I need to change my H7 bulbs in my headlights. I bought my 2002 MCS used in 2002 and haven't changed any of the headlight bulbs. Was driving on the highway last night and wasn't impressed by the light output of the low beams.

Any suggestions on the brand of H7 bulb that would put out a nice bright white light?

Thanks

 

Silverstars are pretty excellent.

 

if you search it here you'll find many who poo-poo the Silverstars

But when I put them in, unprompted the spousal unit commented the next day what an improvement they were; we'd both felt the OEM's were weak. Some say they burn out fast. I sold the car 4 years after the change and they had not burned out yet. I put them in my ELEMENT soon after putting them in the MINI and still have the ELEMENT and have not yet changed a bulb.

PIAA is an alternative; but you can find the SilverStar in any decent auot-part store {in the US as I now see you are in Canada}.

When changing note that the high and the low use the same bulb type, so ensure you change the proper pair .... I changed the HB first in error and was disappointed in the improvement, but had done only one side and noticed the mistake when I check the HB . . . be sure and change all 4!

 

Ive had the sylvania Xtra Vision, had terrible luck with them, they seem to last for about 4-6 months, then theyve burnt out. I take care to wrap them in a clean rag (not touching the bulb), and i make sure all connections are clean and dry. At least the auto store ive been to has swapped them out with new ones. Ive gone through about 4 in the past year, alternating drivers and passenger side.

 

Silverstar Ultras were a nice improvement over the oem bulbs in my wifes Forester & in my Miata. We are going on 2 years in both cars & they still shine.

Your mileage may vary....

 

Osram Nightbuster is the brightest 55w halogen, however it has about half the lifespan of some other bulbs, and you pay for it for sure ($30/bulb).

 

Keep the receipt for your Silverstars and if they burn out within a year, make a copy of the original receipt, they'll mail you a replacement bulb....the only bummer part is that you need to buy another bulb in the meantime.

 

try this site and look at the H7s, i use them on the Low beam and they are very good

http://danielsternlighting.com/

 

I use Silverstar Ultras in my high beams. My low beams are zenon. I like them. They are very bright with good color. I think part of the reason R53s use more bulbs is simply because of the design. Mine is an 05 with only 40k miles and I have replaced my high beams 3 times. The filament gets a fairly violent jar everytime you slam the hood. Useing the daytime running light feature will also decrease the life of your bulbs. :thumbsup: Good luck.

 

Yeah I mentioned the Silverstars becasue we just put some in my fiances old corolla. Made a huge difference, but I highly doubt they'll last long since my old roommate backed into the front with his truck, making the housings a little loose. Im pretty sure they still wiggle around a bit, and will probably ruin them lol

 

candlepower.com has some good H7 bulb options.
I changed the low and high beams to the Osram Rallye 65W bulbs and they are great.
http://store.candlepower.com/h7bulbs.html

 

#1 rule: Tinted bulbs rob the light bulb of it's light output. So, avoid any bulb, regardless of claims or perceived reputation, that has a blue or purple or other color tint. Period. No questions.

That said, try and find a quality clear bulb that's either a +30 or +50 type. These are higher output bulbs (for a given wattage). Some brands are Osram Silverstars (not Sylvania), Phillips Vision Plus, and Narva.

For the lowdown on bulbs, go here: http://dsl.torque.net/tech/bulbs/bulbs.html

 

Big fat AGREE with the Osram Rallye 65W H7 bulbs. Much brighter than other H7's.
You'd expect 18% more light from the extra watts, but you actually get 40% more
since they're more efficient (2100 lumens from 65 watts compared to 1500 from a
premium 55 watt H7). They last well, too, unlike some "brighter" bulbs.

 

After checking into the Osram Rallye 65 watt H7's, I'm seriously considering them. My only question is will the housing and wiring handle them OK. I'm thinking they probably will, but I'd like to hear from anyone who's been using them in their 1st gen Mini with HID low beams.

 

I use them in my '05, high beam and low beam. No issues with the housing or wiring whatsoever. No ghetto-blue light, but the difference in brightness is noticeable. I actually tend to notice the difference more drastically when one of them burns out and I have to go back to standard halogens, as I did in my Forester, in which I was also using the 65w Osrams (H4).

My wife mostly drives that car now, so I kinda never got around to re-ordering the Osrams for that car...but yeah, I have to say that compared to the Osrams that were in it, the standard H4s in that car now really suck.

Bottom line: Another big +1 for Osram Rallye 65w halogens.

 

I have had the 65W Rallye bulbs in for atleast two years with no housing or wiring problems. Before I purchased I verified the wiring guage and verified it could more than handle the extra current.

 

Excellent! Thanks all. I've got a couple on order with Candlepower. Cheers!

 

So i ordered some silverstar bulbs to upgrade my halogen headlights on my 2006 MC. i initially ordered 1 pair because i really only wanted to upgrade the lowbeam. Im in NYC and rarely drive where High beams would be appropriate.

then i read in another thread that the DRL's are the hibeam running at reduced power. and they recommended when doing the bulb upgrade to do both or the upgrade wont be as nice (i imagine the headlight color would have some yellow from the stock highbeam still left in it)

so do the DRLs turn off once i turn on the headlights?

and.. reading these two post below make me reconsider putting the silverstars in the high beams

Anyone else have their High beam Silverstar bulbs burn out fast?

I ordered two pairs for cheap on ebay but i can always just keep the second pair as a back up pair and not install it in the high beams as i was planning.

Any suggestions?

 

silly question but are your DRLs activated? It was(is) a programmable option.

If you're not running day time running lights then there's nothing to be concerned about.

wrt my post your quote - I subsequently DID put in all 4 Silverstars and the first failure of a bulb was a good 3 years after - and it was a low beam . . . I put Silverstars in my Honda and they have not failed yet - going on 6 years.

 

Yeah my DRLs are activated

Do you have your DRLs activated? if you do have DRL's activated then from your experience it seems its safe to install both High and Low beam

 

had 'em on the 02 S for three years b4 selling the car and had NO problems other than a low beam burning out just b4 we sold the car. And the DRL uses the high at half power . . .

no burning of lens or anything else . . .

If you asked me what bulbs to buy I'd say SilverStar. Why? Because you can get them at any decent parts store and if you watch for coupons they are not expensive AND they were - to me - significantly brighter then the original bulbs in my 02. So much so that the FIRST time the spousal unit drove the car at night after I changed the low beams she asked 'what did you do?'

 

so i received my bulbs and put them in..
in the past when i had done bulb upgrades in other cars, i had noticed a bigger difference in color.
after installing the Silverstar Ultras in my lowbeams, there was an almost impercievable difference in color. Looking at the car with lowbeams turned on (one stock, One Silverstar) it was extremely hard to definitively say that something was done to the car.

The beam brightness and color on the wall was also unchanged.

I have not taken it out for a drive yet so I cant say what it as done for actual visibility but from my experience, i would not suggest changing the bulbs if what you are looking for is a color change; They were very white though i must say (not sure you could get whiter); but the stock is also very white, with only the slightest tinge of yellow in it

 

Over on Fred's TDI page (clubtdi.com) there is a consensus that OSRAM branded Silverstars are different, and vastly superior to Sylvania branded Silverstars (the ones on ebay and at the autozone type part stores). This is curious, as I thought Sylvania owns OSRAM, but I'm putting it out there for thought. I've used Sylvania Silverstar bulbs in my TDI, and noticed no better performance, but they seemed to burn out MUCH more quickly than the OE Osram bulbs the car came equipped with. The explination I've read is that the coating on these (or any coated bulb) cuts light output, so the Sylvania Silverstars have a heavier filament to compensate. Thus they run hotter, and lifespan is understandably shorter. The only "advantage" I observed with them was the nice bright tone of white. I would not by the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs again, warranty or not. I've never tried the OSRAM version, although the OE OSRAM bulbs in that car lasted fine once I disabled DRL, and same for the OE OSRAMs in my Cooper. So I have not had to replace the bulbs once I went back to OE. Plus they are already nice and white without any coating (bulbs in Cooper).

 

I must be the only one who did not like the silverstars, I could never get the beam pattern correct and did not see a differenace in the light output, that is why I went with the ones from Daniel Stern lighting, they have been excellant and in the car almost 2 years, my car is driven mostly at night so it is important to have good lights, these worked out good, and I only put them in for lowbeams.

 

I intentionally didn't want to color my prior post with my opinion. But for those who are looking for opinion versus fact, I also did NOT like they Sylvania Silverstar bulbs I had. They were a colossal waste of money. Not that it was much, but when you pay more for something that functions worse than a less expensive item, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.