Hi All,

I am looking to replace/upgrade both the headlight bulbs and the stock foglight bulbs on my 2005 Dodge Ram 2500. Although I do not want to do anything too crazy like an entire HID conversion, I would like to find some good, high-performance replacement bulbs. Most of the mainstream places near me (Advance Auto, Auotozone...) sell Sylvania, which offers multiple lines of bulbs. I have used their SilverStar bulbs in the past (although they were sealed beam) and were quite pleased with them. Sylvania now offers two bulb lines which are considered even "better" than the SilverStar line; The SilverStar Ultra and the SilverStar zXe (which seem quite impressive just looking at the packing in the store). Let me know whether any of you guys have used any or all of the above, their pro's and con's, as well as if I should be looking elsewhere for at a different manufacturer's line of bulbs. Thanks in advance!

 

Anything that is tinted will actuly reduces light output. The best is Phillips Xtream Powers close second is Orsaram (spelling?) Nightbrakers. Go to candlepower for more info.

 

I would not get the Sylvania Silverstar Ultras. I have heard numerous complaints of them going out after a couple of months. I just have the Silverstars. I have them in my headlights and fog lights and I could definitely tell a difference. I have had mine for about 6 months now and no problems but, I haven't heard anything about the zXe.

 

I've been running the PIAA bulbs since January and since the March replacement have had no issues with them. Their light output is better than stock, not as good as HID though. The colour is about 4-6k.

I'm not sure if my first set was an exception, or the second (current) set is, but until I go HID, PIAA works for me.

 

Osram is Osram Sylvania, the makers of the SilverStar line of lighting products. I am not aware of a product called "Nightbrakers" manufactured by Sylvania, but will do some research and see what I can find.

Today I stopped by my local Pep Boys to see what they had; Aside from the entire line of Sylvania lighting products, they also had some high-performance replacement bulbs manufactured by Hella (they had model numbers to fit both my headlights and fog lights). Does anybody have experience with these bulbs? I was not aware that Hella manufactured replacement headlight bulbs, but they certainly seem like good quality.

 

Hella does not manufacture bulbs, they repackage cheap crap made from Korea, Taiwan, China, etc and mark them up 3 or 4 times. I would steer way clear of them.

 

Thanks for that advice Brandon. That is quite the opposite of what I expected. Had you not informed me, I would have been quite tempted to give them a try and most likely ended up disappointed and ripped off. Thanks again.

 

NP
They are quite deceptive actually. Most Hella bulbs used to be made in Germany (with some also being manufactured in Hungary), and some of their current packaging still states "made in Germany" which is untrue to say the least.

I've done a ton of bulb research, and honestly, you can buy bulbs that simply throw tons of light out of the stock housing, but the only true (and safe/legal) upgrade to our lights comes from an HID projector retrofit, which is quite pricey. Most halogen solutions aren't worth the box the bulbs come in.

 

I do agree. I put Apexcone 8000K in my last car and loved them. The only reason that I haven't put them in my truck now is because people have had problems with them flickering and going out and I just didn't feel like modify them in order to get them to work.