night – Adam's Auto Advice

Sylvania SilverStar zXe’s, The Best Headlight Bulbs

As the days are getting shorter with winter upon us, I am sure you are using your headlights more. Inevitably one of your headlight bulbs is going to burn out or be on it's last legs, putting you in the market for new headlights. When you take a trip down to the auto parts store you should consider upgrading to some better bulbs, like the Sylvania Silverstar zXe's.

Sylvania was nice enough to send me a set of zXe's for my 96′ Honda Accord. Some fans of Adam's Auto Advice might remember I also wrote a review of the Slyvania SilverStar Ultras. (Also see my review of the Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit.) After using the zXe's I wouldn't bother with the Ultras because the zXe's are hands-down better.

This was made obvious one night while driving to a friend's house in Northern Baltimore county. The roads to his house are small, twisty, and lack streetlights where walls of trees line the side of the roads. This forced me to rely on the zXe's. With the brights on, they effortlessly lit the way for my Honda Accord. I had driven this same route with the SilverStar Ultras which were great, but definitely not nearly as good as the zXe's. The dark roads were simply no match for the light that the zXe's produced.

Another night, driving home on a dark Baltimore city street, I noticed two people walking in the middle of the street. I mean they were literally walking in the middle of the street! I braked and swerved around them honking. Luckily I saw them far before an accident would have occurred, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't have seen them as early without the zXe's.

Also, when driving in rain or bad weather, the zXe's shine. They are particularly useful at night when it is raining.

What makes the zXe's superior is fullness of the white light and the intensity. Some headlight bulbs provide a wide lighting area but the light diminishes around the edges, reducing their effectiveness. This doesn't happen with the zXe's crisp illumination.

“SilverStar zXe headlights use a proprietary cobalt blue coating combined with xenon halogen gas technology to generate a color temperature that rivals HID.” according to the description on Sylvania's website. Part of the appeal of the zXe's for auto enthusiasts and tuners is they mimic High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlight housings without the expense and hassle of installation. A big advantage to the zXe's is they are 100% legal and Department of Transportation (DOT) approved so you don't need to worry about running into any legal trouble. Sylvania hopes you will consider these before buying a set of HID's. While the zXe's did slightly improve the look of my Honda Accord with slicker lights, I am not sure the zXe's are a true replacement for the overall look of HID headlights. This is strictly my opinion though, maybe they look better on other cars.

One complaint I have read about the zXe's is that they do not last as long as regular bulbs. Slyvania doesn't really advertise it in big bold letters but on the box it does say, “Slyvania SilverStar zXe lamps are engineered to achieve the highest performance possible, which results in product life that is less than standard lamps.” So they are not trying to hide this or mislead Sylvania customers. It states this limitation clearly and it might be something to be aware of before purchasing them. I have been using my zXe's for a number of months and haven't noticed that the light has diminished or had a bulb burn out though. If they do I will let people know.

Once you use Slyvania's zXe's you will most likely not care about what the box says. It would be hard to go back to using any other type of bulb for your headlights. They are better and brighter then anything I have ever used and if you buy a set, I am pretty sure you will be happy with that choice.

Day 6 Lincoln to Chicago

On Thursday I drove from Lincoln, NE to Chicago. This was about a 500 miles drive. I was rejuvenated in the morning with a good breakfast at a Staybridge Suites in Lincoln, NE. I had a waffle, eggs, 2 sausages, and some coffee. Usually I am not a coffee drinker but I needed a little something. I also got into the Jacuzzi for a little while before getting on the road. It felt relaxing on all my muscles. I tried to stretch the night before and in the morning. Overall Staybridge Suites are nice and I would recommend them. However, I was a little upset when I was checking out of Staybridge as they had a “Arena Tax” and “Room/Occupancy Tax!” Wtf is that? Seems like a fee not a tax to me.

I mostly drove through Iowa all day on I-80 East. Iowa is not as bad as one might assume. They have Free Wi-Fi at a majority of the rest areas. Over 30 minutes though, then you need to pay. At least the rest areas are nice compared to a lot I have seen. The nicest places it seems to stop for a bathroom break I have found is state Welcome Centers. It makes sense since they want to encourage tourism.

I listened to a few things. Pimmslers Learn & Read Russian program which I got for Free on cassette at the Bookthing. Don't ask me why I want to learn Russian… you know… if it's Free it's for me! Russians is hard but I sort of learned a few words. I did need to do the first tape twice, but a little everyday. I also listened to Guns N Roses. Any Rock music is great for a roadtrip. When I was heading into Chicago I listened to James Herriots Animals Stories from the book All Creatures Great and Small.

I almost had a bit of a heart attack at rest area. When I opened the passenger car door to get out a drink… my nice camera, a Canon Rebel, fell out of the bag onto the pavement. I thought I might have broken it! Luckily I did not. The damage was just small scuffs.

When I was coming into Chicago I got a little lost. The GPS kept throwing me in weird directions then loosing the satellite signal. It was late, dark, and I was in a bit of a bad neighborhood. I thought I had gotten a map of Chicago before I left, so I pulled over and looked in my trunk… uh… oh … shit… no Chicago map! Argh! Well I called my relative and asked to GoogleMap it. Should have had a map. You can get Free ones through AAA or at Welcome Centers. They are quite useful to still have when mapping out routes through states and figuring out faster routes when there is traffic. Especially your GPS goes on the fritz!

I stayed up late the night before writing. Until about 2am. It's hard writing on the road and finding the energy. If you are a traveling writer, you need to get used to writing when tired or find a good day to write.

More adventures to come!

3M Headlight Restoration Kit Review

In my last post I suggested using Toothpaste to Restore Cloudy Headlights. It will work…. if you spend the whole day doing it!

To save yourself time and sanity I'd suggest buying a 3M Headlight Restoration Kit. These kits range in price from $15-20, and generally work well. For restoring the headlights on my Mom's '97 Chrysler Town & Country I bought the 3M Headlight Restoration Kit. It took me about 4 hours to do it properly. The process is basically what a body shop would do to restore and refinish headlights. Except you use a drill and save a ton of money since you DIY!

Here are Pictures of the Before and After on my Mom's '97 Chrysler Van.

BEFORE

AFTER

I did this on March 6th, 2010. That was about 2 months ago, and the headlights still look pretty good. The headlights were so dim nobody wanted to drive the Town & Country at night, but now that's not a problem. (Well I don't want to drive it because it's van but that is obviously a separate issue.)

Restoring your headlights is extremely beneficial for your safety and other drivers out on the road. Not only did this improve the appearance of the van, but the ability to see the road at night and in bad weather greatly improved and other people will be able to see the van better.

It's possible the headlights will get cloudy again, meaning I might have to buy another headlight restoration kit and redo this. If you want to avoid this in the future I would recommend going down to your local auto parts store and buying a UV clearcoat spray in a can. Headlights that come from the factory have a UV clearcoat protection on them, which helps protect from UV damage and debris. Generally when the UV clearcoat wears off is when you start to get cloudy, hazy, and yellowed headlights.

The 3M Headlight Restoration Kit doesn't have any sort of clearcoat spray that comes with the kit. Some kits, like the Slyvania Headlight Restoration Kit, come with a UV clearcoat application. I should put a protective UV coating on the van's headlights, to ensure I don't need to refinish the headlights again. I would recommend you do the same if buy the 3M kit.

Here are some tips for the 3M kit:

I was oversanding with the 600 grit sandpaper. The paper would gum up, before I realized it. It probably would have been helpful to wet the 600 grit paper a little bit every so often.
You get only 1 piece of 3000 grit sandpaper. It would have been helpful to have 2 pieces in my opinion. I did one headlight then I moved onto the other one, but by then the paper was used up. It took me forever to do the other headlight. I would suggest switching back and forth on each side if you are headlights are really cloudy, hazy, or yellowed.
You must Tape-up around your Headlights! I probably would have done a lot of damage to the paint if I didn't! I just used blue Painters Tape you can buy at any local hardware store, which worked fine.
I would suggest using a Corded Drill, which is what I used. If you try to use a Battery Powered Drill, I'm sure the battery will run out before you finish and you will be waiting for the batteries to charge.
As the video says in the beginning you definitely should have a Spray Bottle and some microfiber towels.

I hope this helps people restore their own Headlights. If you have seriously cloudy, hazy, or yellowed headlights keep in mind the 3M kit probably will not work. You might need to get them refinished and restored at a body shop. However, it is worth it to at least try the 3M kit first since it's not that expensive. I'd imagine your headlights will still look a little bit better.

If you have any questions about using the kit please leave a comment below.