im so sick of my car eating headlights. ive had just about all the big name bulbs in it. has a set of silverstars, they lasted 9 months, and under warrenty got them replaced with silverstar ultras. 9 months later they were toast, bucked up and bought a set of piaas. i think it was about 11 months later one of those burnt out, and now i have some other bulbs in it (the name escapes me right now, have a spare at work, ill check tomorrow) and 7 months and one is now burnt out. im sick of going through these high output headlights, however i find cheap stuff to be very dim and cant stand driving at night in the rain with them.

im wanting to find a bulb that going to last a while thats got decent light output. i was quite happy with the silverstars and silverstar ultra, and the piaa super whites, aside from the high cost and life of them. i dont have an issue paying for expensive bulbs, providing they last for more than a year. does anyone have any input on a halogen bulb that would fit what im after.

my next thing, hids. as much as id like a set of projectors, it just doesnt fit the budget. ive always been against hids in stock housings, seems every 5th car on the road has that setup and for the most part, it blinds everyone. however, doing some reading i found a post made by a lighting guru that claims cobalt headlights dont scatter the light like most reflector headlights. any truth to that? i know i wont see the benefits as i would with hids and projectors, however its more budget friendly and from what ive seen, they will outlast what im getting with the high output halogens. any thoughts on this? my biggest concern is blinding oncoming motorists, along with the fact that im not looking for trouble with law enforcement.

 

let me find the post from a few weeks ago they came out with a new bulb that looks just like an hid and just as bright

 

check this out

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/pict...roduct-264525/

 

HIDs FTW

 

those new bulbs do look good, however im worried about longevity. sylvania silverstars came out and they didnt last long, then they brought out the silverstar ultras and they wernt much better. now they have a new and brighter bulb out, i have my doubts weather it will last. i did look at canadian tire online, they have em, $70. cheaper than piaa bulbs, however the reviews on them so far arent the greatest, several people have had failures with bulbs only a month old. and im wondering, if they look like HID and have similar light output to HID, why not just have HIDs? pretty close to the same cost.

oh and the bulbs i have right now are phillips extreme power.

 

You can get a good set of Bixenon hids from ddm or even ebay for $70 or less with a warrenty.

 

I have Gen 4's and 6000K HIDs in my lows and fogs... could not be HAPPIER!!!! I dont even need brights anymore.

 

ive got a friend with a set of new in box 9007 5000k or 6000k (cant remember which) hids, and coincidentally he owes me money. they arent bi xenon though, although thats not a big deal, i really only ever use my high beams to flash people with annoyingly bright and blinding hids.

 

I just bought these and I love the light output in a low beam. The high beam sucks however. the silverstar ultras were good all the way around. If you do alot of city driving or drive on the highway where there is cars this is an excellent bulb. I have also only had these for about 2 months so i dont know how long they will last

 

Just see if you can find a set of standard, stock bulbs, those will last longer than any aftermarket bulb for the most part. Coated bulbs are gonna be dimmer than clear bulbs in any situation.

 

ive got a set of stock bulbs in my toolbox, i found them to be quite dim, hence why ive been after brighter bulbs. like i said, ive been happy with the light output from the silverstars, silverstar ultras, and piaas, it just sucks paying $60+ for bulbs that last less than a year.

i ended up grabbing that set of 5000k hids from my friend, have yet to get time to put them in though.

 

I got silverstars ultra 2 for 25$ shipped ti Canada on eBay! Don't pay 60 for bulbs xD

 

i bought those way back when i first bought my car in 2007. after 2 sets in a year and a half, i wont be buying them again

 

Hids and and be done

 

just put the hids in. im actually impressed, they dont seem to have the glare i usually see with hids in factory housings. ill have to see once it gets dark out to get a real opinion though.

 

tried them in the dark and so far so good. they dont appear to have much glare at all, doesnt look insanly bright from the front like some other cars i see. however ive run into a bit of an issue. i went to move my car and only one hid came on. now i know from friends cars that sometimes they dont always ignite the first time and that you sometimes need to flip the lights off then on again. my issue here lies with the automatic headlights, when its dark and i start my car, the lights come on. im also unable to shut the lights off when its dark and have to shut the car off, wait till the headlights shut off, then start the car again.

anyone have any thoughts on a work around for that?

 

you can click the light switch back to shut the auto lights off

 

it doesnt shut them off. might be another difference on canadian cars. all canadian cars need daytime running lights or auto headlights that cant be disabled.

 

You might wanna check your wiring or make sure when you install the bulbs you don't touch the bulb. You should not be going through bulbs that fast. I actually took the Silverstars from my Cavalier with 85K miles on them and put them in my Cobalt that had 11K miles... up to 16K on the Cobalt now and 5 years later on the same bulbs. (on a side note I had the DRL's disabled on the cavalier and in my Cobalt I turn the auto lights off every time I start the car)

 

i had a pair of h4 piaa super whites in my old cavalier (86 z24, had bosche h4 conversion housings) that lasted 3 years, only reason i had to replace them is because when i got hit by a drunk driver the filliment fell off one bulb. when i built another car i put the one good bulb in and it lasted another 2 years till i got rid of the car. ive just had no luck with the bulbs in the cobalt. no daytime running lights and auto headlights cant be shut off. i know there is nothing wrong with the wiring, and no im not touching the bulbs when installing them (fyi: that usually causes the bulb to burn out very quick, its weeks, not months). tha majority of reviews ive read say the same as what ive experienced, short life.

 

pull your drl fuse so they dont come on till it starts to get dark

 

im an 05, canadian car. it doesnt have daytime running lights, they dont come on till its dark. the issue is once its dark i cannot turn the headlights off, when the key is on the headlights are on.

 

Unfortunately HIDs work with only 6 volts. so the low driving lights use your low beam and at like 10 volts, so the only work around is pull the fuse for DRL, or wire some circuit in to only turn on with a 12 volt or higher signal.
When HIDs get 6 volts though, it becomes a pretty cool strobe light.
Ask me how I know, got a new battery under warranty though

 

again, my car DOES NOT have daytime running lights. canadian cars in 2005 DO NOT have daytime running lights, they run AUTOMATIC HEADLIGHTS. im not having issues with the lights strobing, or coming on when they shouldnt. when it gets dark the lights come on automaticly. the issue im having, and ive seen it with lots of aftermarket hid kits, is that sometimes when you turn the lights on they one bulb wont "ignite". i know the solution is to simply turn the lights off and back on, however in a cobalt with automatic headlights its not that easy. the lights will not turn off with the switch when its dark, the only way to shut them off it to shut the car off and wait 30 seconds till the headlights shut off, then start the car again.

 

Hmm, ok, then when this happens, and your driving, push the high beam switch, it turns off low beam till you turn it off again. And I mean the way you would activate hi beams and lock them on.