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What classifies a bulb as yellow, white, purple, or blue? |
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Essentially, every bulb is based
around your average yellow headlight bulb, which is practically
any bulb you will find in the average auto super-store. These
are bulbs that have perfectly clear glass lenses and when you
power them on, they shine a bright yellow light. Just like fire
glows red/yellow at low temperatures and blue/white at higher
temperatures, bulbs act the same way. The more wattage a
bulb uses, the brighter [and whiter] it will be. The average
store-bought bulbs shine yellow light because they have low
wattages with no "designer" brand technologies. That's where
PIAA and
Nokya come in; both of those brands have taken multiple
steps to make their bulbs better, more powerful- and they do it
by changing the lens color and wattage. Nokya and PIAA both have
found a way to increase light output (i.e. wattage) without
requiring the bulb to demand more power from your system, which
is the first step in creating a white light. Next, PIAA applies
special lite blue and violet coatings on their bulbs to result
in their signature Super and Xtreme White light. Nokya goes with
the same blue and violet coatings, but applies them in a deeper,
more intense color, which still results in a bright white light,
but with a cool lite blue or
lite purple tone. |
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What does "DOT Approved // Street-Legal" mean on bulb packages? |
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Automotive products sold in the U.S. "should" meet the Department of Transportation's approval to
be street-legal in all 50 states. What this means is that if an
item is not DOT approved, it may be legal for street use
(as opposed to show use) in one state and not in another. While
all of our bulbs from
Sylvania are DOT approved, most PIAA Super White and Xtreme
White bulbs are also DOT approved. Nokya, APC and some PIAA
Super Plasma/Plasma GT lines may not be DOT approved in all
states. |
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If the bulbs are not DOT approved, will I get in
trouble for using them? |
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Almost all Nokya, APC and PIAA bulbs resemble the look of "specialty"
headlight systems found in some of today's newest vehicles.
Although it's true they are not all DOT approved, you should not let
this worry you (though we still have a
liability statement). These non-DOT approved brands are
among the most popular after-market specialty items and their
use is only growing. We can honestly (really!) say that
we have never [ever] heard of any legal issue arising
from the use of these bulbs, which as we say, look just like
most of the [Xenon and projector] lights you see being
factory-installed on new luxury vehicles. The overall point here
is why would anyone notice non-HID bulbs when the BMW next to
you is lighting up the entire street w/HID? |
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How long will Nokya, PIAA and
Sylvania bulbs last in my vehicle? |
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Though autothing.com only guarantees all bulb
lines for 30 days, you can easily expect your bulbs to last
around a year, but this "guesstimate" may be much higher or
lower and here's why: autothing.com has no control over how
long your bulbs are used or what kind of environment they are
exposed to. If one driver only uses his/her bulbs during the
nighttime, and another driver uses them during the daylight hours
as well (we still can't explain how people rationalize using
headlights in broad daylight, lol), obviously the latter driver
will have bulbs that only last half as long. Now you can see
what we mean about the big "unknown" factor when it comes to
bulb lifespan. |
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How come Nokya bulbs shine blue/white and PIAA bulbs shine
white? |
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If you weren't impressed by autothing's
really cheesy attempt at advertising, here's a follow-up lesson:
"Step up! Go blue with Nokya!" and "Go Super White with PIAA!"
Hey, we never said we were cool- just the
autothings are! Anyways, PIAA bulbs shine white because they are
lightly coated with either blue or violet and their light output
is at a higher wattage, which inherently means the light will be
white and not yellow. Meanwhile, Nokya bulbs have a slightly
lower output wattage which when combined with a very intense
blue (or purple) coating, creates a stunning bright white light
with a lite blue tone (or purple, depending on the Nokya Arctic
bulb type). |
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Sure the looks rock, but how are blue and white bulbs
better/safer than yellow? |
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Before we give our reasons, you should just
ask Audi, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes and Porsche- they all have
crossed over into the world of bright white lighting. Sure they
use very expensive $2,000 HID (High Intensity
Discharge) systems, but since you love the
look and aren't about to invest two grand in your Chevy, Dodge,
or whatever, Nokya and PIAA bulbs offer an equally
great look at a really sweet price. The reason the
luxury brands use white lighting is because come nighttime, you
can see everything that you've been missing before. We know that
sounds a bit corny, but we at autothing.com personally use
Nokya Arctic White brand bulbs and "WOW!"
On the highway, all the signs reflect beautifully and are so
easy to read. On long dark stretches, those little reflective
pads they're putting into roads lately reflect so far ahead,
that you'll see exactly where the road is taking you. In city
and suburban situations, these bulbs give a vibrant and
crisp look to everything they shine upon. Sure yellow
bulbs try to do the same, but yellow light is simply not as well
reflected as white or blue/white light is by nighttime objects.
Let us mention that even during the day, bulbs like the Nokya
Arctics still manage to shine a blue/white light-
really! |
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What's the difference between Sylvania Cool Blue, Nokya Arctic
White and PIAA? |
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Although the name implies a blue color,
Sylvania Cool Blue bulbs are NOT blue; they simply shine
white light at a lower wattage than the PIAA brand bulbs just
like the
Sylvania SilverStars. As for
those PIAA bulbs, they shine a bright white light with increased
output thanks to some nifty PIAA-exclusive technologies, such as
XTRA and Super/Xtreme White. And finally, the Nokya Arctic White
bulbs, which shine a bright white light with a lite blue tone
(all thanks to an intense blue coating on the bulb). |
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You claim cars in the U.S. use yellow bulbs, but all I see
is white, so what's up? |
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Don't let your eyes fool you, because up
until a few years ago, every car did in fact use the same yellow
bulbs and no one probably even knew they were seeing yellow
light, not white. Simply pay attention when you drive at
night and look for headlights that catch your eye- they're
probably white, blue or purple! Yeah, that's the only proof we
have to validate our claim the average car still uses the
average yellow bulb. Try this!
Next time you are driving at night and have the ability to drive
near a vehicle with white headlights, try to pull equally
alongside and view that driver's perspective. This is one way
you can see the color difference and how much better a road lit
with white looks! |
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I see things like 55W=85W on the
Nokya and PIAA pages; can you explain this? |
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Both Nokya and PIAA bulbs use special
technologies that allow their bulbs to take standard power from
a headlight system and transform it into a high-output bulb in
terms of lighting power, or wattage
(W). When you see 55W=85W
on our Nokya and PIAA pages, the 55W means the bulb can
substitute any normal 55W bulb you could buy at your
average auto super-store, and the 85W means that specific
Nokya or
PIAA bulb will shine with the light output of an 85W bulb
(even though they require 55W just like any average
bulb). It's this kind of technology that make these bulbs way
better! |
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Can any of the PIAA and Nokya brand bulbs affect my headlight
system's wiring? |
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Please read the
FAQ
immediately above also, which explains that as long as you
choose the correct [stock] bulb wattage for your headlight
system's wiring harness (where you plug in the replacement
bulb), everything should be fine. For example, the
PIAA Super White H3 bulb comes as a 55W=85W model and
an 85W=130W model. Most vehicles can safely accept
only the first model, 55W=85W. The latter model is a
high-wattage style with an actual wattage rating of 85W, which
means your headlight system must be already set-up to accept
this increased wattage. |
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I've seen some other brands on other sites- why don't you carry
them? |
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You've probably seen names like Vestec,
Altezza, and a number of other after-market brands for specialty
headlight bulbs. However, this site is not about selling
everything "just to sell." We actually try what we like first
and if something sucks, we're not going to offer it to you.
Don't take that the wrong way, because this site is where you
rule- meaning it's your style and likes that
count. Unfortunately, bulbs are one of those things that you
don't really know how they look until they're all fired up in
your very own car, truck, and SUV. That's why we take the trust
you put in us very seriously (in a non-serious sort of way, lol)
and test bulb brands before we offer them. After doing this on
many different brands, we found that the distinctively different
Nokya and
PIAA bulb brands offer the best of all the bulb styles
available today. |
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If you could use any bulb on your site (and we do),
which would it be and why? |
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Oh, too easy!
Nokya Arctic White series bulbs are our favorites and we
have received many responses from customers who were very
surprised at how great these look, which we always appreciate
(keep em' coming!) We do in fact use these on our own vehicles
and if you appreciate our honest answer, it's because
they're so darn affordable and so utterly beautiful at
nighttime. We have not yet found a pair of bulbs that gives such
a cool looking white light with a lite blue tone.
Check em' out >>> |
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We
started this site because we love
great looking and personalized vehicles, just like you!
Considering that headlights play an integral part in any
vehicles' appearance, we too had questions about all the
different brands and types of vehicle headlight bulbs available
out there. Of course, when we first tried to find answers
way-back-when on other sites and such, we found info that was
either irrelevant or just plain untrue. So, consider this page a
tribute to headlight bulbs (lame, we know
:D ) and all the true and
useful information about them. If we missed something, please
. All rights reserved. Really!
