Replacement Headlight Bulb Recommendations?

jcarroll07

Member
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2008 Mazda 3i Sedan- 5MT
Greetings all!

After a pretty reasonable lifespan of ~65k miles, both of my low beam bulbs recently died, about a week apart from each other. When the first went out, I replaced it with the only H7-type bulb carried by the Autozone up the street, a basic Sylvania model... only ran about $10, but I quickly saw why....

When the second original light died as I was on a ~100mi trek at night I was left essentially flying blind as the cheap-o bulb was next to useless; it seemed like I was driving on a fog lamp. Luckily it was mostly country roads where I could use my high beams.

The next day I replaced both bulbs with Sylvania SilverStar Ultra... they were the only other option at the other parts store in town (I live in a pretty rural area), and while they've got the brightness that I was looking for, the reviews that I've seen have been less than stellar when it comes to longevity.

Any recommendations out there for good replacement halogen bulbs to use in the future? I'm not looking for any spiffy color effects, just something with a high light output and decent longevity.

Thanks!
 
Why not just buy an HID kit? that would give you the most light output and since you have projectors you wont be blinding everyone and their mothers.
Ive had my kit for a few months now and never had an issue with it.
 
I'll have to bear that in mind for down the line.... Looks like costs are lower and installation easier than I'd anticipated it would be. Going to wait and see how long these current bulbs last, kept the crappy one to toss in as a sub for a few days if I need to order parts from online.

Hopefully I'll get at least a year or so out of the new bulbs, right now I'm just biding my time for Mazda to put the 2.2L Skyactiv-D in the US market CX-5. Hurry up Mazda USA!!! TAKE MY FREAKING MONEY!!!
 
Yeah I avoided buying them for awhile, but then i noticed how easy it is to install (on my car it was 5 plugs)
Ive got a DDM kit and for the money i am more than happy with them.
 
Recommended wattage for the DDM's? 35 or 55? And what about bulb color? 4500? Thanks!
 
I have 35W's in all mine. If you get a colored 55W, the higher watts will wash out some of the color. I heard some people have issues w/ the 55w, but don't know anyone personally who has.

As for color, 5K will give you the brightest white. I have 6K in all mine and will give you a slight blue tint. Here's a chart from DDM.

BTW, I have no affiliation with them. They just sell cheap HID's that work.

hid-color-chart-projector.jpg
 
Here are my 5K 35watts.
552F6654-0771-422A-9AF9-81308C21A89F-2177-000002B8ABB7DC26.jpg

its pretty much impossible to capture the true color of an HID on camera. Its pretty close to this though a little less blue than in this picture.
 

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