In my ongoing effort to develop a list of mod's while I am waiting to get a Duramax, I have came to replacement bulbs. I already plan on putting amber DRL's in when it comes, but what about headlights. I would like to go to HID's or something that gives a brighter, whiter light without putting out too much money. What does everyone reccommend??

Phillis Ralleye bulbs.. got up. 100W highs and 85W lows.. lots more light http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cool.gif

I've got a Kennedy headlight harness with Silverstar low beams (DOT approved) and 100W Hella highbeams (Non DOT approved). I have seen others with the Silverstars running on the OEM wiring, they are not nearly as bright as mine with the larger wire of the Kennedy kit. The kit also lets the low beams burn when you turn the high beams on. Puts out an impressive amount of light. I really hate driving anyone elses vehicle at night now. IIRC, total cost of the setup (bulbs and harness) was about $175. Much cheaper than HIDs at the time, but I've noticed that prices are coming down a little on the kits. I've also seen aftermarket projector lens assemblies available, but nobody mentions using them.

The cheapest and best alternative to HID's are the Silverstar's. They put out an impressive amount of light. Don't forget to upgrade the foglights as well, there is a 50watt option available for those too.

i thought the fogs melted if you put brgihter bulbs in. didn't mac do that???


also has anyone seen teh silverstar's next to the ralleye bulbs? i haven't seen the silverstar's... do they look blue? my ralleye's don't and i like it that way...


thanks


Nick

Diesel Power





I thought the high watt Phillip bulbs were discontinued?? Where did you get them? I had Eiko''s and they are terrible. I've gone through 3 sets in the 21k I've owned the truck.





SWLA, where did you find 100w Hellas?? Sounds what I might like.

i thought the fogs melted if you put brgihter bulbs in. didn't mac do that???


also has anyone seen teh silverstar's next to the ralleye bulbs? i haven't seen the silverstar's... do they look blue? my ralleye's don't and i like it that way...


thanks


Nick








Nick,


The Silverstars are not blue, they are bright white.


Blue=Lamehttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Geek.gif/high school

We run silverstars in everything we own.Best bang for the buck.You will love'm in a snow storm.

The PIAA's are also good. They don't increase the amperage on the stock wiring.........

Nick,


As Lightning said the Silverstars are not blue. Seem to be as close to pure white as any bulb I've seen. I never noticed how yellow the halogen bulbs were until I used these.


First Diesel,


This is where I got the Hellas:


http://pickuptruck.performancecenter.com/products/?productID=501309 (http://pickuptruck.performancecenter.com/products/?productID=501309)


I know that some have reported a shorter than expected life from the Silverstars, but I've had had them for almost 2 years without any problems. Same for the Hellas.

I got the Kennedy harness and went with 70W lows and 130W highs. They are Ichibahn and bluer that I would like. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif They are brighter than SilverStars with and w/o the Kennedy as tested side by side at our last GTG here in big D. With the highs and lows on at the same time, I rarely have to flash someone twice to get them to drop their high beams.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Evil Smile.gif I looked at the Hellas, but didn't want to go all the way to 85 for the lows. I don't like to push my illegal luck. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Embarrased.gif Edited by: chuntag95

SWLA


Thanks

Yesirebob I melted my stock fogs .... I'll tell you they were bright till the end ...http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif Got me some Piaa's with replacement dam ,way better ...


Mac

I believe in the next month or so, the Silverstars will be avaliable for our fog lights, the 880 bulb.

i got my phillips ralleye bulbs at http://www.powerbulbs.com/


nick

Nick,





The only Ralley bulbs I see are not the 9005 and 9006 sort. Did you order them from their online site or did you call them?http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Confused.gif


This is where I was looking for the 9005 and 9006 Ralleys as I'm on my last set.


http://www.powerbulbs.com/rallye.htm

i ordered them over the web. i think that was the site as i had it bookmarked. i know the place was in the UK..

How long ago did you order them. I know Kennedy saidf that the Phillips high wattage bulbs were going out of production. Maybe they are gone.

I bought the Phillips Premium's from powerbulbs.com about a year (30k miles) ago. They must be right on the edge because I'll get flashed every once in a while and was never flashed prior to upgrading. Not an aiming problem, just a brighter bulb. Nice and white and no need for upgrading the headlight harness. Big improvement over stock. Can't imagine throwing more light and still being legal but maybe the silverstar's do.

HDLD


You need to rethink that "no need to upgrade the harness thing". It's not the fact that the bulbs are brighter with the harness. It's the fact that the factory wire is undersized, look at it sometime. You will burn up the wires or the switch eventually. I look at an upgraded harness as cheap insurance with the bonus of brighter lights.

Earler this summer Kennedy installed his wiring harness and whatever bulbs he currently sells on my truck .... made a noticable difference ... Jim

How is the replacement harness installed ? How hard is it for the shadtree mechanic ? http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Geek.gif

its a piece of cake.. takes about 15 minutes..

Only thing is to make sure that when you attach the ground lugs you are using a real good ground. 6 months after I installed mine I started to have some strange lighting effects!!! 1 on and 1 off and switched when I went to high beams!! Anyway I swore I had good grounds but when I went back and checked the bolts I grounded too didn't really go into metal. They went through a metal plate but went into plastic behind. Moved the grounds, added star washewrs and all is happy in the world of lighting again!!

You need to rethink that "no need to upgrade the harness thing". It's not the fact that the bulbs are brighter with the harness. It's the fact that the factory wire is undersized, look at it sometime. You will burn up the wires or the switch eventually. I look at an upgraded harness as cheap insurance with the bonus of brighter lights.





I thought the Pillips Premiums were lower wattage, same as the factory bulbs, thus didn't think I needed to bother with the harness. Apparently in my area they will pull you over so didn't want to get too carried away. Hopefully HID will continue to drop. That's where I'd like to go eventually.

The point is that the factory wiring is crap even with stock bulbs. Look at the wires!! On the older trucks people burned out the headlight switch with stock bulbs since all the current is handl;ed through undersized wiring and through the switch. Stock there are no relays in the system. An aftermearket harness like Kennedy's uses the stock wires to control the lighting through heavier wiring and relays. Not only imporves the lighting,even with stock lamps, but saves the headlight switch from failure.

Well I guess I need to update my earlier post about the Silverstar bulbs. Lost my first one over the weekend. DS bulb burned out. Got almost 2 years out of it. Will replace with the same. Most likely will replace the PS as well.