racerdave Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Or if you do, please note: How are the headlights in terms of intensity/pattern? Patchy or even light? Cutoff? How are the brights? If you drive one in the rain at night, do they do an adequate job of lighting the road? (that's the true HID strength... rain) Just wondering how the halogens stack up. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolbluelb Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 this: [i]I haven't driven at night yet. May give it a shot this evening. The headlights are OK, but I would prefer the HID type. I liked the Acura TL headlights better. I liked the STI headlights the best! Too bad they wouldn't put those on the Legacy- I would pay extra for it! I like the way you can adjust the beam from inside (sigh). I'm not sure, but I would hope that they could be upgraded after market. I'll have to check- does anyone know? jd[/i] and this: [i]I'll have to check on the headlights. I drove about 100 miles from Norfolk to Richmond last night. The lights are OK- I would be interested in some upgraded HID lights if not too much $$. The ones that are on the car will do the job though. [/i] from here: [url]http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=563222&perpage=25&pagenumber=1[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 OH NOES!!!11 NO HID ON TEH LEGACY!?!?!1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crex Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 is it possible to put aftermarket hid bulbs in the projectors of the legacy, i really want hid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 I'd say yes (depending on the bulb size of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Aftermarket HID is illegal, so the point is moot. Also, there are excellent halogen bulb upgrade alternatives, such as the Philips Vision Plus, that have the added advantages of being inexpensive, and not blinding to elderly drivers, and certain other drivers (such as my wife) with night vision impairments. I run the Philips Vision Plus in my WRX wagon with Prodrive projectors, and throw just as much light as any Audi or Acura on the road. A German Legacy owner (with an H7 setup) says that with an upgraded bulb, going from his Legacy to the company car, a BMW (with HIDs) is hardly any difference. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolbluelb Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 [url]http://www.hid.com/[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 [quote name='gtguy']Aftermarket HID is illegal, so the point is moot. Also, there are excellent halogen bulb upgrade alternatives, such as the Philips Vision Plus, that have the added advantages of being inexpensive, and not blinding to elderly drivers, and certain other drivers (such as my wife) with night vision impairments. I run the Philips Vision Plus in my WRX wagon with Prodrive projectors, and throw just as much light as any Audi or Acura on the road. A German Legacy owner (with an H7 setup) says that with an upgraded bulb, going from his Legacy to the company car, a BMW (with HIDs) is hardly any difference. Kevin[/quote] There will always be ways to get them. "I'm using them for offroad use, I rally." But of course, that is besdies teh point. :razz: Assuming the USDM lights use the same beam pattern as the JDM lights, I wouldn't forsee any problems with HID retrofits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 If USDM lights (left hand drive) use the same beam pattern as JDM lights (right hand drive) you would be blinding everybody. European Legacy lights (though they don't get HID either, to the best of my knowledge) would be a better fit, were such things legal to set up in the aftermarket. Projector lenses mean that HIDs in the Legacy will be less obnoxious, but they will still be dangerous for the aforementioned categories of driver. I don't see the value of endangering someone else for the sake of fashion, but I am the acknowledged "old man" here. Oh, halogens would actually work better in the rain or snow if the HID color temperature were wrong. This is why the blue bulbs render you blind in the rain. Moisture exists in the same temperature color spectrum as the bluish/white tint that makes HIDs all the rage. So in fact, not all HIDs offer superior performance in the rain. A well-designed halogen setup would be more than equal to any HID kit in the rain. But the USDM is used to the horrid 9007 reflector headlight setups, so we don't really know good automotive lighting. Therefore, we see HID, after seeing junk for all these decades, and say, "Wow, I can see a lot better." If the USDM standard were, say, H7 reflectors or projectors, HIDs wouldn't be perceived to be anywhere near as desirable. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest *Jedimaster* Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 [quote name='Drift Monkey']OH NOES!!!11 NO HID ON TEH LEGACY!?!?!1[/quote] Unpossibe!!11 They cost eleventy billion dollars!!1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Good points, but I was referring to the general beam pattern being suitable for HID use or not, and if they didn't scatter light in blindingly like most hagogen housings do, not which side (right or left). So allow me to make my statement more discerning. If the projecotr's light pattern is the same or similar to "EDM," (ala WRX STi EDM lighting) then this will silence the naysayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest *Jedimaster* Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 [quote name='gtguy']Aftermarket HID is illegal, so the point is moot. Also, there are excellent halogen bulb upgrade alternatives, such as the Philips Vision Plus, that have the added advantages of being inexpensive, and not blinding to elderly drivers, and certain other drivers (such as my wife) with night vision impairments. Kevin[/quote] Philips Vision Plus are awesome. I have them on my 98 Forester and they make a huge difference over standard bulbs. Unfortunately, the Vision Plus is available only in H1 and H4, IIRC. I really hope that the 05 Legacy uses either one of these bulb types. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Ken, the VP also comes in H7. I have them in my Prodrive projectors. They rule, and bulb life is also excellent. We know the Legacy has an H-series bulb, as I believe that 9000-series bulbs are reserved for reflectors, because of the dispersion pattern. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Kevin, Good to know that VPs also come in H7. Just as long as the Legacy doesn't use crappy 9000-series bulbs for the lowbeams. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeracer Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Good call gtguy....most late model cars don't have H7 setup which are very well designed. I say a good set of H7 projectors and matching proj. foggies should be good enough. "Gimme mines Balboa...Gimme mines".....Clubber Lang - Mr. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Zevil Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 [quote name='gtguy']Ken, the VP also comes in H7. I have them in my Prodrive projectors. They rule, and bulb life is also excellent. We know the Legacy has an H-series bulb, as I believe that 9000-series bulbs are reserved for reflectors, because of the dispersion pattern. Kevin[/quote] Kevin, You should really post some pics of your wagon.. I have never seen it. One more thing.. if nobody has yet seen what the lights look like at night, then how do we know that they would be such a drastic improvement? AND.. if they aren't an improvement and you get them for "looks" then they are RICE :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolbluelb Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I was doing a quick search to see what bulb setup my wife's Rav4 uses (it has one of the better lighting and dispersion patterns I have driven) when I came across this: [url]http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm[/url] I know that LED's have been shown in concept cars, but I did not think they were bright enough in present day applications. It appears that this site sells LED's for everything but the headlights. Any idea when there will be a direct plug in LED replacement for current auto headlight bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtguy Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 The VP bulbs were tested by an independent outfit in Germany, and they owned. The H4 achieved the biggest improvement, as the H7 is already a premium bulb. The improvement percentages were, according to the test, 40 and 10% respectively. For my purposes, I checked the VisionPlus against the stock Prodrive bulb, and the difference was a slightly whiter light, but without any bluing nonsense, so you could actually see in the rain. Beam width and distance also improved. I also, just for yuks, compared the Prodrive projectors to the stock WRX reflectors, with the following bulbs installed: Sylvania SilverStar (really bad, no rain/snow visibility) EuroLites (a joke...absolutely terrible) Sylvania HiVisibility (quite good, better than OE) Philips XtraVision (best of the 9007 bunch, brighter, whiter, you could see a lot better with these bulbs) But compared to the Prodrive projectors, all of the 9007s were deficient. Know that I don't do anything to my car for looks. If it doesn't improve performance, it doesn't go on the car. This is why my Legacy wagon won't have metal pedals, or a short shifter. I detest bling. This just in...the GT takes H7s in the low beam position. A good source for the VisionPlus is powerbulbs.com, in the UK. They ship very fast, and you usually have the bulbs in a week. H7s is very good news. With those and VisionPlus bulbs, nobody will miss HID. :D Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axis008 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Wow okay. So many weird codes of H- or 9000-series. I have no idea what they mean. Hopefully when the car comes out, someone will upgrade the bulbs and create a writeup so I have a clue about what they're talking about, haha. :) -ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUBE555 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I am verymuch looking forward to the new model lamps and what the good Philips bulbs can do. We live in the country so as much light as we can throw on the road and near road areas for deer and such, it's very appreciated. I also wish the fog/road lamps were usable during high beams for some close vision on the side of the road such as shoulders, lines, etc. Guess that will have to be modded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerdave Posted May 28, 2004 Author Share Posted May 28, 2004 [quote name='SUBE555']I am verymuch looking forward to the new model lamps and what the good Philips bulbs can do. We live in the country so as much light as we can throw on the road and near road areas for deer and such, it's very appreciated. I also wish the fog/road lamps were usable during high beams for some close vision on the side of the road such as shoulders, lines, etc. Guess that will have to be modded.[/quote] [img]http://forum.e46fanatics.com/images/smilies/whacky10.gif[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUBE555 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Have they changed the setup Dave that I am un aware of? :roll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolbluelb Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 [quote name='gtguy'] Sylvania SilverStar (really bad, no rain/snow visibility) EuroLites (a joke...absolutely terrible) Sylvania HiVisibility (quite good, better than OE) Philips XtraVision (best of the 9007 bunch, brighter, whiter, you could see a lot better with these bulbs) Kevin[/quote] I believe XtraVision is a Sylvania product, [url]http://www.sylvania.com/auto/xtra.htm[/url] . Philips has Vision Plus. [url]http://www.autolamps-online.com/halogen/index.htm[/url] . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUBE555 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 The XV are Sylvania, they are what I have in my '97 Leg GT. They work great for ice racing, can see through the blowing snow a lot better than some of the other, more whiter bulbs. I used to have Silverstars, which were a definite improvement over stock, but they didn't last too long and fog/rain/snow vis wasn't the greatest, the XV is a lot better, only slightly less bright in dry conditions. Overall, I'm rather pleased with them in the 97 lamps which are overall sort of crappy in design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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