MaxMike93

It's been a while since I asked anything so hopefully this spot is fine for leaving this thread. I've been wanting to do some more small stuff to my car for a while so I bought a new grille for my I30. Along with that, I was thinking of picking up a set of Philips CrystalVision Ultra for my low beams. I know that a lot of people may say that I should just go get an HID kit, but I don't want to cause any issues for having the HIDs in my reflector housings, and my friend has 3 kits in his new Scion tC and within 6 months ballasts and bulbs have blown repeatedly which does not show good reliability IMO. I was wondering if anyone had the Philips mainly to ask how the bulb life has been (I heard/know how Sylvania Silverstar (zXe is what I would have considered) bulbs burn out extremely quickly) and how the color looks, which from what I have seen online looks to be much whiter than regular halogens and more in line with what the Infiniti I30t/I35 would have had for HIDs. If anyone has anything to say about them, please let me know. Thanks guys!

Gfaze

All of those high intensity bright halogens (silverstars, crystalvisions, etc.) have a shorter life span. They burn hotter than your standard halogens so they're prone to burning out quicker. Your friend is probably buying the cheap ebay kits which is why they don't last. I've purchased 3 HID sets from one our forum sponsors hidextra.com and haven't had any issues with them. One of those sets is around 3-4 years old. Adjusting your headlight housings down slightly helps with the glare from some reflector housings.

bagwell

iTrader: (1)

you put an HID kit in for DRL?

bagwell

iTrader: (1)

oops, sorry I have DRL on my mind....

Mr Marco

Do you drive at night often?
There are so many other good things to spend your money on than lighting.
Like a nice bottle of wine, or a local music venue full of hot 21 year old college girls.
SAVE YOUR MONEY




Oh, wait, I didn't see your age...just buy a bag of weed instead.

Redsand353

i experimented with aftermarket headlight bulbs alot when i first got my license. i probably spent hundreds of dollars before i realized they all suck. young and stupid i guess.

Aman

Upgrading headlight bulbs sounds like a smart way of putting money in your car to me.

And thank you for not putting HIDs in halogens. Wish I could bust every car I see with those. Even aiming them down a little won't change the fact that the beam pattern will be wonky.

PortlandRL

Back in May I replaced my high beams with Osram Nightbreakers after many on HF recommended them and I found the stock high beams criminally weak. It's now November and they're still working great but I agree with everybody here for the most part; aftermarket bulbs simply aren't worth the extra cost because they rarely last. I never upgraded the low beams on my factory halogen bulbs because I knew I wanted the Korean market projector HIDs so when I got those, these bulbs went into the high beams. I'm very happy.

Here's a color comparison between the Nightbreaker (left) and the standard factory halogen low-beam (right).

KillerG

i have like 4 sets of crystalvision ultras, they are great and one of the better halogens. if you want the whitest of white (that halogens can do) see if you can find philips diamondvisions, you might have to buy them off an import site i dont think they make em here anymore (?)

MaxMike93

Thanks for the responses guys! Aman, I always see people with HIDs in reflector housings so I really don't want that. What I'm curious is how Infiniti made the I30t, I35, G35 and other reflector headlights with HIDs look fine. I ended up ordering the CrystalVision Ultra last night; they ran me about $30 off Amazon (just ordered the low beams). Maybe when I get them I can do a little review of them. I wanted to get these since I hadn't done anything to my car in a while.....so I ordered the bulbs, a new grille that I put on yesterday and I'm in the process of getting more LEDs for the interior (pure white, not warm white or the bluish cool white)

Redsand353

Let us know how they are. If they do indeed create more usable light while driving thats great to hear. One thing I always noticed when using aftermarket bulbs (silverstars, PIAA, etc.), they always looked cool from outside the car, but from inside looking out they always seemed dimmer than stock.

Obviously that can be blamed on the coating on the glass that gives bulbs like that their distinct look. I found one pair of Nokya yellows for my fogs that legitimately made a difference...but replacing them over and over again was getting old. Which explains why this time around I went with overlays and stuck with my stock halogens. Couldn't be happier.

Aman

It's about the housing design. Those cars' headlights (and the 2G CL/TL, etc.) were designed for HIDs so it's fine. But a car like the 8G Accord coupe that has halogen projectors, I would never put HIDs in.

MaxMike93

Hmmmm, that makes me wonder if HIDs would be ok in mine. Or maybe it would have made a difference how the I30t and I35 have darker (smoked) lenses. Guess ill have to ask around on the other forum. But for now ill see how these bulbs are. My friend wants me to see how they are since he wants whiter bulbs in his For Ranger since its a bright blue and he got new clear headlights

bagwell

iTrader: (1)

well I ordered the 9005 and H11 CrystalVision....total waste of time and money...the only decent white halogen I've used = HOEN http://www.hoen-usa.com/index.htm

Redsand353

HOEN makes good shit

i'l tell you what tho, after driving a car with HIDs regularly...all halogen bulbs are garbage. After i got rid of my first TL and drove my POS nissan for a year i was ready to go crazy. (but i did go crazy, i traded it in and bought another TL lol)

AZuser

Infiniti I30 uses 9006, right? If so, I would have gone with the Philips HIR2 9012 bulb for low beam ($20 on Amazon).... just trim a tab to make it into a 9006. My second choice would have been Philips X-treme Power ($30 on Amazon).

The CrystalVision Ultra's have a slight blue tint to them so that means less light output since tint will filter out some of the light.


Can't remember, but I want to say the Philips CrystalVision Ultra's are around 1000 lumens and 320 hour life while the Philips X-treme Power are around 1200 or 1300 lumens and 320 hour life, but I'm probably wrong. Obviously, the higher the lumens the more useable light.

csmeance

The hoen xenonmatch bulbs are GREAT! I put in a set in a car and they worked wonderfully for 5 years. The only problem I did have was the pigtails starting to melt since they were shitty GM ones that in retrospect should have been upgraded for the 80W bulbs I bought.

In any case, when you upgrade the bulbs also upgrade the pigtails to them to avoid any melting issues with the higher wattage bulbs.

Here's their header picture to show the color:

03bl AC k CL

FWIW I bought a $50 HID kit for my 2009 Altima from ddm tuning. The kit lasted me 3 years (when I got rid of the car theywere still working, could still be working today for all I know). My kit replaced halogens, and nobody ever flashed their hi-beams at me due to reflection.

AZuser

Doesn't mean that it doesn't blind/bother oncoming drivers. I get blinded often by cars with HIDs but don't flash them to let them know. Why? Because they're not going to go home right away and remove them. It's not going to change their mind since they're going to do what they want to do regardless, so I don't bother.

MaxMike93

First impression: they are a much better color IMO than my stock bulbs. They are much more white, especially when looking at them and my fogs since I didn't change them and don't really plan to. Light output seems to be a bit better than the 13 year old Sylvanias that were in my car. Overall I'm happy with them, and I'll have to update when I see how long they last.

Here's how they look shining on my garage door.


Front view of the CrystalVisions compared to my fog lights (changed my grille too from the I30 one to an I35)


I also washed my car last night to get all the salt and dirt off from this week's snow in NJ. Which was not the best idea since the water kept freezing before I could dry it