This week one of my headlights went out so I found my self deciding which model to get. Price is a concern right now so the Silverstars were already out just because of that. I have used them in the past and liked the color but they were not as extra bright as I was expecting so the function aspect was not adding much to sway me towards them.

The XV's however are only $5 more for the pair so they became a contender. However, what I saw when looking on the back of the packaging suprised me. It also swayed me to my choice. The back of the shows a comparison chart between all of these. One of the item lines was longevity. It showed it in bars with the standard model having 4 bars. The XV's had only 2 bars so half the life expectancy. The Silverstars and the Silverstar Ultras only had 1 bar.

I found that to be very suprising as I would not have though there would be such a difference from the same company. The other categorys of coarse all showed the standards being lower then the rest. Since I have no complaints about my current output and was not super impressed by the SS's in the past I do not see the justification of paying 2-2.5 times the price of the standards.

Funny thing is when the SS threads have come up and I have seen others mention the SS's not lasting too long I always imediately thought that they touched them when installing them. Now I see that this may not have always been the case if it was even ever the case lol.

 

Have been hearing about longevity issues with the Silverstars since they came out a number of years ago. On most cars changing them is not that big of an issue, but as we know its a major PITA on the HHR.

 

all the sylvanias and GE's are all the same...they are burning much brighter so your going to lose bulb life...to me its not worth it if they are only going to last you on average of 4 months..too expensive for that short amount of time..just stick with regular bulbs or go HID, but make sure you do your research and buy a good kit! Lots of crap ones out there!

 

The Sylvanias I bought are regular bulbs. When I used the SS's I had them for over a year.

The bulbs I took out were Sylvanias that were in the car when I bought it. I have had the car for over a year now.

But I agree with the life expectancy vs cost which is why I went with the regulars insted of the XtraVisions that even Sylvania admits only last half as long as the regulars.

 

Something else to consider is the 07+ models use the headlights for the DRL's. Granted lower voltage, but they are still on.

I had Silverstars in my wifes Mazda. For over 5 years before 1 blew. The amount you use your headlights will play a big factor. Since the 07+ models use headlights for the DRL's, they will have a shorter life already.

 

Just flip the fogs on in daylight..that runs parking lights and fogs and shuts off the DRLs..I have silvers and they doing good

 

That works if you have fog light

I just roll the switch back and turn them off most of the time during the day to help lengthen the life span of my bulbs. I bought the car used so who knows how long the previous ones were in there. I saved the still working one so I have a backup.