PIAA headlights
- Thread starter brennan
- Start date
I say go for the PIAA's. Sure you'll end up paying a little more, but it is well worth it for the burnout warranty. I started a post a while back about PIAA. Have a read PIAA is Dope.....
if you buy PIAA, make sure the SHOP WILL HONOR THE WARRANTY. this goes for any part you buy at any shop...unfortunately, the owner of my friends shop is turning out to be a prick, said his distro wont honor the warranty. according to him "PIAAs arent supposed to burn out." so now i complain to piaa for the 2nd time.
The main reason that most of the Zenon and PIAA bulbs burn out is people putting higher wattage bulbs that what the light is designed for. If you are running 80-100 watt bulbs you can expect them to burn out due to the fact that the wiring was designed for about half the power draw. You need to upgrade the wiring going to the lights so that it is able to handle the extra power draw. I upgraded all the power wiring in my car, mainlyfor my stereo equipment but as a nice side benefit my higher wattage Zenon bulbs have never burned out and became slightly brighter.
Well, the shop shouldn't be abligated to honor the warranty. For that, you will need to go to PIAA directly. That's what 3 different shops suggested I do, and when I finally got off my ass and called them, they sent me a set of bulbs just like I explained in my post that I linked. So, if the guy who owns the shop you went to doesn't honor their warranty, it's because he doesn't have to.
About the bulbs burning out because of the higher wattage, that isn't entirely true. The PIAA's I ran that burned out were 12v 55-60watt Superwhites which are fine. As a matter of fact, most of the bulbs that PIAA sells are 12v 55-60watt that perform like 110-135watt in some cases. The rep at PIAA even acknowledged that there was a problem with bulbs I purchased that burned out. You are correct about people buying the higher 80-90watt bulbs and when I was looking at those, the sales guys at the shop were telling me that those will probably melt the inner housing of my fog lamps or headlamps. Then they recommended the PIAA Xtremes, which I though were way too expensive at $79. Thank god PIAA gave me some for free through their warranty.
About the bulbs burning out because of the higher wattage, that isn't entirely true. The PIAA's I ran that burned out were 12v 55-60watt Superwhites which are fine. As a matter of fact, most of the bulbs that PIAA sells are 12v 55-60watt that perform like 110-135watt in some cases. The rep at PIAA even acknowledged that there was a problem with bulbs I purchased that burned out. You are correct about people buying the higher 80-90watt bulbs and when I was looking at those, the sales guys at the shop were telling me that those will probably melt the inner housing of my fog lamps or headlamps. Then they recommended the PIAA Xtremes, which I though were way too expensive at $79. Thank god PIAA gave me some for free through their warranty.
I never emailed them, I just got their customer service number and called them direct. It makes it a bit harder to "say no" to someone you're speaking to on the phone, especially since the phone calls are recorded for review by management to make sure the customers are kept happy.
Ok, this is what I told them. And this is all true. I said that I have been using PIAA's for about 3 year now, I went through to set's on both of my Civics. I was using the Superwhites. I then told the rep " I know that PIAA has a warranty, but I didn't keep all the reciepts. But I do have the two of the set's of burned out PIAA's, and I'd be more than happy to send those to get them replaced." That of course was an empty gesture and of course the rep wasn't going to make me go that for and mail them the bulbs, which I do really have. He then asked me what car the bulbs were for and what my address was. After I told him my address, he said that he would send me a set of PIAA's latest bulbs which haven't had any problems for free under their warranty of course and then proceeded to give me a claim number for reference just incase I never got the bulbs. 5 days later I got a set of PIAA Xtreme's in the mail via Fed Ex.
So, give that a shot and if they really want you to send the burned out bulbs, shoot me an email and I'll send you my burned out ones since I have no use for them. If we keep our fingers crossed this will work. Good Luck and let me know if you need my bad PIAA's.
Ok, this is what I told them. And this is all true. I said that I have been using PIAA's for about 3 year now, I went through to set's on both of my Civics. I was using the Superwhites. I then told the rep " I know that PIAA has a warranty, but I didn't keep all the reciepts. But I do have the two of the set's of burned out PIAA's, and I'd be more than happy to send those to get them replaced." That of course was an empty gesture and of course the rep wasn't going to make me go that for and mail them the bulbs, which I do really have. He then asked me what car the bulbs were for and what my address was. After I told him my address, he said that he would send me a set of PIAA's latest bulbs which haven't had any problems for free under their warranty of course and then proceeded to give me a claim number for reference just incase I never got the bulbs. 5 days later I got a set of PIAA Xtreme's in the mail via Fed Ex.
So, give that a shot and if they really want you to send the burned out bulbs, shoot me an email and I'll send you my burned out ones since I have no use for them. If we keep our fingers crossed this will work. Good Luck and let me know if you need my bad PIAA's.
