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Non-OEM Headlight Kits--Okay or Bad News?

Featured Replies

I was curious about aftermarket headlight kits like these:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-01-SUBARU-IMPREZA-LED-HALO-PROJECTOR-HEADLIGHT-96-97_W0QQitemZ160217152961QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160217152961

 

Are these types of headlight conversions good? Any problems associated w/ them? Have any of you put them on your cars? I'm curious to hear from anyone who has experience w/ them...

Well someone has to be the first. Cadillac is coming out with LED headlights, so its not unheard of. But for 15.00 I would guess not much engineering went into them aside from "how many LEDs can we fit here"...."I dont know, so hold my beer"

 

nipper

  • Author
no personal experience with them, but my 2 cents....

 

wouldnt waste my money on them - not even at that low price...

reason: Blue is the WORST light wavelength for seeing things.

read more here: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/lights/light_color/light_color.html

 

 

Interesting article--thanks for the link.

 

 

Yeah--I was looking more for something w/ a different styling-look more than a different lighting effect. eBay has a few different styles and so I was curious.

 

 

I haven't seen any Subes on the road w/ these aftermarket lights, but saw this car listed on autotrader and thought it looked cool. (I don't like the black hood louvers though.)

 

http://images.autotrader.com/images/2008/1/21/237/726/3938131517.237726525.IM1.02.565x421_A.562x421.jpg

I guess I'm just getting too old - lights are something you look WITH, not AT :cool:

 

(and the blue ones hurt my eyes when they are behind me, too) :mad:

.....lights are something you look WITH, not AT :cool:

 

My sentiment, too! Lighting EFFICIENCY should be priority number 1. Personally, I don't give a rat's rump roast how cool my headlights look; I just want them to provide me with the best and safest road illumination without blinding other drivers. Period. Function over form, always!

if it was me i personally wouldnt put them on my vehicle....... like everyone else has said "how much quality work went into these things"......good luck though with whatever you try and do......:)

Those are illegal too.

 

What condition are your lenses in? When i hit the deer I had to have one headlight lense replaced (with a new one). It made a world of differnce.

 

 

nipper

Those are illegal too.

 

What condition are your lenses in? When i hit the deer I had to have one headlight lense replaced (with a new one). It made a world of differnce.

 

 

nipper

 

 

Are you sure, if new cars come with HID lights why can't this be retrofitted? Seems easy enough to swap out if I needed to for inspection though, if they are illegal.

 

I sanded and buffed my lenses already, the light output is much better now but no where near as good as my wife's 2002 Sequoia. My passenger side lens has a weird pattern to the light now though, I am wondering if something seperated inside(maybe the reflector)? I buffed it a little more this weekend, so i'll see if it was that.

I scanned through that, I totally understand my 97 reflectors are not the same as a HID designed one...but my lighting is poor compared to any new car I have driven. I might give these a shot to improve that, I have used Silverstars, etc on another older vehicle with not much change even considering their costs. I'll probably be the guinea pig and report back.

 

 

*starts broken record*

 

HID is so much more then plugging a lightbulb in a lens. They have a differnt light spectrrum, and need differnt lenses and reflectors to properly refract and focus the light.

 

http://www.aa1car.com/library/hid_headlamps.htm

 

nipper

Check and make sure NJ isnt going to snag you on inpection.

 

 

nipper

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