2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Heavy Duty Lightbulbs???

[400Magnum]

Does anyone know if there are such things as heavy duty light bulbs? I drive my truck empty on paved roads that have a lot of cracks, pot-holes, ripples, etc. I get about a year out of my headlights before the vibration apparently kills them. I replaced the shocks, so the truck rides a little nicer, but I don't think it's going to be much help.



I'm using the Silverstar headlights now, and I've replaced two already in the last year, and the third one just blew two nights ago. I like the light that these bulbs make, but this is getting a little expensive for something that I feel should last longer than a year.



Any ideas?

 

[LandShark]

First thing to do: STOP using the Silverstars! Do a search on this site and you'll find that the cost of the bright light is short life. From the Sylvania website:



2. What is the life expectancy of SilverStar?

The life expectancy of a SilverStar halogen light source is dependent on the driver’s use of the lights, which vary by season, time of day and number of miles driven. We estimate the SilverStar halogen lights to have a life span of up to one year under average driving conditions.



I burned up two Silverstars in less than a year, with minimal night driving. Just buy the normal Sylvania or GE bulb and you should do much better.

 

[400Magnum]

Not much difference

I was using the regular bulbs before the Silverstars, and was replacing them about as often. I figured that they couldn't be any worse, and the extra illumination would outweigh the extra cost. Well, they are brighter than the stock bulbs, which is nice because I don't have any additional lights on the truck, and I do a lot of night driving.



I would be willing to sacrifice the better lighting for something that would last several years, but like I said, the regular bulbs are about as bad. That's why I was wondering if there was some sort of "heavy duty" bulb that was out there. I didn't know if the big rigs used something different than the regular autos that we use or not.



Is it normal to go thru bulbs this fast on these trucks? Is everyone having to do this?



What about the guys that have converted over to the Sport headlights, do those bulbs last longer?

 

[duaneparks]

You could always experiment with HID's... though pricey, I believe they may hold up better. I have no experience with them myself, but have considered them in the past.



My Silverstars have lasted 2 years now, even with Houston's potholes, expansion joints, and heat/humidity. <shrug>



Duane

 

[400Magnum]

Not on my budget...

I'm having a hard time affording the Silverstars, there's no way I can justify the expense of the HID's, not unless I was guaranteed in writing that they would last for more than 10 years, then it might be worth it.

 

[CORed]

I'd highly recommend purchasing a set or auxiliary lights. I have the silverstars, which were better than stock, but still not great. The light pattern of the OEM lights suck (non-sport). So instead of investing in 40-50 dollar silverstars every 12-18 months, I just bought a nice set of Catz auxiliary lights on eBay. Any good manufacturer will do. I mounted mine under the bumper (they are fog lights) and use them at night 99% of the time. THey definitely fill in all the dark spots that the stock lights (with Silverstars) left and I only had to buy them once. They have lasted 6+ months so far and I couldn't be happier.



The other route is converting stock headlights to the sport versions, but that will end up costing you a minimum of $250 and some have invested almost $400 total to do the conversion. A nice set of auxiliary lights (new) is 10-15% of that and, in my opinion, can do the same or better job of lighting up the night.



Steve



p. s. With my Catz (MSRs) auxiliary lighting in place, when my Silverstars burn out, I'm going back to regular cheap Sylvanias or GEs. Oh, and BTW, I use the OEM in-dash foglight switch to control them for a nice clean install and look.

 

[400Magnum]

Yea, a set of auxiliary lights was going to be my next step if I couldn't come up with a way to just replace the bulbs with something that would last longer. But I figured that those bulbs would just eventually get blown out too since they are essentially the same as what I have now and they'll be feeling the same vibrations as the regular lights, then I was going to have two sets of bulbs that I'd have to replace on a yearly basis. Not exactly a move to decreasing the expense of bulb replacement.