Best 9006 bulb or do a HIR retrofit?

Joined
Jan 2, 2004
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Location
California
The old van needs bulbs. 2005 Sienna. Recoated the headlights with 2K SprayMax clear per @Trav’s suggestion and tossed in a set of Philips +30 9006s from Amazon. That was 3 years ago. Mom’s saying the lights have been dim, and I’m noticing a color change too.

All im seeing is Philips bulbs made in China on Amazon, and the parts stores carry Sylvania - don’t want to use Silverstars. So, roll the dice with Sylvania XtraVision or do an HIR retrofit with a ACDelco/Mopar/Toyota boxed Vosla/Narva bulb from the dealer or Rock to avoid getting a fake off Amazon/eBay?
 
I think the hir lights would work fine. It's the led conversions that have issues. But as long as it doesn't exceed the load it should be fine. What's the wattage for the current low beams. 55w or 65w.
 
IMO a 3 year old philips should not visibly dim. Could be your reflector or the lens, corrosion, clouding or use of previous higher powered bulbs.

9006 is normally used for fog lights over here. I recently swapped mine for auxito LED's since it is not illegal since they are not the main driving light
 
A standard 9006 bulb puts out a nominal 1,000 lumens. A +30 9006 puts out 1,095. A standard 9012 puts out 1,870.

I’m always satisfied upgrading 9005 and 9006 to 9011 and 9012 respectively, the standard +whatever bulbs never seemed like they were worth the extra money to me unless you have some objectively terrible headlights (H13 in my caliber for example).
 
I went from 9005->9011 with trimming on my '15 Sonata and was very happy. I believe 9006->9012 is the same concept. Takes about 1 minute to trim them with some wire cutters or fingernail clippers.
 
I did this on a '98 Buick lesabre. The HIR bulb glass got so hot it deformed into a little drip of glass, didn't go to air, so it worked. Your suposed to only do this conversion on vehicles with bulb shields, as the bulbs do not have the bulb top painted.
 
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