Thank you for the responses to my questions

 

Sylvania Silverstar H6054 are what I use and even they will ice up near the bottom in wet driving snow. I put amber lenses over my OE foglights and they work very well when there's too much glare, just driving slowly using those. Of course I had to change the wiring to make them independent of the stock switching, but not hard to do. When weather is REALLY bad, I switch on my rooftop H3 flasher to warn people coming up from behind me. The stock tail lights don't stand out very well. 4-ways work okay.

There's a guy around here who plows driveways and he has a rooftop LED light bar in the back of his cab that is like a nuclear bomb blast and he leaves it on the whole time he's plowing! I'd like to see him ticketed for blinding people passing behind him!

 

I am thinking that I will do Silverstars and the harness

 

Cheapest and most efficient thing to do in my opinion. One thing though. Make sure the fuse holder in the upgrade harness is weatherproofed. I didn't buy a Putco and the fuseholder got green with corrosion and my lights shut off one night and scarred the living crap out of me! The holder melted from resistance and I had to cut it out and twist the wires together to get home! I replaced it with a 12ga snap-cap 50 amp capable holder from NAPA. I just used a 30 amp fuse though.

 

^^ I've been running that combo for probably 8-9yrs (back when the PUTCO was the only option). For a while I was reading some talk about the Silverstars short life expectancy. I haven't replaced either of mine and I drive on and live on some rough road. They throw a GREAT pattern also.

 

There is that. I use my high beams for around 3-4 hours constantly 4 nights a week while delivering my newspapers and I've burnt out 2 high beam filaments in one year. One in each bulb. That's severe service in my book though. The reason they are so bright is the capsules are Xenon filled which excite and add to the light output.

 

As long as they're available I'll keep using them. There are other options that include housings and are brighter for about the same price as two Silverstars but I've been satisfied this long.

 

My past experiences with the brightest Silverstars is 1 year life expectancy. I believe they burn themselves out because of the intense heat that they generate.

 

I wasn't aware there were brightness options. These are the ones I've got:

 

There may not be options with a sealed beam. However, there are options with a bulb.

 

I know bulbs have intensity options but I wasn't aware Sylvania bulbs were called Silverstars.

I definitely need to get brighter ones at least for the high beams on our '96 Blazer. Even with new housings the oem ones leave a lot to be desired.

 

IDK if Chevy uses a relay system. My 87 C10 didn't so an upgrade harness might help. On the Silverstars, I think the 6056 is just a halogen sealed beam without the Xenon.

In my experience, metal reflectors in aftermarket housings will eventually rust out. The best lighting I ever had was a pair of 5" 12V aircraft landing lights in the grill of my 67 Camaro. They threw a tight beam over a mile ahead, but drew 10 amps apiece! Relays!

 

Pretty sure they are not Xenon either. Like the Wagner BriteLite ones are.
My research seems that the Xenon has something to do with cooling.
Whether that is a good thing, bad thing, doesn't matter thing I don't know.
I just buy the Wagner's cause I can get them through the store.

 

My understanding is the Xenon glows like neon and adds brightness to the halogen, but I could be wrong. It's kinda hard to stare into the bulb when it's lit! What I'm saying is 6054s are Xenon and 6056s aren't. You have to be careful when buying them to make sure you get what you want.

I bought a 76 Datsun B210 brand new and it came from Japan with 55/65 watt headlights which were illegal in the US at that time, but nobody caught on. They were nice! You could order 55/75s from Japan also, but those were too obviously bright.

 

Yeah, the expensive SIlverstars always burnt out in 6-months for me. They're trading brightness for filament life at the same power draw.

I'm running NAPA house brand 55/100 H4s in a set of SuperPal (?) eicode glass housings I bought off eBay 12 years ago with a homemade wiring upgrade . They have a nice sharp cutoff, don't get flashed on low, awesome highbeams that can spot a deer a mile down the road, and I get a couple of years bulb life. I just put a set of mid-quality LED replacement H4s bulbs in the wife's truck and dislike the 6k color - just too bluish for me. They aren't that much brighter. The beam pattern didn't change though and remained as crappy as the stock smeared out pattern. I wish they made LED bulbs with a 4300k temperature like the HID bulbs in my KL.

I understand about the Californians who don't know what snow is. They keep moving up here and still don't know what it is or how to drive in it.