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I've put Hyper HID 85/80W lights in my stock headlights and after a year the reflecting cone has turned yellow from the excess heat I assume. I looked at PIAA bulbs and they got these Super Plasma GT bulbs, they say they only consume the standard 60/55W but burn like 135/120W at 5000K so they're safe. Does anyone know if that's true? I mean, perhaps they only consume the 60/55W but if they burn so hot, wouldn't that still mess up the mirror?
I'm actually gonna replace my stock headlights (now that they're kinda busted) with TYC projectors and I didn't know if I could put the PIAA Super Plasma GT bulbs in there or if that would burn out the mirror.

 
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PIAA= complete junk! They are mad expensive and the only last for like a couple of months. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-puke.gif[/IMG]PIAA

 
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My PIAA's lasted only about 6-months. I think for the money you will spend in bulbs you could probably purchase a real H.I.D. kit and have a much brighter light and it would be the real thing.

 
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Most high wattage bulbs will burn out faster than the low wattage ones, and wont last longer than 8 months. I would just buy HID's and use them as a replacement for my highbeams. And use low wattage bulbs for my low beams.

 
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I got cheesy Xenon bulbs for 20 buck lasted me 8 months and looked great

 
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I don't know too much about HIDs... will they fit the TYC projectors? How much are they? I know they're expensive but may be worth it. Anyonw know where to find them cheap?

 
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Piaa's are not crap. You might not have installed them correctly. As far as the Super Plasma Gt they won't mess anything up beacause they do burn at the same temp. as stock. I did have them in my car, but they were too purpleish so I went with the Plasma Spark Blues instead.

 
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i thought 8000k was more purple than 5000k [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]
piaa sparks

 
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PIAA's are complete junk. Stick with your stock bulbs, or some Philips Vision Plus bulbs (which don't look like HID) if you want brightness. If you want the HID look, you can get a real HID set, but they're pricey ...and if they're not pricey then chances are the light beams aren't adjusted correctly, making it more dangerous than stock.

PIAA makes a buck off kids deceiving them to think that their bulbs with light-stealing tint are better than the "yellow stock". Either the light will be dimmer than stock, or the higher wattage/temperature will make the bulbs burn out quicker. Stock bulbs look like that for a reason, if companies can put better bulbs on their cars for like $5 more or the same price as a stock bulb don't you think they'd be doing that?

If your PIAA's do burn at higher temp, that is the cause of your reflectors to screw up. Not to mention that its a matter of time before you need new ones. If people say PIAA's are nice, don't let that fool you. There is absolutely no reason to buy PIAA's, as they are not a significant improvement over stock lighting, and last so much shorter. Most PIAA's are dimmer than stock too.

-Aki

 
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i have some piaas.. they aren't as terrible as you make them sound. i haven't used any other brands of bulbs to compare with my piaas, but i do think they look better than stock. i like how it's whiter light compared to the hyper yellow stock look. HIDs are definitely the way to go in the long run though, the vicious cycle of getting new bulbs every 12 months gets old quick.

 
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what a controversy over these PIAAs, I like this. Well, I do believe that PIAA wouldn't be charging $100 for a pair of 8000K liksts if they weren't worth it. However I also believe since they burn hotter they will burn quicker. I don't know about other countries, but I know in Canada it's against the law to have brighter bulbs than 60/55W and that's the only reason why car manufactors don't spend the extra $5 for brighter ones.
I guess HIDs are the way to go, but it might be better if I get a pair of HID driving lights, this way I don't have to warry about screwing up my head lights. The driving lights come with the proper bulbs and everything, don't have to warry about burning the reflector or melting the cable, but that may set me back a couple of bills

 
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Like I said above I have the Plasma Spark Blue(7500K) not the Piaa Spark.

Plasma Spark Blue

As far as Piaa's being complete junk, thats just not true. As I have stated before I have had them in my last three cars. Each set lasted until I sold the car, so I don't know when they were replaced. When I sold my Accord I took out the 9006 Xtreme White Plus bulbs and put them into my wife's Cougar. So far these have lasted over a year in two different cars. The Plasma Spark Blue bulbs have been in my car for a little over 6 months with no problem.


Now personally I'm not a kid, and I've never been deceived into thinking that Piaa bulbs are better than stock I just like the look. Most of their bulbs aren't higher wattage than stock which means that they won't hurt your wiring or burn out quicker.

For those of you who do appreciate Piaa quality and want better visability you might be aware that Piaa also sells Ion Crystal bulbs. These bulbs will give you much better visibility in foul weather over stock bulbs

 
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If you want a purple looking bulb which I have found to be the best to mimick HID's then go with the Super plasma's. I've had the plama gt's which look more white than purple, i've had the spark blue's which just look like crap, they look like an extremely dark blue and produce no light whats so ever. The ion yellow's are pretty sweet, if you want to light the road up then thats the way to go. As far as burning at a high temp. thats false. They consume the same amount of watts as your stock bulbs but produce a light which is applicable to a bulb if it were running at the specified wattage.

 
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To be quite honest I'm not too concerned about having lights that look like HIDs, we all know they're not when we see them coming down the road, I'm more interested in good visibility. I wanna see as far as possible and as bright as possible. I just like seeing up ahead like a train man, lol... besides, people tent to see you and get out of the way when you're coming up on them on the highway

 
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Don't get me wrong, when PIAA's not making bulbs for looks, they make great products. However, the great dishonesty with which they deceive ppl into buying their bulbs thinking they're closer to HID really undermines their integrity. You yourself know that its not better than stock, but sooo many ppl in these kind of threads just insist that their bulbs "look brighter" by the simple reasoning that if its bluer it must be brighter. All these companies in the US, including Sylvanna are advertising "HID look", while not actually trying to make bulbs that are bright and reliable. To me companies that are simply out to make a buck, neglecting safety are junk.

-Aki

 
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okay i am going to say that the PIAA Super plasma GTs are good bulbs i have had them for more than 6 months and they work good, i do like the color and i believe that they are brighter and i have noticed a huge difference since going back to stock( am replacing with projectors) i have a harder time seeing with stock lights at dim then with the GTs, the highs are almost the same. I actually do have my GTs for sale if you are interested in them. And im not asking for $100.

 
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I can respect your opinion until you say that they're junk. For example: Anyone from the northeast would agree that the weather this past weekend made for some bad driving. Now maybe I'm over confident in my civic, but I decided to drive from Rhode Island back to New Jersey throught the heart of the storm. It might have taken a while but I made it home safely with the help of my PIAA headlights.

 
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Help of your PIAA lights? Can you then show me the measured lumens per light discharge, and prove to me that they are stronger than the stock bulbs? So many people who post here say "well it looks a lot brighter." Quite frankly, what your eyes tell you don't tell the whole story. In conducted tests measuring the lumens (essentially the light intensity and strength), PIAA's have been shown to be dimmer. You could have made it home just as safely with your stock lights, if not more.

Like I said, I think they're junk because of the misleading marketing and advertising of the products. Some of the bulbs do actually work without burning out. Some bulbs are as bright as stock. But a lot of them burn out, and a lot of them are considerably dimmer than stock. That a major company such as PIAA would knowingly release products as these without even flinching makes me lose all respect for them.

-Aki

 
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Hmmm, funny, seems to me that most shops recomend PIAA (at least the two I talked to personaly). I have PIAA Super White Platinum H3's and Super White 194s and love them. If you dont install them like an idiot and tocuh them, they will last you a long time. Plus, they come with a one year warranty, so, if they do go out from the time you bought them, you get a brand new spanking set. So what if they do burn out in like nine months, I wouldnt mind a free set for another.

I am conpletely satisfied with my PIAA's and dont seem to think they have bad light output.

And aside from all this, when we threw them on my friends Eclipse, we compared them to stock, and they were indeed brighter.

 
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I went and searched for actual studies done on light bulbs and I'm afraid they're not too promising for PIAAs. Light intensity and brightness is measured in lumens as someone mentioned. Studies show that PIAA X-Treme White bulbs have 1200 lumes, stock bulbs have 850-1000 lumes, therefore they are barely higher and they cost $70-$100. On the other hand bulbs like Sylvania Cool Blue have 1350 lumens and you can pick'em up for $11. The best seem to be Narva Range Power which have 2000 lumens and cost $15-25 but burn at a color temp of 2600K as opposed to PIAAs which burn at 4000K some as high as 8000K. Ultimately however, they may look brighter but they're not. Sure you'll see the white lines on the road brighter, but you won't see as far as you would with the Narva's.
So there's my two cents

 
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First of all I never said that they were stronger than stock bulbs, only that they got me through one of the worst snow storms of the past century. As far as lumens, can you prove to me that my bulbs (Plasma Spark Blue) are weaker than stock?

Look, you obviously have some sort of vendetta. Were you attacked by a group of PIAA weilding thugs? I don't know, but keep in mind that people are going to continue to use PIAA products as long as they manufacture the same quality lighting that made them so popular.

 
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I can't prove beyond a resonable doubt but here are some articles that show I might be correct. Until someone finds official PIAA ratings for their lumens, I have only seen ratings that are unfavorable towards PIAA and most "blue" lights, so I tend to think they're just playing on an optical illusion.

http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/bulbs/bulbs.html
http://hanker.tripod.com/headlights.htm