I'm wondering which would make more of a difference at night, some silverstars or the addition of fog lights to my 01 ram. And by how much of a difference? I live in Alaska where in the winter it's dark till 10am and gets dark again at 4pm, so I'm almost always driving in the dark and the standard headlights just ain't cuttin it. So I'm wondering what the best bang for my buck would be...and if fog lights should be the better choice, can you reccomend some aftermarket ones? Mounting them isn't an issue since I can make my own brackets.

Thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas!

*edit* decided I needed driving lights more than fog lights, so I still need help on deciding which ones

 

You're probably better off going with a set of fog or driving lights. Fog lights will complement your low beams whereas a driving beam will project much further out, supplementing your high beams. The PIAA 510 lamps are made to the right dimensions to fit in the stock foglight holes on your bumper and bolt right on with the adapter made by PIAA. They come in either a super white driving beam or a plasma yellow fog pattern. I installed PIAA's top of the line bulbs in my headlights and it just didn't make a big enough difference for me.

 

Keep in mind a few things.

1). Silverstars have a very short lifespan compared to standard halogen, about 250hrs for SS's to 1,100hrs for halogens The new series of Silverstars (think they are called "Ultra") "boast" a longer life compared to regular SS's, about 20% longer than 250hrs. BFD.

2). Sliverstars are costly at app $34pr for regular/ $45pr for Ultras. Ain't cheap.

3). All that night driving in Alaska is gonna be burning up bulbs ........ and a hole in your wallet.

In your situation I would go with a good set of either driving lights or fog lights, depends on what you need. Check the dispersion patterns to see what's best for you between the two. Lamp up with either standard halogens or GE Nighthawks.

Don't know what you're driving so can't be more specific about what else might help you.

Switch out your standard headlight assemblies for "Sport" type. Sport uses 4 double filament bulbs instead of the standard 2 plus has crystal lenses. My truck is a Sport so was ahead of the curve. Get a new heavy duty wiring harness that utilizes relays/heavier wires/connectors. You'll be running your lights from your battery and not through the dash switch (it'll just actuate the relay). Dodge kinda underwires their headlamps. You'll get better voltage to the bulb and better voltage means brighter light. If your truck already has fogs or driving lights in the bumper you can get aftermarket Hella, Bosch, etc. that will fit in the factory location. Use aftermarket wiring/relays for these also. I'm doing the harnesses and replacing the stock driving lights on mine this spring.

Bulbs are a bone of contention around here. Some guys swear by Silverstars, others (like me) think they are junk. Some people think Nighthawks are crap, but that's my choice. With the Sport housings and heavier wiring even regular halogens work much better than stock.

One note: DO NOT buy a bulb that has blue glass. All that does is change the color of the light, but also filters the color spectrum so you actually get LESS light, not more.

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful ......."

 

I have the silverstars in my truck now, and before that i had a set of 6000k hid's in them. I have the sport headlights as well. The silverstars i like alot, and actually think they work better than the hids. The hids were brighter, But since its a single filament, my highs sucked ***. Not to mention, i had alot of glare, and pissed alot of people off. I got rid of those and put in a set of the silverstars. Theyve been in the truck for a little over a year, and i probably have an easy 250 hours on them and havn't lost one yet. They are brighter and better than stock halogens, But i wouldnt say that they are that much better. They are a bit whiter as well, but do help on the dark roads. I live in north jersey, and drive up into ny and out in sussex all the time (Woods and open farm land with no lights) and i'm decently happy with my lights. I also have the foglights, that i'm sure help a small bit. If i were going to add lights though, i'd probably put a good set of driving lights in the 2 retangular holes in my bumper though.

 

Thanks, after some deliberating, I decided that I need a set of driving lights. In actuality, I need both, but I need some driving lights more. The PIAA 510's seem like one of the best candidates, but I was wondering about these: http://www.piaalights.com/details.ph...%20RING%20LAMP now, are these going to be comparable if not better than the 510's, or are they more of just a gimmick.....a gimmick which I'm a sucker for, lol.

Also, these would likely be going in the spot for the factory fog lights because I don't have a brush gaurd, or anything else to mount them on.

 

i got the sport headlights and fog lights on my 96 with silverstars all around they are super bright just lights up everything i get flashed by people coming down the road every once and awhile and then i got 4 kc daylighters on my push bar talk about bright

 

i got the silverstar ultras(9004) for my high beam not yet to get the low beam(9007) an i grabed a set of fog lights from walmart cant remeber the brand right off but there blueish tintedan they really help,if youcan get to a advance auto they have the plain silverstars for $27 an the ultras for $35

 

ive been running siverstars for well over a year now. used the ge nitehawks before but they actually didnt seem to last as long as the silverstars.

 

The hour ratings between Nighthawks and Silverstars are about equal. Didn't mean to imply that Nighthawks were a longer life bulb, but they do utilize clear glass as opposed to the blue glass of the Silverstars which translates into more light for the GE's. Also the Nighthawks are somewhat less expensive.

 

I went to a local truck store today to look at the 510's in person, and didn't realize the lenses were glass. I thought they were plastic. Because of this, I will likely go with something like the lightforces because rocks get thrown up at my truck all the time, and I don't want to be thinking "oh, that probably busted my lights" every time I get a rock thrown up at me...
I'm still considering the PIAA P-9000's though. I just have yet to find a review or find anyone who can comment on how bright they are. Otherwise, I think I might go with something like the lightforce 140 and just mount two of them on the bumper.