Sylvania Silver Star Bulbs Short life span

Toy-Man · Jun 13, 2004

I replaced all my front lights with Sylvania Silver Star Bulbs back in Nov 03. I like the brighter/whiter light and have been very happy with this easy mod. Yesterday I realized one of the low beam bulbs had burned out. That seems a little short lived for me. Anyone else have a problem with premature failure of these bulbs or was this just a fluke.

TM

mike_d · Jun 13, 2004

i've never used them. but i'm a member of a number of forums (for 4runners, subarus, saabs, and ford super duty trucks) and on all of those boards people are reporting terrible bulb life of the sylvania silver stars. however, i don't think it's just sylvania, it seems to happen with any of the higher temperature bulbs.

from everything i've read, if you want high color temperature bulbs you'll have short life unless you actually put the (rediculous amount of) money into real HIDs. i'm just sticking with normal halogens with nothing fancy.

vcoglian · Jun 13, 2004

I've had mine (low beams and fogs) for just less than a year had no failures. I think I remember a similar thread on the board where others were discussing this same issue.

vcoglian · Jun 13, 2004

Related Thread

silver4x419 · Jun 13, 2004

Toy-Man said:
I replaced all my front lights with Sylvania Silver Star Bulbs back in Nov 03. I like the brighter/whiter light and have been very happy with this easy mod. Yesterday I realized one of the low beam bulbs had burned out. That seems a little short lived for me. Anyone else have a problem with premature failure of these bulbs or was this just a fluke.

TM

They are junk! They are great when they work, but they will burn out prematurely!

Here is the thread about it and other links I included in that thread!

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3704&highlight=silverstars

Go back to your OEM bulbs, save your money.

drivie · Jun 14, 2004

Or try a set of Sylvania Xtravision bulbs. Not bright white like the Silver Stars but much better standard lighting (better than OEM anyway). Check out Daniel Stern's excellent website for some very good lighting info.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

Drivie

sharp4runr · Jun 14, 2004

I'm going on 6 months now and they are still running strong. Also, I leave my lights on ALL the time. To me it makes me more visible so hopefully it may prevent a fender bender. If $30 lights will prevent an accident, they are well worth the money to me.

July

darktiger · Jun 14, 2004

The SilverStars in my 2000 Jeep lasted a little over a year. My stock Lights in my 04 4runner is more than adequate for my needs..

SuperSport · Jun 14, 2004

I have heard stories like this on the Camaro boards. I would contact Sylvania. From what I have heard, they will replace them if they are not older than a year or two when they go out. I've been running them since December without problems.

the_josh · Jun 16, 2004

i was talking to a guy at kragen auto parts today and i mentioned that ive heard about the very short life of silverstar, and he said if the you touch the bulb with your fingers it will greatly shorten the life of the halogen bulb. so maybe this is the reason some of u guys have had problems with your lights... so stop palming your bulbs!!! ha ha ha

anthracite4r · Jun 16, 2004

They usually go out a little before a year. From what I've read, they are pretty good at replacing them under warranty. So if you get them...KEEP YOUR RECIEPT!

hellothere · Jun 16, 2004

nothing for free

Hey guys - come on now... Why all the flap about the bulbs only lasting a year? Sylvania makes no bones about it - you get brighter light and it lasts a year. Burning out after a year is not premature, it is not some flaw in the design - this is EXACTLY how they were designed to run. Touching the bulbs and getting oil on them will cause them to work for an even shorter period of time than designed - meaning even less than a year.

Anyone getting more than a year out of SilverStars is just plain lucky. It would be nice if you could get brighter bulbs that did not fry your wiring and that lasted forever. Unfortunately that is going to take some new physics, not just $30.

dcampen · Jun 16, 2004

Sylvania makes no bones about it - you get brighter light and it lasts a year. Burning out after a year is not premature, it is not some flaw in the design - this is EXACTLY how they were designed to run.

Where does Sylvania explain this? I have looked at their information on the web and didn't see anything like that. They should make certain that people understand that Silverstars have a much shorter life than OEM halogens but I haven't seen it.

Edit:
Well, I'll have to take this back, Sylvania does have a statement about the Silverstar life expectancy:

"The life expectancy of a SilverStar halogen light source is dependent on the driver’s use of the lights, which vary by season, time of day and number of miles driven. We estimate the SilverStar halogen lights to have a life span of up to one year under average driving conditions. "

http://www.sylvania.com/auto/sstar_faq.htm

dcampen · Jun 16, 2004

It would be nice if you could get brighter bulbs that did not fry your wiring and that lasted forever. Unfortunately that is going to take some new physics, not just $30.

5 watt blue-white LEDs are now commercially available. A cluster of 12 of these should rival the light from an HID. I would expect that in a couple of years we will see LED auto headlights.

sharp4runr · Jun 16, 2004

Check out this link:

http://www.sylvania.com/auto/sstar_faq.htm

What is the life expectancy of SilverStar?

The life expectancy of a SilverStar halogen light source is dependent on the driver’s use of the lights, which vary by season, time of day and number of miles driven. We estimate the SilverStar halogen lights to have a life span of up to one year under average driving conditions.

Again, I have my lights on ALL the time and it's still burning strong. I only have about 6800 miles, so lets see what happens around 12k.

July

ChuckyD · Jul 17, 2004

Good thing I foung this thread! I have had PIAA's on my last truck for 3 years and never had a problem with them. I'm going to get those again!

Kmvreter · Feb 19, 2005

Just an update...

I originally bought the Silverstars after searching around the threads a year ago. Wanted better light (lots of night driving with short winter days) but knowing they might fail so I was waiting for this and saved the receipts. Both my low-beams just burnt out within a few days of each other. Had them for 10.5 months / almost 30K km (~18.5K mi) / 600 running hours (I drive with lights 90% of time). Took them back to the retailer (Canadian Tire) who has a 1 yr warranty on them.
Now, here's the catch. If you get an exchange then you don't get more warranty (I would have been SOL on the replacement set after only 1.5 mths because of the original date of purchase.) So, instead, I got a full refund. I still like the light output so then went and rebought them. The 1 yr clock starts ticking again. I figure I already bought them once so I can keep doing this, even if the price goes up slightly, until they actually burn out longer than a year.

iFORCE · Feb 19, 2005

I've had them on all our vehicles for about 2 years now and haven't had one burn out yet.... so I guess i'm lucky. 5 pairs being used all the time and haven't had a problem yet...

pat161 · Feb 19, 2005

I've run the silverstars myself and know a few others who have them. About a year seems to be their life span. I had my first set go out in Dec., I just replaced one and the older one was way dimmer than the new one, so they definitely lose brightness over time. I would say replacing them once a year is well worth it for the extra light. Even at $40 a pair that is still only $400 over 10 years, HID conversions are that much or more.

Toy-Man · Feb 19, 2005

I see lots of good comments here. Well as I stated at the start of this post, one of my low beams burned out within 6 months, since then other one lasted until Nov (1 year almost to the day since purchased). I can live with that. I like the brightness of the Silver Stars and have not tried any other bulbs. What I am doing now though is I keep a spare low beam bulb in the glove box just in case I get another premature burnout. It is probably a good idea to keep a spare around anyway.

-TM-

Sylvania Silver Star Bulbs Short life span

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