Best Brightest Headlights CIVIC VX

[panamacolin]

Hi,

Not sure if this is the correct section of the forums to post, if not sorry, and feel free to move this thread.

I am looking for a nice new set of headlights, maybe just bulbs. I have looked on ebay and came across a couple different sets but I don't know the quality of them or how bright they are in the real world.

If you have any suggestions or first hand experience with any please post and let me know.

Thanks for your help!

[jeep45238]

Unless you do a proper HID conversion (with new lenses and reflectors) there's not too much you'll notice. I'm running the latest Silverstar headlights, the ones that are supposed to be very very bright.

I don't notice a single difference unless I'm the only source of light. City lights, other cars, etc., and the gain isn't there. I won't be buying them again.

[theholycow]

What are your driving conditions? You might want to add some auxilliary driving lights to fill in dark spots if you drive on low-traffic rural roads.

[civic94]

just like jeep45238 said, get hid's if you want to be bright on the road. i tried silverstars before and they are not brighter than oem, its just more white and blue. those pieses of **** burned out in less an a year.

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by panamacolin

I am looking for a nice new set of headlights, maybe just bulbs.

What model headlights (i.e. which bulb models?) does your car take? If you are lucky enough for it to be the 9005 (hi beam) and 9006 (low beam) combo (as it is in my 1991 CRX) IMHO your best bet is to modify Toshiba HIR bulbs (not HID, HIR) to fit in your existing bulb spots.

Yes, you will likely have to buy them online (FWIW I got mine here: http://store.candlepower.com/hirlighting.html ), and they can cost close to $25/each. But they are a LOT brighter than stock (9005/9006) bulbs they replace (the low beam 55w HIR2 bulbs are actually brighter than stock high beam bulbs, and the 65w HIR1 high beam bulbs are even brighter than that), use no more energy then than stock bulbs, properly use the stock car bulb optics to avoid blinding oncoming drivers (since the filament is in the same relative position, the stock optics can properly aim the light where it should go), and are rated to last almost as long as the stock bulbs as well. i.e. In pretty much all ways (other than the initial cost and minor hassle of modifying the bulb tab) these bulbs blow away stock headlight bulbs.

NOTE: The HIR1 ("high beam") bulb is technically a 9011 bulb, not a 9005 bulb. So to make it fit, you have to grind a little of the tab off the bulb with a dremel tool (use the existing bulb as a guide, positioned with the two bulbs facing the same way, and just make the new bulb's tabs look the same as the bulb you are replacing). Likewise, the HIR2 (9012) bulb nicely fits in the 9006 bulb slot after its tabs are modified to look like the existing 9006 bulb. But after this one time (simple) bulb mod (be sure to not touch the bulb itself with your fingers, as like all Halogen bulbs they can be damaged by skin oils on the quartz cover) they will work fine in a 9005/9006 stock bulb holder, giving you much more light WITHOUT using any more power (i.e. HIR bulbs are noticeably more "energy efficient" than traditional car Halogen bulbs, and that extra "energy efficiency" is used to make a much brighter bulb that doesn't use any more power). Which means that for a little more than $100 (two HIR1 bulbs for the high beams + two HIR2 bulb for the low beams), you can do a very nice "upgrade" to your stock headlights!

[gork57]

I tried the Silverstar headlight bulbs, but my experience was that while that were a bit brighter than the Honda OEM bulbs, they burned out much faster. For me, this is not cost effective, since Silverstars cost a lot more than standard bulbs. I've since gone back to the OEM bulbs, and these are quite sufficient for my needs-and a whole lot less expensive.

[Danronian]

After going from an Acura Integra that has factory projector lights, which gave me much better light output compared to the Civic's OEM lights, I found I had to look into upgrading the lighting on my civic. I searched on some forums, and the one aftermarket headlight some people liked the light output on was the Denji projectors. I searched for a while and then found an opened but unused set for about $90 shipped. I believe mine are actually a knock-off of the Denji brand lights but compared to an actual set I've seen first-hand, the light output is the same.

Before

After



These lights did take a lot of adjusting to get good light output out of them, but compared to the oem lights, it's night and day. I would recommend the black-housing version over the chrome housing since these do have some stray light due to the chrome reflecting the light to the sides.

[VXRider]

Danronian, how are those fogs working out for you? I've been thinking about picking up a pair but I don't know how well they work. I have yet to see them projecting in the dark.

[Danronian]

Originally Posted by VXRider

Danronian, how are those fogs working out for you? I've been thinking about picking up a pair but I don't know how well they work. I have yet to see them projecting in the dark.

I've owned OEM Honda fog lights (had them on my last car), and now I have these ebay knock-off foglights. From my experience, the light output between the two is identical and depends on the quality and wattage bulb you put in them.

Honda designs them so you can't adjust them to project more than about 10-15 feet from the front so they do help with when it's foggy/raining/snowing, but otherwise they do very little. I sometimes use them as daytime running lights just to make the car a bit more visible.

I want to get a night-shot of the light output of the headlights and fogs, but I don't have one yet to show you.