(if you have a car that has 9006 and 9005 headlight bulbs
http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Upgrade/More_light.htm
i did an expeiriment where i replaced just one low beam(9006) with an
$8.00 GE high beam(9005) HOLY COW BATMAN big difference in light out-put. the stock low beam looks yellow where as the modified light is a whiter light, on a 2000 Bonneville there is a light shield built into the light housing to block the tip of the light. it lights up the road better and farther down the road but it does not blind or look overly bright (HID) to on coming traffic. i stood 12 ft. in front of my car and had to stoop down to about 18 in. above the road and then it got bright ! just for the heck of it i went to the stock side and stoopped down and it also got bright just not as bright as the modified side . tomorrow its off to the store for another $8.00 GE light. if your head lights are adjusted properly you should have no problem with the police or other motorist.

P.*. its going to be foggy tomorrow here in Sacramento i''ll let you know how it goes , it shouldn''t present a problem because it is still pointed down towards the road

next day

Tried my new light out in thick fog this morning, penetrated the fog better than the stock side with no glare back at me. Went ahead and changed the right side tonight, took it out for a drive, so much better than stock. That is with a cheap $8.00 GE light(9005). When these burn out I may try the better sylvania bulbs. So far driving in the early morning hours and evening hours no one has flashed their lights at me. I followed a CHP officer about a mile down a main road and he didn''t have any problem with the lights. You can see the cutoff line on the car in front of you where the light doesn''t shine above that line. If your head lights are adjusted properly this should not cause a problem to other drivers. Many different manufactures use the 9005 and 9006 headlights. This could be an inexpensive way to get more light without spending a lot on HID''*.

Light increase is from the increase in lumens from the 9005 bulb. A 9005 bulb has 70% more lumens than the 9006 (1700 lumens vs 1000 lumens). HID has 3200 lumens.
my cheap GE (9005) lights are brighter than my old Sylvania (9006) Silverstars.
when these GE lights burn out i will replace them with the 9005 Silverstars.

ROD)

that was 8 weeks ago, so far no problems with other drivers. no one has flashed their lights at me . the one problem i see is when i get in to my truck(1999 Ford) , its like i have headlights from the 1950'* or 60'* . they look dull and dont light up the road near as good as the 9005 lights in my SSEi.

ROD

yeah I have silverstar highs and low stock form I need to get some 9005s for my lowbeams.

I wonder how bright 9005s would be without the heatshield....there is no heatshield on the older cars.

I've been running the 9005s as low beams since the first time this was brought up as an idea. I love it!! Works great, nobody has flashed me yet thinking I have my highbeams on.

But, it did make me realize I need to carry a rag in the car to wipe off all the dried road spray my headlights gather. Only bad part of a nice, warm winter.

The article calls out that this procedure only works on Ellipsoid headlights. Anybody know what the deal is? Like what does it mean, and are the Bonnevilles ellipsoid, or it doesn't really matter. The bottom line is by modifying the 9005'* for use as low beams you get more light output.

You get more output from a silver star or any other performance bulb.

i got more light output from the CHEAP $8.00 GE (9005)bulb than i did out
of my (9006)Silverstars. no comparison, i will never go back to the 9006 light bulb.
my cheap GE (9005) lights are brighter than my old Sylvania (9006) Silverstars.
when these GE lights burn out i WILL replace them with the 9005 Silverstars.
repeat (9005) bulb not the (9006) bulb.

ROD

Good to know. Interesting as well.

Same here. The 9005 mod definitely gets you more light than the SS 9006'*.

im not surprised since the 9005 are 10 watts brighter than 9006

I've had SS 9005s as my lowbeams for more then a month now. They are brighter but not as bright as I thought they would be. They throw the light out farther then a normal 9006 thats for sure. But as long as you have your headlights adjusted right it won't bug most drivers ( or atleast I'm guessing that but how many times I have/haven't been flashed .) Also the beam of light coming out of the lense also seems a tad wider compared to a caped 9006.