Does anyone know the width (diameter) for the factory fog lights (the big round ones) on the 96-99 Outbacks and 00-04 Outbacks?

 

I'm trying to find better replacements for the "fog" lamps I put on my 96, (because they're not actual fog lamps, and they suck in the fog) without breaking the bank on Hella or PIAA. I've found some round lamps that are for 00-04 Outback that have an actual fog lamp pattern in the reflector, but I can't for the life of me figure out how wide they are?

About 5" across.  The bracket mount points are much less.  I found a pair on Ebay a few years ago that I mounted with the stock bracket.  They worked pretty well.  

Thanks! I think the ones I have on it are 5-1/4 or 5-1/2 so that should work.

 

Brackets I'm not too worried about. I had to make brackets for the current lights.

I read regarding the 96-99 OBs, someone on this forum reported they replaced the bulb using a head light sealed beam designed for cars back in the 60's and 70's. That is when cars came with 4 sealed beam head lights, 2 for low beam, 2 for high beam. It was the low beam bulbs that he used. These bulbs are still widely available at any parts store, and are very inexpensive. The report was that he was satisfied that the bulbs worked well as fog lamps, and with minor modification was able to mount the bulbs into the Subaru OEM fog lamp mount housing.

 

If you do a "search" of the archives on this website, you may be able to find what was written at that time.

I thought about that Rooster. Ive done that before on other cars, used 4x6" sealed low beam for driving lamps. The problem is regular headlamps don't work well for fog. Even when mounted down low in the bumper, the beam pattern just isn't correct for fog. They have a narrow hot spot in the center of the beam, with little spread to the sides, and the beam tends to reflect off the fog back at the driver, reducing visibility.

 

True Fog lamps spread the hot spot wider, the height of the beam is more narrow, but the beam is spread more to the sides, which illuminates the side of the road, without the fog reflecting as much light back at the driver.

I spotted a gen2 outback parked down the street from my house a few days ago and asked if they mind if I measured their fog lights.

 

Baja and Gen2 OBW fog lights are a full 6" across.

I think closer to 6-1/4" edge to edge but they still had the rock guards on and I wasn't about to try and pry those off.

I will be ordering a set of those... when I get some money... Can't beat $65 for a pair brand new on Amazon.