My 2010CS burns through the low beam bulbs more often than I think that it shound. The OEM bulbs lasted for a very long time and I’ve been using Sylvania replacements ever since and get very poor life out of them. The car is in tip top condition with no electrical problems. With all of that said...I do run with the headlights on all of the time. Five months out of a bulb seems to be too little to me. I haven’t used anything other than Sylvania which I purchase at Walmart.
What brand were my OEM bulbs ? I think the name started with an H or a K. The headlights are the standard halogen set up.
Thanks for any input.
does it only happen on one side or both? any moisture in the lamp?
here are some options for replacements.
2010 Porsche Cayman Base Hatchback - Electrical - Lighting - Headlights - Headlight Bulbs, Xenon Headlights
Another point is make sure you don't touch the new bulbs with you bare fingers. Residue/finger oil on the glass surface may shorten the life. Wearing clean cotton gloves or using a clean shop rag while installing the new bulbs would eliminate that potential problem.
That failure mode is pretty obvious - the bulb explodes. The oil and heat etches the quartz envelope and eventually, it simply shatters.
A more likely failure is the OP is using a "high-performance" Sylvania bulb.. one that is more blue color on output and claims a higher amount of light. There is no free lunch - to get more light from a bulb requires increasing the filament temperature, which caused increased aging of the bulb and earlier failures. To eliminate the early failures - look for a plain-Jane sort of bulb with no claims of increased output or bluer light.
My suggestion would be to consider replacing them with LED inserts. Somewhere here I wrote up what I replaced my standard halogen bulbs with - but don't have an immediate link for you. The ones I used make about the same amount of light in the same pattern as the halogen bulbs did - and seem long-lasting. Find them on Amazon at:
Amazon.com: HIKARI H7 LED Headlight bulbs, New Gen of Japanese CSP LED Tech, Adjustable Beam, Easy install, 10000lm 6K Cool White IP68: Automotive
This sounds like the issue. I chose the imagined top of the line Sylvania thinking just that...better quality etc...not even looking for a brighter light. When these go I’ll check your options, if not sooner than later. No moisture nor touching the bulbs....this is the answer. Thanks
Not to rub salt in the wound but I had HID in my '06 CS and drove it for 8 years without an issue with the headlights. I can't believe that Porsche was still using incandescent lamps in 2010. When I ordered my 718 I paid the extra $1200 for the full LED upgrade and they are awesome.
Yeah, those "ultra white" bulbs (like SilverStar) are junk. Very short life, because they need to overdrive the filament to get sufficient light output. And even then they tend to have a low lumen output.
Basically avoid any bulbs with a blue-tinted glass envelope. The XtraVision are the ones to get from Sylvania: they're fine.
Here's a good writeup on the optics & science involved:
Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
