Thread: H4 headlight bulbs

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I wasn't happy with the Chinese junk unknown brand H4 bulbs that were supplied with my headlights so did a bit of research.

First of all, H4 bulbs MAY NOT be legal for automotive use - only to be used in motorcycles and similar.

I found the attached and have chosen to use the US made Sylvania 9003XV (Extra Vision) rather then the Ultra Vision due to excessive cost and the fact that 2 earlier sets of 9007's in a vehicle failed in less then a year.

While you might not want to change out bulbs at this time, at least it will give you an alternative to the sometimes hard to find H4s.

(Sorry about being a .pdf file that you have to open, but....)

Thanks for posting the h4 article Dave! I probably have the chinese junk in my rod's headlights also, because they surely lacking. The best lights I have in any of my cars are the GE halogen sealed beams in the 57 Olds. They can throw some serious light down the road. But the 34 have the Lucas style lamps with an H4 bulb.

My Honda Gold Wings have H4 headlights which are certainly very good, but when I used to ride at night on loney hiways, I also had two Hella H2 100w driving lamps mounted on the fairling for real light. I used to run all three in attempt to "turn night into day". They were also handy for scaring the hell out of unresponsive and rude 4 wheelers. I also ran two Hella 55w fog lites attached to the crash bars. With all five lights running, it probalby looked like a small F14 rolling down the hiway.

Originally Posted by mopar34

Thanks for posting the h4 article Dave! I probably have the chinese junk in my rod's headlights also, because they surely lacking. The best lights I have in any of my cars are the GE halogen sealed beams in the 57 Olds. They can throw some serious light down the road. But the 34 have the Lucas style lamps with an H4 bulb.

My Honda Gold Wings have H4 headlights which are certainly very good, but when I used to ride at night on loney hiways, I also had two Hella H2 100w driving lamps mounted on the fairling for real light. I used to run all three in attempt to "turn night into day". They were also handy for scaring the hell out of unresponsive and rude 4 wheelers. I also ran two Hella 55w fog lites attached to the crash bars. With all five lights running, it probalby looked like a small F14 rolling down the hiway.

In other words IF my car is done for the next York show, and I'm out running around - and I see a bunch of lights coming my way, it isn't a lost aircraft

By the way, I don't know a thing about Candlepower lights - they just had the most comprehensive write up on bulbs.

As a 40 year employee and GE Pensioner, I should be running their lights, but I really think Sylvania's are better bulbs

A good light product for hotrods is the Hella brand, very good, bright, rugged, the lens is glass and optically ground, you get your monies worth with that product... I do not want to here the minions response about I have 20 dollar head lights that work for me. Fine keep them for yourself and if anyone thinks they can add brighter bulbs to that cheap crap , be prepared for a melt down and fogged plastic lens. I had a friend that got the zoops brand, they came with 80 watt high beam I think, anyway he gets the eye blasters 100/120 watt and one ride later the lights looked like someone put flat clear on the reflector and the inside of the lens fogged...... not what he wanted. end of story

Originally Posted by pepi

A good light product for hotrods is the Hella brand, very good, bright, rugged, the lens is glass and optically ground, you get your monies worth with that product... I do not want to here the minions response about I have 20 dollar head lights that work for me. Fine keep them for yourself and if anyone thinks they can add brighter bulbs to that cheap crap , be prepared for a melt down and fogged plastic lens. I had a friend that got the zoops brand, they came with 80 watt high beam I think, anyway he gets the eye blasters 100/120 watt and one ride later the lights looked like someone put flat clear on the reflector and the inside of the lens fogged...... not what he wanted. end of story

Anything higher then 65+ watts will be a potential melt down unless properly wired with a relay and properly sized wire (and including the light switch ) to the front glass. My intent with this attachment is to show that you have options other then an H4 off road/motorcycle bulb. Ya takes your chances if you deviate from DOT approved bulbs. The Sylvania XV's that I'm using are DOT and are 60/55 watt (those Zoop's lights are kinda pricy for my blood plus I don't really like the way they look).