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Everything you ever wanted to know about WRX light bulbs...

131K views 86 replies 42 participants last post by  BMOC 
#1 ·
How to change your bulbs

So you got these bulbs laying around, and wondered how to do it.....

Headlights (9007)
1.Open the hood (duh)

2. Pick a side and start there.

3. For the headlamps (9007), on the connector, there's a serrated edge (on top), squeeze it, and pull out the connecor.

4. Unscrew the retainer (the big black plastic thing) and remove the bulb.

5. Insert new bulb (may be a good idea to clean the bulb with some rubbing alcohol) and put everything back together.

Fog (H3)
1. Remove three screws (but not the adjuster). use a 10mm socket with a 6" extension or a Phillips screwdriver (I use a 10mm socket, Jim uses a screwdriver)

2. Remove the foglight assembly from the bumper

3. At the back remove the cap of the foglight housing and you'll see the bulb.

4. Push in the metal spring and rotate it out of the way

5. Remove the old H3 bulb, noting its orientation (rectangular notch and half circular notch)

6. Pull on the wiring connector to remove male disconnect of the fog bulb

7. Install new bulb, and lock it into place with the spring retaining clip.

8. Shove the male connector in (angle it in)

9. Reassemble carefully

Turn signals (1156)
1. Loosen the cap of the connector (it's very tight) then twist out the bulb and reinstall everything.

haven't got to the parking lights (or those europeans call it "city lights") yet.
 
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#84 ·
Do you want a fog light pattern or driving light pattern?
I wouldn't go with a higher wattage bulb for your existing fog lamp. For fog light pattern, and inclement weather lighting, I'd stick to nice h3 55W halogen bulb based foglight projectors such as Hella Micro DE (halogen fog beam version) or Ford Fusion's foglight. If you are ok with a non sealed unit (which means you will need to find a donor housing to retrofit them into), you can also consider Bosch V3 or foglight units from a Lexus ES300.

For a driving light, one way to go is with Hella Micro DE (HID driving beam version), but that's not a budget route.
 
#85 ·
Thanks Satrya - I'm really looking a little more road illumination on low beams. I don't want to yank out the housings and replace them at this point. The lows just seem weak to me (great HBs, btw) but maybe that just because my night vision is not as good as it once was and I'm coming from a HID car with killer head light range. The h3 55W is an upgrade from stock I take it?
 
#86 ·
55W is the standard wattage; what I was trying to convey is that putting a higher wattage bulb is almost always not sustainable.

The best bet for improving low beam, imho, is replacing the halogen low beams with a proper HID. You could start with an aftermarket headlight as the donor housing (so you don't alter the original) plus a complete kit (not the PnP variety) from theretrofitsource.com (TRS).

On my bugeye, the difference from the oem halogen reflector low/high beams to biXenon is quite noticeable; definitely worth the hassle of retrofitting. Even the "easy" Morimoto Mini H1 provides a great low beam improvement. It's not known for its high beam, but you seem ok with the existing halogen high beams anyway.
 
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