Sure enough! That works. Why am I such a dummy? I don't think that I ever could have figured that out myself. Now I wait until after dark to check out how much they help on my little backwoods county road. Thanks, bearabledust.

 

Well, the fog lights definately made a difference last night as I was driving my 4th grader home from her gymnastics class. And would you believe there actually was a deer I had to slow down for? I believe I identified it earlier with the fog lamps on.

 

Well, if the critters show up better with them on, then I can see why you want them on all the time. But on my 07 Screw I can hardly tell the difference on or off on rural roads except for the side of the road being easier to see. Can they be aimed better?

 

ahh...see in my 07 they make a HUGE difference......which is why they're always on for me...

 

Ryan50hrl

You're not touching the bulb with your skin when you install are you? If so, wipe the bulb off with denatured achohol to get any skin oil off of it and they may last longer. Something about that and the heat that can cause premature failure. I ran into that problem years ago when replacing the 9004 headlight on one of the trucks I owned. The parts manager at the store I was buying them at told me about that and I followed his suggestion and my bulbs began lasting like they should. Now I wear latex gloves when changing bulbs. Don't have any problems any more.

Greg B

 

my fogs have been on 99% of the time my heads have been on since I bought my truck in Oct 2006...and not a single burnout yet

the OEM fogs are almost as bright as the low beams, and you can see the difference between them on/off...it's almost 1/2 the light output cut when off IMO


@ Ryan
how much brighter are those Silverstars than the OEM lights?

 

Tylus, the silverstars are bright. Very bright.
Just keep the lens clean.

 

Ryan, you're not having lamp life issues because you're running a 9145 vs a 9140. I wonder which of my super smart, former co-workers, came up with that lame reason for an early failure.

However, Silverstars, just as any other high performance halogen lamp have significantly lower lamp life. That's the trade off for having higher lamp light temperature (not higher wattage). If you use your silverstars for an hour a day you shouldn't expect anything more then 1 year from them. You're lamp failure in 4 months is probably due to some issues in the manufacturing process for the lamp or possibly you had a poor connection or possibly you have a higher then normal voltage being applied to the lamp.

Without looking at the failed lamps, it's tough to say exactly what your issue was. Sylvania, as with any lighting manufacturer, offers poor customer service to individuals. Their focus is the OEM's (Ford, GM, etc), then the large parts store chains. While I worked there, as a manufacturing engineer, one of my daily activities was to review lamps that our inspectors deemed as questionable. I needed to decide if the lamps were ok for the OEMs, ok for the aftermarket or if they needed to be scrapped. Very few are scrapped, the aftermarket is the dumping grounds for questionable lamps.

Sorry for the long post, the short of it, is don't be surprised if you have early lamp failures from part store automotive lighting. It just might be the junk some engineer tagged "OK for aftermarket"...

2 final points and I'll shut up. You only need to keep those fogs clean if your running 9005 or 9006's. And Tylus, output isn't higher it's all about perception due to a hotter light temperature (AKA color).

 

I am running 9005 in my fog lights. I put in the silverstars and have had no problem for a year now.

 

thanks Ryan and svt2205

how much hotter are we talking though? I know of 2 people who have melted their foglight lens by running higher amp bulbs. is this a concern with the Silverstars.


I kinda want a bit more light for my morning commute, but i already light up the interior of 99% of the cars around em in the morning. I can see everything those guys do inside the cars...seems like a bit of a dick move on my part to make 'em even brighter

 

Nope...

They are brighter....and much whiter....



My real question is why are the fogs burning out and not the headlights.....they're both silverstar....and i know they'll burn out quicker, but it seems weird one does and not the other....

 

i do agree with you on this. thats why i did have someone else drive my truck towards me down the road. i angled the lights so that they dont blind everyone. but they still put off enough light on the road to where i can run at night without using my headlights if i dont want to.

 

I have been running 9005's in my truck now for over a year and no problems... I wasen't paying the price for the stk bulb. No problems here.

Mark

 

Me to, not silverstars but philips CrystalVision Ultra . Lights still going, no melting at all.

 

Without seeing the failed lamps. It's anyone's guess. Any chance you've still got the failed lamps? If you do, send me a PM and I'll give you a mailing address you could send them to. I'd be happy to look and see if I find any thing unusual.

Now if I understand correctly you've got one fog that keeps failing or is it both and the heads are ok? If it's just one lamp, I'd be tempted to try wiring in a DVM and see if you can monitor the output voltage.

Tylus, I'd find a set of 9145 and a set of H13 silverstars and put them in. You'll be pleased with their lighting, I'm sure of it. I'd avoid the 9005 in that small housing. But hey, that's just my 2 cents. Those running them with no problems surely says, it's possible .