The brightest quality 9005 bulbs are Philips Xtreme Power. You can also do an upgrade to 9011 HIR bulbs with some minor tab trimming (even easier than the H9 low beam conversion we discussed earlier - the 9011's require a plastic tab to be trimmed and the cutout is even molded in the plastic.) The 9011 HIR's are 2350 lumens vs. 1700 or so for 9005's. NEW Philips 9011 (HIR1) - (12.8V 65W - PX20D)
Are these the ones you are talking about? Philips X-Treme Power: Philips 9005XVS2 X-Treme Vision Headlight Bulb, (Pack of 2) : Amazon.com : Automotive
It's not, but upon further investigation at Philips' official site, it looks like they must not actually make the xtreme power in 9005 and those on Amazon that I had found were fakes. In that case, the xtreme vision is a good alternative. You could also do the GE Nighthawk Platinum. GE 9005NHP/BP2 Nighthawk PLATINUM Headlight Bulbs (High Beam), Pack of 2 : Amazon.com : Automotive On the HIR bulbs, there are the three plastic tabs that you must fit into the headlight housing then twist to lock the bulb in. The standard HIR has one tab that is slightly too wide and must be trimmed. There is a line molded into the plastic and you just cut along the line.
No, not easily. A decent pair of dikes or sidecutters will do it easily though. Here's what you are looking at. Follow the guide on the left and remove the grey area of the tab.
Yeah, you can't flash someone quickly with HIDs. I think I may just keep my high beams whatever bulbs they are that came with the car. I have no idea what they are but I don't use high beams that often so probably not worth it to swap them out until they burn out.
You could always do 100W highs, since they're generally short term use, the higher wattage has less potential to burn out the harness, but you could always add a ceramic pigtail to a 100W bulb and gain brightness and a bit of wire-security.
Anyone tried yellow high-beams?: Amazon.com: Nokya 9005/HB3 Hyper Yellow Halogen Light Bulb (NOK7611) (NK-Y-9005): Automotive
Sorry to dig this up, but what are the current better/best high beam offerings? Are folks still running the 9011's? Any other decent options?
