Can someone show up some pics of these Philips NighGuide bulbs? My 2011 Altima has awesome headlights but the factory yellow bulbs don't do the car any justice :S
Your favorite non-OEM halogen headlight bulb?
- Thread starter mshu7
- Start date
Originally Posted By: bigbird_1
But, they are illegal on road, if it matters to you.
I assume HIRs in place of a 9006 would be as well?
In any case, as long as the bulbs were putting out white light and not some other funky colour, how exactly would this be detected and enforced?
But, they are illegal on road, if it matters to you.
I assume HIRs in place of a 9006 would be as well?
In any case, as long as the bulbs were putting out white light and not some other funky colour, how exactly would this be detected and enforced?
One tip when changing lamps: make sure you don't touch the glass! The oil from your skin will shorten the life of the lamp. If you accidentally touch the glass, you can clean it with rubbing alcohol. As for favorite bulbs, I use a blue bulb with xenon gas. I found the car or truck's headlight lens plays a part on how well it illuminates the road. I replaced some sealed beams on my 68 Ford & 82 Toyota trucks with H4 conversions...the 82 Toyota was the model where Toyota switched to rectangular lamps. I also have a 2008 Honda Fit which came with H4 lamps. The conversions did better than the sealed beams; in this case, switching to blue bulbs also helped the conversions even more. I've seen another 2008 Honda Fit with blue bulbs...as long as it's using Xenon gas, it appears brighter than the original. My bulbs in the Toyota are a generic brand from JC Whitney 55/60 watts, 4400 Kelvin rating.
Sylvania Xtra visions... H13
Originally Posted By: weebl
bigbird_1 said:
You do know that BLUE headlights are Illegal for on road use right?
Originally Posted By: johnachak
You do know that BLUE headlights are Illegal for on road use right?
this is not true, although tinted bulbs should be.
If this was the case there would be wattage laws, as 6000k @ 35w is bluish but @ 55w it's white as can be.
Anything over 5000k and you start loosing usable lumens.
back on the subject, I gotta say silverstars or phillips X-tra vision, but it has been so long since i've had halogen lights i'm sure there is much better bulbs out there now.
once you go HID there is no turning back
You do know that BLUE headlights are Illegal for on road use right?
this is not true, although tinted bulbs should be.
If this was the case there would be wattage laws, as 6000k @ 35w is bluish but @ 55w it's white as can be.
Anything over 5000k and you start loosing usable lumens.
back on the subject, I gotta say silverstars or phillips X-tra vision, but it has been so long since i've had halogen lights i'm sure there is much better bulbs out there now.
once you go HID there is no turning back
I use the Toshiba 9012 HIR (halogen infrared reflector) bulbs for the low beams. The output is 1850 lumens, as opposed to the 1000 lumen output of stock bulbs. Next best thing to HIDs. You can get them from your local John Deere dealer. You have to trim one of the tabs to fit the 9006 assembly, but the light output is amazing!
Doesn't matter what bulb you use if your lenses are hazed over terribly. I see a lot of people replacing bulbs who don't even bother to do this.
I did this for a friend of mine. Told her that her car lights had cataracs. The contrast made it look like there were new bulbs in them.
Something really spooked me the other day. The low beam died on the PS side while coming home on Wednesday night. Usually, I would not have bothered to replace it immediately but I had spare 5 minutes and had a old working bulb handy. So I swapped it. The bulb I took out was one of the vanilla Wagner from NAPA and had about a year on it. Thursday morning I compared the Osram nightbreaker on DS (1year on it) vs the old spare on the PS. The PS was noticeably yellow. I came home in the evening and the DS was dead! I have been using H4 lights since 1985. I must have replaced well over few dozens on various cars. I had never ever lost both low beams so close to each other. If other drivers in my family were driving this vehicle, they would most likely run in to no light situation as they would not have realized the loss on one light the night before.
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Something really spooked me the other day. The low beam died on the PS side while coming home on Wednesday night. Usually, I would not have bothered to replace it immediately but I had spare 5 minutes and had a old working bulb handy. So I swapped it. The bulb I took out was one of the vanilla Wagner from NAPA and had about a year on it. Thursday morning I compared the Osram nightbreaker on DS (1year on it) vs the old spare on the PS. The PS was noticeably yellow. I came home in the evening and the DS was dead! I have been using H4 lights since 1985. I must have replaced well over few dozens on various cars. I had never ever lost both low beams so close to each other. If other drivers in my family were driving this vehicle, they would most likely run in to no light situation as they would not have realized the loss on one light the night before.
If you install them at the same time they usually quit at about the same time. An exception might be a bad connection on one side. H4's don't like to be UNDER volted. The halogen cycle doesn't work right.
Something really spooked me the other day. The low beam died on the PS side while coming home on Wednesday night. Usually, I would not have bothered to replace it immediately but I had spare 5 minutes and had a old working bulb handy. So I swapped it. The bulb I took out was one of the vanilla Wagner from NAPA and had about a year on it. Thursday morning I compared the Osram nightbreaker on DS (1year on it) vs the old spare on the PS. The PS was noticeably yellow. I came home in the evening and the DS was dead! I have been using H4 lights since 1985. I must have replaced well over few dozens on various cars. I had never ever lost both low beams so close to each other. If other drivers in my family were driving this vehicle, they would most likely run in to no light situation as they would not have realized the loss on one light the night before.
If you install them at the same time they usually quit at about the same time. An exception might be a bad connection on one side. H4's don't like to be UNDER volted. The halogen cycle doesn't work right.
I picked up some Philips NightGuide 9006's for the low beams in my Chevy. I have a small list of bulbs I've tried and tested:
Not buying:
Silverstar Ultras
Xtravision (driver side went bad, probably due to the rough road)
Testing:
Sylvania Ecobright H4
Philips NightGuide 9006. This truck sees a lot a nighttime driving on rough roads so we'll see if it lasts long.
Not buying:
Silverstar Ultras
Xtravision (driver side went bad, probably due to the rough road)
Testing:
Sylvania Ecobright H4
Philips NightGuide 9006. This truck sees a lot a nighttime driving on rough roads so we'll see if it lasts long.
I like the Sylvania Xtra Vision.
[Not the brighter but very short lived Silverstars.]
XtraVisions are 20% or so brighter than stock, and you can really notice it. Their life is a bit shorter than stock but we are still talking years of life with them.
[Not the brighter but very short lived Silverstars.]
XtraVisions are 20% or so brighter than stock, and you can really notice it. Their life is a bit shorter than stock but we are still talking years of life with them.
I bought a pair of high output european type high beam only bulbs. Haven't gotten around to installing them as I've been busy with the 4 link install. They cost $45 ea. so I hope I get what I want out of them.
Hands-down, Philips Diamond Vision 5000k H1. However, there are LOTS of China-made counterfeits on eBay and Amazon. Learn to spot the fakes...which have terrible lighting quality and possibly burn your existing wiring.
Last edited:
Phillips Vision Plus!
Only $5 or $10 more per pair than the standard halogen bulbs but significantly improved illumination. No weird color shift either. My experience has been with the H7 lamps in my Saab 9-5s.
Only $5 or $10 more per pair than the standard halogen bulbs but significantly improved illumination. No weird color shift either. My experience has been with the H7 lamps in my Saab 9-5s.
Last edited:
I just replaced the 9006 bulbs in H4351 sealed beam housings (same headlights that 93-97 Camaros use) with Philips HIR2 9012 bulbs and the improvement is very noticeable. The 9012 burns at the same wattage as the 9006, has the same filament position and placement, but has 1800 lumens as compared to the 1000 lumens for the stock 9006 bulbs. I can actually see while driving at night now (always a plus).
I have been using the Sylvania Silverstar zXe and they are great.
