LED Bulb/Flasher Swap Info - 4th Gen Legacy Wagon

[jayrex]

I just installed LED turn signal and brake bulbs into my 4th Gen '05 Legacy GT Wagon. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and I hope this writeup helps someone cut down on the necessary research needed to purchase the bulbs with confidence. I have been putting this mod off because I was nervous about the flasher rate correction, but this is an easy fix with a new flasher module and takes care of all four corners at once.

 

The front LED bulb install is great for cleared corner headlights. The JDM Taillights are also clear by default, so they need a yellow bulb too. An OEM setup would be better with white bulbs.

 

I have JDM tail lights, which compared to the OEM tail lights have one less bulb. The missing bulb is small and unecessary sidemarker light, you could leave it or probably unplug it.

 

Here are comparison videos:

The night shots do not look like they do in person. I almost didn't upload them, but at least you can see how much 'snappier' the bulb comes on, and that they are pretty bright. They are a lot more crisp in person.

 

 

 

Pictures at the bottom, (I don't know how to arrange them with text yet)

 

These are the specific part numbers I used from superbrightleds.com, I bet they are the same or similar from other websites. I have no affilation with this site, but they shipped fast and have a good website.

 

Parts list:

2 – Brake Bulbs [7443-x45-T-CAR] – Cool White Color ($20 ea.)

2 – Tail Turn [7440-x45-T-CAR] – Amber Color ($15ea.)

2 – Front Turn [3157-x18-T-CAR] – Amber Color ($18 ea.)

1 – [CF18-AR] – Adjustable Rate 8 Pin Flasher Module ($15)

 

The first thing I installed was the flasher module.

Take off the plastic cover which is to the right of the fuse panel and below the steering wheel. Its held on with just 3 pop-its. Tip: to find the flasher module, turn your flashers on and feel around for the clicking box.Then just unplug the white connector from the old one and plug in the new flasher and leave it hanging there, you will be able to reach up inside and adjust the flasher rate even when it is all buttoned back up. This also leaves the OEM one in place if you ever need it for some reason. I think it would be difficult to 'unmount' the old one, which is a waste of time in my opinion. The range of the adjustment is nice, and works at the same speed with LED or OEM bulbs, so you can use a combination of LED and OEM if needed.

 

The other option is to use a 'LED light load resistor kit'. This option seems infinately harder with wiring and I think you need to do it to each bulb? They are about 5$ each, so this would even cost more.

 

Here is a link to OEM 2005 Legacy bulb numbers:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/bulb-guide-10808.html

 

I was worried about the lumens and could not find good answers about how bright the OEM bulbs were. The LED bulbs listed the lumens, but I had no reference to compare. The LED bulbs I bought are plenty bright (little brighter than stock), and I would not want any brighter because then they would be annyoing to other drivers.

 

Website specs for my bulbs:

Clear Brake LED – 220 lumens

Amber Tail Turn signal LED – 110 lumens (clear would be 220)

Amber Front Turn signal LED – 60 lumens (clear would be 165)

 

So if you are pushing light through a colored lense, get the clear.

 

Couple other notes:

The base of these particular amber bulbs have a clearish-yellow base. This can actually be seen, and adds a bit of yellow tint to your otherwise clear setup. It is not a big deal, but worth mentioning that you can see the base of these bulbs pretty clearly when installed.

 

When browsing for bulbs you will see 'yellow' coloring on the individual leds. Those bulbs are actually the white ones. Suprisingly the Amber bulbs have no color to the individual led lights. So this is a plus for that clear look.

 

Initially I wanted the LED bulb to have the glass housing around it, which I didn't purchase because these particular 'naked' bulbs got better reviews. I think the extra glass would have slightly taken aways from the clean look. But perhaps they are more protected with the extra glass?

 

Hope this helps somebody make the swap, its great!