SilverStar 893ST fog bulb warning

[RobertHammen]

FYI, if you are interested in putting in SilverStar 893ST fog bulbs into your Aurora, hold off for a little while. I did this in mid-March, and noticed last week that one had already burned out.

I called Sylvania/Osram, since there's no warranty info on their web site. As soon as I explained the problem to them, they asked me the part number, then confirmed that the first batch of 893ST bulbs had a manufacturing defect.

All I had to do to get two new bulbs was to fax over a copy of my receipt (which I did). I'm just waiting for them to get replacement in stock (probably mid May at the earliest) before they ship them out to me...

Just a heads up in case anyone else has this problem, or was thinking of installing the SilverStars,

--Robert

[ghutchin]

So you like the silverstar foglamps, I have the silver star headlights but do the foglights match the headlamps for brightness and color?

Thanks

[kev's 96 Aurora]

I believe they all look hyper white now so your whole front end will be bright white except for the blinkers. but you can by xenon whites for those also.

[ghutchin]

I heard someone say that they weren't that impressed by them, and at $20 a pop I want to be sure.

[RobertHammen]

I like them a lot since they do match the bulbs exactly. The only flaw was that one bulb died after a little more than a month - thankfully, they are standing behind their product, so hopefully this isn't a recurring trend (I was very careful with the installation, using rubber gloves to ensure no fingerprints on the bulbs)...

--Robert

[RoraStar96]

I only use em in the low beam heads. The fogs in general burn out to fast, its not worth the extra dollars for the SS fogs.

The low beam headlamps...never a problem with life or quality of light

[HARDTIMER]

so lemme get this str8. These silverstars are like the super white lights that you see on newer beemers and benzes??? And they make these for the fogs and the heads??? I want to go get fogs tomorrow and have a mechanic put them in, dont even want to bother with going down there, sounds like a nightmare replacing the fogs!!!!

[RoraStar96]

No..the BMW's and Mercedes have stock High Intensity Discharge headlamps. Commonly refered to as HID or Xenon.

Silverstars and Cool Blues have filters that take out the yellow tinge in your light. Silverstars are the last legal light (in CAN anyway) before you get into ricer style blue lights (not real xenon). It would be nice to explore an HID conversion but there is no room under the hood to put the ballast that is necessary.

If you can get the car up on jacks or a ramp then chance the fogs yourself. The only problem I had was the car rides so low that I couldnt get enough room to get under the car and manueuvre my arms to pull down the horizontal air deflector and pull the bulb housings. Usually I wait til I have to go to the dealer (mech. prob or routine fluid changes) and say, "oh change the fogs"

Good luck bud

[kev's 96 Aurora]

RoraStar96..you sound like you just want to get your hands dirty..lol j/k
It took me about 5 to 10 min to change one bulb once I found out where to get in..no biggie, I did it on the garage floor with ease...guess the reason it was easy to me is that I had to change bulbs in my Mercury about 15 times over 5 years...I had it down to an art.

[dsatt12]

It just may be that no one happened to bring it up before, but is there really a widespread problem with these fog lights burning out quickly? As far as I know mine are still the originals on a 95. They are definitely 5 years old at any rate...

[ckpaas]

hey man, how about you fax me a copy of your recept??? :-D

Originally Posted by RobertHammen

FYI, if you are interested in putting in SilverStar 893ST fog bulbs into your Aurora, hold off for a little while. I did this in mid-March, and noticed last week that one had already burned out.

I called Sylvania/Osram, since there's no warranty info on their web site. As soon as I explained the problem to them, they asked me the part number, then confirmed that the first batch of 893ST bulbs had a manufacturing defect.

All I had to do to get two new bulbs was to fax over a copy of my receipt (which I did). I'm just waiting for them to get replacement in stock (probably mid May at the earliest) before they ship them out to me...

Just a heads up in case anyone else has this problem, or was thinking of installing the SilverStars,

--Robert