Project: AWD TURBO Family Hauler (04 Forester 2.5XT)

[FlaakCM]

Yeah...very nice! Perfect ride in so many ways. I was trying to get the wife on board for one, but she favors the wagon.

Still cant go wrong with the wagon.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Yeah...very nice! Perfect ride in so many ways. I was trying to get the wife on board for one, but she favors the wagon.

+Juan.. Wagons FTW

[JustinG]

Pretty nice pic of the car by Brian Ripley from the carshow.

[Jeff]

Looks good, maybe just needed a good shine for pics,

[JustinG]

Sooooo im kinda bored.....and im not a fan of the DRLs. I am thinking of wiring the front markers to act as the DRLs. Or the fogs.



Thoughts?

May also convert the interior lights to LED.

HID headlight kit? not a retrofit, just the bulbs. They make a retrofit kit but its $300. Dont really wanna do that ATM, but its potentially on my list.

After Hyperfizzle, Ill place my COBB AP order. But until then I need something to do.

Casey is just shaking her head in disapproval as I type this.......

[navin]

HID bulbs in a halogen housing == BLAH

Just gonna end up getting flashed by oncoming traffic all the time and not get a good beam pattern. I'd say do it right once and do the retrofit even though its a good amount of money upfront.

[JPolen01]

HID bulbs in a halogen housing == BLAH

Just gonna end up getting flashed by oncoming traffic all the time and not get a good beam pattern. I'd say do it right once and do the retrofit even though its a good amount of money upfront.

Can't say this enough. Light refracts everywhere and looks like shit. Please don't do that just for the sake of other people on the road. That retrofit seems like a good price. I had a quote from Lightwerkz a few years ago and they wanted like $800 to do mine on the accord.

[navin]

TRS (TheRetrofitSource) has some nice stuff on there -- I'm sure Justin can do all the labor himself and save some $$.

[Evan]

Ive done the HID bulbs in reflector housings several times, even my truck that sits high off the ground. Never gotten brighted.

Light is light. Physics is neat like that. HID bulbs dont put out magically different light that instantly vaporizes other vehicles when you dont use projector housings blessed by the pixie dust of magic HID fairies.
Reflector housings have cutoffs too.

Internet knowitalls just love to tell people youre doing it wrong!!1!!1!!

[navin]

You mean Halogen housings? I'm no HID expert but I'm assuming you can aim the headlights after installing the HIDS to maybe make the pattern a little less "spread"

Reflector housings do have a cut-off, any headlight does. But wouldn't simple logic be with more light output = a beam pattern that is spread. Reflector housings with HIDS have (I believe) cut-off shrouds -- like the early Acura TL. Ok you can purchase shrouds separately, etc -- but at that point why not just get the Retrofit kit + HIDs for around $300 and get the good cut-off + better beam pattern..?

Which HID kit do you have in your Titan Evan? I've bee weary of buying a knockoff ebay kit for my 4runner, but at the same time don't want to drop ~$150 for a better known kit (Philips bulbs, ballast, etc..)

[xvxax]

Ive done the HID bulbs in reflector housings several times, even my truck that sits high off the ground. Never gotten brighted.

I cannot believe you live in Northern Virginia and you've never been the victim of crappy HIDs.

Anyway, it depends. Some newer reflectors, like the ones in the STi have a killer cutoff and do a good job of not blinding people. Some don't have that, so do some research on the general quality of the headlights in the car and then decide.

[Evan]

You mean Halogen housings? I'm no HID expert but I'm assuming you can aim the headlights after installing the HIDS to maybe make the pattern a little less "spread"

Reflector housings do have a cut-off, any headlight does. But wouldn't simple logic be with more light output = a beam pattern that is spread. Reflector housings with HIDS have (I believe) cut-off shrouds -- like the early Acura TL. Ok you can purchase shrouds separately, etc -- but at that point why not just get the Retrofit kit + HIDs for around $300 and get the good cut-off + better beam pattern..?

Which HID kit do you have in your Titan Evan? I've bee weary of buying a knockoff ebay kit for my 4runner, but at the same time don't want to drop ~$150 for a better known kit (Philips bulbs, ballast, etc..)

I have the DDM slim 35w kit in 4500k in my Titan. Everything seemed pretty decent quality and havent had any issues, but it also hasnt blown me away with the light output either.
Also done DDM slim 55w 5000k in my exige (projectors), DDM slim 35w 4500k in my 99 miata.
Thought about putting them in my wife's focus (reflectors) but stock light output from the halogens is actually quite good.

Ive done the HID bulbs in reflector housings several times, even my truck that sits high off the ground. Never gotten brighted.

I cannot believe you live in Northern Virginia and you've never been the victim of crappy HIDs.

Anyway, it depends. Some newer reflectors, like the ones in the STi have a killer cutoff and do a good job of not blinding people. Some don't have that, so do some research on the general quality of the headlights in the car and then decide.

I didnt say Ive never been the victim of someone elses crappy HIDs, I said Ive never offended anyone with mine as far as I can tell.

I think the crappiness and glare of some aftermarket HIDs is not in the housing, but in the color temperature. The 8000+K blue/purple bulbs the idiots put in their cars are much harsher on the eyes.
And I know for a fact some of the same idiots adjust the headlight beam up on purpose.

[JustinG]

Ive done the HID bulbs in reflector housings several times, even my truck that sits high off the ground. Never gotten brighted.

I cannot believe you live in Northern Virginia and you've never been the victim of crappy HIDs.

Anyway, it depends. Some newer reflectors, like the ones in the STi have a killer cutoff and do a good job of not blinding people. Some don't have that, so do some research on the general quality of the headlights in the car and then decide.

So I did some research, and apparently the stock reflectors get along pretty well with HID kits. I think ill snag a 4300k kit and see what happens.

[JustinG]

[WRXtranceformed]

Obviously the beam patterns are going to be the same if they are in the same housing. Just swapping out a light source isn't going to change that. The benefit to a true HID system to oncoming traffic is that there is a distinct cut off line to focus the brightness of the light away from their eyes. That is another reason why people get annoyed at retrofitted HIDs in a halogen housing...look at how the brighter more intense HID light beams up high toward oncoming traffic. It doesn't matter if you get some of that "bleed over" when you are using halogen bulbs because they are not that bright unless you have the high beams on.

Compare that to the distinct cutoff a HID projector setup with a high quality lens has:

[JustinG]

Conveniently the HIDs from the Hatchpile were what I needed for the Fozzy. Glad I looked before ordering. So $0 spent, and I have the HIDs in, we will see how I like it.

[navin]

Damn it... ended up buying the DDM 35w 4300k kit now because of all this HID talk.

Luckily I have projectors, which happen to the be same projectors in the MDX

[WRXtranceformed]

I've got an extra set of zkw replica lenses somewhere around here if anyone is ever interested

[JustinG]

So the lighting system doesn't play well with HIDs. these cars are a one bulb for Hi/Low beam setup. So you need a BiXenon HID kit. However when unplugging the headlights the system gets confused, and is looking for a load on the headlights to switch back to low beam. So you have to wire in a resistor to the pass headlight socket, so it switches from Hi to Low like it should. however you only need to do this if you have fog lights. Somehow the fog lights tie into this equation as well. So when the fogs are on it wont switch the HIDs from Hi back to low. Again no idea why it needs to sense a load on the headlight harness for this to work.

So threw in a 50W 8ohm resistor on the pass headlight harness and it works like its supposed to.



Also Ricer mod. Changed out 3 of the halogen dome lights, (2 map and 1 center dome) to LEDs. From Amazon, like $7 shipped for 4. Awaiting a pack of 10 168 style LED bulbs ($8 from Amazon) to switch out the rear cargo area light, the 2 front markers, and the 2 license plate lights.



They look brighter than the regular bulbs, we will see once it gets dark.

Snagged a STI Up Pipe for $30. The Stock XT uppipe is catted, and this is known to disentegrate with age, thus grenading the turbo. The STI uppipe has no cat, and it flows about 75% better, it also should help spool faster. Not really looking forward to this install, exhaust bolts are the suck.

[JustinG]

Very Noticeable Difference. $7 well spent.