I don't know about PIAAs HID bulbs, but their halogen bulbs are pretty good. I had a pair of their Xtreme Force 4700K bulbs for the fogs for a long time, pretty good match for the stock xenons. Recently I won a pair of their ion plasma yellow bulbs and they are great. Super yellow and bright with no need for overlays or film. Oh, I also use their Mirror Orange 7440 bulbs for my signal bulbs.

 

Dominion was referring to PIAA Halogen Bulbs, not PIAA HIDs

 

so are you going to tell us the brand of HID bulb that was blowing out? Other people could use that information if your willing to share.

Anyway, yeah the PIAA and Phillips are expensive, but there is a reason why. Its not just for "name brand" appeal - but instead they are much higher in quality than the generic ebay brands. Buying an expensive bulb once, is cheaper than buying a crappier bulb multiple times.

 

Ditto - ive had very good experiences for over 5 years now, when i made the switch over to piaa bulbs on 2 different cars. Their HID bulbs are also very good as well.

 

i thought i said it before, the brand is mtec. i have used this brand for quite a while with no problems, i think i might just have a dud bulb. getting another set from a different person so will see if it is just a dud bulb.
also, i have used piaa's spark 8000 bulb, that looks quite good, but was quite expensive

 

Oh Ok - You did say that. When you mentioned it earlier - i thought you were referring to something else. My mistake.

It appears that MTEC does not make a bulb for the color range i am looking for. Oh wellz.

-hS

 

Just to add my two cents. I just bought some MTEC 4350K Super White 9004 bulbs for my 97 Sentra GXE commuter car. I also used some Mother's plastic polish and a small orbital buffer on a drill. It cleaned up the outside, but the passenger lense has some hazing on the inside.

I didn't want to get beyond 4500Kish since I want to have good intensity to the lights as well. When you get beyond 5K, intensity drops with regular bulbs even though the color goes toward blue. These were $25 shipped from a good eBayer.

Attached are some pics with the MTEC Super White on the right (driver) and the stock 9004 bulb on the left (passenger). The MTEC is definitely much much whiter than the yellow stock. But the yellow stock seems to put out a little more light/intensity than the MTEC. I wish the MTECs were a bit more intense, but I definitely like the whiter light. I guess I'll have to drive with the MTECs for awhile to decide. More later I guess.

MTECs sucked and I got rid of them. Useless weak bluish light. I replaced them with Syvlania Silverstar Ultras that were 18 - 10 rebate on Amazon.com recently. They are an improvement since they bumped up the light output significantly compared to the MTECs. The picture on the far right is the MTEC on the left passenger and Sylvania on the right drivers. I might stick the regular Sylvania bulb that I replaced originally in to compare them to the Silverstar Ultras. I think the Ultras are marginally whiter, but the same intensity. Money no object, I think PIAAs are better.