I was wondering what anyone has used for replacement bulbs in the stock lens'. I ordered the PIAA driving lights to replace the fogs but also wanted to brighten the regular lights. PIAA has a million different replacements. I want bright white light, no blue. Any suggestions?

 

I have the PIAA driving lights with Zenon Super Whites in stock lenses. The stock plastic lenses are a POS, IMHO. The Super Whites are 100w on HB and things are brighter but I can't see that much better. What I really want are some ground glass lenses with a flat low beam and a round high beam, but I can't find any. I've found some with glass lenses but you have to replace the entire headlight because it it one bulb instead of two.

Good luck

 

IMHO, you won't be happy with any non-HID setups. I tried 3 different high watt bulbs...only created frustration. Finally went HID and never looked back

 

Tried PIAA, Sylvania Silver Stars, Nokya Cool Blue... Nothing worked for me. I did a Rev Extreme HID install... and will never go back!

 

What kind of light do you get form the HID's? Is it a blue cast? The photos that people have posted show a lot of blue.

 

Here are my before and after shots. I purchased a 4500k HID kit, which gives out a very white (not blue) light. It is still slightly bluer than the 1100x, but I'm happy with the results.

Also note how crummy the 100watt aftermarket bulbs performed.

 

Coincidentally, I finally completed what I like as a solution just yesterday.

The C5 comes with light housings that have a plastic face, and those are cheap and lousy. Each housing has two separate bulbs, one called a 9006 (which is the low beam) and one called a 9006 (which is the high beam) .

There have been various suggestions offered over time.

What I ended up with is replacing my housings quite some time ago with the ones that are used in European C5s. These new housings are called T84 housings, and they are heavier and have a glass face. The glass, and I think the etching on it, provides a much better directing of the light as it passes from the bulb through the glass to the street in front of you.

Next comes the issue of bulbs. Some folks use higher wattage bulbs and some use HID bulbs. There's been lots of debate as to use of higher wattage bulbs in the stock plastic housing due to heat concerns and also due to emitting so much light through the lousy-directing plastic face (i.e., fear of blinding oncoming drivers). It appears that the sale of HID kits has for a long time been illegal under federal law, and is now more seriously being enforced. It also appears that the ownership of such a kit in one's car is up to the law enforcement of your state/municipality.

So, I went with higher wattage non-HID bulbs for my Euro housings. The bulb that fits this housing is called an H4, and it includes 2 filaments, one low beam one bright. So, unlike the stock system that has two bulbs per housing, the Euro system only has one bulb per housing. A few years ago I put this system in with lower wattage H4 bulbs and a harness that connected directly to the harness of the stock C5. The results were a modest improvement. However, this weekend I went up to a Narva 100/130 watt bulb (i.e., 100 watts low beam; 130 high) and connected relays so that the bulbs are powered directly by the battery. Finally, after all of this, the light is what I find nice. It's not as good as HID, but I don't think I run any chance of blinding oncoming (or passing) cars, and the light is plenty decent for ordinary driving. In other words, it's finally as would have been acceptable from the factory.

There are now more affordable HID kits out there, subject to the caveats stated above and also leaving you the issue of how easy it might be someday to find replacement bulbs should one of the existing ones fail. Plus, the less expensive ones leave you with NO bright lights, which in my state (Texas) would keep you from obtaining a valid auto inspection. Also, the ones that do provide a bright light in HID are doing so by moving the bulb, which is not the same as how a true HID light makes bright light. Indeed, DOT accepted HID is actually accomplished by using a unit called a projector, which is far more sophisticated than what is put in a C5.

Good luck.

 

FWIW, the photos above are an HID conversion through the Euro/T84 housings. I rarely get flashed by oncoming traffic.