Big Sky Euro

Yup, got 'em! One set left right now, so I will pull 'em for you. We don't want anyone coming in and buying them, now do we?

I had silverstars in my MKIV and I had them burn out too. Mine was both of them though. I turned on the lights in the driveway facing the garage door, *FLASH* (DARK)....left side went out....got out of the car, looked at the right side as it did the same thing. My GTI was the color of concrete with winter road grime and people would pull out in front of me because they couldn't see me (weak sauce stock bulbs). Silverstars cured that. I got a 2nd set and called Sylvania. Ship them in and they will [allegedly]replace them. That way you can have a spare for when they go out again.

Perhaps it was the hot bulb in the cold? Cruddy bulbs? Didn't matter to me - it was better than having someone pull out in front of me at the last minute (which did happen at 50 MPH on wet roads and I had 30 feet to react, and the ESP saved my ass).

According to a couple of sources the wattage is slightly off from what is required from stock bulbs, so that's why they burnt out. I fixed mine by getting PIAA extreme whites from Aeron

PIAA input wattage is usually 55/60(depending on bulb style), which is what the factory "should" be.

I am not sure what sylvania uses for input wattage, but I would assume that it is higher, resulting in shorter bulb life, wiring issues, voltage issues, etc.

That is usually why PIAA bulbs are more expensive, they have to use different gases in the bulbs to get the desired effect. Cheaper bulbs(not saying sylvania in particular) use cheaper gases, and utilise higher input wattages to get the same effect.

"The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. And you have burned so very very brightly my son"

Any sci-fi movie buffs know that one?


For a hell of a lot of information, and probably some that proves everything I just said wrong check out.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html

One cause of pre-mature bulb failure is touching the bulb when installing them. Apparently the oils in your skin can screw them up, So always be extra carefull or wear a rubber (glove)

MK 4 GTI wrote:One cause of pre-mature bulb failure is touching the bulb when installing them. Apparently the oils in your skin can screw them up, So always be extra carefull or wear a rubber (glove)

Yeah, the oil will overheat, boil and shatter the glass - this is true with all Halogen bulbs, and I was (as usual) extra careful to not touch the glass when I originally installed them. I have heard of many people with Silverstar bulbs that blow because of the wattage, and so far the PIAA's have been A+. And I think they are brighter too.

If you need new bulbs, go with them.