Better lighting....

[zak]

Alright, these headlights suck. The brights are ok, but on the freeway at night, it looks like I have no lights on with my low beams. So, what can I do to get some better lighting? What is a good suggestion for a better stock fitting bulb? Also, what kind of fog/driving lights do y'all suggest? Any personal advice?

[rallysam]

Same for me. The plastic is all yellowed and hardly any light gets through. I can't see much on the highway at night. Somebody once told me to polish them with a toothbrush and toothpaste, but that sounds rediculous.

Suggestions please?

[DLC]

I think Josh has a good method for making the headlights spiffy again, and i think it simply involves Turtle Was or some other paste wax that is applied and then polished.

This is definitely an FAQ item.

Dave

[JasonGrahn]

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?&SKU=11545

it'll make a drastic improvement on small scratches, but if you actually dips and chunks missing, you should just get new headlamps.

But even before you shell out the bucks for new headlamps or even bulbs, why not try repointing your lamps a little more aggressively. With 20 minutes of work i made a drastic improvement in lighting just with that.

[ciper]

You could also upgrade the bulbs to better item. Check the sylvania silverstars. High life and great efficiency. You should be able to find them for about $24 each.

[dedhed]

This is from DSMTalk, but it should apply to any plastic headlight assembly.

http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthrea ... adid=66059

[Legacy777]

What I have done for a while is use some No. 7 polishing compound, and then a clear coat polishing compound, and then cleaner wax. This will help clear them up for a while. However it does tend come back. I think it's due to the lexon or whatever breaking down over time.

Other thing someone mentioned is actually using a 600 grit wet sandpaper first......then goin to 1000 wet, then do a rubbing compound, then the polishing, clear coast polishing compound, and cleaner wax.

I'm probably goin to be getting some new/used lights for me.

[Aaron's ej22t]

yah, i know what you mean. my headlights are faded. i am either going to buy new headlights or clean mine up real good. i also am getting a light bar with some hella 500's.

[mile hi]

Ok this may work. This fix for yellow headights came to me from a person that worked in a large salvage yard and he told me that he got top dollar for all of his headlights because he used Bon Ami cleanser on them. I would try this with a little caution but the guy showed me what they looked like before and after.
AL(CO)

[Mark Ward]

FYI,
My stock headlight got brighter when I re-wired them to remove the stock wiring. I put in re-lays etc and bigger wire. You have (should) do this to upgrade the bulbs.
Mark

[legazee]

the other compound that works really well is autosol metal polish followed up by the mothers cleaner and 1,2,3 polish and wax.... if your fingers get way too achey from this use a dremmel with with a mushroom buffer

[rallysam]

Ok, here's my follow-up now that I tried it. These foggy yellow headlights are really easy to fix, so definitely give it a try.

My headlights were so bad before that you could hardly tell they were on at night. I polished only one for comparison. Then, that night, I conducted the taste test. I shone the headlights of both my '90 Legacy and my 2000 Impreza RS on a wall. The test results? 3 bright spots on the wall!!!! The polished light on my '90 was just as bright as the beams on my 2000. The untouched headlight, on the other hand, was only making a dim glow instead of a focused beam and there was NO spot visible on the wall - even at night.

Which technique did I use? Well I think there are a billion ways to skin this cat, and they probably all work the same. The link posted by dedhed was really good: http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthrea ... adid=66059

I chose to use the first thing I found at Advanced Auto: Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound (gritty abrasive stuff that cleans well but leaves fine scratches) followed by Turtle Wax Polishing Compound (to take out the scratches created by the first Rubbing Compound). The whole process took about 15 minutes. If you are more anal than me, you will want to continue the process further with some even gentler polishes and waxes. All I care about is that I removed the cataracts and now they look like clear plastic again - I don't care if they look like fine crystal!

People report that the yellowing comes back, but 3 weeks later I don't see it. Even if it did come back, it's an easy enough process to do every time you wash the car.

[teesaa]

Recipe for good lights:

1) Re-wiring with new relays. Minimum thickness 2,5 mm2.
2) New 100/120W H4-bulbs
3) Adjust the lights correctly

The police will not be able to tell you're using higher output lamps from the outside. It is only when people start installing extra lights to the bumper they get interested.

If you're worried about the extra heat from the lamps, or that the mirroring in the lamps will get damaged - it is not true.

I have been using 170/170W lights for 2 years now + I know a few more from our finnish-subaru club that are using similar bulbs without any heat- or mirrordamage.

[entirelyturbo]

I have been using APC 100/80 9004's (APC I know ) for about 8mos now, light is nice and bright white, or blue depending on your perspective, haven't had any wiring or heat problems, etc....

Here in FL, they don't care anyway, I had truck fog lights in addition to the headlights (Gallery forum), no one said a word...

[HomeSlice]

or you can just get glass lhd headlights from overseas. but the ? is where to find them.

[zak]

Well Rallysam, I did just what you said with the Turtle Wax, and it helped a lot. There was a *ton* of brown muck on there. Much better now. Next up is taking one of the many suggestions for bulbs

[vypa]

the glass lights wouldnt be legal over hear tho would they? or could you switch the mirrors out?

[Legacy777]

legal schmegal.......hasn't stopped me before