PIAA Headlight Bulbs

[4Runner1371]

Well..after reading about HID lights in the forum. I've come to fact that it's ridiculous expensive to have "TRUE or ALMOST" HID result for my car. So I said F* it! and was wondering PIAA light bulbs to make it blue. What do you guys think? I apologize for failing you guys in treating 4runner with the real stuff, but that's too much for my student budget.

 

[4dailyRunner]

'not knocking HIDs

HIDs are nice....

They are relatively new to the market.

{Aside: there has been a good deal of discussion here in terms of Blue, white and yellow light... in terms of operation in different weather conditions ...etc. you may want more insight in that regard.)

Older technology has its benefits. When they burn out, you can walk into many stores and find decent replacements for $10 or so...

GE, Sylvania, Philips...etc. {If one headlight goes down, I replace both. The logic is that they are both on for same amount of time. If not both replaced, you will be under the hood 2 days later for the one you didn't change... ha ha.}

I may be ignorant (...snort, it happens). Do HIDs burn out? Is the replacement cost the same as the initial installation? If yes and yes... WOW!

My old fart conservative approach is to stay with what I can easily replace quickly.

Cheers, d4r
:biggrin2:

 

[blindside]

If you want to go with PIAA, go with the "extreme white plus". It has a slight blue tint to it.

Or you could just always go with the sylverstars Ultra for more usable light

 

[cdoyle]

If you are looking for light on the road and don't want to pay for HID.

Go with HIR bulbs, they are the closest thing to HID in Halogen form.

Here is some info on them.

http://www.finemotoring.com/

 

[Uneek]

Re: 'not knocking HIDs

I may be ignorant (...snort, it happens). Do HIDs burn out? Is the replacement cost the same as the initial installation? If yes and yes... WOW!

Cheers, d4r
:biggrin2:

No, HIDs don't have filaments.

But there are more components: ballasts, igniters and the burners. They're designed to last the life of the car, but because of more components those can fail. Some HID systems have the ballast and igniter combined into one box.

Also HIDs aren't recommended to be flashed or turned on and off like regular halogens. I think it was recommened that it shouldn't be turned on and off more than 2-3 times within an hour for the longevity of the components.

 

[coolpop]

If you want to go with PIAA, go with the "extreme white plus". It has a slight blue tint to it.

I had a different experience with PIAA bulbs. I bought the Xtreme White Plus and found them to be slightly brighter than stock but still had a very yellowish tint to them.

When I had my 04 Runner, I bought some Razo Premium White Zero bulbs from ebay. I swear, those bulbs were about as close to HID appearance as you can get without shelling out the bucks for a true HID system.

Since I bought my 06 (that requires H11 bulbs) I no longer have use for the Razo's (they are 9006). If anyone wants em, just PM me.

 

[cdoyle]

The problem with all those 'blue' bulbs is, that coating is filtering out light that could be used on the road.

And don't fall for that 55w=85w stuff either, it's all marketing.

Like I said earlier, if you want more usable light on the road, go with an HIR bulb. Those actually do put out more light, and no risk of melting your housing, since it's close to the stock wattage.

 

[atomic punk]

I agree with cdoyle. There's no question that HIR bulbs put out more light under standard wattage than any other bulb, other than HID. If you're on a budget, and you want WHITE or BLUE, buy PIAAs or SS's and lose lumens. If you want the more lumens and don't care about color, buy HIRs.

 

[4x4Runner09]

Which SilverStars is everyone buying. I just bought the SS ST's but have not installed them yet. Are these the ones that burn the whitest?

BTW its a 3rd gen and heres the list of different SS.

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/LampReplacementGuide/AutoLRG-Results.htm

 

[MaliciousClout]

HID's

Well ...a friend and I spent a short afternoon slapping a set onto my 1997 4Runner! Talk about connection instructions that had little detail. It got frustrating at times..

Luckily my buddy was skilled enough to help me get this done.

If you are thinking about doing this to your ride. Do it, I am completely impressed with the output of these lights! And they only use 35 watts with LOTS more output than Halogen at 55watts of consumption!

My question is, now that the light direction is cleaner and more direct I can now see my bulb housing needs direction adjustment.

Can anyone help me with that?

 

[cjm5027]

i currently have PIAA extreme white plus i think their called and im pretty sure thats the brightest/ highest quality bulb you can get without goin to hid (in which case i would never bother with anyway). They are noticably brighter and are more of a true white. Not sure why everyone wants to have a blue headlight bulb that isnt bright for sh*t and burns out in 6 months. But anyway i paid 75 bux for em and i think their worth it. And for bad weather i bought polarg pure yellow bulbs for the fogs (75bux) because the yellow doesnt reflect nearly as much as the normal white which allows you to see a little farther

 

[closedcap]

I have the PHILIPS Xtreme Power H7 +80% from suvlights.com and they are bright but the Osram Hyper H7 65W (10W higher) was much brighter.

tried the Osram Silverstar +50% before and I think the numbers are just hype like the PIAA 55W=85W BS

guy at suvlights said there is no substitute for higher wattage, and I have to agree

they also showed me a trick to swap the 9005 high beam bulbs for 9006 low beams on my Camry
I'd stray away from PIAA

 

[fsnoles]

I had PIAA Extreme White Plus (headlights and fogs) on my 02 Celica, which I owned for 5 years, and only had to replace them once. That said, I didn't drive that car much... In any case, I traded in the Celica earlier this year for an 07 4Runner and put the Extreme White Plus bulbs on last week. They're awesome. I had an extra pair of Halo 9006's that I bought for my Accord, so I swapped the fogs on the 4Runner for those. (No, they don't match.) (Yes, that really bugs me.)