Another incredibly technical question but figured I'd ask other owners.  Our Suzukis take the 9003 bulbs.  Looking for something legal but with better visibility than whatever is in mine now.  Spend a lot of my morning drive tooling down narrow, winding Kentucky roads with not much of a shoulder other than a ditch.
I could just go buy a set of Sylvania SilverStars but figured I'd ask.  Anybody found anything that works great but doesn't break the bank?  Just looking for a replacement bulb and not add on lighting.

I found that the Silverstars does light the road better at night.  The next step up from their would be installing either an HID kit or additional driving lights..

I just purchased a pair of Hella 550 driving lights from amazon.. Still waiting on delivery. The 550 driving light kit cost me $94USD + free shipping.. The 500FF kit is much cheaper at $68

I just put in the Silver Stars, not a huge improvement but definately noticable.
But I thought the factory lighting was pretty good...
Overall I though I got good bang for my buck.

Another incredibly technical question but figured I'd ask other owners.  Our Suzukis take the 9003 bulbs.  Looking for something legal but with better visibility than whatever is in mine now.  Spend a lot of my morning drive tooling down narrow, winding Kentucky roads with not much of a shoulder other than a ditch.
I could just go buy a set of Sylvania SilverStars but figured I'd ask.  Anybody found anything that works great but doesn't break the bank?  Just looking for a replacement bulb and not add on lighting.

I run SilverStar Ultras - significantly more light - and I suggest you search online rather than picking them up at your local autoparts store, pricing on Amazon was significantly lower than AutoZone when I bought mine about a year and a half back.

I found that the Silverstars does light the road better at night.  The next step up from their would be installing either an HID kit or additional driving lights.

I have no idea what the laws in Trinidad are like, but in most countries retrofit HID kits are illegal - and with good reason - when you fit a gas discharge bulb in to a lamp with a reflector & lens designed for a filament bulb, you end up with a distorted beam pattern - lots of light everywhere (giving you the impression that it's better) but NOT where you need it, and on a wet road you'll find you might as well be driving without any lights at all.

^ Never knew that. Most guys who I know have used them always spoke highly of their performance. I too am using the Silverstar Ultras and is pleased with their performance..

Have you guys noticed any decreased lifespan of the bulbs with the stuff like the SilverStar Ultras?  I noticed on a few sites that folks mentioned them not lasting very long...year at most.  However I'm thinking that could easily be folks handling them then wondering why they blew up 6 months later.



I liked the factory lights on my '03 GV.  Bright and white.  The '02 XL7 had decent lights but they were definitely more yellow.  The lights in my '02 Tracker are not terribly bright and yellow.

^ Never knew that. Most guys who I know have used them always spoke highly of their performance. I too am using the Silverstar Ultras and is pleased with their performance..

Heh - driving in Trinidad you only need to see as far as the car in front of you only place I know with worse traffic than Port of Spain is Manhattan Island

On a more serious note - you get behind the wheel and everything in front of you is bright & well lit, most people think great, better perfomance, but it's an illusion - everything is bright because the HIDs are brighter, but, because of the distorted beam pattern that brightness never makes it where you need it - 300~400 metres down the road.

I'm not that familar with Trinidad when you get outside of Port of Spain, been down SanFernando once, but there's a long winding road down the east coast - goes past I think it's called Mayaro Beach - all the way down to Galleota Point, where BHP Billiton has their tank farm, get on a long road like that and see how far down the road you can see.

Have you guys noticed any decreased lifespan of the bulbs with the stuff like the SilverStar Ultras?  I noticed on a few sites that folks mentioned them not lasting very long...year at most.  However I'm thinking that could easily be folks handling them then wondering why they blew up 6 months later.



I liked the factory lights on my '03 GV.  Bright and white.  The '02 XL7 had decent lights but they were definitely more yellow.  The lights in my '02 Tracker are not terribly bright and yellow.

I saw those reports of short lifespan myself - but I've had no issues.

One of my Suzukis, the one my son drives, has had a pair of SilverStars in it for three years now - this is a Swift, lowered, H&R sport springs, poly bushings, low profile tires - I'm mentioning this so you know those lamps are subject to a lot of vibration.  The other Suzuki, the GV has had the SilverStar Ultras for about a year and half.

Could the yellowing be caused by the headlight lens?  These vehicles have polycarbonate lens and after a few years they start to become discoloured - I find I have to polish mine (Meguiar's PlastX) around once a month - next time around, after the polish I'm going to try sealing them with RainX, see what effect that has.

Quote from: 3stagevtec on December 23, 2010, 07:48:09 PM

^ Never knew that. Most guys who I know have used them always spoke highly of their performance. I too am using the Silverstar Ultras and is pleased with their performance..

Heh - driving in Trinidad you only need to see as far as the car in front of you only place I know with worse traffic than Port of Spain is Manhattan Island

On a more serious note - you get behind the wheel and everything in front of you is bright & well lit, most people think great, better perfomance, but it's an illusion - everything is bright because the HIDs are brighter, but, because of the distorted beam pattern that brightness never makes it where you need it - 300~400 metres down the road.

I'm not that familar with Trinidad when you get outside of Port of Spain, been down SanFernando once, but there's a long winding road down the east coast - goes past I think it's called Mayaro Beach - all the way down to Galleota Point, where BHP Billiton has their tank farm, get on a long road like that and see how far down the road you can see.

San Fernando is my home town! I've even stayed in a guest house at the tank farm at Galleota Point, so I know those roads quite well! That last time I went down that side, I had my Hella Rallye roof lights installed, so seeing 3-400meters down the road was not a problem.. lol

As I recall, my Silverstars only effectively light around 50M of the road ahead. The high beams will extend to beyond 150m..

San Fernando is my home town!

That's why I mentioned it.

A few years back I used to be in & out of Trinidad fairly frequently - until immigration got some crazy notion that I should get a work permit - told me that the CSME and free movement of skilled nationals didn't apply to me.  Mind you - it wasn't as if I was trying to live & work in Trinidad, I was flying in to do work on contract and never there for more than three days at a time (I do installations & maintenance for Eaton-Powerware and at that time there were only two of us in the Caribbean with the product knowledge - I was in Guyana, the other guy was in the Bahamas, so I was closer).  They didn't detain me, more because it was a Friday evening and I had a return ticket for the Monday morning than anything else and I haven't been back (to work) since December 2004.  Nowadays I rarely get beyond the Club Caribbean lounge in Piarco - in transit to some place else - and my last actual visit to the island proper was the end of October - when the government scared everybody with hurricane & flood warnings over Tomas - one of my girls graduated from UWI with a master's degree in engineering.

As I recall, my Silverstars only effectively light around 50M of the road ahead. The high beams will extend to beyond 150m..

The highbeams aren't SilverStars?  The point I was making is that, it is under these conditions that you will realise that the retrofitted HIDs are all they're made out to be, and especially if it's wet & rainy night.

Another thing to keep in mind is the more miles you put on your rig the more sand blasted the plastic on the lens gets. I thought my headlights looked good but polished them anyway since I had some of my headlight restoration kit left over from doing my Dodge truck. The results were amazing. I highly recommend it. The kit I used was the 3M headlight restoration kit.

Not certain about the "sand blasted" plastic thing - in my experience the lens seem to develop some sort of a yellowish film which gradually gets worse.

I was treating the windscreen with RainX the other evening and, just for the heck of it, wiped the damp rag across the lower part of the lamp and it came away yellowish brown, leaving the lamp clear - although the RainX bottle does mention using it on headlamps, it says not to use on plastic, so I'm waiting to see if I get any crazing or cracking reaction before doing both.

I bought that 3M kit, haven't had the guts to use it yet though - my lamps are in reasonably good condition - did you start with the coarse grit pads as they recommend?  The thought of turning my lamps from reasonably transparent polycarbonate into opaque white poly is scary.

Dont be scared. Its pretty hard to screw up. Even if you do screw it up there is plenty of plastic to do it over and over and over and over....  Trust me Ive done at least a dozen of these now. BTW, definately start with the coarse grit. When you get to the final grit try to make sure you have removed all the sanding circles. Take your time. If done right it should take at least 30 to 40 minutes. I took my grille out instead of taping around it. I think it was actually faster LOL!

BTW, sandblasted lights are a little more common in the northern states from salt and sand where as the yellowed lights are more common in the southern states from sun damage. Around here we get a little of both. The reason I mentioned the sand blasted lights is often it is overlooked. At first glance the look fine but up close you can see little pits. Those little pits are light refractors and will dull what light you do have.

BTW, sandblasted lights are a little more common in the northern states from salt and sand where as the yellowed lights are more common in the southern states from sun damage.

That would explain it - I'm in the Caribbean - no snow, so no salt/sand, but lots of sun.