Want to Replace Miniquad stock bulbs, but...

[BRZN]

A bit of help please.

 

What is to come off, the entire plastic piece attached to the rear of the bulb (larger diameter circle #1) or just the center plug part (smaller diameter circle #2)?

 

I chipped three lumps of glue off from around the plug portion, but nothing wants to budge at all. There is a bit of movement from the larger circled piece, but the bulb feels like it's going to break before letting go of the bulb.

[BRZN]

Never mind, I got it:

 

 

Damn, that thing was tight! Wish me luck with the other three.

[skitchin]

There was some recent discussion about choosing the brightest headlights etc, goes over some of what is involved in putting in new bulbs.

 

In short, the bulbs are non-replaceable(replace entire lens), but you can silicone seal some new ones in place. Can't recall exactly but the electrical connector is either 9005 or 9006.

Edited December 30, 2011 by skitchin

[94 olds vert]

Good luck! Going with stock replacements? Those looks to be originals.

[BRZN]

All four housings are Guide, so I'm assuming they're all still original. Once I knew I could get them apart I went down to Auto Zone and picked up two 9006 (low) and two 9005 (high) Sylvania Silver Star Ultra's to replace the OEM's with. If in fact the bulbs are 17 years old, this thing should throw some serious light now. I've swaped out the driver's side so far and just brought the passenger side housings in the house to start on. The driver's side high beam bulb capsule was so brittle it shattered into several pieces while trying to remove it.

[GTP091]

If you have a bench grinder you can put a polishing wheel on it and go to town on polishing the lens. It takes a bit but is worth it to get the pits removed from the glass. Did it on mine and it helps to take the years off the car.

[BRZN]

Thanks, no pits on the glass though. If they'd have been bad I'd have probably opted to just replace them.

 

Three of the four bulb capsules fell apart while removing them, one to the point I didn't have much to hold on to to twist and was getting a bit worried. I really believe at least three of the four were still stock headlamps.

 

Finished up yesterday after letting them sit overnight for the RTV high temp silicone that now holds them in place to dry. I had to adjust the passenger side high beam (notice in below pic) but all the others were still good. Now instead of the yellowish light of the OEM's there is a bright, crisp, white light emanating from them.

 

Awesome upgrade!

[AL]

I see no pic below??

[white4d96]

I see it. Looks great!

[AL]

Ah, its there now

[pwmin]

this thing should throw some serious light now

would be even better if you got good bulbs instead of Silver Stars...

[BRZN]

Good bulbs?

 

These are much better than the OEM ones I pulled, I could get them over the counter at the local Auto Zone and the were relatively inexpensive. I've got a set of Silver Stars in another four bulb car I own and they've been in operation for better than five years. The car with the five year old Silver Stars gets about 15,000 miles per year put on it with more than half of those miles put on at night.

 

I'd have to say I did get good bulbs!

[Fraschy]

Awesome. Would you be able to post a picture of how good the light is now, from the drivers point of view at night? I think I may do this once my car is good to go, since I could hardly see where I was even going, lol.

[BRZN]

Woops, I've had the flu since last Thursday an absent from the boards, sorry.

 

Yea, if I get the chance I'll try to snap a pic or two tonight against the garage door. Nothing to compare it against, just how they are now though.

[pwmin]

Good bulbs?

 

These are much better than the OEM ones I pulled, I could get them over the counter at the local Auto Zone and the were relatively inexpensive. I've got a set of Silver Stars in another four bulb car I own and they've been in operation for better than five years. The car with the five year old Silver Stars gets about 15,000 miles per year put on it with more than half of those miles put on at night.

 

I'd have to say I did get good bulbs!

Before you get all offended and roll your eyes at me, you might want to know the facts and why I said they aren't good bulbs. I'm sure they were better than the old bulbs you took off because they were old, but the fact is coating bulbs is not good and reduces light output. Silver Stars are coated. You might have had good luck in w/ bulb life with them, but I sure never did when I used them. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html

Simply put: "

Prove it to yourself using nothing more than the windshield in your car...drive towards a yellow-orange Sodium vapor street light and watch the light as it shines first through the clear portion of the windshield, then through the blue strip at the top. Up there through the blue, it certainly looks 'whiter'...but it's also dimmer."

Edited January 24, 2012 by pwmin

[BRZN]

Oh, I'll roll my eyes

 

You're quoting from a seven year old article. The Silver Star Ultra's do not have a blue coating and are rated at 4100k, 4100k is bright white light. The OEM's, when new, were 3100, damn near yellow. These new bulbs are rated for 12.8 volts: 55 watt lows and 65 watt highs, so they don't tax the 18 year old wiring to them. Silver Star Ultra's, I don't believe, were even available seven years ago. I'll state it again: in my experience there is long life to these bulbs, they're relatively cheap and readily available at your local National Automotive chain store. They are perfect for my application.

 

Rather than quote from an artice I don't believe you thoroughly read or comprehended tell me your real life experiences with automotive lighting, then we'll talk.

 

If you've nothing constructive to add to the thread: don't bother.

[BRZN]

Awesome. Would you be able to post a picture of how good the light is now, from the drivers point of view at night? I think I may do this once my car is good to go, since I could hardly see where I was even going, lol.

 

Here you go Fraschy:

 

Fogs:

Right needs aimed better, the adjuster is rusted tight and will deal with it in the spring.

 

Highs:

 

Lows:

Looks like I may need to bring the driver's side down a tad.

[AL]

Wow, thats looks damn good

[pwmin]

I'm glad you dismiss a fact as being untrue because it's 7 years old And I was constructive. I complemented you and then told you that you could do better by getting better bulbs. What do you mean they're not coated? You're telling me there's no blue tint to the bulb itself? I also do have experience because I've ran different bulbs before, including SilverStar, which were available 7 years ago. The Ultras are almost the same bulb. They are still overdriven to compensate for the lack of light output due to the blue coating on the bulbs. Even the newest SilverStars (zXe) have a blue coating.

[Fraschy]

WOW those new headlights look AWESOME! Thanks for posting those pictures! This is a great thread. And I don't see any blue in the light, looks pretty darn white to me.

[Fraschy]

I'm glad you dismiss a fact as being untrue because it's 7 years old And I was constructive. I complemented you and then told you that you could do better by getting better bulbs. What do you mean they're not coated? You're telling me there's no blue tint to the bulb itself? I also do have experience because I've ran different bulbs before, including SilverStar, which were available 7 years ago. The Ultras are almost the same bulb. They are still overdriven to compensate for the lack of light output due to the blue coating on the bulbs. Even the newest SilverStars (zXe) have a blue coating.

 

Then what bulbs would you consider better?

[white4d96]

For extreme halogen brightness, you would be best served with HIR's:

http://store.candlepower.com/hirlighting.html

 

Otherwise you could consider HID's, though I wouldn't recommend those for your high-beams.

 

Also, you can boost your halogen bulbs with Catz Zeta ballasts. They bump the voltage from your stock headlight harness up a big and make your bulbs burn brighter. Those can be found on ebay.

[Fraschy]

http://store.candlepower.com/9011.html

 

So those, they will plug right in and fit inside? I know just about nothing when it comes to headlights..even after researching, it confuses me still.

 

Catz Zeta ballasts..searched those on ebay and got nothing. Do those also drain more power from your battery?

[WhatTheFehl]

Fraschy, make it easy on yourself. Get the Eurolamps camaro kit (same bulbs as the miniquads, I had the Eurolamps kit on my old 95), some Phillips CrystalVision bulbs and be done with it.

[94 olds vert]

I got the Euro lamps as well, but i stuck HIDs in mine.