So I put Sylvania Silverstar 65W 100% white bulbs in my truck about a month ago, it made a difference but not a big difference compared to my previous Sylvania 60W bulbs, which came with the truck 10 years ago, never blew out once. I was impressed enough they had such lights in them already considering it was an old truck. I know the newer more expensive trucks already come with Xenon bulbs.
Anyway, I originally wanted to go with Xenon bulbs, but I heard they're bad for long distance, considering they make everything look blue..duh. I stopped by Autozone a few days ago and saw the Xenon bulbs, and thought of picking them up because I figured it would look better anyway, and a lot more noticable than these "100% white" bulbs. They look whiter, okay, but not much BRIGHTer. They just make my high beams blinding, but I'm not planning on using my high beams 24/7, unless I really wanted to annoy people. I also hear from people all the time, "New bulbs? Xenons?" or "Xenons look really good", and I just think well obviously people like them..
I figured I'd pick them up next time I went to autozone, because $20-25 for a pair of nice headlights that should last me is surely not much of a loss..

Anyone have pros or cons on Xenons? Do you have them? And are they actually that bad for long distance?
I found a pair on Stylintrucks.com. The Autozone website is either going really slow, or the shopping section is just down..so I can't see if their Xenons would fit my truck. Do they all basically fit the same vehicles? As long as they have that standard plug in type?

 

what do you mean by "Xenon" ? regular halogen bulbs that have a blue-ish coating (more-so than the silverstars) or actual HID xenon bulbs.the shape ofa HID bulb is much different than a standard halogen bulb.




if they look similar to the bulbs below, dont waste your money. i bought a pair like this for $9.50 on eBay and they are MUCH dimmer than the silverstars that i had before. i cant emphasize enough dont waste money buying them




However, if you get actual HID bulbs and ballasts, that will be way brighter... theres an ongoing thread about HID bulbs in a blazer/jimmy thats like 6 pages long. they do make HID's that arent blue, it all depends on what color temperature you get. i got 5000K which is nearly pure white. you can get 4300K which will be more bright and slightly yellow-er and you can get 3000K which will be even more yellow...



DONT BUY THE BULBS AT AUTOZONE!!!!! unless its a true HID kit that comes with EVERYTHING (bulbs, ballasts, misc. wiring)


true HIDs will come with all this stuff

 

Well I'm talking about the halogens because they're cheaper than a $200+ HID kit of course, which I'm not really looking to do unless I had a nice car/truck that I wanted to add a stylish look to.
How many watts are the ones you bought?
On http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DN
I found 9007, 100W/80W Hi/Lo Beams
http://www.white-light.net/images/9007.jpg


I've also found the same lights for cheaper on another site, but at halogen bulbs with 100W/80W hi/low beams, shouldn't that be a bigger improvement than halogen bulbs with 65W in general?

 

the blue halogen bulbs i bought were 55w 9006 low beams... the HIDs i bought are 35w 9006 low beams


does your truck use 9007's? im not sure how the headlights on the '96 are

if not, theres another option called HIR... halogen infrared reflecting. theres a coating on them that reflects infrared light (useless to the naked eye) back into the bulb making it burn hotter, brighter, and whiter. however, they are only made in 9005 or 9006 options. and they are $25 per bulb.

the HIDs i bought were only $75

 

As far as how the 9007 goes, it looks like the same type bulb. I went on a site and put in what year truck I had, and it came out with 9005 + 9006 results. I think they're the same as the 9007. Wouldn't 80w low and 100w high still be more intense even if it's not HID? I know HID is much better, but I don't feel like putting a conversion into the truck.

 

yeah the 80w should still be a lot brighter but that might be too much power for the stock wiring... the HIDs are only 35w but they have caused a few problems on my truck at least from not getting enough power and im waiting for a wiring kit to come in so i can draw the power directly form the battery instead of running through the fuse box.


im not sure of the difference in 9005/9006 and 9007. i know some high/low bulbs have a little metal shield inside that flips up and down when high or low is on. the shield will either aim the light down with the lows or up with the highs. i dont think thats how the 9007 is but im not real sure

 

That's true, 100/80w bulbs should use too much power. How much are you paying for the kit?

 

the relay kit was $38 but i bought a name brand one unlike my cheap no-name HIDs... it has HID specific connectors on it so it might not be easy to hook up to halogen bulbs. not to say it cant be done.


www.pilothid.com



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WIKIPEDIA:

One filament is located at the focal point of the reflector. The other filament is shifted axially and radially away from the focal point. In most 2-filament sealed beams and in 2-filament replaceable bulbs type 9004, 9007 and H13, the high beam filament is at the focal point and the low beam filament is off focus. For use in right-traffic countries, the low beam filament is positioned slightly upward, forward and leftward of the focal point, so that when it is energized, the light beam is widened and shifted slightly downward and rightward of the headlamp's axis. Transverse-filament bulbs such as 9004 can only be used with the filaments horizontal, but axial-filament bulbs can be rotated or "clocked" by the headlamp designer so as to optimize the beam pattern or to effect the traffic-handedness of the low beam. The latter is accomplished by clocking the low-beam filament in an upward-forward-leftward position to produce a right-traffic low beam, or in an upward-forward-rightward position to produce a left-traffic low beam.
The opposite tactic has also been employed in certain 2-filament sealed beams: placing the low beam filament at the focal point to maximize light collection by the reflector, and positioning the high beam filament slightly rearward-rightward-downward of the focal point. The relative directional shift between the two beams is the same with either technique—in a right-traffic country, the low beam is slightly downward-rightward and the high beam is slightly upward-leftward, relative to one another—but the lens optics must be matched to the filament placements selected.

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I'd get HID if I found the cheapest kit and bulbs, but I found 65/55w bulbs like I have now, only they're Xenon 9007 blue bulbs which should change the color. I just don't know if they're dimmer than the bulbs I have now.

 

best bulbs I used were plasma glows, brighter then silverstars and come with a 10year warranty. they come in lots of differant colors too, if your into that sort of thing.

http://www.plasmaglow.com/products_bulbs.php