It exploded three weeks ago and it has taken that long to get the glass out... After I realized you could not take the lens off since it was glued I made all kinds of special pliers, shop vac fittings, and tape covered wire to get every single, last piece of glass out of the driver's side headlight. I didn't want to pull the bumper so I left the headlight in place. I went ahead and replaced all the bulbs with Hellas. I would have taken it to a dealer but the five nearest me have all gone out of business.... And this was not worth a 300 mile round trip to the nearest one. So, everyone check your bulbs! Finally, time to drive!!!

 

This was with the base model, non hid???

 

Yes, it is a base GSR. The bulb was an oem sylvania.

 

Were the Hellas any brighter than the stock halogens, or about the same?

 

Hellas are much better. They are bright white with absolutely no yellow visible. However, the base of the bulb is much larger than the Sylvanias. They will fit fine, but there is absolutely no margin for error when installing them. If the base touches the silver of the reflector, it will chip off in the form of silver dust...

 

Have any pics/ part numbers of the new lights? I'm still on the fence between the base and ss package.

 

yeah pics please

 

I have no pics but they are much whiter/brighter than the stock bulbs. They are called Hella Xenon Blue, but they are neither blue or xenon... They are simply white. They do not look like HIDs or LEDs! They look like white halogens. I drove up to Summit and picked up as set of highbeams AND lowbeams for $80. You need part numbers HB49006 (highbeams) and HB39005. These bulbs are 100% stock wattage. They are also available in yellow. Hella also makes really, really blue bulbs that run at high wattages called Optilux. They look cheap. But remember, the metal base of the bulb (where the glass and metal meet) is a bit larger in diameter than the stock sylvanias. You have very little room to fit the bulb into the reflector without scraping the mirror coating off! Take your time installing them. And no, you do not have to take the headlights off the car to change the bulbs. Remove the plugs behind both bulbs, pull the coolant reservoir up and out on the passenger side and slide up and out the black electrical box on the drivers side. Unscrew the the dust shields then twist out the bulbs. Easy.