Went out for a play to give the Xtreme's a test. First thing I noticed is that the area of light cast by them right in front of the car is much whiter than the Silverstars, but as a consequence, they don't appear to have the same reach into the distance, although I suspect they actually do. Only downside was being flashed twice by opposing vehicles which suggests that these bulbs are more likely to dazzle than the Silverstars, but the headlight alignment will be checked next week, to rule that out as a cause.

Will have to see how I get on with them, but I suspect any driving requiring headlights at this time of year, will be done on my Philips Rallye main beams!

Chris

Still need to get round to fitting mine Chris, but by the sounds of the above - there's gonna be some unreal light output with these on full beam, coupled with Xenons

Hehe, can't wait :P

Steve

Thing is when they are 2x the price of the silverstars I am still to be convinced.

Thing is when they are 2x the price of the silverstars I am still to be convinced.

And likewise the Silverstars are twice the price of ordinary bulbs but I doubt twice as good Horses for courses...........

Chris

I must admit they are an improvement on the OEM bulbs, and so they should be for the price point.... however, like everything its partially physcological.

Anybody got any pic's before after etc......

I have just replaced my Fabia VRS front side light bulbs with Philips Bluevision Ultra and my dipped beam bulbs with Philips X-treme.

The first pic is of standard side light and second is with Philips Bluevision. I am very pleased with the result much brighter crisper light.

Third pic is of standard dipped beam which is a Osram standard 12v55w H7 and the 4th pic is with the Philips X-treme. I am realy disapointed as there is very little difference between the 2 as you can see. not enough to justify spending

Taken a pic of the h/lamp and not the road is why you'll not get the effect.

Look for how the white light is focused infront when driving on dipped and then full if like mk1 h4 used you will see a big improvent of usable light.

Remember usable white light is more important when driving down b roads ect than wasted dim yellowie light surrounding the main pattern on std bulbs

And likewise the Silverstars are twice the price of ordinary bulbs but I doubt twice as good Horses for courses...........

Chris

Well yes, but the silver stars are a huge improvement over the stock bulbs, I am dubious as to if these are significantly better then the silver stars.

I noticed a huge improvement using the extremes over the standard MKI H4`s they replaced

The light is much crisper and on B roads the difference is considerable

I would like to see a comparison between these and the silver stars to see if paying the extra was worth it

somehow i very much doubt it

i take it silverstar is osrams equiv to phillips. i would expect them to be very similar as both use similar technologies, although Phillips are getting the better press from independent tests at the moment

The Silverstars are Osram's +50% bulbs and the Extremes are +80% so not quite directly competitors....

Chris

That means the vision plus are equiv so extremes should be abouve them both

Will hopefully be in a position to do a side by side photo comparison with these vs silverstars in a few days time. I am fitting a set to the MR2 so will be in projector housings.

Regarding projector lamps, I found that when replacing the stock MR2 bulbs with silverstars, the headlights needed to be adjusted up slightly as the cutoff point went low due to tighter focussing, a result of the smaller filament. On the other hand, the driving experience proves the silverstars to be a very big improvement over the stock bulbs, as they were in the Fabia also.

Also got some Toshiba Halogen Infra red Reflective bulbs (HIR) coming from the USA for main beams.

Chris

Got this posted by Phillips supplier for 2007 award

Well I replaced the Osram Silverstars in the MR2 with a pair of H7 Philips X-treme bulbs. The light is whiter and brighter, the beams needed adjustment upward as the filament size bought the cut off closer to the car.

Are they good, most definitely. However, if you are already using Silverstars the difference is not massive, definite improvement yes, not as big a gain as you get going from stock to Silverstars. Once correctly adjusted, these bulbs give a useful amount of extra brightness allowing one to pick out the verge much easier when oncoming traffic partially bleaches your vision.

The HIR (Halogen Infrared Reflective) bulbs fitted to the main beam are in a different class. These are deeply impressive and make night driving not too different from daytime! Wish they did these in H7.

Chris

These are deeply impressive and make night driving not too different from daytime! Wish they did these in H7.

Do you know if the HIR's are available in any H sizes?

Chris

Do you know if the HIR's are available in any H sizes?

Chris

Not as far as I can find out. The Toshiba ones are only available in 9011 and 9012, which are 9005 and 9006 equivalents with one fat lug to be trimmed to convert them to the 9005 / 9006 equivalents.

I will keep an eye open for anyone making other versions (although the $115 IPF manufactured bulbs are said to be barely better than stock). The Toshiba ones are the only ones that seem to really perform.

Chris

Just fitted my favorit with H4 x-treme bulbs off ebay. The difference is noticeable mainly on road signs in the distance. When the car goes over bumps you can definitely tell signs far in the distance are being illuminated by your headlights. The difference in the beam pattern on the road isn't as noticeable but I guess that's down to the reflectors in the headlight unit.

A note of caution.

I fitted X-treme H7's to my 55 Ambient tdi 140 a few days back, and today whilst cleaning I noticed a dark grey "staining" of the lens immediately in front of the dipped beam reflector.

It's worse on one than the other, but definitely noticeable. Changed back to the originals. Wasn’t there when I fitted the x-tremes.

Have these bulbs burnt the lenses? If so I’m not well pleased!!

Anyone else suffered this?

Letter to Philips me-thinks.

Rgds

PS. Apologies for the cross post, but in searching I seam to have placed my first post in a Fabia group!! before I found this thread.

I haven't noticed any difference in the lenses on mine. AFAIK the bulbs are coated with UV protection to prevent staining of lenses. Will keep a look out now you mention though

A note of caution.

I fitted X-treme H7's to my 55 Ambient tdi 140 a few days back, and today whilst cleaning I noticed a dark grey "staining" of the lens immediately in front of the dipped beam reflector.

It's worse on one than the other, but definitely noticeable. Changed back to the originals. Wasn’t there when I fitted the x-tremes.

Have these bulbs burnt the lenses? If so I’m not well pleased!!

Anyone else suffered this?

Letter to Philips me-thinks.

Rgds

PS. Apologies for the cross post, but in searching I seam to have placed my first post in a Fabia group!! before I found this thread.

You can try philips but since ive been selling there bulbs for 7 years and never once even on higher wattage bulbe seen that you most likely get nowhere.

I can only think that the lenses may not have been to spec for thickness from factory and over the years has deteriated and you mmay not have noticed as much before.

I will ask the rep the next time hes in tho

Be very interested to see if you get any feedback.

Car is a 55 plate, two years old, and the staining was dfinitely not there prior to fitting these bulbs.

I've owned it for 9 months, and given it at least two through cleans during which I would have noticed, I'm certain.

Rgds

No staining on my (non projector) lenses and they're been in for the best part of 6 months now. Prefer them to the Osram Silverstars but have noticed other cars flashing me more than with the Osrams, despite having the alignment checked....

Chris

Fitted mine today. Fairly impressed compared to standard.