[rjl]

New Civic Si Sedan owner, but long experience with HIR's.

My previous vehicle was a Toyota Land Cruiser. To my knowledge, it was the Land Cruiser community which pioneered the use of HIR bulbs to replace the 9005 and 9006 headlight bulbs. It was a Land Cruiser owner in Australia who worked for a John Deere dealership who first discovered the bulbs' possible use, so it's interesting to see things come full circle.

Originally, they were only made by GE. The GE bulbs were of a totally funky design (part of the wiring actually ran on the exterior of the bulb) and were subsequently not up to the same quality as the HIR bulbs made today. My first GE low beams that I got from my local JD dealership only lasted about a year.

Since then, however, other manufactures have bought/licensed/whatever the technology from GE.

In fact, before I sold the Land Cruiser, I bought some cheapo bulbs to throw in and took out the Toshiba HIR's because I knew I'd want to put them in the Si.

HIR technology works by coating the interior of the bulb with a infrared reflecting film. It directs all the infrared light back to the filament, in turn superheating it and converting it into more light. HIR = High output, InfraRed. The beauty is they use the same power as a standard bulb and have the same life span. I'd rewired the lighting harness on my Land Cruiser to run on relays to ensure more power got directly to the headlight bulbs, but with the HIRs it was largely unneccesary.

All the US-sold-Silverstars (Silverstars sold in Europe are more legit) and PIAA bulbs are just blue-tinted jokes. Might as well cram some Uncle Ben's into your headlight housings. HIR bulbs are the real deal.