[jpark]

After almost four years of back-and-forth e-mails with Sylvania, someone at Sylvania finally decided to shut me up by releasing H11 SilverStars. I almost passed out when I saw them at Advance Auto this morning.

Yes, some people have had bad luck with them (I'm not one of them), and yes, I do agree with Daniel Stern on a lot of his points about filtering halogen lighting and then compensating for the light loss by decreasing the lamp voltage (and life span) to increase brightness.

But I can't help it. I've always liked the look of SilverStars.

And if you clean the bulbs with pure isopropyl alcohol, dry them with a clean paper towel, and don't allow anything to contact them when installing them, they should last for a long time. Mine always outlasted the length of time I owned each car. I've never had one burn out on me.

Sooo, if you have a 2005-2007 Escape (Mariners and Tributes use different headlamp bulbs), and if you like SilverStars, Sylvania just gave you an early present for the holiday season. SilverStars are available in H11 (low beam) and H7 (high beam), and SilverStar Ultras are available in H7.

If you have a 2008+ E/M/T, there's an H13 (low/high beam) SilverStar.

And I like to think that my 1,275 e-mails to Sylvania may have helped.

 

[jonas1022]

Merry Christmas JPark! :lol:

 

[tang]

Hard work pays off!

 

[jpark]

:lol:

It shouldn't have taken four years!

 

[tang]

You'd be surprised what else has taken just as long!
(can you say the Fiesta... a global Focus...)

 

[tang]

Any idea when they'll get a 5202 bulb out? It's the new fog light bulb on 08+'s. They are being used like nuts by Chevrolet.

 

[jpark]

This one, right?

Ford also uses them on the Mustang.

There are no SilverStars for these yet, but a company called Putco distributes a typical blue-coated knock-off:

http://www.wheelzngrillez.com/gmfoglibunib.html

There are also a few HID kits for the PS24WFF/H16/9009/5202:

http://www.venomousstangz.net/index.php ... cts_id=135

http://turnagainhighlights.com/id72.html

 

[tang]

Probably. All I've seen are HID kits for the bulb; I haven't actually looked at the 5202 bulb in my vehicle. That is a funny shape for an automotive bulb... well, there's something odd about it. I wonder if I could get away with an HID fog kit?

Does the cross-compatability mean I can use a H16 bulb in its place?

 

[jpark]

It's not "officially" called the H16 or 9009 yet, but it's the same bulb.

And it is a weird shape for a halogen lamp.

:shrug:

 

[C17chief]

And if you clean the bulbs with pure isopropyl alcohol, dry them with a clean paper towel, and don't allow anything to contact them when installing them, they should last for a long time. Mine always outlasted the length of time I owned each car. I've never had one burn out on me.

This really does make a difference with hot running bulbs. I fix aircraft for a living. There are a few exterior bulbs that even say right in the books not to touch the glass directly when installing or they will fail....and sure enough, they do typicly go out in under a week if you directly touch em vs many months if not years if you dont. Therefore I could see similar logic applied here.

 

[jpark]

Thanks! And it's nice to hear that from an expert!

 

[jonas1022]

Found the Silverstars in the local Walmart automotive section. Just the other day. I wouldn't have given them a second look, except for this thread.