XENON HID LIGHT BULBS MELTING HEADLIGHTS

Hey all, I bought these bulbs and installed them and it looks like they may be melting the headlight glass/plastic shield within the assembly. Is this possible? Here is the description of the bulbs. Isnt that glass in there, how could it melt. Enhance the look of your vehicle while improving your night time driving conditions with this Xenon HID light bulbs combo for LOW BEAM & HIGH BEAM Two Pairs of H7 Super High Intensity Discharge HID Xenon Light Bulbs for high beam + low beam High beam / Low beam Combo Xenon Gas-Filled Hyper White, 12V, 5000K, 65/55-Watt, H7 Better visibility driving at night Quick and Easy Installation Simply remove stock bulbs and replace with these new ones, no modification needed! 100% New in box and ready to ship

it sounds like those bulbs get hotter than stock. you could try a lower wattage to keep the heat down. i would just stay w/stock bulbs.

I thought I saw a post where someone took the temperature and it was less.

very possible..........aftermarket parts are cheaper for a reason

The OEM Litronic and Bi-Xenon bulbs (i.e. REAL Xenon bulbs) use less power and run cooler than halogen bulbs. The aftermarket bulbs you got are blue-coated halogen bulbs running at 65 watts (to compensate for them being dimmer because of the blue coating) and therefore will generate more heat than the stock bulb. That's why the plastic lens is melting. We have posted about this problem/warning multiple times. It is unfortunate that you didn't do a search/heed the warning before getting the aftermarket bulbs.

if we are talking about the same thread, someone took the temp of an actual HID conversion & it was less then halogen... these are halogen lights, tinted blue, not real HID bulbs.

Thanks guys. I should have done more research. It was the first I saw and they were relatively cheap. Is there a way to replace or remove the lens. Or where can I get a good aftermarket HID kit.

Michael, Unfortunately it will be pretty hard to open the headlamp housing without breaking it and even if you manage to open it you will have a hard time finding a replacement lens. At this point if your existing lens is melted I would suggest just biting the bullet and getting the OEM Litronics Retrofit Kit. With the kit you not only get REAL Xenon bulbs but the housing is changed as well so that you get projector lenses to better focus the Xenons and provide that sharp cut-off so you won't blind incoming traffic. The Litronics Retrofit Kit should run you about $1200 new.

Can I retrofit a later model clear surround withouth the litronics? Where can I find this kit for a good price?

Yeah, I thought about doing this or an HID retrofit and research showed that it wasn't a good idea - that's why I went with the Silverstars.... melting plastic sucks.

how do the silverstars look? close to HID?

They're nowhere near HID, but they're noticably whiter and brighter than regular halogens. From my research they're about as good as you can get without upgrading to HIDs or running the risk of melting your headlights. I've read (although not seen with my own eyes) that the Silverstar Ultras are better than the regular Silverstars - they had only just been released when I bought mine.

They do melt the headlights. On the way home I picked up a four set of silverstars and installed them, they are no where near the 5900 hids, but wont melt your sh!% either. Neither of the two auto stores I went to had ultras in stock. Maybe next time.

I think they currently only make the ultra's in 9004, 9005, and 9006 bulb fittiments.

They're advertised as 4000K, so they're comparable to the "cooler" HIDs, but nothing near the high end ones. I guess the lack of availability in the H7 size explains why I couldn't get hold of them. I figure that by the time I need new bulbs, then I should be able to get hold of them.

55W is the max

They actually had a spot in the rack for them. A two pair set H7 ST Silverstar Ultras. But they were out. I took the last silverstars. 2 at each store.

How come folks thought that aftermarket HID retrofits were a bad idea? I did that in my Lexus GX470 and I gotta tell you that they are just as sharp and bright as the factory litronics in my 996. I've never seen the non-litronics housings but I assume they are "projector" type housing. If so, its just like by GX470 which came out great!!! I bought them from this place in Canada...using Philips bulbs and ballasts...I purchased the 4300K kit and its just about the same "whiteness" as the factory litronics. http://www.xenondepot.com/index.php

Here are two threads that discussed the issue at the time I was looking at it - the problems with heat, etc. are mentioned. https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...&highlight=HID Specifically, https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...&highlight=HID post 17 of this thread references this page - http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html Hope this helps.

Oreganet - I think that the two threads confuse the difference between just getting higher wattage bulbs (which do give off more heat) vs a true HID retrofit (which still only use 35 watts so they run cooler than regular bulbs). The only issue I read mentioned the "projecter" type light housing, again I don't know what a non-litronic headlight has for a light housing, but if its a projector housing, then it would be the same as my GX470. Maybe thats the difference between buying a whole Litronic kit (light housing and all) is that they come with the projector light housings.....

They discuss both topics at the same time. To be honest the thing that did it for me was this link http://www.danielsternlighting.com/...onversions.html The page discusses some valid safety concerns and I wasn't prepared to compomise on safety to install something that wasn't bringing much in value to my car other than a nicer looking light.