Those running HIDs in E34s

[crashnburn80]

I was looking at possibly picking up an HID conversion this week since one of my silverstars burned out after less than 2 months. I have seen that some of you guys are running HIDs and I was wondering what you bought and where you bought it. And what you think of them as well. Thanks.

[Kalevera]

Before you do any of that, read this site:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html

...esp on the non euro SILVERSTARs...

Best, whit

[Mobius]

US-market Silverstars are shitty bulbs. They are an incredible waste of money.

Your average halogen headlamp bulb has a rated life of around 1,000 hours.
By Sylvania's own numbers, a Silverstar bulb has a rated life of 150 hours.

Click here if you don't believe me.

Personally I think HID 'conversions' are.. Well, they're 100% illegal and I agree with the sentiment behind that.

If you want to run a 'better' bulb, order a set of Osram (not Sylvania - Osram is Sylvania outside the US) Silverstars. GE Nighthawks are reportedly decent, too.

[BigKriss]

i run the euro lamps with osram silver starts +50. Over normal my normal H1 bulbs there is a slight increase in light. I have yet to clean the reflectos and glass inside. This is probabky decreasing some light output.

[Jon K]

I am running euro projectors with H1 based 6000k Phillips HID bulbs and ballasts... light output is MUCH improved. I get in non-HID equipped cars (sisters E34) and wonder if my lights are actually on.

[bahnstormer]

did u fail inspection for having those lights?

[Jon K]

did u fail inspection for having those lights?

No. Everything safety and drive-worthy passed on my car. the only thing that failed was emissions. This weekend I am going to Competition Exhaust and getting the M5 B&B Triflo welded up to a Magnaflow Hi-Flow catalyst.

[rockyfeller]

Silverstars are the best (better than PIAAs IMHO) but NOTHING can beat HIDs...Sure the aftermarket ones are illegal and hard to find retail but you can pick them up on Ebay. Lots of cheapo brands out there but I spent the extra $100 to get a kit with Hella ballansts. The quality was excellent and install was easy. If you're really chicken of what's illegal or not you shouldn't drive faster than 55 mph and never crawl at a stop sign. C'mon gimmie a break. My opinion is the law is just a "recommendation" If you have good common sense you know how to speed safetly, how to customize your car reasonably etc. Headlights shouldn't blind oncoming drivers, that's bad. Being BMWs most cops won't even notice that you have aftermarket HIDs they'll assume they're factory. (As long as you stay away from those super purple/garnet/yellow 10,000k+ kits). A 5-8000k kit is perfect. Too much color cuts down the light output. If your HID install is clean you'll see little evidence on inspection to find out if it is aftermarket except by bad luck they were under your hood specifically looking for it. Just do your mods low-profile with a factory look and you'll never go wrong.

[cary]

It's been posted before, but since nobody seems to ever remember.

1) Silverstars have no increase in light output over stock.

2) There is a great upgrade available called Halogen Infra Red Bulbs (HIR), which were devoloped by GE for John Deere. They are now made by Toshiba/Harrison and sold by www.danielsternlighting.com and www.hirheadlights.com.

Stock 9006 low beams = 1000 lumens output
Toshiba HIR 9012 low beam replacement= 1875 lumens output.

Both lamps draw 55 watts so no issues with overwatt bulbs.

[Patrick]

I had the anemic non-ellipsoid halogens that came standard in 1992 (and 1991 I think). I installed a misterjung's 5200K HID kit into euro-ellipsoids (search under my name or HID for more info). Properly aligned, this setup is a great upgrade from what I had -and nobody ever flashes their brights at me. The cutoff is extreme.
Alan Jung (of misterjungs) was a pain to deal with but finally came through. The kit is solid, instructions clear, and the ballasts are Hella.
I would have liked to have seen the difference 100w bulbs in the euro-ellipsoids but skipped that step.
Hth.