toomeypj

My night vision is not as good as it used to be, so I am looking to upgrade my low beams with something brighter at a reasonable price. I looked at the advertising for Philips Vision Plus, but the reviews have been that they are only a little brighter than stock. Everyone says that the Sylvania Silver Stars last less than 1 year. I just looked at some off brand 100w H11s on Ebay for only $18 a pair. My area doesn't do auto inspections and I assume all the off road truck operating on public roads don't have the legal 55w bulbs. Has anyone tried a higher wattage bulb and if so are there any problems with overheating? If so what is the best standard wattage bulb?

toomeypj

Never mind on the 100w lamps. I just found this post from Joeski77:

"Looking for some feedback, I’m the new owner of a HS250h with the dreaded Halogen headlights. Went from and IS-F with HID to Halogen I recently pulled a totally newbie mistake and ordered 5K Super White lights from ebay. They were 100W vs 55W bulbs, I didn’t pay attention. Well needless to say I melted the inside of the Low Beam housing and now have to pay $1,200 to replace both headlights! Can anyone recommend BRIGHTER 55W Halogen Bulbs that won’t melt the housing or recommend a HID kit that won’t melt the housing or cause any damage to the electrical system?"

Any recommendation on HID Kits?

GS300ken

I got a kit from HIDextra for almost a year and it's running strong. Get the 35w kit with 5000k bulb.

eross1981

As far as HID kits, I use the volt 4300k HID kit from kbcarstuff. It's been great so far, going on 1 year.

If you just don't want to do an HID kit...

Clutchless

Forget the over expensive allegedly higher wattage bulbs that burn out in 3 months. Do the H11 to H9 bulb conversion. The H9 bulb is almost twice as bright and you can get high quality Phillips H9 bulbs for $8 on Amazon and they last about a year (usually). This is the second Lexus Hybrid I have done this conversion on, first was my CT200 that I traded in for the HS. Forgot to remove the harness before trade.

These bulbs are much brighter and I can see much better down the road than with the dim H11s. I did run somewhat higher power Osram Night Breakers for 6 months until they burned out. They were almost as good as the H9 conversion and had whiter light. But their cost is insane at about $40 or more a pair! They have to be mailed from England where I got them from powerbulbs.com My other car is an RX350 with HID so I know what good headlights can do! These are almost as good.

You need the Bulbzilla conversion harness as the bulb prongs are different and then you do not have to trim the plastic tab at the bulb base.
Then you have to clip off part of one tab so it fits into the H11 socket. This takes 1 minute with wire cutters. Here are instructions http://forum.mazda6club.com/exterior...onversion.html

This has been discussed a lot at the Prius forum. http://priuschat.com/threads/h11-to-...ersion.115670/

Also, I recommend you look on eBay for new used headlight assemblies.

TheAirman

Good post.

The H11 to H9 upgrade is the way to go. I don't understand why they still use H11 bulbs.

Get the harness if you're not to handy, but if you are, just trim the tab. It takes about 1 minute. Then you won''t melt the cheap plastic reflectors.

If you not sure, there's plenty on the internet on how to do it.

toomeypj

Thanks Clutchless, I researched the H11 to H9 conversion on the Priuschat and Mazda Forums and it seems that the upgrade is not that difficult and does not overload the wiring or overheat the fixture. I ordered a "2 Piece H8/H9/H11 Extension Adapter Wiring Harness Sockets Wire Cable for Headlight" on Amazon for $7.39 and have 2 Philips H9 bulbs for $6.80 each backordered from Amazon. So for less than a pair of Silverstar Ultras I'll have upgraded low beams. I'll post photos after I do the conversion.

Clutchless

The H9 bulbs do have a shorter life. I always keep a few extra around. When I had them on the CT200h they lasted about a year and it was our commuter car.

MikeFoxx

iTrader: (8)

This would have been the best route. I've bought 3 of their volt kits and will continue to use this vendor. There isn't a single halogen that will come close to a quality HID kit. 35watt 43000k hid FTW