Need HID Headlamps - I can't see!

[rdweninger]

Hey everyone!

OK. It's time to upgrade the headlamps. Almost drove it off the road yesterday morning at 5 a.m. I want the hid's... I think. Anyone with experience purchasing them (price and location) , installation and finally... the results of the upgrade. I have a new lense can (is that what they call it?) for the left side. It was quarter full of water and rusty. I eventually want to upgrade the alternator to a 90amp. GD... I saw once that you had one for $100... still got it?

But for now, the hid's use less amperage so I'll upgrade to those for a quick fix. Will the Hi and Low Beams still work? And any info on the ballist... if it comes with the kit and how/where to install it.

thanks for any advice. 8" snow in Tillamook. 12" at my place.

[92_rugby_subie]

Okay, Im about to post a longer post... so standby...

 

Longer post:

 

Look around for Turbones conversion to projectors... thats what Im going to go with eventually. I DO currently have 6000K HID headlamps in my stock GL housings (Loyale housings) and they are brighter, but from experience of being in front of the car, they are really bright for other drivers... Simply put, the HIDs are not meant for our housings so the light bounces around and doesnt actually PROJECT light like is needed.

 

I went HID because I tried even Sylvania Silverstars or whatever that are "the brightest white light" at 4300K temperature and didnt have the light I wanted.

 

GD still does the 90amp alternators, just gotta give him a heads-up.

 

Turbones conversion is here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=125187

 

If this is a bit too much for you (Im even worried I may screw it up) then go with HIDs, but dont go any brighter than 6000K as the higher the temperature (xxxxK) the more "blue" that gets in it and the less visible and more annoying they become (also the more illegal they go) 6000K is the most white/blue mixture for the best visibility...

 

Heres my 86 GL with 6000K HIDs (no shots of on the road yet since I dont have my stock headlamps anymore)

How its set-up (ish)

Edited March 13, 2012 by 92_rugby_subie

[subyrally]

be careful, the higher the light temp number, that less light output there actually is. 3000k is actually the brightest you will find readily, but it is a very yellow light. 4300k is the color that most cars that come with HID lights come with. once you start getting in the higher ranges, the light gets bluer and eventually purple/pink.

 

ther are a few sites around that have the proper conversion kits, but they arent cheap and require fabrication to use. like was said before, it isnt recommended to put HID bulbs into the stock headlights since the lenses arent good for the way the bulb produces the light. you will get a really bad beam of light with massive glare and hot and cold spots in the light coverage. the kits i have seen come with reflector housings and the projector lenses from oem HID headlights. from what i have seen, with a little bit of time, a dremel and some good epoxy, you can mount the projectors into the stock headlights with good results.

 

i will try to find the website that had the full kits on it as soon as i can.

 

good luck

[subyrally]

while searching for the site i found before, i stumbled on this one that has a pretty good layout of what is what with HID lighting.

 

http://www.hidretrofits.com/

 

 

 

 

 

edit-

 

found the site i was looking for

 

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/

 

good luck

Edited March 13, 2012 by subyrally

[shortysayhi]

I bought a hid KIT, theres a difference between HID and HID with projectors. I did the same as Turbone they work great, the whole kit (bulbs, ballists, wiring, 2 hid bulbs, and Projectors... (they spread the light)) it ended up costing me 300+about 200 because the company i bought it from didn't give me instructions for the wiring harness. Now i know how to do them so it would total to 300. The labor just for splitting the glass to the bucket and installing the projectors, but also sanding the glass to get rid of the ridges took about total of 8 hours (for both).

 

The Hid kit was bi xenon which is the Hi/low beams. and they work with out problems.

[GeneralDisorder]

HID's are a very bad idea unless you have custom lenses that can properly project the light. In fact they are illegal in most areas unless they were equipped from the factory.... even if you have lenses that are designed to use them. Still illegal to retrofit them unless they came on some sub-model of your vehicle.

 

The factory lenses on your GL are refractor lenses - designed to throw the light in all directions. They are not intended for the high power output of the HID systems and sould not be used in conjunction with them.

 

There are much better bulbs out there than what your can buy in most parts stores - Osram and others make high-powered bulbs that are approved for use in your lenses. But anything that makes more light output will suffer in terms of longevity.

 

I do the Maxima alts still - they are $110 plus shipping - my junk yard costs have gone up a lot in the last two years due to changes in ownership. I have a really nice Bosch reman unit here right now. Let me know if you want to upgrade. It's an easy swap. I just need to know if you have a single groove or double groove belt pulley.

 

GD

Edited March 14, 2012 by GeneralDisorder

[edrach]

I don't have anything against the HID conversions but from what I read, just replacing the bulb is not the best idea. Until I find a conversion that includes a headlight assembly designed specifically for HID that fits my Impreza, I'll stick with higher current H4 lamps.

 

I have a '97 Impreza with the plastic lenses and got tired of polishing them every three months, so I installed earlier headlamp housings from a '93 to '96 Impreza to get a glass lens back for its clarity. I needed to install the early grill since the earlier headlamps don't match the grill. Looks a bit funky but I don't care.

 

Secondly I have long had a high current relay wiring harness installed in my car allowing me to get the maximum voltage to the H4 bulbs I use. Originally, I was using 55W-100W bulbs, but for better lighting I recently went with the 80W-!00W bulbs. I've had them on the car for 4 months now and haven't yet had anyone flash their high beams at me while I was on low beams. And I see much better now on the low beam setting.

 

I bought everything I need from a rally supplier I've dealt with for over 35 years: http://www.competitionlimited.com. Not the best prices, but everything he sells is quality.

[rdweninger]

Sorry on the delay. As soon as I posted the thread... I was asked to take my snowmobile up to Mt. Hebo to figure out why the emergency communications generator did not autostart after we lost line power. Probably 6 feet of snow up there. Looks like 4' was new. Alot of shoveling with the 'SnowClaw' just to get the door open. Got the generator running, though.

So thank you for all the advice. Sounds like the belt sander worked well. Did you cool the glass down with water occasionally? Then dry it and more sanding?

I'm still trying to find the exact kit I need. The ebay ad was removed. Anyone have the part # of the kit they used and where you got it?

thanks for your help... I appreciate it. RW

[shortysayhi]

Sorry on the delay. As soon as I posted the thread... I was asked to take my snowmobile up to Mt. Hebo to figure out why the emergency communications generator did not autostart after we lost line power. Probably 6 feet of snow up there. Looks like 4' was new. Alot of shoveling with the 'SnowClaw' just to get the door open. Got the generator running, though.

So thank you for all the advice. Sounds like the belt sander worked well. Did you cool the glass down with water occasionally? Then dry it and more sanding?

I'm still trying to find the exact kit I need. The ebay ad was removed. Anyone have the part # of the kit they used and where you got it?

thanks for your help... I appreciate it. RW

 

http://shop.lightwerkz.net/Complete-Morimoto-H1-Bixenon-Projector-Retrofit-Kit this is the exact kit i got (it comes with everything) the one thing you need to choose on it is the h7 (its the same plug as the h4 but you just have to re wire them in the right place for hi/low/ ground). The belt sander worked great actually, i started with 80 grit and worked my way down. i just got the belt wet and had a little water in the headlight and kept getting the dirty water out and putting it back in. the one hard part that i had was getting the cloudiness out. then i found out that the headlight resto kit i bought had super fine sand paper in it and did that then used a power drill to polish and clean. and they are as you see them. The hid kit doesn't come with sealer to glue them back so i used JB weld (the 4 min one) it can resist up to 300 degrees, just incase i encounter a problem i can always stick it in the oven and split it apart.