iwantturbo

So I been doing some research for new headlight bulbs because one of mine blew out. I had the 9005 Silverstar conversion that many of you have. I had them for about only 8 or 9 months. At first I was disappointed cuz I thought they'd last longer. Turns out, this happens to a lot of the people who do the conversion. Because of this short lifespan of the 9005 bulbs, I was just gonna buy the regular 9006 Silverstars... until... I heard of 9012 bulbs.

They are kind of "underground" I think because I've never heard of anyone talk about them. Anytime I hear about lights, its either HIDs (if you have money) or Silverstars (for cheaper, but better than stock). I did some reseach on them and those who have them highly recommend them! They are plug and play for our 9006 sockets (direct fitment no modifications) and they dont use crazy power thatll make your lights burn out. They look like these:


And as you can see from this pic, they are wider than the stock 9006 bulbs:



Check out these two sites where I got the info: http://www.hirheadlights.com/index.htm and also http://forums.s-series.org/viewtopic.php?t=41521

And there is only one place that I see these being sold. EBAY of course. There is only one guy selling them for 27 bucks PER BULB. just type if "9012" and you'll see it. I also looked at the feedback people gave him and everyone who bought them highly approve of these lights.

They look like the next best thing that is not HIDs. stock < Silverstars < Toshiba 9012 HIR Bulbs < HIDs. I keep searching but cant find any pics of them installed.

What do you guys think?

Does anyone have these? Any experiences?


Modified by iwantvtec at 10:14 AM 9/27/2006

tegG2

Interesting. I need to look into them. I have been wanting to get some nice ones, but I havent even looked around yet. I was going to get the silverstars, but maby these are better.

iwantturbo

Yeah I think I'm gonna order these from that guy on Ebay. Heres a picture I googled on a Volvo from this site: http://www.volvospeed.com/Reviews/HIR.php



The picture looks like it doesnt go the product justice. Looks like an older Volvo maybe, but the review rated it all 10s.

erikiksaz1

The last time it looked, only a few people had a chance to use these, myself included.

I find that light output is far far superior to sylvania silverstars. The sylvania bulbs are brighter, but don't put out as much light. That's pretty useless IMO.

Here was my thread:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1629365

Edit- those volvo pics suck. Here's mine. Top is sylvania, bottom is HIR. You can still tell my right headlight housing a bit screwed up, as light output is not the same as the left.

TunerN00b

There are many stores on the net selling them, as they are OEM for some John Deere tractors.

9012 are aprox. 1700 lumens, or about the same as an average 9005 bulb, but at a lower wattage (55) and with a longer expected life (1000 hours instead of 500). And they do require some modification, as part of the base needs to be removed to fit into a standard 9006 socket.

Rallylights also sells them. (scroll down to the bottom)

Personally, I've had PIAA extreme white 9005 bulbs in my low beam projectors for nearly a year without problem, and love them. Then again, the PIAAs are only 60 watts, instead of the standard 65, which might be why they're lasting as long as they are. I would be perfectly willing to switch over to the 9012 bulbs, when my current ones finally go, as they're probably about the same light output.

CompanyFlow

I bought a pair last december, from the gentleman on eBay. The bulbs are great, no problems with them, and they put out a good amount of light. For the price (which is about the price of silverstars) they cant be beat. They use the same 55w rather than the increased wattage out of the silverstars, yet they put out more light and dont run the risk of being burnt out so quickly. He sends them via USPS, and it took about 3 days to get here. The guy claims that they will fit directly in, but I had to get a pair of nail clippers and trim a little bit off of the edges. It took about 5 minutes to trim each bulb and have them installed. I would buy them again if I needed a replacement

iwantturbo

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by erikiksaz1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">



</TD></TR></TABLE>

wow thats a huge difference. it made the sylvania silverstars look stock

erikiksaz1

Oh shoot, I just remembered. I'm not running the "stock" spec 9012s, but the 9011. The 9011's don't last as long as the 9012s, but I do very little night driving on a weekly basis. The extra light output more than makes up for it.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TunerN00b &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There are many stores on the net selling them, as they are OEM for some John Deere tractors.

9012 are aprox. 1700 lumens, or about the same as an average 9005 bulb, but at a lower wattage (55) and with a longer expected life (1000 hours instead of 500). And they do require some modification, as part of the base needs to be removed to fit into a standard 9006 socket.

Rallylights also sells them. (scroll down to the bottom)

Personally, I've had PIAA extreme white 9005 bulbs in my low beam projectors for nearly a year without problem, and love them. Then again, the PIAAs are only 60 watts, instead of the standard 65, which might be why they're lasting as long as they are. I would be perfectly willing to switch over to the 9012 bulbs, when my current ones finally go, as they're probably about the same light output.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was just looking at the Sylvania website yesterday, and the Silverstars are actually only rated for about 50 hours for 9005!! 9006 Silverstars come in at less than 200 hours rated life. The Cool Blue bulbs are more like 500 hours for 9006. 9005 bulbs are always rated at a much shorter life.

As for wattage, pretty much all 9006 bulbs sold in the United States are actually 51W, and 9005's are all 60W. So your PIAA's are no different.

TURBODC4TEG

sorry with hids being cheaper these days i would just go with that

iheartintegras

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TURBODC4TEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sorry with hids being cheaper these days i would just go with that</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree, you can pick up a new set of hids for $180. I think I'd rather spend the money on hids.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

not an HID kit, though. Pure junk

I would go with these 9012 HIR bulbs long before an HID kit.

HID retrofit or none at all.

CompanyFlow

You will have some cheapo HID replica kit and get pulled over constantly for not having a leveler.

It's*BOLO!!

wow, interesting, i think i might try these..
For those of you that said you have them, how long ago did you get them and are they still good?

I had the silverstars already, the driver side blew out after only about 4 months, and the passenger side blew the next night, I would NEVER get silverstar shitty ones again

CompanyFlow

Have had them for almost a year.

It's*BOLO!!

good to hear

erikiksaz1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by It’s*BOLO!! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wow, interesting, i think i might try these..
For those of you that said you have them, how long ago did you get them and are they still good?

I had the silverstars already, the driver side blew out after only about 4 months, and the passenger side blew the next night, I would NEVER get silverstar shitty ones again</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've tried to find a reason for the difference in longevity of different bulbs, and I found a few possibilities:

1) Improper handling of the bulb during installation. I usually clean my bulbs with alcohol and a lens cloth before installation.

2) Leaky headlight housing. I would imagine a super hot bulb + cold moisture = popped bulb.

3) You've used up all the hours of the bulb's life through lengthy night driving.

--

Anyways, I've had them for about 4-5 months and everything's still fine. But I only do about 4-5 hours of night driving a week.

It's*BOLO!!

you have used what for 4-5 months, suilverstars, or the discussed 9012's?

erikiksaz1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by It’s*BOLO!! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you have used what for 4-5 months, suilverstars, or the discussed 9012's?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Silverstars and the 9011's.

2004AccordK24

I didnt really see any difference in the the two pictures I run Phillips HID conversion in my low and silverstar Ultra s in my highs. its the best combo so far and the silverstars do burn out, but before the one year warrenty is up so they just send new ones

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

HID projector retrofit? I assume that's what you mean because Philips does not manufacture any sort of HID plug-n-play kit for use with halogen headlight housings.

2004AccordK24

Actually they do. their top of the line, and yes there a halogen retrofit. Heres the site for them. http://www.philipsxenon.com/

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Absolutely not. That website is in no way affiliated with Philips Global or Philips USA. That's just some company that hacks together Philips HID components and sells them to you as a "Philips" HID kit.

And their pricing on D2 HID bulbs is ridiculous.

BeantownBeatdow

Correct. They have them on eBay too. Nice way of using a brand name like Philips to see their trash.

racebum

best bulbs that i have used yet are from piaa

the life of the bulb is outstanding, i have one set of 9006s from 2005 still going strong. light output also kicks the **** out of silverstar and hella