NHstang

I thought he was Anna Nicole's baby's father...

mikes rx

Are you thinking of Howard Stern, but not the radio personality one

Treadhead

I couldn't tell a bit of difference between stock and the XtraVisions.

Hollywood_North GT

You mean, sort of like the "experts" at Consumer Reports?



This all boils down to two simple questions >>

1. Are you looking for ultimate halogen illumination under the broadest range of conditions, or;

2. Are you looking for significantly increased illumination utilizing a halogen bulb that is much closer to "spectral white" than the stock bulbs, and don't mind reduced life-expectancy (typically one year for Silver Stars)?

Different products for different needs / wants / tastes.

Personally, I'll go with the Silver Stars.

metroplex

Selective-white covers a broad range. Most halogen/xenon bulb manufacturers try to mimic the color of factory HIDs (that whitish-blue), which isn't necessarily the best way to go. HIDs work because of how much light they put out, not primarily because of the color. I saw photos of someone's home-made HID torch (flashlight) and holy jeebus, you would see a beam go out for half a mile or more. In total darkness, it looked very cool! The Europeans have their sh*t together because even the E-code (UNECE/ECE) H13s are brighter than what we have.

Has anyone checked to see what bulbs Ford used in the headlamps at the factory? Sylvania seems to be the main supplier for most of the OEMs. If the STOCK factory headlamps had purple writing on the bulb base, then they used the H13XV at the factory. There are also standard H13s, Long-Life H13s (H13LL), and a few others. Ford typically will use the standard or long-life bulbs.

Hollywood_North GT

Ford typically will use the cheapest bulbs.

hi5.0

Just don't buy same replacements from the dealer parts dept. - then they won't be cheap!

gremlin190

Here's the before and after silverstars. Only look at the main lights. I didn't do the fog lights yet. I find them brighter at night then the stocks. I use to have them on a 97 nissan pickup truck and they made a BIG difference. These not as much, but I find the fog lights help alot nearby. Guess it's up to the owner...

RRRoamer

Exactly. It looks both a bit brighter AND whiter. Just like what I saw when I switched my pickup over to SS bulbs.

metroplex

Photographs cannot be used to determine which lights to buy in the same way a MP3 shouldn't be used for making an exhaust purchase.

White light is great on unlit roads in the middle of nowhere, but performs poorly in lit areas or roads that are saturated with street lighting and lights from other vehicles, unless there is a LOT of light output (halogens won't cut it, you will need HIDs). The problem with the OEM light isn't the color, but rather the amount of light coming out or the amount of light aimed at the necessary areas on the photometric map.

mrkabc

Silverstars suck. I threw mine in a drawer in disgust after not seeing $40 worth of difference.

Get HIDs. They are "truly" the white light you are after.

Hollywood_North GT

Yeah, no question, outside of HIDs, Silver Stars are the best bulbs on the market for overall illumination and getting rid of that dreaded "tobacco yellow" light beam that the stock lights kick out.

Silver Stars rule!

classj

They may look nice and clean. But, as far as ability to see, in anything but perfect weather, the silverstars are worse IMO.

If you want brighter bulbs, phillips vision plus bulbs are usually a +50 Bulb. Meaning they have the same reduced light/increased brightness, without the blue tint, thus more light.

gremlin190

I do a lot of "back road" driving. Maybe that's why I like them so much. I will be converting to HID's when ford releases them next year and they don't cost 800 dollars to do.

metroplex

I agree. I plan to swap to HIDs once someone comes out with a clean, inexpensive, and painless to install kit that uses projector assemblies

SlamMan02

Watch my video...It gives a very accurate representation of how the H13/H10 combo looks in person (White with a slight hint of Blue)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WcinYs0wg...related&search=

metroplex

White light or blue light isn't the secret behind HIDs. It's the amount of light that's thrown out. The human eye picks out light that is slightly more yellow than pure white or a hint of blue, and within the required selective "white" color range described under SAE J578 (which is why most FMVSS 108 compliant OEM lighting solutions look more yellow than the blue/white given off from UNECE compliant forward discharge lighting). UNECE uses different regulations for different types of lighting. If you've ever looked through the UNECE regs, it'll blow your mind. There's a document for each type of lighting. In the US, we just slap everything into FMVSS 108 and reference SAE specs as needed.

Hollywood_North GT

Those look good, dude!

The "hint" of blue actually accents this car quite nicely, and is far more aesthetically pleasing than that god-awful yellow that comes with the stock assembly.

Even though they don't provide the luminance of HIDs, SilverStars offer a whiter light that enhances peripheral visibility and is closer to the color of natural daylight, compared to standard halogen. How that whiter color is achieved (high tech amethyst blue coating) is actually tangential to the issue, as the SilverStars offer 4000K on the color temperature scale, as opposed to the 3000K offered by standard halogen bulbs.

Don't listen to the naysayers. SilverStar's only downside is that they are "over-driven" and tend to burn out after a little more than a year. I know from personal experience with these bulbs that all the speculation about not being able to see in rain or inclement weather is utter nonsense.

metroplex

This has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of light being reflected/projected out onto the road resulting in a genuine improvement.

UNECE compliant H13s have a higher candlepower rating in both the low and high beam settings versus the FMVSS 108 compliant H13s. The tinting on the bulb or the color of the lighting has little to do with the amount of light output. White light actually shows up poorly in lit areas and is a well known problem with white LED flashlights due to the lack of contrast. Yellow light is easier to pick up by the human eye, especially in wet weather conditions where street lights and lights from other cars are present and a lot of the light from your headlamps are scattered by the road surfaces. Good projector HID systems throw a buttload of light in the right places (regarding photometric mapping) to compensate for these conditions. SilverStars are simply Sylvania's high-end ricer blue bulb product: tinted glass that is slightly overdriven to compensate for the tint, resulting in reduced lifespan.

UNECE compliant lighting is about the closest thing to HIDs you can get without actually buying HIDs. I have a set of Cibie H4 headlamps with Narva +50% Xenon H4 bulbs (all of which are UNECE compliant) that throw a sh*tload of light onto the road with an ultra sharp cutoff. On unlit roads at high speed (I-80 in PA in the middle of the night), the lights will illuminate all signs, the road, and your peripheral vision giving almost a 180* degree angle of lighting. In city conditions with a lot of scattered light from other sources, the UNECE-spec H4s still kicked serious a$$ even for 30 year old lamp designs.

classj

Just be aware, the in comparing a Silverstar bulb to a uncoated +50 efficiency bulb, you are losing about 350 lumens of light output per bulb as measured with a light meter. Which is about a 20% reduction in actual light.

What you are seeing is an optical illusion based on the wavelength of the light. An example of this is the following. Lets say we move even further up the color spectrum into the UV range (blacklight). A blacklight will certainly make everything that is white or light colored reflect light brightly thus appearing bright at times, but other object will be darker. And overall light output less.

What is happening is that the silverstars may allow you to see certain objects better, but as far as shear light output is concerned, they are not brighter.

Look at any true off road vehicle, rallye car, etc. The color of light you want for seeing in the dark is yellow, not white.

I found that silverstars did a great job of lighting up rain drops and snow flakes, and making fog appear somehow worse. But did nothing for lighting up the road when I needed more light.

Most lights are fine when the weather is clear, when I need to see better is when there is fog, rain, and snow.

With all this said, I think the stock lights are great as is. But that is JMHO