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Sylvania Siverstars? Anyone else had problems?

Z

Z22_Z33

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Seattle
After spending 50 some bucks for both of these I thought I wouldnt need to buy any new ones for a long time. They are bright I will give them that. Yet one burned out after 4 months, and a month later the other burned out. Has this happened to anyone else?
 
that has happened to me after i replaced bulbs in my subaru, two months after the purchase, one of them died, ... silvania brand
 
I have used them and the xtravisions... if you are using a sealed beam there was a batch that went thru about 2 years ago where the sealant came off the rear of the housing causing them to gain moister and then burn out. If you have replaceable bulb then do not touch the glass of the bulb. The oil from your skin will cause the bulb to heat up and burn out. They normally last about that amount of time.
 
I haven't had any problems with them yet, had them for 6+ months now. They are a definite improvement over stock, but of course, some one will say there is better. But for the money, I like them, and unless something persuades me other wise, I'll probably stick with them.
 
I like mine, yes I have one burn out after about 6 months and replaced it. I think it may have been my fault for the failure I had a loose wire in the back of the socket and may have played a part in the failure.
 
My son and I put them on our xj's and one of his burned out instantly! They were $20 normal price at Meijer and I got mine on a "store remodeling" sale (big walmart expansion accross the road) for $15 each. They "look" brighter. Somewhere I read a link that explained how they do it. They filter out the yellow in favor of the blue. The filter reduces the available light output. DOT has limits on brightness and wattage. To get the LUMS in range using the correct wattage they overdrive the filements thus reducing the life span. In the end what they are is a whiter light that puts out light in the medium to low side of the allowable LUMS and they burn out sooner, according to the writer. What he says is the yellow in normal lights actually helps us see better and uses the example that fog lights are most of the time yellow. Also Osram ownes Sylvania and outside of North America Osram markets a silverstar that actually is brighter because it's more wattage (not DOT approved) Is it all a illusion? Sounds like it but they look neat!

JoBo
 
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I would think they should last more than a couple of months, but incandescent lights have an unpredictable life span anyway. I bought my 88 Cherokee new. I think I've replaced the driver's side headlight three or four times (why does it always blow on a freezing day just when I'm leaving for a long trip?), and as best I can remember I believe the passenger side is still original.

If you look at the box for household bulbs in the store, they show an average rated life. Some won't go that far, others will last longer. A lighting guy explained the average to me. I think they run a bunch of them, and the average life is the point at which 25% of them are burned out. (Which is not a true mathematical average, but it is a better predicter of end-user life expectancy)
 
I don't know about the silverstars, but the Xtravisions are supposed to last twice as long as regular bulbs. As far as I know, the Silverstars and Xtravisions use the same bulb - the only difference is the Silverstars have a blue coating to make them look more white. This actually reduces the total light output. I put Xtravisions on my XJ a little while ago, couldn't be happier. They are so white they make my clear corners look yellow. Even if they do burn out faster than regular bulbs, I'll keep buying them. I don't think I've ever had to replace a headlight because it burned out...only because of rock chips and leaking seals.
 
I went in to the auto parts store to get something to replace the bad foglights in my van (which I use all the time to help out the fogged over headlight housings) and I think I had a small stroke when I saw the price of those Silverstars. Eek! (Although, they were still waaay cheaper than the dealership wanted for new foglight housings.) I ended up buying a $20 set of driving lights (like add-on fog lights, except projection instead of dispersion) and the light output is absolutely awesome now! And if they burn out, new H3 bulbs are like $5, and if the die from a stone, or some idiot for whatever reason steals them, $20 gets me brand new ones. :D It's win-freakin'-win baby! :D :D :D
Jeep on!
--Pete
 
I had my Silverstars for about 1.5/2 years before one burnt out. I also ran them in my old van, and they always lasted a good while. I did put a set in the zj ,and they only lasted about three days, but i think the $4,600 deer had something to do with that.
 
had mine in my xj for about a year/10,000 miles, many at night. no issues yet.
 
I've had mine in for over a year now and they're still working.
 
scoobyxj said:
I had my Silverstars for about 1.5/2 years before one burnt out. I also ran them in my old van, and they always lasted a good while. I did put a set in the zj ,and they only lasted about three days, but i think the $4,600 deer had something to do with that.
Click to expand...

Something I forgot. I've been running a harness on these for about six months too.
 
just put mine in after christmas and one is a different color than the other now. They were fine when I first put them in and now they are really different I thought it was a dirty lens but I checked for that they are both clean.
 
1989laredoxj said:
just put mine in after christmas and one is a different color than the other now. They were fine when I first put them in and now they are really different I thought it was a dirty lens but I checked for that they are both clean.
Click to expand...

Clean the sockets that plug into the bulb.
 
They have been around for some time now. The xtravisions have been around longer then the silvers. I pretty much just use the xtravisions. Every 4x4 I own or have owned gets the xtravisions. They put out more then enough light for me. I have driving lamps for times when the road is wet.
 
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