Sylvania Silverstar headlights

On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 17:14:29 -0500, Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Thu, 3 Mar 2005, C.H. wrote:
>
>> Is it legal in California to put HIR/9011/9012 bulbs into 9005/9006
>> sockets?
>
> There's nothing in the letter of the law that says you can't. 9011s and
> 9012s are DOT-certified bulb types, and I will eat my keyboard the first
> time a policeman -- ANY policeman -- knows enough to say "Hey, these 9012
> bulbs don't belong in these 9006 headlamps!".

You are certainly right, without taking your headlights apart they
basically have no way to know.

> But, any given headlamp is designed and intended to take one and only
> one type of bulb (9006, 9004, H7, H11, H13, D2S, 9012, whatever).
> It would be Federally illegal for any individual to make this swap on
> another individual's car in exchange for consideration (money, goods,
> services).

Sounds logical. I can do that myself though, fortunately.

Chris

Since putting them in the RAV4 and Cruiser I have not had one person flash
at me or otherwise indicate that the lights were a problem. Both vehicles
however do exhibit fairly decent beam cutoff.

Richard.

C.H. wrote:

> On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 17:14:29 -0500, Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>
>
>>On Thu, 3 Mar 2005, C.H. wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Is it legal in California to put HIR/9011/9012 bulbs into 9005/9006
>>>sockets?
>>
>>There's nothing in the letter of the law that says you can't. 9011s and
>>9012s are DOT-certified bulb types, and I will eat my keyboard the first
>>time a policeman -- ANY policeman -- knows enough to say "Hey, these 9012
>>bulbs don't belong in these 9006 headlamps!".
>
>
> You are certainly right, without taking your headlights apart they
> basically have no way to know.
>
>
>>But, any given headlamp is designed and intended to take one and only
>>one type of bulb (9006, 9004, H7, H11, H13, D2S, 9012, whatever).
>>It would be Federally illegal for any individual to make this swap on
>>another individual's car in exchange for consideration (money, goods,
>>services).
>
>
> Sounds logical. I can do that myself though, fortunately.
>
> Chris

If one knows what one is doing, one can install a hidden switch with
some ballasting to cut the intensity back to OEM levels if needed in a
given situation.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

"Bill Putney" > wrote in message
...
> C.H. wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 17:14:29 -0500, Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>>
>>
>>>On Thu, 3 Mar 2005, C.H. wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Is it legal in California to put HIR/9011/9012 bulbs into 9005/9006
>>>>sockets?
>>>
>>>There's nothing in the letter of the law that says you can't. 9011s and
>>>9012s are DOT-certified bulb types, and I will eat my keyboard the first
>>>time a policeman -- ANY policeman -- knows enough to say "Hey, these 9012
>>>bulbs don't belong in these 9006 headlamps!".
>>
>>
>> You are certainly right, without taking your headlights apart they
>> basically have no way to know.
>>
>>
>>>But, any given headlamp is designed and intended to take one and only
>>>one type of bulb (9006, 9004, H7, H11, H13, D2S, 9012, whatever).
>>>It would be Federally illegal for any individual to make this swap on
>>>another individual's car in exchange for consideration (money, goods,
>>>services).
>>
>>
>> Sounds logical. I can do that myself though, fortunately.
>>
>> Chris
>
> If one knows what one is doing, one can install a hidden switch with some
> ballasting to cut the intensity back to OEM levels if needed in a given
> situation.
>
> Bill Putney
> (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
> adddress with the letter 'x')

The higher levels are within DOT guidelines.

Richard.

In article >, Richard wrote:
>
> Since putting them in the RAV4 and Cruiser I have not had one person flash
> at me or otherwise indicate that the lights were a problem.

Probably not a good way to determine if the glare is bad or not. I don't
even bother flashing people anymore. Those with the most offensive lamps
when flashed, decide to 'teach me a lesson' and then put their highbeams
on. It's really pointless to indicate to people they are emitting rude
amounts of glare in this society. These people really don't give a ****
and are probably doing it on purpose. Like with most things, it's
considered to be more rude to point out the rudeness and ask it to stop
than to be rude.

After I finished the headlamp work on my mustang, I parked it,
and got into another car and faced it as though I were oncoming traffic.
I didn't find any disturbing glare. Now I know the weight in the car made
things a little off because there was nobody in it, but given how glare
sensitive I am, if it was anywhere close to bad I would have noticed it.

On Fri, 4 Mar 2005, Richard wrote:

> >>>>Is it legal in California to put HIR/9011/9012 bulbs into 9005/9006
> >>>>sockets?

> > If one knows what one is doing, one can install a hidden switch with some
> > ballasting to cut the intensity back to OEM levels if needed in a given
> > situation.

> The higher levels are within DOT guidelines.

Richard, you're not correct. The bulbs themselves are a DOT certified
design, but installing a bulb that produces nearly 90 percent more light
than the intended bulb almost always renders the *headlamp beam*
noncompliant. That doesn't necessarily mean it's better or worse, doesn't
necessarily mean it's safer or more dangerous -- those are completely
different questions and the answers are variable depending on the specific
headlamps in question.

Brent P wrote:

> In article >, Richard wrote:
>
>>Since putting them in the RAV4 and Cruiser I have not had one person flash
>>at me or otherwise indicate that the lights were a problem.
>
>
> Probably not a good way to determine if the glare is bad or not. I don't
> even bother flashing people anymore. Those with the most offensive lamps
> when flashed, decide to 'teach me a lesson' and then put their highbeams
> on.

True, but fortunately (well, not really...) today's poor headlamps are
frequently no more annoying on high beam. AND getting the goober to go
too high beam also shuts off his stupid fog lights, too, so there's a
net improvement! :-)

On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 09:49:51 -0600,
(Brent P) wrote:

>In article >, Richard wrote:
>>
>> Since putting them in the RAV4 and Cruiser I have not had one person flash
>> at me or otherwise indicate that the lights were a problem.
>
>Probably not a good way to determine if the glare is bad or not. I don't
>even bother flashing people anymore. Those with the most offensive lamps
>when flashed, decide to 'teach me a lesson' and then put their highbeams
>on. It's really pointless to indicate to people they are emitting rude
>amounts of glare in this society. These people really don't give a ****
>and are probably doing it on purpose. Like with most things, it's
>considered to be more rude to point out the rudeness and ask it to stop
>than to be rude.
>
>After I finished the headlamp work on my mustang,

Did you put these bulbs in a Mustang? According to the bulb cross
reference they don't fit a mustang.


I parked it,
>and got into another car and faced it as though I were oncoming traffic.
>I didn't find any disturbing glare. Now I know the weight in the car made
>things a little off because there was nobody in it, but given how glare
>sensitive I am, if it was anywhere close to bad I would have noticed it.

In article >, wrote:

> Did you put these bulbs in a Mustang? According to the bulb cross
> reference they don't fit a mustang.

No. I replaced the headlamps, wired up relays, new xtravision 9007 bulbs.