better low beams?

[adwolf1]

Me and my 1996 Legacy recently moved to Vermont. It is very, very dark here at night -- apparently street lights have not made it to this part of the world yet. If the moon isn't out, it's pitch black, even on the interstate.

 

Just curious about replacement headlight bulbs, as the stock low beams in this car are horrid. (Surprisingly, though, the high beams work great..)

 

Any ideas about what I can just drop in, without violating and laws or melting a wiring harness?

 

I keep seeing ads for those sylvania bright white bulbs, but i'm not sure if they are just hype.

 

thanks!

[mwatt]

Me and my 1996 Legacy recently moved to Vermont. It is very, very dark here at night -- apparently street lights have not made it to this part of the world yet. If the moon isn't out, it's pitch black, even on the interstate.

 

Just curious about replacement headlight bulbs, as the stock low beams in this car are horrid. (Surprisingly, though, the high beams work great..)

 

Any ideas about what I can just drop in, without violating and laws or melting a wiring harness?

 

I keep seeing ads for those sylvania bright white bulbs, but i'm not sure if they are just hype.

 

thanks!

 

You might be referring to Sylvania SilverStar bulbs. I installed them in our '98 Outback and '99 Legacy GT. My wife and I feel that the SilverStar bulbs vastly improve night vision because they are substantially brighter than standard bulbs. This was important to us because we live in a more rural area with poorly-lighted 2 lane roads. The only downside to the SilverStar bulbs is that they're expensive and they don't last as long as "conventional" bulbs. Our safety is more important to us, however, so we don't mind the expense or more frequent replacement intervals.

[outback_97]

I would second the recommendation for Sylvania's, either the SilverStars or XtraVision, which don't have the slight blue tint of the SilverStars. The XtraVision are cheaper too, and just as bright, but they don't look as "bright" because they are yellower.

 

 

I would also suggest carrying a set of spares, for when they burn out in less than a year, within five minutes of each other. At least that was my experience. Thanks SOA for foglights, that's what I had to use to get home.

 

Steve

[edrach]

I'm not sure what the wattage rating on of the Sylvania bulbs is, but normally more light means more current. I installed a wiring harness/relay set on my Legacy and Impreza and use 55W/100W lamps for a significant improvement. Here's a copy of an old thread I posted a while back:

 

I would recommend Competition Limited. They carry a complete line of headlamp harnesses and selection of bulbs for them. I don't have a website, but ask for Gene Henderson; he's been in this business a long time and knows his products well. I took a look on the website and couldn't find the non-HID headlight harnesses and I called and asked and he said he still carries them. He needs to know make, year, and model of car as well as bulb type. Give him a call if you can't find the info either.

 

 

Competition Limited

2243 Sosna Drive, Pinckney MI 48169

(734) 878-5553

www.hioutputbulbs.com

Sadly, Gene died a year ago, but the new owner is still supplying harnesses and bulbs. I'm not sure that the 'phone number goes to the new owner or not, but the link certainly does. Use the link since the address and 'phone # above is no longer current.

[nipper]

Stick with a name brand bulb, and not one of those hyped after market fake HID bulbs. The fake ones wash ouy in the rain, and are worse then OE. nipper

[PopsicleMud]

I'll just add my vote for SilverStars.

[RallyKeith]

I would also recommend the Silver Stars. They are a much nicer color and do seem to put more light out. I also have a friend that put them in a nissan pick-up and loved them.

 

 

I would also suggest carrying a set of spares, for when they burn out in less than a year, within five minutes of each other. At least that was my experience. Thanks SOA for foglights, that's what I had to use to get home.

 

Steve

 

Really... I've had mine for a year now with no failures.

 

Keith

[outback_97]

Both my XtraVisions burned out in 10 months or so, and within a few minutes of each other (I still had hi beams but no low).

 

One of my SilverStars lasted a year IIRC and the other one from that pair is still going after almost two years. So yeah, your mileage may vary. I do run them during the day but I don't drive that many miles per year (12K at most).

 

Yes, I put them in w/o touching the glass.

 

Steve

[jamal]

silverstars are crap because they're tinted and overdriven to produce the proper light output. They just look brighter, but don't help you see any better than, say, a new set of Xtravisions (my recommendation). Because of that they won't last as long, plus they're way overpriced. A source.

 

You might also want to check out relays for your lights, which allow you to run a shorter circuit with bigger wires, which creates less of a voltage drop than the stock lights loop going all the way back to the steering column. danielsternlighting has a guide which explains this, although I'm not sure if his diagrams will work properly on our cars. You should also make sure they're aimed properly.

 

Relays and xtravisions are on my list of things to do. I haven't looked into the details really closely yet, but it seems like there are relays in the fuse box for the lights. I'm thinking it would probably be possible to replace them and run better relays with bigger wires.

 

Until then I just bought a set of huge bright driving lights:

 

[Ranger83]

WalMart has Sylvania XtraVisions in a two pack. Forget the price, it's low. I put them in all our cars for the Winter - noticably brighter low beams.

 

Or, as mentioned you can spend about twice as much for the "Fake HID" look of the Silverstars. Then buy a big fat muffler tip for more horsepower.....

[B99Brighton]

Try the napa true views, i loved them in my 99 brighton. I was very happy with them from a cost/performance combo. Good solid whiter light with out the drawback of blue or hid looking lights. Also you may try to polish your lenses, they might be scratched and pitted. this causes the light to be refracted in all directions instead of at the road. Meguires makes a great cleaner and polish to clean them up. use a low speed buffer to clean them up. but be careful not to burn the lens when you use a buffer.

 

Me and my 1996 Legacy recently moved to Vermont. It is very, very dark here at night -- apparently street lights have not made it to this part of the world yet. If the moon isn't out, it's pitch black, even on the interstate.

 

Just curious about replacement headlight bulbs, as the stock low beams in this car are horrid. (Surprisingly, though, the high beams work great..)

 

Any ideas about what I can just drop in, without violating and laws or melting a wiring harness?

 

I keep seeing ads for those sylvania bright white bulbs, but i'm not sure if they are just hype.

 

thanks!

[jamal]

Also you may try to polish your lenses, they might be scratched and pitted. this causes the light to be refracted in all directions instead of at the road. Meguires makes a great cleaner and polish to clean them up. use a low speed buffer to clean them up. but be careful not to burn the lens when you use a buffer.

 

I did that whole deal where you wet sand and clearcoat lights. It made a noticable difference, but I'm not happy about how the clearcoat went on in a few small spots.

[95 super subbie]

Me and my 1996 Legacy recently moved to Vermont. It is very, very dark here at night -- apparently street lights have not made it to this part of the world yet. If the moon isn't out, it's pitch black, even on the interstate.

 

Just curious about replacement headlight bulbs, as the stock low beams in this car are horrid. (Surprisingly, though, the high beams work great..)

 

 

 

my 95 legacy is the same way lowbeam stinks high beam great i would do something esle besides buying new bulbs i went to walmart and bought a set of driving lights not fog light for about 21.00$ they are about 4' around i mounted them were the optional fog lights go ,cut the covers out and mounted them they work excellent if propery adjusted and make the car look sporter!

[bfg9k]

Go to http://www.danielsternlighting.com

 

I have just replaced my '98 headlights with ones from a 95 and a 96. You're in luck, your car will take the H4 bulbs and the headlights are better than the 98-99 model years.

 

I have on order from Daniel Stern a pair of ultra-bright H4 bulbs and a relay kit to deliver full power to them.

[itzik93]

You can always try to FLUSH the reflectors (inside flush)

 

Look at the pictures (they perfectly shows the diffrence between "before" and "after").

 

Itzik

[bfg9k]

You can always try to FLUSH the reflectors (inside flush)

 

Look at the pictures (they perfectly shows the diffrence between "before" and "after").

 

Itzik

 

What was your procedure? Did you rinse them out with alcohol or toluene or something?

[itzik93]

What was your procedure? Did you rinse them out with alcohol or toluene or something?

 

I disassembled both units (left and right) and flushed them this way:

Pour some water and alittle bit soap OR bleach (whitening) liquid, shake the mixture inside the unit and then pour the mixture out. after that flush again the unit few times only with water, until the mixture that pour's out is clean as water, without soap or any other liquid you've used.

I've done it many times with 100% success. I used bleach/whitening liquid all the time.

 

After the flush i used hair drier to dry the units (inside) and also put the units infront of the sun-light for about an hour or two (the hair drier is not enough, after u'll put the units in front of the sun-light you will see that there is still humidity inside, but it will dry out very fast because the units are open from the back side because the bulb's are disassembled).

 

Only after the units are perfectly dry, install the units on the car and attach the bulb's.

 

If you'll not perfectly dry the units inside, after installing the bulb's there will be sign's of humidity inside (not good...) and its very hard to dry out that kind of humidity while the unit is almost 100% sealed.

 

Itzik

[Slegacy96]

Or, as mentioned you can spend about twice as much for the "Fake HID" look of the Silverstars. Then buy a big fat muffler tip for more horsepower.....

 

Has anyone converted their headlights to HIDs? Id look to, but I cant figure out how to get past the fact that I dont have seperate high beams. Kinda sucks.

[Commuter]

Has anyone converted their headlights to HIDs? Id look to, but I cant figure out how to get past the fact that I dont have seperate high beams. Kinda sucks.

I know there was someone on here a few years ago that did this with a late 90's Legacy or Outback. They just didn't bother with the high beams at all. With the HID, virtually unnecessary. I recall seeing some bulbs that piggybacked a standard Halogen high beam onto the HID bulb, but I have no idea how good they were.

 

Aren't the HID retrofit kits off the market? I thought that some regulations changed a while ago that prevented them being sold anymore. ??

 

Commuter

[bfg9k]

I know there was someone on here a few years ago that did this with a late 90's Legacy or Outback. They just didn't bother with the high beams at all. With the HID, virtually unnecessary. I recall seeing some bulbs that piggybacked a standard Halogen high beam onto the HID bulb, but I have no idea how good they were.

 

Aren't the HID retrofit kits off the market? I thought that some regulations changed a while ago that prevented them being sold anymore. ??

 

Commuter

 

All About HIDs:

http://danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

 

Can I convert my halogen headlamps to HID?

 

So you've read about HID headlamps and have it in mind to convert your car. A few mouse clicks on the web, and you've found a couple of outfits offering to sell you a "conversion" that will fit any car with a given type of halogen bulb, for between $900 and $1300. STOP! Put away that credit card. Trying to "convert" halogen headlamps to HID is an unsafe thing to do. There are *NO* legitimate or safe HID retrofits for the headlamps of any car which didn't have HID lamps as a factory option.

 

If you have the 95-97 headlights, there are much brighter H4 bulbs are available. If you have the 98-99 Legacy lights, you can retrofit the older lights.

[Slegacy96]

I know there was someone on here a few years ago that did this with a late 90's Legacy or Outback. They just didn't bother with the high beams at all. With the HID, virtually unnecessary. I recall seeing some bulbs that piggybacked a standard Halogen high beam onto the HID bulb, but I have no idea how good they were.

 

Aren't the HID retrofit kits off the market? I thought that some regulations changed a while ago that prevented them being sold anymore. ??

 

Commuter

 

True, the high beams arent neccessary. However, the car cant pass inspection (at least in PA) without having the high beams.

[RallyKeith]

 

I would also suggest carrying a set of spares, for when they burn out in less than a year, within five minutes of each other. At least that was my experience. Thanks SOA for foglights, that's what I had to use to get home.

 

Steve

 

Ok, I'm back to this thread and hear to report that Steve was dead on the money. BOTH of my Silverstar bulbs went out on me today. The first one in the morning, and the second one tonight. I was left in a bind because One went out on the way to work, the other when I started my car tonight to go home. I guess there is no reason they shouldn't last about the same amount of time, but I was suprised that they were so close. I only had them in for about a year. So, at this point I'm going back to cheap bulbs and installing a set of Hella FF50 Fog lights from http://www.rallylights.com I feel that will give me not only more light, but a better coverage of light than just the Silverstar bulbs.

 

Keith

[Slegacy96]

Ok, I'm back to this thread and hear to report that Steve was dead on the money. BOTH of my Silverstar bulbs went out on me today. The first one in the morning, and the second one tonight. I was left in a bind because One went out on the way to work, the other when I started my car tonight to go home. I guess there is no reason they shouldn't last about the same amount of time, but I was suprised that they were so close. I only had them in for about a year. So, at this point I'm going back to cheap bulbs and installing a set of Hella FF50 Fog lights from www.rallylights.com I feel that will give me not only more light, but a better coverage of light than just the Silverstar bulbs.

 

Keith

 

Wow, I'm surprised. My first burnt out at 10 months and the second at 16.

[outback_97]

... BOTH of my Silverstar bulbs went out on me today. The first one in the morning, and the second one tonight... So, at this point I'm going back to cheap bulbs and installing a set of Hella FF50 Fog lights from www.rallylights.com I feel that will give me not only more light, but a better coverage of light than just the Silverstar bulbs.

 

Keith

 

Keith: Sorry that happened to you too, it's not fun losing headlights. Fortunately for me I was relatively close to home, in town. Did you still have high beams?

 

IMO fog lights have only been helpful to me in low speed, poor visibility conditions, or where you want a wider pattern. They don't project even as far as the low beams, in the case of my stock OB fog lights and also the Hella 500 fogs on our Impreza. OTOH the FF50 are probably an improvement over the 500's. Just my $.02.

 

Steve

[RallyKeith]

Keith: Sorry that happened to you too, it's not fun losing headlights. Fortunately for me I was relatively close to home, in town. Did you still have high beams?

 

IMO fog lights have only been helpful to me in low speed, poor visibility conditions, or where you want a wider pattern. They don't project even as far as the low beams, in the case of my stock OB fog lights and also the Hella 500 fogs on our Impreza. OTOH the FF50 are probably an improvement over the 500's. Just my $.02.

 

Steve

 

Yeah, I still had high beams. Luckily there is an independant autoparts store 1 mile away from where I work and the guy hadn't left yet. I was able to get regular replacements and drive home.

 

As for the fog lights and what not, Pattern and width are my biggest concern, not how far out they go. I drive almost completely on back roads with lots of pesky deer. I like being able to see more on the sides than typical headlights project.