Silverstar and Silverstar Ultra impressions

[ckadiddle]

OK, fog light burned out just prior to MVIV. Used dead fog light as an excuse to finally get round to visiting local chain parts store and picked up double packs of Sylvania Silverstar Ultra (9007 SU) headlight bulbs and Sylvania Silverstar (H1) fog light bulbs. If I am getting dirty and using all my special Ford cusswords, why not do all the lights at the same time? :D Both seemed to be on sale, total was under 70 bucks.

Did it in the driveway, no ramps or lift or anything. No tools either. I did use latex gloves to try and keep my fingerprints off the new bulbs. Pretty sure neighbors thought I was either really wierd of really prissy working on the car with rubber gloves on. Fog lamps first, cause I figured they might be easier, and I was correct. Found the velcro flap splashguard thingie, reached up through it and twisted a bit. Wires were long enough for me to bring bulb down below the splashguard where I could see it. (I am really nearsighted.) Exact same thing on other side. Yay. Tested. Works!!

[Grifter]

I am running the same combo.. I like them alot more than the stock bulbs that were there. I dont know if the SS fogs made a difference at all, but they look whiter.. I guess i could have gotten that with a $9.99 pair of hyper whites..

[ckadiddle]

Now on to headlights. Great. Sheetmetal is close behind the headlights. This is gonna be a pain. Begin Ford cusswords here. :help: I had read about installs on mm.net first, but nothing made sense when I had the hood up. OK, kick self for being idiot. I KNOW these have to be replaceable without removing the entire assembly from the front as some have done. Discovered there is a smallish domelike black plastic cap/hat/Bcup thingie that has to be twisted off to allow access to back of bulb assy. Let it kinda fall back and rest in the spot it wants to. I will deal with it later! Hands and fingers are too fat. Force hands in harder. Insert more Ford engineering cusswords here. Gouge back of right hand. Discover that I have to still twist/unlock another black plastic retainer ring that helps hold the assy in place tightly. Cuss more. Discover the bulb assy itself also had to be twisted to unlock. Cuss yet more. Discover wire is long enough for me to pull bulb assy up where I can see it and change it. Discover width of assy and retainer ring won't wiggle up through the narrow space. Force retainer ring off the assy praying it won't break. Pray bulb won't shatter in my face or hands as I force the ring off. Cuss more here. Finally wiggle bulb up where I can see and do the swap. Put on rubber gloves. Read warning that was included with bulbs. Bulbs are pressurized and may explode and kill you or do massive bodily harm. Wonderfull. Swap bulb assy. Easy. Now, wearing rubber gloves, try to carefully thread bulb assy back down through the narrow space back to it's little home inside the big headlight assy. Cuss Ford engineers some more as I touch things with it on the way down to the headlight area. Cuss more as it refuses to click nicely into the twistlock fitting on the rear of headlight. Pull it back up. Cuss at it, look at it, cuss at it more. Try again, this time it works perfectly. Twist, click. :eek: Now, try and remember which way the retainer ring thingie is sposed to spin to go back on. Cuss my lousy memory. Using fingertips only due to narrow spaces and fat hand depth, Try both ways. Try three more times. Sixth time is the charm. Now find the hat thingie and try to spin it back on. which way does it go? Righty tighty? Lefty loosey? Am I above or below the Equator? Go check to see which way the bathtub drains... Come back, try both ways, again able to use fingertips only. Yay, it goes on fairly easily. Oh crap, I still have to do the other side. Better test first and see if it's gonna work or explode. Works OK. Stumble around for a minute waiting for eyes to readjust after staring into headlight from six inches away. OK, other side goes more easily due to less learning curve. It works too. Miracle. Try all four new lights at same time. Gosh, they all work!!! Uh oh...start wondering if the wife will see any difference for the 70 bucks I spent. Worry. Cuss. Clean up all the tools I didn't need. Carefully put used bulbs in trash , walking slowly so they don't explode and kill me. Stub toes on concrete block I din't see cause I have been staring into bright lights in the bright daylight for a couple hours. Cuss the concrete block for existing.

[ckadiddle]

Lessons Learned:
Long, skinny arms with good fingertip dexterity are a plus. My arms are not skinny. Also, my XXL sized head/shoulders/arms do NOT fit easily under the front end of a Marauder.

Wife does not like cussing, so I did this on the day after thanksgiving when she was gone most all day shopping. Because I am very nearsghted and unmechanical I allocated several hours for this job. If you can see well and have mechanical skills, you can do this all in 30 minutes or less. It took me about two hours. When I have to change one again, it'll be much much faster now that I know which cuss words work best on which project phase.

Outcome:
The wife LIKES it!!!:banana: She says the headlights are noticeably brighter and make it easier to see and allow her to see a little farther. She says the light appears white with a bluish tinge. Me, I just see nice bright white light on the road. That's why she matches my clothes up for me. :D I have a feeling I may be finding out how to change Mustang headlights soon....

Oh yeah, I like them also. I can see a little farther, and the light is brighter and whiter to me.

NOTE: We both always drive with headlights and fogs on day or night. Our after dark testing was done in local around town driving, never tried the high beams. Too much traffic around here. Even if these lights don't last as long as the OEM style, it is worth the ongoing expense to us for improving our ability to see at night.

[ckadiddle]

I am running the same combo.. I like them alot more than the stock bulbs that were there. I dont know if the SS fogs made a difference at all, but they look whiter.. I guess i could have gotten that with a $9.99 pair of hyper whites..

I chose the Silverstars mainly because many MMers have already tried them out and most seemed to like them.

[fastblackmerc]

It's a 5 minute job (per side) if you remove the headlight assembly. No broken bulbs, no gouges, no shinned knuckles, don't need skinny fingers......

[Loco1234]

I just got my HID kit in today...
I will post a tread about them soon....

[96DiamondVIII]

So is this worth doing just for the improved light quality/output, or does it make more sense as an "upgrade whenever one burns out" sort of thing? Coming from a Mark VIII (non HID), which put out about the same amount of light as a small candle, the headlights on the Marauder seem just fine to me. Do the silverstars make a big difference?

[fastblackmerc]

Yes the Silverstars have a whiter light. Put one Silverstar in and turn on the lights. See the difference from side to side. The original light will appear yellowish.

[ckadiddle]

If you have any vision problems that hamper your night driving, it's worth the effort and expense in my opinion. I could not find mention of Ultra flavored bulbs for the fog lights or I would have gone Ultra with them also. Keep in mind my vision always hampers my mechanic attempts, so I am very very slow with these things. I also tend to exaggerate for comic effect when I tell you guys these stories. :) It went better than I expected.

I had read here on mm.net about cracked lenses and scratching bumper paint by pulling the headlight assy out of the front so I was reluctant to try that. I did not see any obvious screws from the outside of the headlight assy that would allow me to easily remove the entire assy. It's possible I overlooked the easy way. Wouldn't be the first time! :)

[pantheroc]

I put the Silverstar Ultras in prior to trip to MV IV from Ohio. The wife and I tandem drove overnight and we both liked them a lot better than stock.

She has the HIDs in her car because of night vision issues.

Well worth the money (when on sale!).

I had to take the lens assy's out to get to them. Like a dumb arse, I forgot to connect the right light harness after everything buttoned up.:shake:

[fastblackmerc]

I had read here on mm.net about cracked lenses and scratching bumper paint by pulling the headlight assy out of the front so I was reluctant to try that. I did not see any obvious screws from the outside of the headlight assy that would allow me to easily remove the entire assy. It's possible I overlooked the easy way. Wouldn't be the first time! :)

There are nuts (3x10mm if I remember correctly) behind the lenses. Of course you need to be careful not to scratch anything....

[quota]

After all what I read about new & better bulbs, I felt obliged to run to a Canadian tire shop to replace all the front bulbs of 3 cars (Subaru Outback of the wife, my MGM LSE and my MM). Found the famous Sylvania Silverstar Ultra and also bought a set of GE Nighthawk for the MGM :D
I started with the Subaru (for training about how to handle explosive-under pressure-dangerous bulbs) . I got pissed off because to acceed the infamous old bulbs, I had to remove the battery on the left side. Like on some bikes, they put some sticks to hold it so I knew it was going to be a nightmare to put the battery back. On the right side, I had to remove kind-of-a-plastic breether which looks more decorative than anything else. Total time from start to finish : about 1 hour !:o
Then I started the MGM. I could hardly believe that I would be obliged to remove the front lights. No other way, though. The guy who tightened the screws at the dealership was probably Hulk on his bad days. Lost a quarter of a pound to unscrew the things. Then lost another quarter to remove the lights without damaging the grid, scratching the body or the bumper. Then inside of the light, there is a connector which helds to the bulb by a thin piece of plastic, theoretically flexible but practically hard like ice. Broke one :mad2: Fixed it with "superglue" :hide: . Re-did the whole job on reverse to relocate the lights into their space. Then I decided to replace the direction indicator bulbs. The manual tells that you do not need to remove the front lights to acceed these other bulbs. Great. If I did not have a full set of professional Facom tools (with which I could build a multi elbow wrenchdriver, I would still be looking after that specific creature with 15 inches thin fingers finishing with a wrench for acceeding the screws without removing these lights. Total time from start to finish : 2 hours 1/2. So I decided that the MM with sleep the whole winter with its old bulbs...:depress:
Now, I must admit that the job was worth. The difference in lightning with the Sylvania (on the Subaru) as well as with the GE Nighthawk (on the MGM) is very, positively consistent.:)
JP

[ckadiddle]

There are nuts (3x10mm if I remember correctly) behind the lenses. Of course you need to be careful not to scratch anything....
I saw some long skinny bolts sticking out back there behind the headlights that might be what you are talking about, but didn't have the right socket tools to try and undo them in those tight spaces.

When I was a kid there were these TV commercials for the Marshall Brodine Magic Kit. His tagline was "It's Easy Once You Know The Secret!". It'll take me about a quarter of the time to do it next time. With my bad vision, I end up doing these things mostly by feel.