Silverstar Ultra 9003/HB2 vs OEM headlight bulb comparison

[CTScott]

This past weekend I replaced my headlight bulbs with Sylvania Silverstar Ultra 9003/HB2. I started doing the bloody knuckle method of replacing them, and then decided that it might be fun to pull off the front bumper to allow the headlamp assemblies to be removed as per the service manual. It only took me 30 minutes to change the bulbs this way (and that included about 15 minutes of taking pictures and looking over all that one can see with the bumper off.

to attempt to qualify the difference with the bulbs I took before and after pictures looking out of my garage with the car and camera in identical places. I mounted my digital SLR camera to my tripod, positioned it at head height height, and took pictures in full manual mode so that I could ensure that all settings would be identical.

Here are the pictures. Looking out of my garage door, my driveway rises about 8 feet over 75 feet to the road, and along the right side a 3 foot high retaining wall curves from the corner of the garage out about 50 feet to where the driveway narrows.

OEM Headlight bulbs:


Sylvania Silverstar Ultra 9003/HB2 bulbs:


Based on the Silverstar's advertised 50% brighter, 40% farther, 50% wider performace, I was expecting a big difference between the before and after shots. As you can see above, the biggest difference is in color.

After I buttoned everything up I took it for a spin and noticed a small difference in the range of the new bulbs, but nothing earth shatterring. I remembered that Bob mentioned in another post that adjusting the lights up a bit makes a big difference. I adjusted mine up about 6 inches at 20 feet and went out for another spin. Bringing them up that amount made a huge difference in range (probably 30 to 50 feet further illumination) and isn't enough to bother drivers approaching me.

I do like the much whiter color of the Ultrastars, but I think that adjusting the lights made the bigger difference for me.


Here are some pictures of my 09 LB as I removed the bumper to change the bulbs:

Bumper off (approximately 5 minutes to remove):


Headlight assembly mounting screws:







Headlight Assembly free:


Socket cover removed and bulb retaining clip released:


Inside of the 09 bumper: