We switched to Osram silverstars about 18 months ago and had to replace one of them last week. This is after about 13k of driving so they've not had a lot of use.

This is only the second headlamp bulb I've had to replace in 20 years of driving.

Anyone else had this problem ?

All it takes to blow is a little grease on it when you fit them, or water getting to them (had a minor hole in the Renault's headlight, and when a droplet hit it when the bulb was hot, it would basically blast the bulb to bits :( )

Unfortunately I don't know how long the bulb will last in the Fabia/Octavia, the ones I had in the Rover 100 were H4 Osram Silverstars IIRC, and they were in use for > 2 years. Always drive with dipped beam on myself. On the Fabia I've got SilverStars for main beam as I've got Xenons, and I sure hope the Xenons will last > 2 years

We switched to Osram silverstars about 18 months ago and had to replace one of them last week. This is after about 13k of driving so they've not had a lot of use.

This is only the second headlamp bulb I've had to replace in 20 years of driving.

Anyone else had this problem ?

One thing I liked about the silverstars is that once fitted, I've never had to change them and I was covering up to 30k a year and using them heavily My Philips Vision Plus bulbs went pop after about 10k miles but it seems this is unusual so may just have been a dodgy batch

As WW_VRS says, so many factors affect the bulb life.......

Chris

Anyone know if uprating the H7 makes a noticeable improvement for xenon equipped cars?

Bloody hope they do!

I've got Philips Vision Plus in mine and yes they do make a noticeable difference.

The ultimate expression of this is the 9000K HID units that are available. Look seriously blue, but b*gger all use down a country lane at night.

Well, having had a gander at the 6,500K HID kits over on Vagparts.........

from the images shown, they look to be a significant improvement over stock offerings. Images show an exmaple of the projected light beam, not just how the bulb looks.

I'm running around with the Silverstars in at the moment, and, while a huge improvement over OEM, the street lighting round here often makes me wonder if i'm actually running with lights on at all.........

You can easily chek your wiring:

12v 55w = near enough for the sake of argument 5 amps

12v 100w = near enough 8.5 amps

Double this for BOTH sides = 10 amps or 17 amps. Consideration has also to be given to the length of the cable suppling the healights from the power source, and whether there is a relay to operate them etc.etc.

All of these things can be overloaded if 100w bulbs are fitted where they shouldn't be.

I have used both Osram and Philips 50% range... H4 in my Octy...

Would putting in 80/100W H4 make a big difference on the dipped as well as main?

Also would these illegal lights invalidate my insurance?

cheers

Dazz

I have used both Osram and Philips 50% range... H4 in my Octy...

Would putting in 80/100W H4 make a big difference on the dipped as well as main?

Also would these illegal lights invalidate my insurance?

cheers

Dazz

Hi Dazz

I used these in a MK 2 Cavalier and had people flashing me up or putting their rear fogs on first night I used them, so took them out again. Comparing the pattern on a wall, it was the same as with standard lights, but off axis light was much brighter, hence dazzle for other road users. Would not recomend them myself. I changed them for 55/130s.

Chris