Silverstar superstar

[Dave]

OK, I decided to put some bling on the supra to counter-act the effect of pulling off the chrome wheels. Oh yeah, some bulbs were burnt out too :-).
First to note, these bitches are expensive. I'm happy with the results so far, but my wallet wasn't. Stock lighting on this car wasn't bad (seemed like the sun was shining compared to the 240) but more is always better in this field, IMO.
Here's what it originally looked like, though I think I forgot to turn the light out when I took this pic.

and here are the new goodies[img]


I almost always run with my fog lights, so I didn't post up the pics of when just the low beams were on.
Here's a comparison with the fog lights and low beams on


and a comparison of stock and Silverstar high beams



and the final product:
low beams w/ fog lights, I found it very interesting that this actually looks brighter than the high beams below. Anybody else think this?


high beams


Bling on Bitchez!!1!1 Hate on me or not, it's done now and I'm not particularly unhappy with it considering something was going in there anyways.

[ScottyB]

nice, let us know how long they last.

it looks like your highs are as bright as the lows/fogs but i'm sure the pattern it throws is elevated and spread.

[WRXtranceformed]

Cool, my brother just got these too. Hopefully they last longer than the regular Silverstars... mine burnt out constantly in my old WRX.

[Dave]

I've heard mixed reveiws on these. Everybody I've heard that used gloves when installing didn't have any problems, but appears these are especially prone to the oils on our hands.

[Feersty]

Looks good David. Are your headlights nice and clear on the inside or could they use a good buffAR?

[D_Eclipse9916]

I used to install them and sell them all the time at Advance Auto. A bunch of customers came in that looked like they had no idea what they were doing bought them and came back in weeks or months later. They will fail very easily with the slightest touch of oil.

HOWEVER! I had silverstars for 2 years before I gave them to my friend (put in HID) and he is STILL using them, now 3.5 years later. They work awesome, not had to replace a single one. Put em in all my friends cars and never had one burn out. you just REALLY have to avoid touching them anywhere near the glass. I just put a set in Laura's car about 2 months ago and she damn loves them!

[REED]

How does the oils from your hands mess with these bulbs?

[.RJ]

Looks good David. Are your headlights nice and clear on the inside or could they use a good buffAR?

Rob brings up a good point - if your headlight plastics are hazed, then it will cut down on light output. I can give you a step by step on cleaning them up if you need - and it doesnt involve any "plastic polish" (that stuff is crap).

[Ryan T]

The shitty thing is that most of the yellowing of headlights on supras is inside the headlight itself, so you have to put it in the oven, seperate the housing from the lens and clean it (most people use nexxus polish). What's your method RJ? I've used Meguiar's Plast-X on my headlight (only one is yellowish) for the past two years. It takes the majority of the yellow out, but it comes back in 6-8 weeks and I have to do it again.

[Maengelito]

i use metal polish on the plastic. after buffing it off, i usually put a coat or wax on it. it seems to last about a year or two before a little bit of yellowing comes back.

i've had a set of silverstars (the old ones) and never touched the glass but they burned out in like 9 months. they were great when they worked though. i also did that 9005/9006 conversion which was also good but also only lasted like 9 months or so.

[Maengelito]

How does the oils from your hands mess with these bulbs?

the bulbs burn so hot that any impurities on the glass will cause the glass to break

[WRXtranceformed]

I used to burn them out so much that I'd buy new ones and swap the old bulbs back into the package and return them. The guys at AAP never checked to see if they were dead. I never touched them during installation, the old ones would just die after a while.

[NTIman]

I had them in my ZX2 for a long time, I think I burned one out after 2 years or so.

[.RJ]

What's your method RJ?

- Clean headlight lenses with simple green
- wetsand with 800 grit, really get in there and get the haze out
- wetsand with 1200 grit
- wetsand with 1500 grit
- Mother's metal polish by hand
- Meguiars swirl remover polish with a PC buffer (the buffer really helps here)

[JustinG]

i had silverstars in the RS since i bought it and now they are in the GSX 5 years later, ive only had one foglight silverstar burn out but that was my fault cause i literally grabbed the bulb to keep it from hittin the ground so....over all install them correctly and they will be fine.

[D_Eclipse9916]

The eclipses are just better, thats why the silverstars last in our cars....lol...

[JustinG]

good point

[Dave]

well, I wore latex gloves while installing and only brushed against the bulb a couple times, so I think the general conscensus is that I should be OK. Only time will tell...

Mine headlights do have some hazing, though like Thayer said, the majority of it is actually inside the headlight. Someday I'll get up the sack to bake it and clean that up, but I've got other more pressing projects...

[.RJ]

How does the inside of the headlight get hazed? They're sealed...

[Nick325is]

Do these silverstars have the bluish colored tip on the end of them? I ended up getting the Osram silverstars for the e30 and they are the same blub sans the bluish tip.



-Nick