in the dark every day during the winter and fall months.

The Silverstars on the F150 were an improvement over stock. Not a whole lot brighter (if any) but definitely whiter as they are rated at 4000K. Apparently, the way it works is, there's a blue coating on the bulb that does some filtering. As a result, less light comes through, so they burn the filament hotter to compensate, hence shorter life.

The Silverstars in my F350 were a bit of a disappointment. I still couldn't see very well.

I swapped in a pair of 4500K DDM HID's about 3months ago, and wow, what an improvement. I find the blue tinge on the higher K's annoying, so I chose the lower K temperature. I thought the 4000K Silverstars were 'white', but the 4500K makes them look yellow, so if you're going to do the headlights, do the fogs at the same time or it looks cheesy. I have not been flashed once since I put them in. I just got a pair of matching fogs to go with them this weekend.

Not to dissuade your decision, but I got the HID's for about $70 shipped and the fogs for about $50 shipped separately. That's with sales tax (that suxs!!) since I live in the same state as DDM. The DDM's have lifetime warranty, so no worries about burned out anything. I think I spent almost $90 after tax on those Silverstars....there was some irritating rebate I forgot to send in too. Being pretty conservative myself, for $30 more, I'd get another set of HID's without thinking.

 

I could easily be persuaded to go HID if I knew I wasn't going to find myself yanking them out after failing a DMV inspection. Does anyone know the status of these aftermarket HID products with respect to DOT and state DMV laws?

What got me looking at the Silverstars was that I read in a few places, guys getting tickets for aftermarket HIDs. The primary reason given was not that the bulbs were too bright but rather that the bulbs were installed in a non DOT approved housing. I guess BMW, Mercedes and the rest of those auto companies that sell them as OEM, can do so because their housing were designed and approved for an HID application.

Any thoughts on this?

 

I think technically, they're illegal no matter what, but I see more and more people do it here in SJ. I saw some kid in a rice burner with purple headlights. That guy should be busted if anything!

I stuck with the 35W bulbs and low K's so they're not overly bright, blue, and obnoxious. I'm definitely not the type to want attention. They look close to the HID's in my my wife's Lexus.

I'm not aware of any DMV checks here..I've been driving for 30yrs and I've never been 'inspected.' One of my cars was missing a front license plate for 25yrs and I was never busted for that even though it is illegal to drive without one.

 

If you install HID's, just make sure to adjust the beam downward. The stock position had my beams just a little high and I would get flashed. I dropped the beam focus with the adjustment behind the headlight and they no longer bother oncoming drivers or cars I'm sitting behind. I'll bet the guys getting tickets are the ones who fail to adjust their beams after installing the HID's.