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

[jemoryl]

Just a thought: any chance that the bulbs are subject to excess vibration? Loose mounting, etc? The filaments in conventional bulbs don't like this.

[reuben]

Originally Posted by benb

If those have a pigtail with the wire on it instead of mounting the socket directly to the bulb they might actually be easier to install.

I'd be kind of tempted to try them too if my bulbs burned out.. but there are a lot of "what ifs" that enter my mind looking at the amazon page...

- how hot do they get, some LEDs generate a ton of heat, but halogens do too
- if they have a big heat sink or fan what are they dissipating that heat into
- if they have a fan how much does that change the current situation

The bulb has an attached coupling, which plugs into the pigtail. That's how mine are, anyway. YMMV.

Not sure about the heat factor, but it's not an issue with my vehicle. Maybe that's connected to the HID bulbs.

[merlinmurph]

@Louis: Year and model?

My wife has a '16 Outback, >100k miles, no issues, yet.
Just curious.

[Steve in SLO]

I have replaced my standard halogens with LEDs and they have worked beautifully. A few things to note:
Installation is usually pretty straightforward, but sometimes requires that the LED pigtail is installed inside the bucket, rather than externally to maintain the sealing of the bucket. This can be a pain if you have a small volume bucket.
Modern LED bulbs have a fan to cool them, since they do generate a good amount of heat.
Since LEDs run on much less wattage, they may throw a code in your car indicating that the headlight is out. Correction requires installation of an in-line resistor in some cases, and these resistors get really hot, so it’s best not to mount them on plastic bits.
6500K is a little on the blue side for me. I prefer 5–5500K. Pretty clean white light at this wavelength.

[tkbike]

2010 - 2012 Legacy/Outback headlight replacement warranty extended to 10 years.

I had a 2012 Outback and replaced 8 bulbs in 200,000 miles, all under warranty, all burned out.

[many_styles]

Originally Posted by Steve in SLO

I have replaced my standard halogens with LEDs and they have worked beautifully. A few things to note:
Installation is usually pretty straightforward, but sometimes requires that the LED pigtail is installed inside the bucket, rather than externally to maintain the sealing of the bucket. This can be a pain if you have a small volume bucket.
Modern LED bulbs have a fan to cool them, since they do generate a good amount of heat.
Since LEDs run on much less wattage, they may throw a code in your car indicating that the headlight is out. Correction requires installation of an in-line resistor in some cases, and these resistors get really hot, so it’s best not to mount them on plastic bits.
6500K is a little on the blue side for me. I prefer 5–5500K. Pretty clean white light at this wavelength.

Just make sure the light cut off is sharp and they’re aimed properly.

I’m not up to do date on LED bulb design / tech, but in the past, simply replacing halogen bulb with LED could shine into oncoming drivers eyes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[reuben]

Originally Posted by many_styles

I’m not up to do date on LED bulb design / tech, but in the past, simply replacing halogen bulb with LED could shine into oncoming drivers eyes.

Yeah, I think you needed to add a "projector" or something like that, otherwise people will hate you. I didn't have to do that with mine, however, but I can't remember why.

A lot depends on the make/model/year, as well as what sort of light is OEM and what sort of light you're trying to go to. YMMV all over the place.

[FriarQuade]

I was having a similar issue with my tundra, although I'd get a year to 18 months out of bulbs. My solution was to buy a newer truck!

[Steve in SLO]

Originally Posted by many_styles

Just make sure the light cut off is sharp and they’re aimed properly.

I’m not up to do date on LED bulb design / tech, but in the past, simply replacing halogen bulb with LED could shine into oncoming drivers eyes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I forgot to put that in my original post, but yes, I chose lights from Amazon that specifically stated that they wouldn’t blind oncoming drivers, and had feedback from users that backed that up. I am running them both in my Land Cruiser, with lights about 3 1/2 feet off the ground, and my Tesla Roadster, with lights about 18 inches off the ground. Both are working very well in that regard.

[Louis]

To answer one of the questions that's come up - the car's a 2014 Impreza.

I've been replacing the lights with Sylvania halogens. The H11 I just put in comes advertised as having a 270 hr life. I typically drive about 10.5 hrs / week. 270 / 10.5 = 25.7 weeks = 5.9 months

This is what they look like:

Push and twist to remove or install, pigtail connects on the side plug, so it sticks out at 90* to the longitudinal axis of the bulb.

[witcombusa]

I feel your pain. I have a '10 WRX and went through at least 3 pair of high beam bulbs in the first few years. Yes, the DRL's from this vintage lit the high beams at a lowered wattage. That was enough so I disabled the DRLs (which I don't like anyway) and simply turn on my lights when I want them on now.

Since then I now have high beams at night on dark country roads when I need them! Don't think I've changed one now in six plus years.

[Louis]

Clarification:

I'm going to have to check to see which bulb is used for the daytime running lights. For some reason I thought it was the low beam, but that may be wrong. The calculation above applies to the DRLs. It's almost always dark on my way home, so I would think that my non-DRL bulbs will see around half the use of the DRLs.

I do know that the low beam uses an H11 bulb, and the high beam uses a 9005. The one I just replaced was the low beam. It just so happens that I had a high beam at my desk at work, because that's the one I changed before the most recent failure.

Maybe I should start keeping a log of all this stuff...

[dustyrider]

I don’t know if it’s true, but I was always told to buy and replace both bulbs at the same time. After nearly 2 decades of Subaru ownership and 2 decades of ford ownership, I can honestly recall the number of times I’ve change a light because it stopped working. Maybe poke around in a subie forum…good luck!

[witcombusa]

Originally Posted by dustyrider

I don’t know if it’s true, but I was always told to buy and replace both bulbs at the same time. After nearly 2 decades of Subaru ownership and 2 decades of ford ownership, I can honestly recall the number of times I’ve change a light because it stopped working. Maybe poke around in a subie forum…good luck!

Yes, you should replace them in pairs. Since both have the same number of hours on them and one just failed. The other wouldn't be far behind.

[likebikes]

are silverstars/ultras really that good?

last time i bought bulbs they were: PHILIPS X-treme Vision H4 9003

i seem to remember doing a bunch of research and picking those over the silverstars for some reason.