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Frequent headlamp bulb replacement


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2012 Legacy Limited 33k on odometer

I went 4 year or so without bulb issues and now in last year I've replaced both low beam bulbs a few times. is this a common problem or bad choice in bulbs. I've tried Sylvania, Phillips and GE. I am not touching glass of bulb as I install them so I know that's not my issue. This time the LF corner marker and LF low beam went out at same time but everything else on that side works

I Haven't come across this problem at my shop on a Subaru. This is my daily, I'm tired of replacing bulbs

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I believe their warranty was extended for 2010-2012ish because of the Auto setting being too touchy. I personally don't use Auto.

 

I also use H7LL low beam bulbs. These are the only ones I've ever used that lasted longer than 2 years. If I used the standard H7's, they'd pop at just about 24 months on the day. I had to special-order the H7LL's as they apparently were hard-ish to get the last time I tried to do them.

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I'd say make sure you use stock or Long Life bulbs, the higher "intensity" bulbs have a higher current and draw more power, they burn out faster. SilverStar Ultras throw more light but yeah you'll be changing them often.

 

And don't touch the bulb with your bare hand. You'll create a hotspot on the glass with the oils in your hand. Use a latex/nitrile glove.

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I have replaced my lowbeam headlights more in my 2010 Legacy 2.5i than I have in any other car I ever owned. I know my car is covered under a "Campaign" through Subaru. Anytime a bulb blows, I bring the car to Subaru and they replace it free of charge.
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Got tired of dealing with this, free dealer replacement or not. Was changing them several times per year in the low beams. I replaced both high & low with LED direct swaps, and on top of not dealing with changing bulbs, the light is 100 times better than even the high dollar bulbs that I used. OPT7 Fluxbeams in the highs. And Lightning Dark in the lows. At ~$65 each replacement, $200 for both sets and 5 years of warrantee have me pretty happy.

 

 

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Got tired of dealing with this, free dealer replacement or not. Was changing them several times per year in the low beams. I replaced both high & low with LED direct swaps, and on top of not dealing with changing bulbs, the light is 100 times better than even the high dollar bulbs that I used. OPT7 Fluxbeams in the highs. And Lightning Dark in the lows. At ~$65 each replacement, $200 for both sets and 5 years of warrantee have me pretty happy.

 

 

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I have yet to see an LED replacement with consistently good reviews. And it seems the ones you have aren't the exception to that.

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I think it's pretty rare to find any product anywhere that has consistently good reviews... there are always some negative!

 

I am curious how the LEDs that have the narrow row of LED emitters (instead of the large pattern of 4) behave in terms of glare, etc. - they seem to be trying to be more like a halogen in terms of locating the hot spot.

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I think it's pretty rare to find any product anywhere that has consistently good reviews... there are always some negative!

 

I am curious how the LEDs that have the narrow row of LED emitters (instead of the large pattern of 4) behave in terms of glare, etc. - they seem to be trying to be more like a halogen in terms of locating the hot spot.

No, it's really not. I look at the percentage of positives vs negatives...70+ percent 4 star and up with a few outliers here and there is consistently good IMO. When I am buying something unknown to me I look at that and then also read the reviews to see what issues are common.

 

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I have yet to see an LED replacement with consistently good reviews. And it seems the ones you have aren't the exception to that.

 

 

 

Haven’t found a reason to be sorry about the choice yet. The light quality alone was worth it, and even if they only last a year, still worth it :shrug:.

 

 

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Got tired of dealing with this, free dealer replacement or not. Was changing them several times per year in the low beams. I replaced both high & low with LED direct swaps, and on top of not dealing with changing bulbs, the light is 100 times better than even the high dollar bulbs that I used. OPT7 Fluxbeams in the highs. And Lightning Dark in the lows. At ~$65 each replacement, $200 for both sets and 5 years of warrantee have me pretty happy.

 

 

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I hear ya.. I would get annoyed with it if I was forced to stop in at Subaru more often than I already do just to change a headlight. I get an oil change every 6 weeks or so on average, so if a light dies in between, I just go with a dead light for a week or 2 till I get my next oil change.

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No, it's really not. I look at the percentage of positives vs negatives...70+ percent 4 star and up with a few outliers here and there is consistently good IMO
Ok - I wasn't sure what you were counting as consistently good - some of the OPT7 Fluxbeams are rated quite well on Amazon by those standards.

 

I tend to do the same thing - 4 out of 5 stars with a decent total number of reviews, then I read some of the 1 and 2 star reviews to see what got them upset (sometimes its silly things like packaging, rather than issues with the product itself)

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Some of them are silly, but early failure, moisture clouding the lens, and generally not better than oem light output seems to be very common even in some of the positive 3+ stars reviews. For the money I would get a set of Morimoto HIDs if I was so inclined. But luckily I haven't had issues with bulbs going bad as often as some have.

 

Over 3 years I have replaced the headlights low and high all one time and my high have never gone out just the Lows but I bought all 4 so I changed them all out. Been a few months now and I can't complain. I do wish we could narrow down the culprit though, our tribeca consistently blew bulbs every 2 years or so. I believe its the charging circuit myself, but hard thing to prove.

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Did you get the OPT7 10,000lm ones? OUTSHINE THE REST! Very easy to throw a wiring/relay harness with Philips X-treme vision or Osram Laser bulbs.

 

 

 

No, I’m conscientious enough to let the other drivers still see the road 🤣

 

 

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