98 ES w/140,000 miles
I was reading about how "long life" halogen headlight bulbs fade over the years of use even though they seem to last longer than the previous generation. Coincidentally my left rear turn signal bulb went out this week, so I decided to place that report into action. While replacing the rear turn signal bulb was a non-drama (thanks to good engineering on the release tabs) I picked up some Sylvania/Osram 9006-XS bulbs to begin to see just how much mine had faded over the years. I have never had my headlight bulbs burn out...they are still the OEM bulbs inserted at Bramalea/Brampton back in late 1997. (Which by the way, the OEM supplier was, Sylvania/Osram) I picked up the XS version which by the website has approximately 25% less life but reportedly more brightness than the OEM replacement. (more opinions on bulb brightness later) I placed a new bulb in the driver right cluster first and then drove a few days to see if there were any differences overall. First impressions are that looking straight into the lights the old bulb had some fade, (a slight yellowish hue) however it was so slight it was almost negligible. Second impression was actually driving down the road and the only thing I could notice was about 15 to 20 yards ahead of me, the right headlight now had a pattern that extended another 3 yards max ahead of the left. To confirm the pattern change, I later placed the new bulb in the left cluster, and now the patterns matched. How much of this is attributable to fade and how much to the reported "brightness" of the new bulb is debatable. I know on other forums discussions on replacement bulbs usually gets ugly. Those who swear their $45 bulb is providing incredible light, and others who say their $9.99 OEM replacement does the same thing. Based on some research I did I learned the following; > 98 Intrepid low beam requires a 9006 bulb (55W/12VDC) > The DOT regulates how much light energy can be projected > Bulb suppliers do not all measure their bulb performance identically > All the bulbs I researched that claim "more brightness" than OEM, showed less life > Some bulb suppliers "cheat" a little and run 'hot'. Usually 60W > Some bulb filaments run at a higher color temp at the same wattage to give a perception of 'brightness' (3600 vs. 3800 degrees) My conclusions basically is that the brighter the bulb, the less life it will have. That bulbs that run 'hot' may be brighter but run the risk of ruining the reflector in your cluster. Spectrum shifting the output of the bulb does not add distance to the reflected light seen. Interesting in that after I picked up the Sylvania XS bulbs, Even though they are claimed to be brighter, they are rated exactly the same as the cheaper OEM in specific light output. This tells me that the XS bulbs are doing a spectrum shift (since they are only 55W bulbs) to get the perception of brightness. Sylvania is the only supplier that doesn't publish their color temps. One supplier does everything, (ie: PIAA) They run hot, (60W), they spectrum shift (3800 degrees), I suspect they use a short life filament. (The one snippet PIAA doesn't publish is their lifetime rating) They are also somewhat expensive. Back to my bulb test, were my OEM's really faded? Or was it the spectrum shift for 'brightness' that made the OEM's look a little yellow? The visible distance test says, yes they were better, but not by very much...less than 5%. Was it worth the extra couple of bucks? For me...probably not. Depending on your requirements, it appears that unless you want to spend the money on exotic bulbs, OEM replacements are adequate for 95% of your driving needs. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/6iY7fA/5WnJAA/Y3ZIAA/46t0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Web: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dodge_intrepid> Subscribe: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribe: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Moderator: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dodge_intrepid/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
