[alfa] Re: alfa-digest V9 #1035 Silverstar lights

["George Schweikle" <schweikg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Digesti,

A search of the Sylvania site produced the following:

"The life expectancy of a SilverStar halogen light source is dependent on
the driver's use of the lights, which vary by season, time of day and number
of miles driven. We estimate the SilverStar halogen lights to have a life
span of up to one year under average driving conditions"

Ahhh..."up to one year". Do I detect an example of the P.T.Barnum theory
here?

George Schweikle
Lexington, KY


> Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 20:04:27 -0500
> From: Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>
> Subject: [alfa] Re: Headlight upgrades
>
> 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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