jazzsax

It's about time for me to change the headlight bulbs. Can anyone with a RX300 (no xenon high discharge) recommend any of the aftermarket bulbs? Preferably ones that you've actually used please.

Fern

My Rx has not required bulb replacement yet, but my past experience with Philips bulbs has given me great success.

I find Philips lasts the longest with reasonable brightness and ease of purchase, ie: any Walmart...

bizzy928

The rx300 bulb sizes are:

Low Beams - 9006
High Beams - 9005
Fog Lights - 9006

My suggestion would be to replace the low beams and fogs with 9005 bulbs. The "mod" takes about 5 mins per pair of lights and there will be a measured difference.

vuvision

Sylvania Silverstar has the brightest & whitest 50w bulb. Available at Wally World for a little over $40 a pair.

rl9905

Why don't you just upgrade to HID's. I have a 2000 RX300 and I installed a Philips Ultinon 6000k. It's plug and play and it only took me about an hour to complete install everything. It's really easy. The output light is so much for brighter then the OEM halogen bulbs and they last longer too. No to mention it also uses less power only 35watts compared to the regular bulbs that uses like 55 watts.

HarrierAWD

They also burn out really fast. Which is why Sylvania recommend "regular light bulb change interval" in their printed ad. Baloney.

Regular bulbs are about $6 each, or $12 per pair. With proper installation (no finger oil) they should last at least 5 years.

HarrierAWD

This thread probably will be moved to Lighting soon....

Stock bulbs = $12 per pair
HID upgrade = $300-$500 kit plus installation

Not everyone needs HID. Regular halogen bulbs work fine in most cities and small towns. HID is helpful in dark wolf country. (I have factory HID so this is not "sour grape" talk.)

jazzsax

I have had HIDs on my last 3 other cars, and I do live out on property, so it would be a benefit, but honestly I don't like the fact that I have to turn on the brights to see anywhere other than in front of me. Granted the near view is very nice, but you get almost no light out further out. Plus the car has 63K miles on it, so I don't think I'm going to want to spend that kind of money on a car I'll probably get rid of within a year or so.

So I was thinking of just upgrading the current bulbs (which, to me, are very dim BTW) to something brighter than just a stock replacement.

Sorry this turned out to be more of a "lighting" thread. I was really looking for real-world use of those brighter lights on the RX300.

HarrierAWD

You'll have to make adjustment to the vertical height. When I first got my RX300, the HID was aimed very low. I only get about 2 seconds of vision going 55 mph. I made adjustments so now I have about 6 seconds going at 75 mph. Yet it does not blind oncoming drivers. I tested it by sitting in my other car, and I've never been "flashed" by oncoming traffic.

vuvision

Funny I've been running these on my VW Passat for the past few years with no problem. Granted that they are not as bright and the color is not as white as HID, but for a non HID in stock 50-55w bulb, they are not bad. Much brighter and whiter than the yellowish OE bulbs, without the blue ricey look.

Another poor man HID wannabe bulb to consider is The xenonmatch Titanium from Heon, this is a 70w bulb, so definitely the life span will be considerably less than the OE 55w. But they are about 12% brighter than OE with 4300K color. I've previously used the higher wattage xenonmatch plus (80w bulb), these are as close to HID as you can get, but I don't recommend running them with stock wiring harness. You'll be better off with the Titanium bulb with stock harness. But if you have the cash, definitely HID is the way to go.

http://www.hoen-usa.com/ti.htm

My 2 cents ... take it with a grain of salt.

vuvision

I use the tried & true bobble head doll below for all my head light timing sequence. Any more than 6 bobbles, I tend to get plenty of high-beam flashing, plus an occasional finger salute.



Or you can do us all a favor by follow the linkie below for a more appropriate headlight aiming method

http://www.autooptiks.com/aiming.html

rl9905

I have installed an HID KIT on my 2000 RX300. Philips Ultinon 6000K. But the problem is that they aim a lil to high and I was wondering is there anyway wya to adjust it so they could aim lower?


Thanx

flipside909

I have had Silverstars on my Solara for over 2 years now...and they have yet to burnout. I have seen alot of the burnout issues come from headliight assemblies using their single bulb headlight (dual filament hi/low) for DRL usage. The factory Koito and Sylvania halogens that each Lexus and Toyota model come with usually last a very long time...5 years or better. I've had a set of factory Sylvanias last 10 years on my previous 1990 Corolla.

Booyah

The silverstars are a great bulb, Nice and white and much better than stock, I love them but they will not last more than a year in either of my cars Honda accord/4-Runner. When one blows the other one is Right behind it--a few days later! I would recommend the silverstars to anybody, just hope they last as long as the others at 2 years

I know I dont touch the bulbs either before installing them---do you guys wipe them off before install??

flipside909

I don't touch them at all. Ripped the package open and plugged them in.