9004 high wattage bulbs

[rdh@sli.com (Robert D. Houk)]

   I purchased some of the high wattage 9004 bulbs last Dec. from the source
   listed in autoweek. At the time they offered 65w/80w (I think?) bulbs. I
   installed them in my 86 5000CS Turbo and at the time thought they worked
   better than the stock 55w/65w bulbs. Well, the left side bulb only lasted
   3 months and when I replaced it with a stock bulb I really could not see
   much difference between the two different bulbs. The right side burned out
   after 4 months. Of course the high wattage bulbs come with the standard 

Hmmm that's ridiculous life (or do you drive 12 hours a night?). I put the
Hella headlights in my Mitsubishi, and got the 55/100 H4's for it (H4's by
Hella also, or least in a "Hella" box, I have no idea who actually makes
them). They lasted for 3 years before the first one burned out. (The se-
cond one burned out less than a week later! Talk about "consistency" and
unit-to-unit variation!). I ended up getting Philips replacement bulbs
(again 55/100's), and have about 3 years on these guys. (And if they burn
out on the way home tonight, I'm sending *you* the bill!) Interestingly
enough, in both cases it was the low beam (55W) filament that burned out.

					-RDH