Sylvania replacement bulb quality poor?

[Bottom_Feeder]

Last year I replaced both rear marker/brake light bulbs on my Impreza after about 12 years on the originals, which were also Sylvania branded but the build quality seemed different and apparently better than the two new 1157LL bulbs. Fast-forward to less than a year later and one of the new bulbs was having 'issues' in that it would work until it heated up a bit, then stop working. A sharp knock on the taillight assembly with my hand would bring it back but only briefly. Swapping the bulb between the taillights confirmed it was a bulb problem and not a wiring or bulb socket issue.

I installed another pair of the Sylvanias simply because they were easy to get locally. But looking at them closer, the first set of replacements had REALLY ugly soldering done on the filaments and posts (or whatever they are) while the new ones look great. There was also a dark spot and solder spatter inside the bulb right next to the filament that worked only occasionally. I still have the bulbs and will try to get pics if anyone is interested.

Now I'm certainly not going to start barking at Sylvania for a pair of $5 bulbs, but has anyone else had issues with them? I might start trying GE or Wagner bulbs in the future.

 

[antiqueshell]

I replaced the two dual filament bulbs on my 94 Honda Accord Sedan last year. The the bulbs I replaced were almost 18 years old. One of the replacements blew at just 4000 miles/ 2yrs of use. It wasn't the tail filament but the brake filament which is used RARELY. You could tell that the failure was big because there was a LOT of black carbon on the glass.

 

[sciphi]

I try to avoid Sylvania bulbs whenever I can. Their headlights I find to blow soon and offer poor beam patterns. I've had much better luck with Philips bulbs.

 

[NHGUY]

Wagner doesnt seem much better,I go with Eiko now.Chinese made but seemingly decent grade.

 

[WiskyBadger]

I've had good luck with Philips from Carquest.

 

[Klutch9]

Bottom Feeder, I had a similar issue with the rear brake/turn signal bulb in our Fusion. It was the same as you described: sometimes it would work, then it wouldn't. Then if I tapped the tail light housing it'd come back to life... Turns out the filament had snapped on one end, but because of where it had broken and how it way lying, sometimes it made just enough contact to work, but other times - like after driving over a bump - it'd move slightly and stop working again. This happened on the OEM Philips 7443 bulb that was about 20 months old. I replaced it with a Sylvania LL bulb, and it has worked fine since.

As far as the shoddy quality of the bulbs, I've never had that issue with Sylvania. With eBay bulbs, yes, but not any major name brand. I have seen several amber coated 3157 bulbs start flaking with age, but I couldn't seem to locate a name brand on the bulbs themselves.

 

[david_ES2]

Almost all sylvania incandecent bulbs are made in china, ibelieve they were made elsewhere a few years ago if im not mistaken, and the cheaper eiko bulbs are made in korea, china and japan, etc

 

[1kickbuttranger]

Originally Posted By: david_ES2
Almost all sylvania incandecent bulbs are made in china, ibelieve they were made elsewhere a few years ago if im not mistaken, and the cheaper eiko bulbs are made in korea, china and japan, etc


All sylv bulbs 3157 type that I have seen are USA. The honda type 744x bulbs are Japan, and small bulbs 194 type say "either Slovakia, Germany, or Japan" All Eikos I have seen are mostly China and a few are Taiwan.