The guys who have put in hid like them.

 

(sticking to halogens)
Apparently the best you can do is install a Catz Zeta harness to brighten the output of the oem bulb. You can't get brighter, only a bulb that appears to be brighter. A colored halogen bulb (such as Nokya Cosmic White) will provide less light than a OEM bulb. It may not appear that way on the road but it is true.

There is plenty of discussion about the Catz Zeta system over on this website. http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum.php

With that said, if you don't want to put the Catz system on and you don't mind sacrificing some light output then Nokya or Luminics make decent bulbs for what you want. I would stay away from PIAA as they are overpriced. I have seen where Luminics can melt the connectors, but I never experienced it in my previous vehicle. I have no idea what they will do the the HHR but I haven't seen anyone post up about any melting either.


For what it's worth- The cost difference of OEM compared to Silverstars is minimal. If my memory serves me correctly they are around $30-40 per bulb. My first OEM bulb burned out near the 82k mark (about 5 years) on my speedometer where my Silverstar burned out after 13 months. So you definitely get your moneys worth when buying from the dealership. I'm not sure how OEM bulbs compare to what you can buy at the autoparts store, but if they carry an equivalent there is no doubt in my mind that they will be cheaper at the autoparts store there rather than at the dealership.

I was swayed to HIDs and after getting used to them I'm not a fan on running them in the OEM halogen housing. I'm running a 35w DDM kit with 5000k bulbs. After running them for a few months I know that I can achieve better results by performing a HID projector retrofit. The glare caused by running HID in our oem halogen housings isn't that bad compared to other vehicles, but in my opinion it is the lazy way out once you do some research on retrofitting which really isn't that hard to do.

 

Wow, thanks for the info helhedded! I don't want to go the HID route because I've read HID's reflect too much in the original housing, causing them to be "blinding". I did some searching on the forms and saw a thread talking about Hellas. Seems hella bulbs have the same output as silverstars and last quite some time....plus you can find them for around 35/pair if you search

 

put the hid in a projector, or aim them.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/show...ght=projectors

 

I have Luminics in all four of my motocycles. Like them, hold up well in Harley's ! In MHO there is alot more to bulbs then just output, how wide the light pattern is, What is the light refraction, All bulb's are good it just has to be the right housing, the right applcation. I am not the best person to ask but I know changing a 10 deg. wide turn sig.bulb to say 15 or 20 will make a big inprovement in how it will be seen by other drivers. With both bulbs having the same output. Most bulb com. don't have this info easy to get you have to search for it.

 

I have the Phillips Crystal Vision Ultras, got them on sale at Amazon for 24.99 free ship.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

I like them, they have a blue tip that puts a slight blue tinge in the reflectors. The light is very white. Not "high powered" but definitely clean light.

 

I have to give a +1 to the DDM HID Kit. At some point I wouldn't mind doing a projector mod, but I had a bulb out, and the DDM kits were like 20 bucks more than just picking up some silver stars, so I figured what the hell.

I have only had 1 person flash their brights at me. They are noticeably brighter than halogen for oncoming traffic, but the stock HHR housings do a good job of giving a clean horizontal light cut off so you aren't getting the actually beam in people's eyes. I parked Pete on the street with the HIDs on and made some passes with my wife's G6 and I don't think it was much worse than a lot of the brighter halogens I have run across.

I definitely would consider HIDs, even if you don't have the time/money to do a projector mod right off the bat.

The DDMs aren't bad. I do have 1 ballast that likes to not light about 1/10 of the time. I just have to flick my lights off and on to get it going when it does. for $75 shipped for a full outfit it's hard to beat.