Just found a youtube video. Gonna try it tomorrow after church. It should cost less than $5. Thanks for letting me know about the mod.

Having had them, I'd agree. I liked the light output but they were more trouble than they were worth. I finally got tired of crappy radio reception when my headlights were on so I replaced them with OEM bulbs. And like you said the non-HID housings don't have the projection feature that factory HID housings have

Get you a ridgid industries light bar n be done with it. Lol

FWIW, Sylvania is in a class action lawsuit with the Silverstar and Silverstar Ultras. Something about false claims or something. I have them in my Tahoe with daytime running lights and they have lasted at least two years. I like them. They are a little whiter but I'm not sure it's any brighter.

As for the 4 Hi mod, it is very easy with a little know how. All you're doing is using a relay to send a secondary power source to the Low beams, using the power to the high beams as the energizer for the relay. So when the high beams cut on the the low beams go off, you tap power from the high beam feed to cut the relay on, which then feeds power from the power source(battery or power terminal in fuse block, NOT HIGH BEAM LINE) to the low beam.

I've used the toothpaste trick and it works. Use a somewhat abrasive type and then go to something similar to a child's toothpaste that has little or no abrasives.
You need a buffer and a drill.
And, it may take a few times to get them like new.
Maybe this will help on the brightness of the standard bulbs.