TonyN

I've now installed the Silverstar H1-ST for both the low and hi beams, and they make a significant improvement. When looking at the headlights, you can immediately see that the Silverstars bulbs produce a very white light (4000K vs. 4100K for HID) compared to the yellow-ish OEM Halogen bulb. But they are even more obvious when viewed down the road. Big difference, and well worth the $20/bulb US price. Of course these bulbs are not as big an improvement as a full HID conversion. I would recommend that everyone that is still using Halogen bulbs convert to the Silverstar bulbs, especially since they are DOT approved. The only downside is that the Silverstar bulbs have a shorter life compared to the OEM Halogen. See http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerPro...son/default.htm for specs. Since the 993 does not have the "constant on" running-headlights, I don't consider that much of a downside. Besides, my 993 is not a daily driver.

I installed the Euro version which I got from Chuck A who bought them in Europe. The Euro version has a clear lens so it produces whiter light and more light than the US version which has a slight blueish bulb tint. According to http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/hl-filament-bulbs.htm, the Euro bulb produces about +30% vs. +20% for the US version. Osram/Sylvania claim a +50% improvement, but I don't have any way of confirming any of these claims. You can get the Euro version at http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/ and the US version at many places like Pep Boys and Kragen (dual bulb package for about $35 or $20 for single bulbs).

BTW, be sure to clean your headlight lenses and reflectors on the inside, because that makes a significant difference. 993's are 7-9 years old and the headlight units are not sealed. I used the "How to clean the inside of headlights" p-car.com DIY procedure described by Dan (thanks Dan). As the FAQ article above states, dirty headlights can reduce a significant part of the improvement from the new bulbs. Be careful with the retention spring for the low beam, because it is easy to break the metal which is used to mount the H1 bulb. One of my mounts was already broken and the bulb was just flopping around, so I had to use some stiff wire to hold down the bulb fasterner spring. I would guess that it is not possible to replace just the low-beam part of the headlight assembly and would require the purchase of a whole new headlight bucket (ouch).

Sorry but I do not have a good place to take before/after pics. If you shine the headlights at a white wall you can see that the OEM Halogen bulb output is yellow-ish while the Silverstar bulb output is much more white.

24FPS

by any chance tony... do you have a part #? or can a vendor pull one up for the 993 lamps?

cheers & thx for the info... i want to replace the turn signal bulbs as well (to be white) do you know if sylvania makes a 'silver-star' bulb for that?

abar

Thanks for this, I'm just waiting for my Osram +50s to arrive. Did you also clean the reflectors? Is the coating as delicate as suggested on p-car diy?

Cheers, Al.

Chris L

To fix the broken lamp mount, there's a repair kit available from the dealer. See this thread:

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...adlight+repair

Chris.

Rob 97 993c2

are these bulbs for the normal headlights or for the Litronics?
Do you have a bulb upgrade/suggestion for litronics?

abar

No they are not, these are just halogen bulbs for non litronics.

TonyN

24FPS,
The 993 headlights use H1 bulbs for high and low beams. The Silverstar version is H1-ST. If you go to the Osram/Sylvania site at http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...ce/Silverstar/ and search for a 1995-1998 911 it will list all the bulbs available for the 993. There's a H3-ST bulb (meaning type H3 Silverstar) for the foglight.

Thanks for the link Chris L. I missed that "broken light clip" post. For once it's a brilliantly simple and cheap fix. I'll get the upgrade kit from the TSB.

Abar,
These H1-ST bulbs are the +50% bulbs. If you go to http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/ you can see that. Auto Express recommends them over the Phillips +50% bulbs. But I think that the http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/hl-filament-bulbs.htm site indicates that they don't really produce that much light. I may be misreading the info on the FAQ site, because it may have been posted before the +50% bulbs came out. In any case, the H1-ST is the +50% bulb and it is much better than the OEM Halogen bulb. I did clean the reflectors and did not have problems, but I was careful because of that post.

Rob 97 993c2,
These Silverstar bulbs are in lieu of upgrading to HID. The goal for Osram/Sylvania is to produce a Halogen type bulb that is brighter than the OEM Halogen bulb, in case you do not want to upgrade to HID. The purpose of my post is to report that they are successful. These bulbs burn brighter because they contain Xenon according to Osram. In my mind the lighting upgrade path for the 993 is: 1. ($80)clean inside of headlights and upgrade Halogen bulbs to Silverstar, or 2. ($500)install HID upgrade kit into OEM Halogen headlights (HID bulb, balast and all that), or 3. ($1800)replace OEM Halogen headlights with OEM Litronic (HID Xenon) headlight units. Obviously it's much cheaper and and easier to just replace the H1 bulbs with the H1-ST Silverstar bulbs than #2 or #3. For reference, HID is supposed to be about +200% improvement in light intensity vs. +50% for these bulbs.

rcwelch

Tony...Is there a heat factor that we should be concerned with in using the H1-ST bulbs. My concern with changing bulbs in the past is that I have read on this forum where certain types of after market bulbs generate too much heat and can harm the housings.

mborkow

"2. ($500)install HID upgrade kit into OEM Halogen headlights "

the real problem with that option is that it isn't really street legal i think

leeham

I have litronics and only the low beams are HID. The high beam halogens are poor. Would these be a worthwhile replacement for the high beam halogens? Would there be heat or current problems?

24FPS

thanks mucho for the info... really look forward to having real white light.

cheers & good on ya!

TonyN

I would think that it would be a great use for this bulb. My high beam is much improved as well. It draws 55W just like the OEM H1 bulb, so there won't be any current/wiring problems. But it does run hotter than OEM. I don't think that it's exccedingly hot (headlight lens is not hot after extended usage), but I have not used them long enough to be certain. There are others on this board that have used them longer than I have though.

TonyN

Take a look at the "NHTSA ILLEGAL LIGHTING CRACKDOWN CONTINUES" thread on the Automotive Lighting FAQ forum at http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/. It sounds like it's going to be more difficult to obtain kits for the #2 approach in the future. The 993 HID conversion is different though, because the OEM HID Litronic headlight casing is allegedly the same as the OEM Halogen unit.. So that tells you that option #2 is more practical/safe than on some of the other car models/brands. The safest HID upgrade is definitely the #3 option (OEM Litronic with complete headlight units).

abar

Tony,
Thanks. I just cleaned my reflectors and put in the +50 Osrams. It had osrams in it before - I hope they were just the cooking variety.

Just cleaning the reflectors has made the front of the car look so much nicer. the Right lamp was pretty dirty.

Thanks for the info,

Al

David in LA

I replaced the high beams with PIAAs that a rennlister had suggested on another post sometime ago (seach and you should be able to find the model # of the PIAAs). High beams are now much brighter and the color is a much better match to the whitish-bluish color of the litronics than the stock yellowish color.