Silverstone headlights & others

[Ti Kan]

scott thomas writes:
> Sylvania just came out with "Silverstone" bulbs. They're supposed to
> be the next great type of bulb. They're ridiculously expensive at
> like~$30 per bulb. Their ratings are 70/50w for 9004's. I wonder if
> they're any good, but not for that price. I'd just go the relay route
> on stock or higher power bulbs.
> ...

The problem with those old stock DOT headlights is not insufficient
bulb output, it's the poor beam pattern due to lens and reflector
design.  If you use a brighter bulb you'll just get more useless,
scattered light.

> Next, they also sold those DOT legal HID look bulbs, made by Philips,
> too. They are standard wattage, but are they any good? I'm not into
> the blue thing, but for the sake of better lighting, I may go for it.

Halogen bulbs that are "HID lookalike" (i.e., has a bluish tone) is
done by coating the bulb, filtering out other colors.  You get *less*
light than an equivalent, non-coated bulb.

> Does relaying with stock bulbs provide a noticeably better amount of
> lighting?

Yes.  With a relay harness the current that powers the bulb no longer
go through your car's relay panel, headlight switch and wiring,
bypassing the associated voltage drop.  You'll get more bang for the
buck with that than to go to higher wattage bulbs.  That said, with
stock lights you're still stuck with the poor beam pattern.  There is
really no substitute to going to good Euro lights.

> How do I get the auto check to not recognize the fact it's
> not connected?

http://www.sjmautotechnik.com has a good writeup on that.

> Next, for higher wattage, what's safe? I won't use anything higher
> than stock without relays.

With relays, assuming the connector, wiring and relays are up to snuff,
you can safely use 90/100W or even higher H4 bulbs in the Euro light.
With DOT lights, it's quite pointless to go with higher wattage.

See http://lighting.mbz.org for a lot of good info on automotive
headlights.

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
2001 S4 2.7T
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0
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