OT: I'm sick and tired of replacing headlights on my Subie

[ripvanrando]

I don't know anything about Subarus but HID bulbs last at least 10x longer as standard halogen bulbs. There are companies online that specialize in complete kits to retrofit your lighting to HID. I used theretrofitsource when I upgraded the lousy lights in my 100 series Land Cruiser. It was easy to do. One of the ballasts failed, probably my fault for taking the snorkel swimming. They replaced it free.



https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bu...Subaru+Outback

[martl]

Originally Posted by CNY rider

Yeah that’s an odd problem.
There has been at least one Subaru parked in our driveway for the last 25 years.
At times we have had two.
We have never replaced a headlight.

My old 99 SF 2.0 turbo Fozzie ate brake pads, disks and wheel bearings. My current 2018 Fozzie needed nothing outside the regular service intervals yet on its first 100k km.
Neither needed a lightbulb, ever. (I had to replace like, all of them, in short order on a VW I had before, within 2 years though)

[YoKev]

My 2013 Outback went through at least two low beams (maybe 3) in my two'ish years of ownership.

Truly and literally a pain to change.

[Louis]

Update:

As I pulled out of my garage Saturday night I noticed that the low-beam on the other side was dead. So about three weeks after the other one went. (at least it wasn't the one that I just replaced on the left side)

To get to the right side you have remove the duct that takes intake air from the front of the car to the air filter box, but I don't think that will be a big deal. Just something else that needs to be done asap.

I think when I have some more time next year I'm going to follow up on this issue and see what I can find. I'm sure there's stuff on Subie forums, but wading through that can be a hassle. Maybe the guys at the dealership have ideas.

[AngryScientist]

Louis -

Just to add some content, when i bought my Chevy i was totally underwhelmed by the headlight performance, weak amberish light and dug around on the Chevy forums for a while and settled on a set of SEALIGHT H11 LEDs.

Night and Day (hehe) difference. Running them for about a year and they are really, really excellent.

https://www.amazon.com/Headlight-Bul...dDbGljaz10cnVl

[Louis]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Louis -

Just to add some content, when i bought my Chevy i was totally underwhelmed by the headlight performance, weak amberish light and dug around on the Chevy forums for a while and settled on a set of SEALIGHT H11 LEDs.

Night and Day (hehe) difference. Running them for about a year and they are really, really excellent.

That looks very promising.

And not too bright? (i.e. do oncoming cars flash their lights?)

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Louis

That looks very promising.

And not too bright? (i.e. do oncoming cars flash their lights?)

no, they retain the factory height cutoff as far as i can tell. i've been running them for a year and havent had any oncoming traffic flash me, and you can tell when driving, i dont see my headlights reflecting off rearview mirrors etc.

[ScottW]

I have an 05 Legacy GT that's my DD with 267,000 miles and climbing. Most of the Subaru forum consensus knowledge and approaches have been covered in this thread already, but here's my take on it.

1. H7 bulbs are crap in general, but if you wanted to keep using H7 halogens the only good ones that last(ed) a long time were the Osram Rallye 65W Superbrights (pretty sure that was the name). They were a beefier H9 style element on a H7 base and were drop-in fit. I went through 3 sets of these and got 2-2.5 years out of each set with ~23K miles driven per year. Problem is, these bulbs are no longer made and if you can find a legit set they won't be cheap.

2. Longevity of any halogen (Osrams or otherwise) will be greatly improved by pulling the DRL module. One multi-wire connector up under the driver's side footwell area. Some people don't like to do this but I personally DGAF.

3. Install LED bulbs like Hikaris or whatever the current favorite brand is, in standard H7 fit. I did not have to modify the housings at all. The stock projectors maintain a well defined cutoff to keep the light on the road, and I have never gotten flashed by oncoming traffic. I went this route after burning through my stash of Osram Rallyes, and the LEDs give a more modern look... whiter and brighter. No complaints with them yet but I only have ~10K miles on them so far.

[C40_guy]

I have a 2015 **** built in Leipzig with OEM LED headlamps.

They don't suck.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by ScottW

1. H7 bulbs are crap in general, but if you wanted to keep using H7 halogens the only good ones that last(ed) a long time were the Osram Rallye 65W Superbrights (pretty sure that was the name).

I just recently discovered the Osram "Long Life" halogens, and if I don't go LED, I'll probably go with Osram. They're certainly a bargain compared to LED, and according to what I've found will last about twice as long as the halogens I've been using. (but obviously not anywhere close to as long as LEDs)

[Polyglot]

Virtually all aftermarket LED and HID kits for systems originally made for halogen bulbs are illegal and of exceptionally questionable use. They also tend to lead to very quick deterioration of other car systems too because they use different currents, at times overloading circuits or overheating other components of the car. I recently exchanged a few emails with Daniel Stern who is interviewed in the blog found here: https://www.oildepot.ca/automotive-h...-daniel-stern/

Before spending your hard-earned money read this blog thoroughly. If a headlight upgrade is available when purchasing a new car, it is quite possibly worthwhile but once the type of headlights is set, you can't really do much to improve things apart from getting your headlights properly aimed and replacing headlights before they wear out. My experience says that HID headlights are the best and last the longest, followed by LED, Halogen and then the old style sealed beams which were never great.

I used to run higher wattage bulbs with a resistor on one of my old cars and they did initially work better but I then started having very quick deterioration of the lenses. Within a short time I regretted have put the higher wattage bulbs in.

[ripvanrando]

I retrofitted my 2003 Land Cruiser with HID lights 5+ years ago and the lighting is vastly improved and I have not burned out a bulb yet. It took me about an hour to install and for a couple hundred bucks, a no brainer. The retrofit source has subaru kits.