LeSabre in Buffalo wrote:Sylvania Xtravisions are very nice bulbs. They're basically a SilverStar minus the blue coating, high price, and ad campaign. They also live longer since they run cooler thanks to the clear glass letting more energy out.
Also, if you're dropping $70-75 on Xtreme Visions, spend the extra $25 and get HIR's. The HIR's are flat-out the best halogen bulbs available for our headlights. Nothing else compares.
Weird, I was just coming back to this thread to post something about these bulbs!
Anyway, here's a little PSA from LeSabreUltra.
Replace your bulbs every couple of years, even if they aren't burned out!
I just got around to going through the lighting on my new Malibu, and thought I'd share my findings and choices since they relate to this thread. I found that all bulbs in the car were the original Philips Long Life bulbs that the car came with from the factory, putting them about about four years old. Bear in mind that my car uses H11 low beam bulbs, H11 foglights, and H9 high beams which are different than the 9006 low/9005 high and I think H3 (?) fogs that you will find in your Bonnevilles, but your results will be similar.
Anyway I'll cut to the point of all this. I'm sure you heard halogens dim over time, and that you should replace them every so often even if they don't burn out. But did you know that you can actually physically recognize a tired halogen bulb, and that it's not just a marketing gimmick?
Here is one of my four year old Philips Long Life H11 bulbs from my low beam headlamp:
And here is a relatively new H4 bulb:
Over time and with use, the filament will collect deposits. These deposits interfere with current flow and reduce output. See how the filament on the H11 looks much rougher than the H4?
Anyway, so those bulbs were obviously overdue for replacement. Just giving you guys a heads up for your own use. It's a good idea to replace every so often, I'd say two years for the low beam bulbs with average use, more frequently with high. High beam bulbs generally have a shorter life span and should be replaced every couple of years as well unless you never use them. Fog lights are going to vary with use. If you use them half as often as your low beams are used, then you could go with a four year replacement schedule, or something similar. But you get the idea. Even HID bulbs, if you have them, should be changed out on a similar interval since terminals within the bulb erode which dims the light output over time.
In any event, I replaced all my lights since it's an ordeal to change bulbs on the Malibu. It's necessary to remove both front wheels, the wheel liners, the front bumper, and a sight shield to get to the headlights. It took me four hours as a first timer from lifting the car to lowering it. It's extreme but unfortunately many new cars are like this, it's not unique to the Malibu. Should be faster now that I know the process.
Because of this I wanted a bulb that was both brighter than stock but had a decently long service life as I'd like to avoid having to go in there again until I'm ready to do a projector retrofit, which could be a while since I'm waiting for the warranty to expire before going in there...
So as I hinted with the first part of the post, I went with Sylvania Xtravision for the low beams. These offer something in between stock and Philips Xtreme Power (or in my case of choices, Osram Night Breaker) in terms of performance, but have a good lifespan as well. So, not a bad choice for your money and relatively inexpensive as well if you're looking for a cheap upgrade.
For the fog lights, I went with Osram Night Breaker (very much like Philips Xtreme Power, which is not available in H11) + 90 since the fogs don't require bumper removal for replacement, and aren't on as much.
The high beams got standard H9 bulbs. They're hard to find, and at 2100 lumens they're pushing HIR territory anyway. With modern optics these bulbs are amazing. But they're also short lived at 180 hours...so no hopes for a low beam version of these yet.
The difference between the new bulbs and the old bulbs was amazing. Additionally, I adjusted my headlamps upward since the Malibus for some unknown reason are aimed way below DOT specs from the factory. Now it's aimed in line with the specs and things are much better. So, on top of your bulb and wiring upgrades it's important to make sure that they are aimed right, as well!
Between these things, my output went from adequate to very good, with the only thing better being a proper HID retrofit. H11's are pretty nice, efficient halogens that a fair number of modern vehicles come with. Standard output of 1350 lumens, going up from there with various choices such as XtraVision (1600 lumens) or Osram Nitebreaker (1700 lumens).
Some examples of your choices with 9006 low would be standard (1000 lumens) XtraVision (1200 lumens) Philips Xtreme Power (1350 lumens) or HIR 2 9012 (1875 lumens).
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