badtiming Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Wow 40?! Good for you man I dropped 70 on them. I love how they look though! I'm trying to figure out how I'm getting my dust caps back on as well. Keep me posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krot84 Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Dispatch20 after your review i think best will be to use the these leds as fogs or drls at most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackal8788 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I just installed these today in my low (H7) and high (9005) beams. My initial impressions were not so good, but after driving with them at night, they're absolutely fantastic! I guess the problem with them during daytime is that because the color temp is 5000K (daylight), the were completely washed out by the sun. At night, especially with the high beams, nighttime becomes daytime. I paid $83 for each of my sets. I assume the factory dust covers need to be modified in order to accommodate the fan at the back of the bulbs? VF54 to 20G to VF54 to 18G build thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dispatch20 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Might run into issues with cooling Wow 40?! Good for you man I dropped 70 on them. I love how they look though! I'm trying to figure out how I'm getting my dust caps back on as well. Keep me posted. Dispatch20 after your review i think best will be to use the these leds as fogs or drls at most. A high power halogen puts out 55W of heat in the bulb area. These LED bulbs put out 20W max in the backside area. So the question on whether ice and snow will buildup over the headlight during freezing temperatures is definitely a good one. This is a big deal in upstate NY. Will these build up too much heat in the backside area if the plastic cover is put on? Possibly! I'll experiment a little bit with these to try and find out. I couldn't think of a non-hack way to solve the interference with the headlights low-beam water cover, so I just used a hacksaw on the cap and metal ducting tape. The caps are really cheap, so I don't mind sacrificing them. This hack won't be fully waterproof, but is better than keeping it open. In the mean-time, I'll try to find a better way to cover the bulbs, and possibly find a way to let that area cool easier. For the 4th Gen, I'd probably recommend avoiding the LED low beams for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badtiming Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 The ice and snow in the coming months is my only concern. I guess time will tell though. I can always go HID if I have to in just thought I'd try something different with these LED bulbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 The only reason I mentioned heating issue is because I've seen other kits with fans on them. I would definitely prefer a kit that has heatsinks, less of a chance to have a failure go unnoticed and the light to cook and burn out. Keep us posted, LEDs is something that's still on the table for me. I had a HID kit and did not like the light spread/pattern produced in the halogen projectors, so I went back to halogens (OSRAM Rallyes). How is the light spread? Have you considered maybe hacking the OEM plastic caps? Maybe you can just cut them on the back, somehow insulate the space between the cap and the bulb and leave the heatsink sticking out. That way you'll have ventilation, although given the engine bay temps, something to test and keep an eye on to see how it performs. The other thing is that they are cheap to get from the dealer and it gives you a good head start, rather than being stuck with trying to figure out a cover from scratch (diameter, etc etc). LE: nevermind, somehow I had missed your pic above Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbtech Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Soooo what happens when it snows and there's ice on the headlamp? Even my halogens don't melt the snow. The bumper protrudes so much that the snow builds up on it. Perhaps if we had JDM/EDM bumpers there'd be less of a ledge for the snow to accumulate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badtiming Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 The only reason I mentioned heating issue is because I've seen other kits with fans on them. I would definitely prefer a kit that has heatsinks, less of a chance to have a failure go unnoticed and the light to cook and burn out. Keep us posted, LEDs is something that's still on the table for me. I had a HID kit and did not like the light spread/pattern produced in the halogen projectors, so I went back to halogens (OSRAM Rallyes). How is the light spread? Have you considered maybe hacking the OEM plastic caps? Maybe you can just cut them on the back, somehow insulate the space between the cap and the bulb and leave the heatsink sticking out. That way you'll have ventilation, although given the engine bay temps, something to test and keep an eye on to see how it performs. The other thing is that they are cheap to get from the dealer and it gives you a good head start, rather than being stuck with trying to figure out a cover from scratch (diameter, etc etc). LE: nevermind, somehow I had missed your pic above I ended up drilling holes into my caps and covering the excess opening with electrical tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenva Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Here is how you can waterproof the back. I had to do this with an HID retrofit. It's about 3/4 down the thread. http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/bi-xenon-fx-r-3-0-projector-retrofit-96-subaru-212705.html?t=212705&highlight=xenon RIP 96 Legacy 2.2 4EAT lost reverse @ 374,000 miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zor Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 I just installed these Thursday in my 05 legacy. I then took a trip from long island to Cooperstown, Having owned an 08 STi I was spolied with factory HIDs. So I thought I'd give this a try. My first impression was that they didn't have the distance of light out put as HIDs do, this was do to street light wash out. When I finallt got up to Cooperstown the only street lights where in the town. So every road was pitch black. This is where these bulbs truly changed my opinion. The low beam Cree LED had light out put near or at HIDs and had a great light spread on the road (I was able to see two deer on the of road before they jumped acrossed the road, this was also just after the girlfriend said she hasn't seen any deer yet. Damn you woman). With the Cree Hi-beams being used as well you could see as far as normal halogen bulbs but the difference in light out put makes stock hi-beams look like a flickering candle. Over all I like them. They give the light out put close to HIDs with out all the annoying problems with the kits. I will be pulling my headlights and fogs this week better install these, I was unable to install the fogs yet. You do have to modify the covers on both the low beam and fog lights to fit these bulbs. I'm going to see how I give the fans on the back of these some room to circulate air around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Have you had HID kits in the Legacy halogen headlights? Do you feel that, comparatively, the LED kits work better? Any data out there as to what light pattern LEDs put out compared to halogens? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zor Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Have you had HID kits in the Legacy halogen headlights? Do you feel that, comparatively, the LED kits work better? Any data out there as to what light pattern LEDs put out compared to halogens? I had HIDs in my old old GC halogen headlights, they were all over the place. My old roommate had HIDs in his 05 Legacy. they were a bitch to wire up and had ballast failures once a year, these were simple plug and play with a little modification needed for the caps to fit the heatsink and fan (Took less than 5 minutes with a dremel). Comparatively they are about the same in light output between HIDs and LEDs. From what I can see the light pattern from LEDs is about the same as the halogens with a little glare on top. I'd have to wait till dark and swap out one for a halogen bulb and take pictures to show the difference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 I had a HID kit in my Legacy and took it out after a week. The light spread bothered me, back then I would sometimes drive on pitch black roads and the glare right in front of the car was distracting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zor Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 I had a HID kit in my Legacy and took it out after a week. The light spread bothered me, back then I would sometimes drive on pitch black roads and the glare right in front of the car was distracting. I haven't noticed glare right in front of the car, tho they do light the road up very well with the fogs being used right infront Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dispatch20 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Any data out there as to what light pattern LEDs put out compared to halogens? I was pretty disappointed with the light pattern of the CREE LED low-beams compared to the regular halogens. I should have taken a picture of both. The LEDs have this strange light off-shoot towards the driver side near the corner of the car. It reminds me of when the halogen H7's weren't seated properly in the base. The total road illumination feels less than the GE Nighthawk Platinums I've used before, but without a thorough back-to-back comparison it's hard to be sure. With all that said, I have no intention of removing the LED bulbs. They work well enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dispatch20 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I lied. The LEDs were so poor I had to swap them. I picked up some 65W Osram bulbs for $16. They are far superior. Lesson learned: the optics in a halogen projector work poorly for an LED bulb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbtech Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Lesson learned: the optics in a halogen projector work poorly for an LED bulb. The optics suck for HIDs too. Halogen projectors are designed for halogen bulbs. Good choice on the Osram 65w bulbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badtiming Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 I lied. The LEDs were so poor I had to swap them. I picked up some 65W Osram bulbs for $16. They are far superior. Lesson learned: the optics in a halogen projector work poorly for an LED bulb. I really like mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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