The other day my headlamp blew as I was driving. It was a SilverStar Ultra that I had JUST put in 3-5 days prior. When I took the bulb out it was a milky green color and had a perfect hole melted right through it.

I have a call in to Sylvania now...and they'll also be replacing my housing since its slightly melted.

did you happen to touch the bulb during installation? thats exactly what happens to halogen bulbs when you touch them...

I'm always EXTREMELY careful not to touch the bulbs. I use anti electrostatic discharge gloves to put them in (I work at a biomedical microelectronics company, lol)

That is quite odd, did you ask them for an explanation as to why this happened?

They want me to send in the bulb, along with the headlight housing so the engineers can look at it.[/quote]

Glad to hear they are replacing everything for you, of course unfortunate it happened. All I use is Silverstar Ultras...please let us know what they find when you hear from them

Probably a fluke. I'm still on 5-year-old silverstars on the Zilla. Going on 3 years on the SLE. Never blown one.

I have Ultra-high beams for quite some time (don't get used much) and as of about a month ago, Ultra low-beams. I must say the Ultras are quite a lot better, the light is an even more pure white, the originals were more blue-ish, which isn't as good for blacktop or rainy driving conditions. I am curious to see what caused this, and yeah, I'm thinking fluke too, but the Ultras are of a slightly different design....

The lady said the engineers will email me when they know, so that I know. I'll post that email here when I get it.

I'm considering HIR bulbs since I've been reading ALOT about how actual tests show the SilverStarts to produce less lumens than standard bulbs due to the coating. HIR bulbs are damn near the same price, and are higher quality construction.

This is the THIRD SilverStar I've replaced in about 6-7 months.

Yeah I've read about Silverstars in the past being hit or miss...for me..it'* been a hit. They don't work well in my year stock fogs from what I've read on here from user reviews. Compared to an HIR, yeah, the regular Silverstars aren't as good from what I've seen in pictures or again, reviews. I got Hella Optilux 2500 Driving lights to replace the fogs and instantly changed the bulbs over to Silverstar, those plus the Ultra low beams now, I best out my friend'* 300zx with his first-get HID'* (Just to give you an example how powerful this combo is)...As I said before, the Ultras come a lot closer to pure white which is what you ideally want for a good bulb in all weather conditions. Find a review of the Ultras vs the HIR and see what you come up with....I know I wouldn't give up on Silverstar Ultras just yet.....

By the way, just to add in, the good thing about how I have this set up too is that Cops don't seem bothered by it at all, I'm driving around all the time at night coming at them, in back of them, etc and with the proper aiming I did, nobody seems pissed off (oncoming traffic) and nobody gives me a second look, even though it'* incredibly powerful.