Best aftermarket bulbs

[03MERCMARAUDER]

I just got my 03 MM a week ago and wanted to ditch the factory head and fog light bulbs for a set tha dont look yello like the factories. It would be nice to have a brighter and whiter light. What does everyone here recomend.

[RF Overlord]

Sylvania SilverStars...a bit brighter and much whiter than stock...get them at AutoZone, etc... $20/ea

Go to Sylvania's web site and print out this coupon (http://www.sylvania.com/auto/pdfs/coupon.pdf)...Save $10...valid through June 30th...

[TAF]

^^^I learned this from him^^^ DO IT!!!

[jefferson-mo]

YES!
Sylvania Silverstars..........best value for the money...much higher quality than those 'Ultra Blue' and 'Ultra White' which don't have DOT approval.......Silverstars do

[looking97233]

But no H1's.

[jefferson-mo]

as far as the fog lites..........they're regular H-1 bulbs...I'm gonna get 100 or 130w replacements from JC Whitney........or if you have any Off-Road suppliers in your area they should have 'em

[UncleLar]

I hope you don't melt anything with the high wattage bulbs. I've been to this site and corresponded with the gent that runs it,he's a real straight shooter. If you e-mail him and let him know which vehicle you have he'll tell you the best LEGAL set-up for your car. He may recommend a heavier wiring harness in addition to the bulb upgrade.
http://lighting.mbz.org/

[TAF]

Not a problem with the Silverstars, Lar. Now other brands...I can't speak to...

[FordNut]

Fog Light bulbs....
I just learned that Sylvania Silverstars are the same as Osram Silverstars, only the Osram are the European division. There is a 55W H1 Silverstar available from Osram. Search around and you should be able to get them by ordering from England. I did find a US company that sells them but they are out of stock. I'm planning to get them for mine to see if they match the Silverstar headlights but haven't gotten around to it. If anybody beats me to it, please post a comparison.

[BigMerc '03]

i bought the Sylvania Cool Blues..............there real bright to me and give off a blue light from a distance away from the car.........what color do the silverstars give off

[RCSignals]

Fordnut, is the deflection from high beams to low beams built into the bulbs or the bulb holder?
If the bulb, the OSRAMs may be made to deflect to the left instead of the right

[hd2805]

I had the MM out for the 1st time at night and noticed on a back road how much light was being thrown to the left side of the road.. Is this the "silverstars" or am I just getting to damn old???

I also would love to brighten up the fog lamps!!

[03MERCMARAUDER]

Thanks for the info guys. I am gonna wait so I can find the one s for the fogs too. that way I can do it all at once. it seems to me the car would look funny with the bright white head ights and the yellow looking fogs. Do any of you guys happen to have a part number for the silver stars?

[RF Overlord]

9007ST

I have the SilverStars in my car with the stock fog lamps...I never use them (the fogs), but my wife does, and I've seen her pull into the driveway with them all on...the fogs looks just as white as the headlights to me...damn close, anyway...

If yours are all that yellow, maybe a quick voltage check is in order?

[FordNut]

RC,
I don't know about the left-right deflection. I wouldn't think the H1 bulbe would be made differently since there is only one filament. We'll see.

As for color difference, I do notice the fog lights have a yellowish tint compared to the bright whiteness of the Silverstars. But I seldom use the fogs so it's not a big deal. I'd just like them to match more closely.

[MarillaMarauder]

Highly recommend reading the owners manual when you do the switch. Also, be careful not to break the clips holding the bulb in. There are two of them . I broke one but luckily the other one seems to hold the bulb just fine.

[01 Interceptor]

You guys could try Pro Street Lighting (https://secure.ioncart.net/prolighting/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=8&cat=ALL+Xenon+Headlight+Bulbs+ %2F+Focos+Xenon)

I got a set of fog light bulbs to match my mom's '99 GMC Envoy's HID's because they looked different. Great product, prices, and warranty!

[FordNut]

Ordered the Osram Silverstar H1 55W bulbs today from suvlights.com. $10 each plus shipping. We'll see soon how they compare with the Sylvania SS headlights.

[FordNut]

Got the Osram Silverstar H1 fog light bulbs today, installed and checked them out. They look good, bright and white, color matches the Silverstar headlight color. I checked by changing them one at a time and turning them on to verify the color difference before changing the second one.

[WolfeBros]

Good man. Thanks FordNut for the report. Will order mine tomorrow. :D

[martyo]

Brian: How significant is the difference in brightness?

[FordNut]

They claim 50%. I can't qualify that but they are definitely brighter than stock and it's a minimal investment unlike the HID conversion which has been discussed.

[studio460]

FordNut:

Do you have any idea WHERE on MM.net HIDs have been discussed at length? Can't use search term "HID" because it's less than four letters.

Found these relatively affordable HID kits (<$600) from Catz sold at suvlights.com. They're only 4500K (degrees Kelvin) so they may not have the blue or purple-blue hue to them like the 5600K-9000K HID units have. Thing is, is that they come in a direct-replacement bulb/ballast kit which includes BOTH high and low beams for 9007-series headlight housings (isn't that what ours takes?).

The higher Kelvin-rated (bluer) products only seem to be offered in low- or high-beam only kits--what good is that (and are much more expensive)?

Catz also has a <$500 H1 HID kit, but that's a another half a grand . . .

Was thinking of doing the Catz 9007 HID replacement, then installing some Osram Silverstar H1 55W bulbs for the fogs--BUT, adding an orange theatrical gel (which would probably melt in 60 seconds) over the lamp to simulate daytime running lights. Does anyone know of a fairly bright ORANGE H1 replacement bulb? That way, the non-HID fogs wouldn't look stupid if you had them on at the same time as the main HIDs in the headlights.

Thoughts on all this? Anyone?

P.S. Just searched for H1 bulbs and found these 4100K bulbs here (http://www.xtremewhite.com/ORD-Light~bulbs-Raybrig-Raybrig~Bulbs-no-1787-1-1-1-1.cfm) (pretty white for a non-HID lamp).

P.S.P.S. Oh. Just did another search and found these COLORED H1 replacement lamps here! (http://www.oceancorp.co.kr/eng/productinfo/h1h3h4h7.htm)

[MMpridenjoy]

The sig says it all. The PIAA are the best money can buy. DOT approved. (just an opinion)

[FordNut]

NBC,
Not sure what thread, but search on headlights. There was an extensive discussion about the possibility of finding a Lincoln Town Car (Cartier Edition?) in a scrapyard and salvaging the factory HID system from it for the MM. Should work, since the cars share a common platform. Buying a system like that piecemeal through the Ford parts counter without a donor car would be very expensive though.

[ghost]

Originally posted by UncleLar
I hope you don't melt anything with the high wattage bulbs. I've been to this site and corresponded with the gent that runs it,he's a real straight shooter. If you e-mail him and let him know which vehicle you have he'll tell you the best LEGAL set-up for your car. He may recommend a heavier wiring harness in addition to the bulb upgrade.
http://lighting.mbz.org/

Good advice! :up:

55W bulbs will draw about 4.6 amps, 130W bulbs will draw 10.8 amps! (EACH.)

High probablility that something will fry.

Eric