First, a little background...I swapped out the stock Headlights with Nokya Hyper-whites. While they are certainly whiter than stock, I really don't think they are any brighter. In fact, I'm not sure that the coverage is the same with the Nokya bulb. I have to do some more testing with stock vs. Nokya...

Yesterday, I swapped out the 9145 stock foglights with Sylvania Silverstar 9005 STs (a headlight bulb, but it fits the 9145 socket). All I can say is Wow! The coverage straight ahead and on the sides of the road is excellent. They don't project quite as far as the headlights, but everything they hit is like daylight.

We were driving back from dinner on a very dark and windy road last night, and I kept swapping between the fogs and the driving lights. There was no comparison. The silverstars were the clear winner. You could barely see when I turned on the headlights while the fogs were running. I just turned off the driving lights completely.

I may put the stock headlights back in, just to see if the Nokya's have somehow changed the coverage of the headlights, but I am sold on using the silverstars on the fogs! I've had them in the fogs of my F150 for about a year now, but they didn't provide as much coverage as the fogs in the Mustang GT does. It's got to be because of the different placement and dispersion pattern.

The silverstars were $37 for the pair at Wally World. Well worth the investment! By the way, the amperage rating of the 9005's are well within the max fuse rating of the foglamp circuit. I checked that out on the F150 (uses the same 9145 foglamp as the mustang), because I didn't want to melt the wires or start blowing fuses.

One other thing. One car flashed their highbeams at me with just the silverstars running. I tapped the highbeam lever just to show him that I wasn't running with highbeams.

 

ok ok, I'll do it...






Also, are there any issues running headlamp bulbs in the driving lamps (wattage issues maybe)? I have no idea. :scratch:

 

I just read the 9145STs release date has been pushed back to the fall of this year or possibly even later.

The reason oncoming cars were flashing their lights at you is because the 9005 is not a fog lamp bulb but a high beam lamp from a 4 lamp system.

2005 FORD Mustang

High & low beam headlamp
H13 (9008)
H13XV XtraVision Halogen Upgrade: Up to 20% Brighter

Fog/Driving light
9145
9145ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: the whitest and brightest Halogen

 

I realize it isn't a foglamp bulb that I am using. I'd rather use them as driving lights on back roads, because the fog dispersion pattern is so much better to watch the sides of the roads.

However, since they aren't wired as high beam lights, isn't just the low-beam portion of them being used? When you say "4 lamp system," do you mean that the 9005 is a single element bulb and only designed as a high beam and not a low beam at all? If that's the case, what is the model number for the low beam bulb???

I never meant to blind anyone. I've never had anyone flash their highbeams at me when these were in the F150. I only thought they did it because the fog lights are higher off the ground on the Mustang.

 

The 9005 is a single filament light used mainly in high beam applications for four-headlight systems, two on each side(maximum 70W).

The 9006 is a single filament light used mainly in low beam applications for four-headlight systems, two on each side or in some cases as a fog light (maximum 60W).

 

Thanks for the clarification. Looks like I'll switch to 9006's. I don't want to be blinding people!!!

 

The 9006's don't fit in the 9145 socket. Although they look very similar in orientation, they are off just enough that I can't fit them. Also, the inner seal on the 9006's are bigger than the 9005's. I guess it's to keep people from swapping them by mistake.

...Perhaps that's why the F150 forum recommended the 9005's....

 

I apologize for the confusion. The intention of my post was to note the different lighting characteristics/location between the 2005 & 2006 lamp assemblies, not necessarily the compatability between fitment.

Personally I'll be waiting for the 9145STs to become available.

 

No problem. I appreciate you explaining it to me, since I really don't want to be driving around blinding everyone!!!

I've been using the 9005's in place of 9145's in my F150 since March of '04. I guess that because they are so much lower to the ground no one mistakes them for high beams.

I agree about the 9145's; and I look forward to trying them out when they are available. It sure would be nice to get 9008's available for the headlights!

 

I get flashed with stock lights and fogs on so these have to be heck on other drivers.

 

Whenever I have the fogs on, I get flashed all the time. Almost not worth driving with them on.

 

I sometimes drive with ONLY my fogs on...it looks awesome and you can see people try to figure out what car it is...especially right before dawn.

 

I do this a lot, using the fogs as DRL's. I had to reprogram "My Color" to be white so I can see the gauges with my sunglasses on.

With those 9005's in the Fogs, I didn't need the other lights on.

 

How hard was installation. I know almost nothing about changing headlights or bulbs for cars...If I go and get the bulbs, whats the next step?

 

Instructions are on page 37 of the owner's manual - very simple.

 

I emailed Sylvania to ask about the release date of the 9145ST. Here is their response:

 

Great news! Can't wait to try them out!

 

Anyone tried the Nokya H10 as a replacement for the driving light bulb yet? I see the H10s and H13s pretty often, just do not know anyone that has tried them yet.