[alfa] Re: Headlight upgrades

[Joe Elliott <jee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm not sure why people get so excited about the color temperature of their 
headlights.  Looking at Sylvania's web site 
(http://www.sylvania.com/auto/silverstar.htm), the light output for their 
SilverStar bulbs appears to be the same as the regular bulbs--only the 
color temperature is different.  I'm surprised that it would make such a 
noticable difference.  But regardless of the bulb you choose, be it 
mediocre or impressive, you're wasting most of the light it produces by 
sticking with a (dangerously, in my opinion) shitty  American beam pattern. 
http://catalog.com/susq offers the complete range of Hella Euro-spec 
sealed-beam-replacement headlights for everything from Spiders to Toyota 
4x4's.  And I believe that our friend Biba (http://www.alfacybersite.com) 
carries the allegedly-superior Cibie brand in the round sizes.  (Note that 
some cars equipped with sealed beams in the USA, for example Peugeot 505, 
early SAAB 900, and early Volvo 240, weren't actually designed for sealed 
beams, and can be equipped with even better vehicle-specific Euro 
headlights.)  Once you've got proper headlights, then you can fit 
fancy-pants bulbs, but to go for fancy bulbs (or even--yikes--sealed beams 
with fancy bulb technology) while retaining the USA lighting pattern seems 
like a waste of the fancy bulb technology to me.

Just my two cents,
Joe

--On Monday, December 22, 2003 8:28 PM +0000 alfa-digest 
<owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided> wrote:


> Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 21:24:57 -0800 (PST)
> From: Steve & Zita Waclo <z_waclo@domain.elided>
> Subject: [alfa] Headlight Upgrades
>
> Hello Tom:
>
> I share your concerns about inadequate lighting.
> Headlights on my GT6+ had a three position switch:
> Dim, Off and Intermittant (hope I didn't steal that
> joke from this Group).
>
> Anyway, I started my upgrade efforts with a PIA
> replacement bulb for my Honda Nighthawk. The results
> were night and day. It's so awesome to overtake
> another vehicle with their yellow puddle of halogen
> and then go to high beam with the PIA and see
> reflectors light up half a mile away. Unfortunately,
> the PIA was somewhat over $50 for one (!) so when I
> started looking for sealed beams for my '87 Toyota
> 4x4, I went with the Sylvania Silverstar. They were
> $29.95 at Kragen Auto and are every bit the equal of
> PIA. I subsequently replaced the four bulbs in our '97
> Accord with marvelous results, and better yet, the
> SS's are currently on sale at Kragen for $19.99. Next
> step is sealed beams for the Spider QV, soon as I get
> the electrics sorted (thanks Group!).
>
> This sounds like an endorsement and I guess it is.
> Check out the Sylvania website. These lamps have a
> color temperature (brightness) that is nearly
> equivalent to HID systems and the first one I bought
> has 10k miles of motorcycle use so far. Did I mention
> they are "plug and play"?
>
> Steve Waclo
> Carson City, NV
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