easier way to open 04-05 headlight bulb cover

[cannibal869]

Hey everyone - I just did the lightweight crank pulley mod... while I was in there, I also had to reseat one of my headlight bulbs and was thinking about how to open the casing... I'm not sure if the other Subaru models have similar setups, but for the 04-05 Impreza owners (2.5RS, WRX, and STi), this may prove somewhat useful...

This is what I'm talking about - the round piece that screws on to protect your headlights from the elements (see first pic)... I dunno about the rest of you, but at least for me, this is a serious PITA to open and close especially near the driver's side due to the close proximity of the battery.

So I was thinking - wouldn't it be nice if there was a wrench or some sort of tool to make unscrewing this easier? Well, as I was thinking this, the proverbial lightbulb went off and I thought of my oil filter wrench (see pic 2).

And voila, as you can see in the 3rd pic, this actually works great! The teeth on the wrench are just what the doctor ordered!

I'm not sure if someone else has come up with this at all yet, but if not, I hope this helps someone out there...
-C

[efmd3]

wow, i thought they were really easy to get off my 02, but A+ for enginuity

[Psyk]

Great idea man! It took me close to a half hour to try to get the driver's side off not too long ago

[mostasz]

Heh!! I just did it today... WOW! It is hard to pull that cover off
Oil filter wrench - good idea.