SubieDoobieDoo

Are these HID's replacing the factory halogen incandescent bulbs? You know ... installing a set of ballasts, connecting YOUR OEM wiring to it, installing HID modules in place of the regular bulbs ... yadda, yadda, yadda. If so, there is at least ONE serious anal-retent on this forum who thinks people like you have made the most horrendous mistake possible with YOUR car (after all, if these are P-n-P HID "upgrades", you have installed non-DOT approved lighting modules!) and that you should be locked up and the key thrown away. Rgds,

Biggest "mistake" I can recall making is reading your constant stream of "holier than thou" drivel. Or puke. Your call. If you'e gonna be such an arrogant *ss about EVERYTHING, you should be driving a Porsche or something. Or a cactus. But a cactus has the pricks on the outside. Rgds,

Is this website advertising? Is that type of advertising allowed here? THIS is an area where an after-market product fails to even EQUAL the OEM product, IMO. Despite the "ultra holier than thou" attitude of TSi+WRX on headlight bulb IMPROVEMENTS, let's talk about the most common application of gang LEDs: Tail lights / brake lights. These 'super-bright LEDs' - as an after-market plug-in - just don't work with a glowing bulb-specific lens. They ARE brighter then all be-jeez but I slapped a set into the wife-mobile (older Acura TL-S) and two things were horribly apparent. 1, LEDs are ultra-low resistance devices so my "bulb burned out" alert for the brake lights came on - and stayed on. So a resistor or whatever SuperBrightLED calls it - must be installed in EACH "light" circuit. Not a lot of room in there to do this, folks ... THEN, 2, they just weren't as bright as a standard incandescent bulb. Not even CLOSE! If there's one area where I want a LOT of light, it's ... BRAKE LIGHTS! I don't want Mr. Talking Into His Cell Phone behind me to mis-interpret my intentions. When his eyeballs are well-done, that means my brakes are being applied - nuclear-bright brake lights ON! - and if he rear-ends me or I'll sure his *ss into extinction! But that's not the case with these after-market mini LED modules to replace the 1156 / 1157 bulbs. They're just not very bright. I'm ALL for LED's. I'd dump every incandescent and fluorescent bulb in a heart-beat and switch to 100% LEDs - like - TODAY! - if I could. ULTRA-LOW power consumption, no heat produced to speak of, infinite array of colours possible and they last a jillion years. What's not to like? THIS - more than bumping the headlights from glowing filaments to an ignited gas bulb - is where the lens technology has to parallel the illumination source - again, IMO. Bright LED taillights and brake lights rely upon many, MANY LED's in a rather large array. A standard 1156 / 1157 bulb needs "lens technology" - sophisticated prism and refracting surgaces to work properly. These "bulb lenses" just don't spread the LED light enough - and there's not enough light there anyway to begin with. Followed an Infiniti G37 the other night and when he hit the brakes on THOSE multiple-grouping LEDs, they get your attention!!! Thought I was in a tanning booth! THEM'S real brake lights to me! But a simple plug-in of 5 or 7 mini LEDs in a housing - to replace an 1156 / 1157 bulb because that's all the space you have to work with? Don't do it! Rgds,

OK, so I'm a scofflaw. Shoot me! Given that I CAN'T change my reflector housings to projector-type, I'll admit that my "brighter is better" logic isn't the ideal approach. But ... it's my ONLY remedy. The superior design of the projector system gives better throw and - I can only assume - beam pattern and cut off. I don't know. I don't have those housings. Hey, if I could snap my fingers and make completely new, BETTER headlight housings appear on my doorstep, I'd do it. In a heart-beat! I'd love to see those PIAA Intense White bulbs (legal!) in higher-tech housings. Maybe I *WOULDN'T* feel the need for much more powerful p-n-p bulbs! Bringing the issue of different housing designs into the aurgument simply invalidates our discussions as far as reaching a point of possible agreement because I'll do whatever I darned well CAN to see better at night - I'd replace the whole front end of the vehicle if I was able to - but that's not a possibility, is it? No. I'm sorry I noted p-n-p bulbs / system as an aftermarket solution for the newer PROJECTOR-TYPE housings. Apparently they simply won't work. Or make the sort of difference *I* get with these wonderfully BRIGHT bulbs in older housings. I had a choice - yes, it's over-the-line "illegal" - and yes, it smacks of "it ain't wrong if you dpn't get caught!" thinking. Like I'm then only one on the road who has similar thought patterns .......... My car. My responsibility and liability - or not - to make it roadworthy and "legal" as far as headlighting. And I'm a bad, BAD man for tweaking the lighting above and beyond some Neanderthal limits. I "fess up". Happy? OK, I've broken a law. I'm a criminal. And the "victim" here is? .......... What? Some ink on a page in a dusty DOT book? Then again, I'm not in the headlight-bulb selling business so what do I know? Rgds,

Right. So noted. On *MY* Legacy GT, the beam pattern with the 50W “race-ready” p-n-p super-bright HID’s passes my State (North Carolina) inspection test with flying colours. Honest truth: I had the car State inspected just this morning and everything was 100 per-cent spot-on. And North Carolina regulations makes them a real stickler for things like headlight aiming and window tinting. So the pattern and "throw" varies “significantly” eh? Hmmmmm … I think I challenge that. Or not. Actually, I don’t care. My car passed inspection. Easily. PLUS - and this is a “biggie” in MY world: Oncoming drivers NEVER flash their high-beams at me. 2 main reasons: My lights are aimed as well as can be. And they’re NOT those garish off-colored “show car” headlights that draw the attention of every constable within 100 miles. A couple of weeks ago, I was returning from favourite sushi bar on a dark, just-rained evening and was “tripping the light fantastic” when I popped over a rise in the road on the way home - and out about 85-90 yards was a rather LARGE white-tailed buck deer standing in the middle of the road. With the MASSIVE amount of headlight power in front of me, it wasn’t even remotely close to a panic stop. In fact, it was a completely safe, controlled approach (from more speed than I should have been carrying) … to a complete non-event. Even without him turning his head towards me - CLEARLY showing his reflecting eyes - I saw his form and body color in OODLES of time to stop. Sir, YOU can talk theoretical beam patterns and “throw” all you want. I say that 1), passing State vehicle inspections with NO problems whatsoever 2), not offending oncoming traffic and 3), avoiding a potential accident by NOT hitting a large deer “at speed” - i'm inclined to go with the best lighting solution available - even "non-DOT approved". If it comes down to complying with some antiquated headlight regulation that was written in the driving days of my grandfather - or ME not plowing into an animal that can end up flipping over my bonnet (sorry, “HOOD”) and into my windscreen - with serious injury or death a real possibility ... PLUS no bent sheet metal … and no insurance claim? Man, I gotta go with the sheer headlight “fire-power“. Brighter wins every time when it's as dark as a coal mine on the roadway. I’ve never “almost hit an animal” whilst having my headlights checked. This is real-life, over-speed driving experience I fall back on vs. simply talking about a picture-perfect, text-book headlight beam and a static aiming test with a stationary vehicle - in a mechanic’s garage! I choose to save myself, my vehicle and also respect my fellow motorists. Rgds, For those unwilling to accept after-market HID's - or know that HID's aren't the best choice for a single-filament high beam because "dipping" or "flashing" HIDs on the high-beam circuit can damage the ballasts - the incredible PIAA "Intense White" bulbs top anything I've seen in a filament bulb. A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G! My wife's Acura high-beams are single filament (9005's) and the overall difference between the PIAA Intense White and a latest-version Sylvania Silver Star is simply jaw-dropping!

Forgive me: I don't recognise your car model. I respect Mr. Stern's expertise but I chose to 'one-up' even HIS esteemed information and add after-market HID's. My car takes the 9007's so the beautiful Apexcone Premium Race 55W solenoid-controlled MEGA-BRIGHT HID's in 5,000K temperature have made the darkest night look more like high noon ... Road signs beginning at 1/4 mile away look like pearls on a string ... = Rgds,

Be careful! Many state laws - as well as municipalities - prohibit any bulb color other than "white" for this important illumination. Typically, a colored bulb - even a blue bulb (simply because of the wavelength of blue light vs. white) isn't as bright. Therefore, many laws make it pretty clear that doing ANYTHING that makes reading the rear license plate harder - even a tinted license plate cover, for example - might get you stopped. Maybe ticketed. But - no question - it'll probably look cool! Rgds,

Be VERY careful "up-grading" any interior bulbs. Brighter means hotter and hotter causes wiring problems and - potentially - fires. Try to find some super-bright, multiple-element LED's (if space permits). You get the light increase and no heat to speak of. Besides, LEDs and ANY non-filiment bulbs are as close as you'll get to "going green". (Al Gore will be proud of you!) Rgds,

Just happened to spot TWO State Troopers at my fave waffle house having breakfast today. I've seen one around before (I live in a tiny village). I re-introduced myself and asked if I could pick up their check in return for some information. One has been at it long enough that he's coming up on retirement and he's handing off to the "kid" - who's only been working SHP (State Highway Patrol) 4 or 5 years. I asked about this "bright headlight" issue. "Never" was mentioned constantly. As in "I've NEVER pulled a driver over unless a headlight was out or horribly mis-aimed. Damage from an accident doesn't count as mis-aimed." I came right out and said I was going to install some non-DOT bulbs that were brighter than @#$%^&* sunshine! Neither raised an eyebrow except the older guy reminded me to make sure my headlights were aligned. I questioned the "legality" of these bulbs and he said as long as they're not an "offending" colour - like weird purple - I'd "never" have a problem - certainly not with the SHP. The old guy says the term "legal" - to him - meant that the bulbs may not necessarily pass some sort of durability tests the DOT requires. He mentioned several times that the precinct commander has NEVER mentioned "going after" anyone with headlight issues other than burned out, mis-sligned or - in extreme cases - "unnacceptable" colour. Even then, EVERY stop was merely a warning - only one or two actual citations. Ever. I said mine would be "pure white" - after-market HID retro-fits - just unbelievably bright - and both said ... "What the point of your question? Put 'em in but just make sure the lenses are aimed OK and you're good to go. If we're gonna start stopping people for headlights that offend oncoming traffic - including us - we'd start with every jacked-up pickup truck and sport-ute on the road." (The younger trooper said these sounded fantastic and even asked me for the website address so he could get a set for his older Shelby Mustang Cobra ..................) You anti-HID retofit, anti-brighter headlight people ... just keep arguing. You're wasting a lot of bandwidth for nothing. Rgds,

I'm saying - correctly, too, I feel based on my MANY conversations with fellow car nuts over DECADES - is that "bright headlights" alone most likely won't be your downfall with the police. Something else attracted them to "you" in the first first place; maybe the raspy muffler, chirping the tyres, dead-dark wondow tint or the general "tuner" car behaviour. OR ... GETTING STOPPED FOR NOT WEARING YOUR SEATBELT!!!!!!!!!!! The headlight issue - if it even comes to that being an "issue" - is just another excuse for them to bust your chops. Even then, how could they make such a charge or citation "stick"? Simple. They can't. Run back home and re-install your old bulbs and have the car inspected by your fave mechanic. (You DO have a fave mechanic, don't you????) Viola! Legality issue side-stepped in a flash! I repeat: Police have enough to do with checking speeds, window tints and keeping a functioning Breath-A-Lizer in their cars. They DO NOT have any sort of magical device to check "headlight brightness". Should Officer Friendly question your headlights, he'll most likely think it's an alignment issue. I have NEVER heard of a citation being issued for ANY sort of headlight issue other than a burned-out bulb. This is such a subjective call call for a cop to make! For every citation issued, that's a day they must come to court and be prepared to defend their actions. Speeding? A slam-dunk unless the speeder hires a lawyer. Window tint? Ditto. They either ARE too dark by the police "dark-o-meter" - or they arent. Burned-out headlight bulb? Well, DUH?!?!?! But simply looking at "bright" headlights and making the call that they're "too bright"? Never happen. Cops may not be rocket surgeons or brain scientists but they're smarter than to do THAT! Rgds, Now, lets get back on topic ................

Bull. It does too!!! In many areas, "sport compacts" are like that old saw about lawyers: 1 percent give the other 99 percent a bad name. Yes, you have a right to drive what you choose. If it's a typical "mod-car" that Officer Friendly and the police HQ have come to know as a those associated with "trouble-makers / cruisers", HE has a right to keep an eyeball peeled for you, too! "Tuner" cars are the modern-day Model T Ford - or the latter-day version of the '55-'56-'57 Chevy. The flag-bearer is, IMO, the venerable Honda Civic. The modern tuner equipment manufacturers have made a FORTUNE selling every sort of tack-on part imaginable to them! High on the list - and there are more "popular" cars, sure - is the Subaru Impreza WRX / WRX STi. Suffice to say, most police departments have a person - and behaviour - in mind when they see one. The more it's tricked out, the harder it is to escape scrutiny of John Law. Call it "profiling" or whatever else you care to. Cops take one look at a coffee-can muffler, hear the raspy sound, scout out the the wide tyres and the tinted windows ... and you're on their radar until you leave their jurisdiction - like it or not. Be dumb enough to have weird lighting and more the reason they'll have to pull you over - or simply keep an eye on you until you park it back at home. One or two idiots in their "tuner" Subes give the rest - even those just taking a quick ride to pick up Chinese carry-out - a bad name. Of course, the Sube - and the Mitsubishi AWD clone, the Lancer - are PRIME street-racers, too. Hey, a paint job is just "war paint": Do it (paint / decals / decorations) without jazzing the engine and suspension and you're just a lame, wanna-be poser. Other "sport compacts" suffer much of the same image - and it hurts those who have them as daily-drivers, too. Higher insurance rates, police scrutiny, higher theft rates .... yadda, yadda, yadda. You are what you eat? Yeah, and you're also what you drive. And so are your fellow "sports compact" owners judged by the irresponsible owners of a renegade few ... Rgds,

So? Like it's the first one you've EVER broken? Never been even 1 mph over the speed limit? Try a set of Apexcone 55W "premium race" P-n-P HID's. 10,000 lumens of rich, bright light that will last 3-5X longer than the BEST "halogen" bulbs. You'll see like an eagle! Rgds,

All good points, to be sure. *I* live in a State where "moonshining" is still a popular past-time - no pun intended - so I guess our law enforcement folks have better fights on their hands than Nazi-rousting people with brighter ideas. And headlights to boot. On the other hand, I've probably been *driving* longer than most of these fine forum participants are old. Counting the cars I've owned and trying to remember the odo readings when we parted company, I feel a legitimate 800,000 miles - yes, THAT many - have come between my butt and a car seat. Certainly, adding in many, MANY days in rental cars over that time, 800k is conservative. In my 44 years on the road - and having lived in two states that just *LOVE* their automobiles - and having driven in 49 of our 50 at one time or another - and more than two dozen international countries, too - and having been associated with NUMEROUS car clubs, I've come in contact with more "enthusiasts" than old dogs have fleas. Spent many an hour, too - in bars and what-not - talking about EVERYTHING automobile ... from how to make them go fast - - to faster still. Spoke long and often about every part of a car that adds to the fun of driving. Headlights, naturally, were a big topic. Not seeing where the Hell you're going takes all the fun out of night-driving, doesn't it? Especially if you're well over "the double-nickel" and more. ========= Damned near a half-century driving - one accident (not my fault) and one speeding ticket - 53 in a 50 zome in Wisconsin - in a 4-door diesel-powered Oldsmobile I borrowed from a friend - and still as excited about spirited driving as a kid on Christmas Eve ............. and I've *NEVER* heard a single person claiming they had "bright-headlight" problems with the law. Not a $%^&* one!!!!!!!! Bad headlight aiming, yes. "Driving lights" - real "burners", too - on at the same time as HI beams, yes. Headlight out, yes. But simply "too bright" headlights. No .............................. I'm not advocating anyone break the law. ANY law. I choose to because I choose to. But ... SEE THE LIGHT, folks! And the road ahead, too. AT NIGHT! Your headlights - these "plastic fantastics" - are as streamlined as a dolphin and about as bright as the law-makers who restricted them for illumination sometime before many of you were even born. Which is to say ... legislators AREN'T very bright .... and most automobile lighting laws were written long, LONG ago. This "don't install brighter light bulbs" - even those P-n-P HID's that are outside "the law" - is the same type of idiotic reasoning that says hand guns kill people. Got a 9mm Glock 17 - loaded - sitting on my night stand. Hasn't killed ANYONE. Yet. Rgds,

I'm gonna "go out on a limb" here and say that something approaching 100 percent of all drivers are *NEVER*, **EVER** going to get stopped for simply having "too bright" headlights. That's "NEV" as in "NEV". And "ER" as in "ER". And "EVER" as in ... not in your lifetime. Your risk of running afoul of "the law" is having goofy-coloured headlights - what idiot possibly thinks that his eyeball-melting 12,000K "purple" headlights don't automatically attract the attention of Mr. John Law - regardless of brightness? Having a headlight out - or one that's horribly mis-aimed - is more likely to get your "keister in a sling" than a pair that are way, WAY bright. And - - - THE GUARANTEED, SURE FIRE-WAY TO GET STOPPED: Having more than the number of lights allowed by most laws. I think the U.S. D.O.T. says only four - two headlights and two "auxillary" lights - ("fog" or "driving") - may be on at the same time. And I'm not sure, but I don't think either set of "auxillary" lamps can be on while the "HIGH" beams are illuminated. From what I read, a lot of people think that "illegal" headlight bulbs are a felony or something - that they're gonna get hanged if they ARE stopped. It's the D.O.T., people, not the I.R.S.! Chill out!!! However, stick to having a lick of sense in your brain: If you have "Thomas Edison" incandescent bulbs, get a set of 4,500K to 5,000K HID's - even those "landing-light-bright" 55W jobbers, MAKE SURE TO GET YOUR HEADLIGHTS AIMED CORRECTLY - and I'll bet more money than all of us have ever seen that you'll *NEVER* get stopped. NEVER!!!! Police carry radar to check your speed. Some even have a device to check the darkness of your window tinting. *NONE* carry a lumen-meter to check on "headlight brightness". If they did, they'd be stopping EVERYONE with factory-installed HID's and all newer BMW's for those goofy "chromatic colour-changing" projector lamps they use. "Too bright" ain't the problem, folks - even if it IS a shade illegal as far as some archaic law from the 1940's or something is written. It's poor headlight aiming and failing to "dip" your lights to "LOW" when approaching on-coming vehicles. Or having enough "auxillary" lights on at the same time that your car looks like a damned birthday cake. Be smart, be courteous ... and I'll wager that you can install darned near ANY brightness bulb you can find that will fit in your headlight housing. Rgds,

Pooh-pooh HID retrofits all you want to, folks. Sounds like a bunch of "sour grapes" to me. Or a serious state of denial that they don't work. Well, they DO. Maybe not perfectly but as long as I'm not killing my fellow drivers' eyes, this is a non-issue. I'm clearly not offending oncoming drivers by my superior lumen upgrade - or, as "TSi+WRX's" put it in his jibberish - I can *SEE* better than ever and that's a safety-enough reason to have installed "improper" devices in an OEM housing. Are they (mega-watt HID's) legal? Like I freakin' CARE!!!!!!! I'm not robbing a bank or anything so any "law" that tells me what I can - or cannot - put into MY own vehicle that doesn't affect the mileage or the engine emissions can pucker up and KISS MY #$%^&* A**!!!!!! Bash the real reason many of us are in search of better lighting for our faster cars: Poor engineering of the headlight itself - done for style and design rather than for performance. As soon as automotive designers veered away from the standard round headlights - either single or doubles - we were all in trouble anyway as far as night vision. My old 280Z - with 7-inch round Cibie "Bo-Bi" headlights - and ancient H4 bubls - was about a country-mile ahead of my current cars as far as headlight performance. These "fantastic plactic" lenses are pure crap - ALL of 'em! (Never seen a glass headlight "haze over" ...........) Rgds,

'99 Quick Silver 5 speed. Rgds,

OEM housings - call them what you like - and I simply got tired of dim, yellow headlight bulbs that had a nasty, all-too-frequent habit of burning out. So I simply swapped out the "halogen" bulbs for HID's. I guess they're "projector" housings stock because you can't see the headlight bulb. The light bounces off some sort of a "reflector cap" inside the lamp housing itself. Is this clear? No big changes ... just got tired of "regular" light bulbs ............ Rgds,

My Sube (a Legacy GT wagon) has a dual-filament 9007 bulb ... like almost everyone else. This particular HID from Apexcone has a solenoid that moves the entire light module back-and-forth - a very, VERY good "mimic" of a regular dual-filament bulb - - - which has a "forward" and a "rearward" element that comes on depending on whether you activate the "HI" or the "LO" circuit with the lighting lever. So I have the same lighting output - the same thing is used - whether I'm on "hi" or "lo". The difference is how this glowing HID "bulge" is shifted within the headlight housing. Is this clear? Cheapo "hi / lo" HID's have some sort of a "flipper thingie" that "twitches" the light element up-and-down - - - a real schlock way of trying to re-position the HID "hot-spot" to get a "hi / lo" shift. DO NOT BUY THESE! They are crappy knock-offs that will fail in one position or the other - leaving you in deep doo-doo! Or ... there are "hybrid" HID / "halogen" systems that have a mini-HID module ("lo") alongside a mini-halogen ("hi") element. These are the poorest excuse for lighting since candles were first used ....... because when the high element fails - and it will - EVEN FASTER THAN A REGULAR HALOGEN! - you're up a creek with a very, VERY expensive bulb replacement ahead of you! I looked long and hard at converting to HID's - just as "fishbone" has already noted with his accurate observations. I looked at every possible combination of HID technology ... and went with these Apexcone *TRUE* Hi / Lo units. Haven't regretted it a nano-second .............. Rgds,

"fishbone" makes some great points: You most certainly CAN argue - and you are exactly correct, too, in your statements - and I would normally agree ... except, I'm now addicted to actually seeing where the H#ll I'm going - at night - and in excess of the posted speed limit. My "Golden Rule": I wouldn't install anything I'm not prepared to face in return. Like head lights as bright as all get-out! Essentially, I *have* simply retro-fitted the stock projector housing - you can still see the little "reflector caps" in place - it's just that the light (output) is I-N-S-A-N-E-L-Y intense!!!! Oddly, the plastic lenses feel cooler to the touch than they did with stock "halogen" bulbs ... You have *NO* idea .......... It's even more than *I* was prepared for! I *swear* to the forum on my "noob" honour - under penalty of explusion by a moderator if there was any way to know I was lying - that I haven't been "flashed" (on low beams) by anyone - not even o-n-c-e-! Honest! Oncoming "glare"? Good question! I asked my wife to drive HER car - it has factory HID's - towards me in the oncoming lane of a dark, two-lane road near our house - just as if we were two strangers passing in the night. She said, "Yeah, they're certainly bright as H#ll but they didn't bother me - and I was sort of staring at them because I knew what you were trying to determine. GREAT colour - crystal-clear white!" My housings are cleaned quite often and aimed as perfectly as possibly by the technicians at my local repair shop. They used one of those fancy-schmancy aligning machines ... The "blanket" of light in front of my Sube is now .... well, it's surreal. It's like driving a completely different car. I had a rental (Pontiac G5) a few weeks ago in New Mexico and drove like a blind man at night because the lights were so p*ss-poor!!!! To anyone getting these eyeball-melters, get your lights re-aimed PERFECTLY ... or they'll be just that! I've passed State troopers in the oncoming lane since installing these 55W monsters and, obviously, no problems ... Rgds,

HIR's may be a fine buzz-word but they're still "glowing filament" incandescent bulbs. Any way you care to slice it, that's "Thomas Edison" technology in a hyper-space world. (Edison actually "invented" something that would glow with currrent passing thru it in ... 1879. The General Electric Company were the first to patent a method of making tungsten filaments for use in incandesent lightbulbs ... in 1906!!!) Sorry, folks ..... but I'm not gonna use late 19th century lighting "technology" in my 21st century vehicles!!!!! "Glowing wires" are fine if that's what "floats YOUR boat" - but I'll *still* take my UNBELIEVABLE 55W "Premium Race" Apexcone HID's and their mind-boggling 5000 lumens (EACH!!!) of pure, beautiful, 4,500K crystal-WHITE light - - - - over anything I've ever seen so far. Not the faintest tinge of blue and with the solenoid in-and-out capability of the illumination chamber, I still have full "9007" high-n-low operation. H#ll, I may put a pair of them (H3's) in my fog lights for good measure!!!! (After all, they DO come in a spectacular 3,000K "Ion Yellow" colour. That "merely" drops the lumens to 4,800. EACH!) Imagine .... 19,600 total lumens showing you the way down the road ............................ As "The Who" used to sing, "I can see for miles and miles and miles and ..... = I no longer switch on my headlights when the sun goes down - and hope for the best. Boys and girls, I BURN A #$%^&&^%$# HOLE INTO THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT AND BLAST THRU IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.therpmstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=336 Rgds, (And ........ they easily outlast EVERY incandescent bulb by a factor 4-6X - no worries! And they also won't dim with "age" like EVERY glowing-wire bulb will!!!!!!!)

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!!!!! 1, Having high beams on a road vehicle are a VERY important safety issue! 2, If your city, town, county, shire, state or nation require a "vehicle inspection" - normally done yearly to catch those with worn tyres, etc. - YOU WILL FAIL WITHOUT FUNCTONING HIGH BEAMS! Essentially, you might receive a "citation" - such as one gets for speeding - and in many areas, one must then prove to a magistrate or DOT (Department of Transportation) that the "repair" has been made. Where *I* live, this means the vehicle must be "made right" by a certified mechanic - who will install the exact same headlight bulb the owner should have (or an upgraded "bulb") - and certify this on the sale receipt that this has been done - ONE CANNOT DO IT BY THEMSELVES - THEN the owner must appear and present the paperwork, THEN get the vehicle re-inspected. Let's see .... USD $80.00 / hour (or any part thereof) to get the bulb re-installed, a day from work to appear at the government building ... and time and money to get the vehicle re-inspected. I can easily see 300-350 dollars going right down the drain!!!! OR ... simply install after-market HID bulbs and be done with it!!!!! You'll have MUCH better lighting and that lighting will outlast incandescent bulbs many times over. You can do the same with the fog / driving lights, too! PM me and I'll show you where the best deals are. FORGET replacing a burnt-out "glowing filament" bulb with another one!!! When there is *SUCH* a better option available (an HID upgrade), this is simply akin to throwing good money after bad. Rgds,

These PIAA "Ions" - they're quite "yeller", right? (Yellow to those outside of North Carolina!) If they WEREN'T, I'd buy them from you for what yoy paid. But let me do some more checking ... Rgds,

Whoa! My meaning of the word "retort" is "reply" - that's all. Dude, NO confrontations!!! I guess I should HAVE said "thanks for the "REPLY". Man, let's exchange IDEAS and OPINIONS! Nothing else!!! (I like the 'repartee'!) 1, I **LOVE** my Sube **SO** much I'm not willing to make ANY non-stock mods to it that a re-buyer could be affected by any of them - other than the killer 200W Blaupunkt FM / CD stereo I installed. 2. MY Sube has 9007 headlights and H3 fogs ... therefore I'm EXTREMELY limited about what I *CAN* do - - - - and what I'm *WILLING* to do. Example: I have people telling me to yank out *this* and replace it with *THAT* and I'm just not gonna do that if it means a buyer isn't getting an "as-stock" vehicle. It's a 1999 when I bought it; it's gonna be a 1999 when I sell it. 3. The head-lighting sucks! Period!!! For anyone with LESS than perfectly round headlights - both high and low - your factory housings are / were a design compromise for "looks" - - - and nothing else. That's where *I'M* stuck!!! Previous car was a 280Z and the lighting options (for the era) were a real treat compared to the crap Subaru felt obliged to force upon me with the current car. So be it ............ 4. The "Z-Car" had everything BUT decent lumens ... so if I could turn back the hands of time, I'd have my Cibie "Bo-Bi" lamp housings BUT with HID bulbs inside. I loved the razor-sharp cut-off of the Cibie's but the overall light output of the best-of-the-best H4 bulbs was pretty damned pathetic. I added "extra" Marchal driving lights: Worthless. Felt as if I was driving with a mask on. So "it" ( not being able to 'see' at night) was not COMPLETELY a matter of housing design but simply of LIGHT output! Those high-tech Euro H4's were about as bright as my dumbest cat. 4a. IMO, my unscientific opinion of the US D.O.T. standards for headlight output has to do with the ability of oncoming drivers to see YOU - not for YOU to actually see where the Hell YOU'RE going!!!! In addition, I maintain that a properly-designed housing - properly aimed - even with an INSANE amount of light output - is infinitely safer for EVERYONE - than a crappy housing with the crappiest of "stock" 55/65W "halogen" bulbs that blinds eveyone in the immediate vicinity. Yes, yes, I've read Mr. Stern's website to boredom and this is where we disagree - or so it seems. *I* say it's WAY past time we (the consumers) refuse to accept the crappy lighting designs forced upon us instead of DEMANDING properly-designed light fixtures and a sufficient amount of light output (lumens) so "we" can safely drive Interstate highway speeds without worry!!! If it takes *ME* installing over-powered bulbs to do this, I'll do it in a New York-second ............... I have spotlessly-clean headlights - I polish the lenses with plastic cleaner every week (to get rid of bugs and road grime) - also when I check my tyre pressures - and they are properly aimed. I have 5,200 lumen, 4,300K HID bulbs and they are I-N-S-A-N-E-L-Y bright!!!! I mean REAL frickin' BRIGHT!!!! (My wife joked that I must be blistering the boot (trunk) paint of cars ahead of me - at 100m!!!) Never had a single on-coming driver "flash" me - even with the fogs on - so it must not be the sheer brightness of the bulbs. Even with the crappy factory housings, I'm clearly NOT not offending anyone in the opposite lane. I rest my case ... Rgds,

Excellent retort! You're "on top of your game". I don't mind modifying a bulb; I don't want to modify the vehicle itself. Still, I was looking for something - I.M.O. - more in-line with the zotsy HID's the techno-mobiles on the road have. I not only wanted "the look", I also wanted the added lumens (true lighting increase and improved visibility.) That's why - after VERY careful consideration - I chose simple p-n-p ("plug-n-play") HID's. Took about 45 minutes to install them - WOW! They're just spectacularlly bright! - and I can finally see at night! - and I can also remove all the hardware and put the car back to 100% stock - in about 30 minutes - including re-installing some new 9007's for a new owner. Didn't have to drill any holes, make ANY modifications whatsoever ... but if anyone chooses to make the same change to after-market HID's: WARNING! "Y.M.M.V." Note: I've read Daniel Stern's website almost to memory. I agree with about 99-1/2 percent of everything he writes; he is truly a definitive word on automotive lighting. I'd never claim to know 1/10th of of 1 percent about automotive lighting that HE knows. In fact, he's forgotten more than I'll EVER "know". But I know what I see and I know what I like - - - and I know how to get to that. Just takes a few $$$s. Without modifications to the car or risk of wiring damage, I've tried every "halogen / xenon" incandescent (glowing filament) bulb ever made. And I've now rejected ALL of them for LOW beam lighting. Until something far, FAR superior to after-market, lifetime guarantee HID's such as Apexcone or NBO (Never Burn Out) suppliers come along, I'm "sold" on these beautiful, bright, white HID's. I've been driving for more than 44 years. Yes, my eyesight has aged with me. But I can FINALLY "see" to drive at night! For an old codger like ME, this benefits everyone around me, too! (As long as MY headlights don't blind THEM!) Everyone: Please ... AIM YOUR HEADLIGHTS - whatever the bulbs used - CORRECTLY!!!!! Rgds,

Wow! Lookin' G-O-O-D! Isn't the increased light output amazing? This is how headlights are SUPPOSED to work! Well, DUH?!?! They're SUPPOSED to light the road ahead of you! (My reason for going with the 4,300K instead of the 5,000K versions was for maximum light lumens ...) I'm not a "yellow fog light" fan but they certainly look good on YOUR beautiful GT sedan. I might have to look at changing .... Only negative comment? Ugh! Snow! = Rgds,