Headlamp Advice

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura) 01/19/2016 at 11:23 • Filed to: None

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My ‘89 Camry uses the 9004 headlamp. I am looking for brighter replacement lamps. I read that some of the brighter ones don’t last very long. Any advice?

Nibby > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 11:28

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unrelatedish but... pics of your camry? thanks

OPPOsaurus WRX > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 11:37

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just add one of these or 10

McMike > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 11:40

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I went through several Sylvania Silverstars in Mrs McMike’s Civic one year.

When the first factory bulb (5-6 years) burned out I figured I would take the opportunity to update them both to something brighter.

Two weeks later, one burned out and I replaced it.

A month later, the other one burned out and I replaced it..

When the third one burned out, I called 1-800-Sylvania to complain. When I did, the person on the phone actually told me that they had a shorter life expectancy because of their higher heat output.

I bought another set of factory-spec replacements and we sold it 8 years later with those two bulbs still in the car.

Never again. They were more expensive, and lasted a FRACTION of the time the others did.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 11:45

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Replace both at the same time. Personal experience and the parts guy correlate, there is something about the current differential that seems to burn them out.

I would get the brighter ones, light is good.

Takuro Spirit > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 11:48

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Brighter bulbs won’t last as long. Are your lenses cloudy or yellowed? If so that has a major effect on light output. Might want to consider polishing or replacing them.

Otherwise adding a set of driving lights that are legal for on road use will help light in the city, or some off-road driving lights if you drive a lot of backroads where high-beams are not enough.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 11:49

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These are nice, but not cheap.

http://www.piaa.com/store/p/59-900…

“Kensun” markets a Bi-xenon solenoid actuated 9004 kit (an assembly of the better no-name Chinese components) that’s of dubious legality, but pretty decent quality. I have their bi-xenon H4 units in my motorcycle and they seem pretty reliable so far. There may be clearance issues though, as the actuator sticks out the back of the bulb fairly far.

http://www.amazon.com/Kensun-Convers…

davedave1111 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 11:58

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Wait, you also have an 89 Camry?

Bengal55 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/19/2016 at 12:27

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I never had an issue with Silverstars, infact I still have a 3 year old pair in my truck that work just fine. Depending on the headlight housing you could look into HID’s of either the arc or LED type. Be aware though that they will have to be in proper alignment else you risk blinding other drivers.

I used a few cheap Chinese HID kits in a older vehicle of mine with mixed results, most seemed to last a couple years before giving me issues. They were cheap enough I didn’t care. (Aimed and tested for blindness, they didn’t harm oncoming drivers.)

Andrew did write a review earlier about the better quality LED offerings now that may be worth looking into. When the silverstars in my truck do eventually burn out, I may consider LED’s as a replacement. Same holds true for my Jaguar as well. We’ll see.

http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/should-you-swa…

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > davedave1111 01/26/2016 at 01:42

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I do. You also?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 01/26/2016 at 01:47

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@Jawz, thanks for the tip. But the former are above my price shock threshold and the latter are too complicated. I think I am going to roll the dice with a pair of the Silverstar lamps and see how long they last.

davedave1111 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/26/2016 at 15:12

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I do indeed.

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/camrys-are-now…

Some idiot drove into it the other week, so I’ve been going through an insurance claim for it. Looks like they’ll let me keep it, so that’s good.

Are you in the US? I suspect over there they’re still more banger than classic - the valuer for my insurers had a bit of a laugh when I suggested mine was a classic, and I didn’t tell him that up til now every time the subject’s come up my response has been ‘well, my insurers think it is’ :)

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > davedave1111 01/26/2016 at 20:15

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Yes, San Francisco Bay Area of California. What continent are you on?

My Camry was $18.6k new, which would be close to $40k today, though I am far removed from the original owner. I’ve done a bunch of maintenance to it, so it drives really well.

davedave1111 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/28/2016 at 11:32

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I’m in the UK. Apparently they built Camrys here back then, but never sold many so it’s a rare survivor. I don’t think I’ve seen the original price for mine, but now you mention it I suspect I have the original bill of sale somewhere.

Mine’s a genuine low-mileage weekend-driver car that belonged to an old chap who had it serviced by the book at the main dealer until a few years ago. Then it went to a classic car dealer who used it as a runabout, and now it’s up to nearly 63k miles.