Headlights and Tires - Recommendations?

Hey all.

 

The wife took over the 2014 legacy a few months ago as her preferred DD / family car. Today however she mentioned hydroplaning at 50 on the freeway. We’ve also had concerns over how dim the headlights are, and it didn’t help me buying a 2017 BRZ with LED headlights that are “sun flare” on the brightness scale.

 

Do you folks have a good cold weather tire you recommend, and a solution to our headlight issue? I’m willing to swap out the entire assembly if there’s a high quality alternative.

 

We average temps in the 40’s where we live for the winter months, with a few weeks/year of below freezing average and snow on the ground. This week has just been ridiculous with the rain. The car currently has the set we purchased it with, which are Kumho Ecsta 4X’s.

If you don't mind baking your headlights, I would do one of those TRS retro-quick HID installs. Otherwise, the easiest thing would be to use a bright halogen bulb like Sylvania Silverstar Ultras.

 

As far as tires are concerned, if you want a regular all-season, something like a Michelin Pilot A/S or Continental Extreme Contact DWS are solid options. For winter tires, I'm a big fan of Bridgestone Blizzak and General Altimax Arctic tires.

If you’re not a fan of changing headlights frequently, and it’s a bit of a deal on these cars, buy some long life bulbs like these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Osram-Sylvania-H7-Headlight-64210L/dp/B007WU10ZU

 

I liked the Cooper CS5 Ultra Tourings I had for the last two years. Great traction in all weather, quiet, and comfortable. Not the slowest wearing but our roads are bad up here.

For headlights:

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems-17/hid-systems-universal/h7-morimoto-elite.html

 

Much better than stock. it'll take you a little time but worth it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Wish the headlights were easier to deal with!

For headlights:

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems-17/hid-systems-universal/h7-morimoto-elite.html

 

Much better than stock. it'll take you a little time but worth it.

 

I've run this set for 4+yrs. excellent light output

Are your headlight lenses foggy? I only ask because, in my opinion, the 2010+ Legacy and Outback headlights are absolutely fantastic, at least in comparison to every other car I have driven.

As above, if your headlights are hazy/yellowing, clear them up (i.e. headlight restoration, you can buy kits, remember to 'seal' them with UV resistant clear). It makes a huge difference on my car (OEM HID 2010).

 

If the halogen projectors ever copped a PnP HID kit, the bowls might be burnt, greatly reducing the output. If you had the car since new, ignore this paragraph.

 

You can swap the bulb (especially if they're old) with a high performance bulb like Philips Racing Vision/X-Treme Vision or Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited/Laser.

 

BUT, a retrofit will blow all that away. It's so easy to do these days with that TRS kit, easily the best bang for buck. I've tried all the halogen bulbs on my other car, a retrofit is literally night and day difference.

 

Remember, your headlights are a safety device:

(that's an Accord with Lexus SC430 projectors, look at that width!).

 

InB4 the PnP LED bright foreground loving crowd.

We bought the car used, it’s a 2014 premium. The bulbs are definitely dim, as the lights don’t appear to be hazy or have much in the way of discoloration or rock chips. I can take some high quality photos tomorrow if anyone is interested.

Out of curiosity, are you seeing them as being dim with the switch turned to the auto setting? I don't remember what year the problem was fixed in production, but there is/was an issue with the daylight sensors burning out. When those fail, they're essentially reporting direct sunlight, so you're only getting DRLs at that point. Discovered that myself driving the car home in the rain right after I bought it. Try setting the lights to on rather than auto, and see if that changes anything.

Went out tonight to verify the auto switch question. We're definitely seeing the headlights. Not exactly a scientific test, but I shined both the legacy and our crosstrek lights at my garage door, and they seem just as bright if not brighter.

 

I wonder why in actual use they seem so much worse than the crosstrek. Maybe they just need adjustment.

 

Legacy on the left.

 

Try changing the bulbs anyway, with regular halogen long life bulbs, first. A garage door test shoes more about how clean your garage is than how bright your lights are. There’s a chance they’re original and they’re probably on the worn out side of life. My wife’s CX-9’s head lights were about as bright as a candle lantern but still burning, and new bulbs (Sylvania extra vision) easily tripled their brightness on the road.

 

While you’re in there, replace the stock 9005 high beams with 9011 bulbs. All that’s required is a slight trim on one tab on the bulb base. I just swapped mine over and WOW the 9011 are incredibly better.

Seating position probably helps a lot as well.

Thanks for the suggestions. Wish the headlights were easier to deal with!

 

The kit I linked wasn't hard at all. I think it took 1-2 hours maybe.

On a side note, good call on the Crosstrek. We are on our 2nd one (leased both). Eyesight is awesome.

Are you able to take pictures (level ground, as white as possible wall) about 3 car lengths away from the wall?

 

I can get you the Toyota part number for 9011 (HIR1) bulb, goes straight into 9005/HB3 socket and plug (factory on Toyota Tarage/Previa/Estima).

Tornzorz

 

I know exactly what you are talking about. I have the same car and even though it looks bright in the garage when you drive at night it does look very dim. Now it's even 10x worse when it is raining. I'm looking for some LEDs that I can replace them with as there are so many but the dust cap is my issue. I don't wanna get the HISs as they are a pain and plus I who knows if I'm going to have issues with flickering. I know LEDs are getting popular but I also know there are a lot of brand that have reliability issues. So many people saying it burnt out after less than 2 years or even months. I was just researching this today on the forum to see if anyone figured out a way to get around the dust cap issue but I'm not finding anything. The only thing I found out was I was at the dealership and they told me they have had issues with people who's been using LEDs and it breaking the lights. I don't know if I believed him since they are soooo many Youtube videos with people using them in their WRX/STI. If anyone here have any suggestions or recommendations on what LED they use or any issues with them please let me know before I spend tons of money. I might just replace the DRL/fog for now because of the dust cap issue.

I just got the eagle eye headlight housings, and put LED bulbs in them. I believe the black part of the housings are near identical, but I can't say for sure.

 

I used VLED bulbs. They're expensive, but I decided it was worth it to never have to change them again. Their design uses a fan mounted to the end of the bulb, which makes the whole thing about half an inch longer than a normal bulb. I ran into the same dust cap issue on the high beams (the low beams fit just fine).

 

Long story short, I made my own dust caps. I recommend 3D printing some, finding some other car's that fit, etc. over what I did, but it works. I used fake crystal cocktail glasses (the clear plastic cups about 4 inches tall). Because they're tapered, I cut height off the top until they were the right diameter to fit onto the sealing surface. Hold it on, run a bead of glue (or silicone) around the edge to seal/attach it, and voila, dust cap. I ended up with about 1/4" of a gap to the bulb. They actually look somewhat cool being clear and all too.

I ended up getting yokohama yk580 about a year ago on my 08 lgt. Love them for an all season tire with that orange oil. Quieter than the conti dws that i previously had.

My wife had a blowout on her 11 legacy and was due for tires and ended up getting the yokohama yk740 gtx and we love them even she noticed a difference. She hardly knows much about cars or handling by the way. Rolling resistance is great feels like youre floating. Breaking is greatly improved. Hope this helps.

 

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coco26

Thx for giving us some input on this but that seems like a lot of work and I just don't wanna mess with all that and make a bigger mess. I saw some rubber dust cap on Amazon but not sure if they would fit. I posted a question on there but all I ogt was "Don't know". I may just end up putting LEDs on the DRL/High and the fogs which I know will help. The issue that I face is which brand is the best and the most reliable. A lot of them flicker or they don't last long or they issues with the fan failing. I would like to know what brand/setup the 2018 limited version have.

Search search search: http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5433365&postcount=11

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5433996&postcount=13

Thx bruh but I did search and certainly didn't come up with that.

his or led in projector housings

I've heard that LEDs don't well in projector type lens but I can't speak to that since I haven't gotten mine to work out. However there a lot of people with WRX/STI guys who may think differently. I had HIDs in my 08 Legacy and never had any issues. It lasted me about 4 years until I got into a wreck. I know a lot of people don't like the HIDs due to the wiring but there still seems to be issues with some of the Leds out there with flickering or it not lasting very long. Or even the brightness not being bright enough. You can get a lot of feedback from YouTube vids on this topic. I really wanna get the LED because the stock bulbs are no good even though they haven't died on me yet.

they are much worse in reflector housings....