I'm ready for an upgrade, myself. Just bought some PIAA "Intense White 4100K" a couple of weeks ago, and didn't like them. I witnessed zero brightness increase, and that's what I was looking for. (For what it's worth, they were quite white, though.) Besides, I hear that the PIAAs wear out as quickly as the Silverstars. I returned them to Amazon, and am now ready to spend that money on some good headlights...
Subscribed.
Well, after much reading, I have taken the advice from a few of you and Mr. Stern. I finally pulled the trigger on
these. Love them. Dramatic improvement to both brightness and color.
Just made a 500-mile trip from here to Shreveport. Most of both directions was at nighttime, and much of the trip (if you're not familiar with I-30 between Little Rock and Texarkana) was on interstate in remote, highly-wooded areas. In addition, I drove along two lane state highways, and in/around towns occasionally. Finally, it was cloudy... Needless to say, it was a very dark night with plenty of road types. I had lots of time to play and test. :smiley_drive:
As I drove on this dark interstate, I compared the cut-off, brightness, and whiteness of my new bulbs to every late-model HID-outfitted vehicle which passed. I can tell you, that I was very impressed.
I remember before, with my AutoZone specials, I would feel thankful for the extra lighting anytime an Escalade or Benz passed. Now, I can barely tell the difference. Yes, a good HID is a bit whiter (actually more of a blue to my eye), and most late-model housings have incredibly sharp cut-off which my Tacoma cannot reproduce. However, this bulb from Philips comes as close as anything I've seen.
As far as brightness is concerned: no question, huge gain. Big. I can't overstate this. As far as any 40 bucks and 5 minutes will take me, there may be no better mod I've ever done to my truck. These bulbs are bright.
The jury is out with regards to life-span. As long as I get 6 months or more out of them, then I'll buy again. This dramatic of a performance gain is worth the coin.
Next step is to take Mr. Stern's advice about replacing my crappy factory wiring harness with a simple high-quality wire/dual relay system. After studying this subject, I do expect even better performance once that's complete.
**EDIT**
I must confess, I used this product recently, too. If you haven't buffed your old, scratched, and faded lenses back to crystal clear yet, I highly recommend it. The headlamps looks better lit and unlit; a great/quick/cheap project. I can't help but think that this is partly responsible for my improved lighting.
Hope this helps!
