Upgrading The Headlights On My Subaru Forester (My Dream Car)

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Almost forgot, here's the link to the headlights tinyurl.com/yxq64gc5 The LED bulbs are no longer available at the time I published this video.

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

No problems so far

[@bernhardnizynski4403]

Great clear presentation!

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Thanks

[@actontreadway1168]

nice. I have a 2008 xt sports so I have the lights already, but I have always appreciated them! they look awesome.

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Glad you like them!

[@davidlara4600]

I read through the comments but didn’t see if you had listed what type of led (high beam) bulbs you used; currently having my headlamps replaced with these as well and would like to have led high beams and “fog lights” or… driving lights like that one comment mentioned. Thanks.

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

The high beam led is from Auxbeam and work very well. Unfortunately I bought cheap ones for the fog lights and they cause static interference through the radio, if you stream music you will be OK but terrestrial AM and FM are affected.

[@davidlara4600]

Thank you!

[@HappyWheelFan2013]

My 08 n/a sports came with these headlights but ridiculously yellowed with broken seals. Replaced them with the same brand here and they look great. Right now it's my daily, but I'll be picking up a newer impreza hatch for the daily and importing the sti motor and trans setup and swapping it in with a front intercooler swap. Can't wait. The possibilities and diy-ness of these cars makes them an absolute joy to work on

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Yeah, they don't age well. So far the new ones are holding up great.

[@jasonwitkop6446]

Just received the same exact headlights for my 08 llbean and after seeing how clean it looks on your car Im tempted to have my forester wrapped black it looks perfect

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

I may try doing a vinyl wrap in the future, also.

[@christophercullen674]

Howdy. Just watched this to help me after a run-in with a deer. Good stuff. At the end you mention closing the gap where the bumper meets the hood... any luck with that? Might as well tackle that while I'm replacing the lenses

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Unfortunately no, the problem seems to be with the plastic the bumper is made from. I have tried to add an aluminum plate on top of the bumper beam to push the shell upward but it didn't make any noticeable changes.

[@kpl455]

Thank you, great instructions. It would be great if you could do a detail video on how to get these plastic clips off. They tend to break if you don't get it right.

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

I break a lot of them myself.

[@slapshotny91]

I’m about to do this on my 07 XT Sport, thanks so much for the instructions!

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Glad it helped

[@ThrabenValiant]

How have these held up over the last couple years?

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Very well, I only had water get inside one time because of a modification I made and didn't seal properly.

[@awd4ever]

Great video.

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Thanks

[@joshuagarcia2218]

Got an 05 LL Bean Forester and I really want to put LEDs on them

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

LEDs definitely give you more light on the road.

[@shrimpu]

and will blind everyone and not have the correct beam pattern. It is actually illegal to put LED bulbs in housings that are NOT designed for them (in most states). And there are reasons why. @@DIYEVERYTHING

[@KerryO91]

How long would you say it took you too remove the bumper cover, replace the headlights and button it all back up?

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Less than an hour, even faster without a camera.

[@KerryO91]

@@DIYEVERYTHING Thanks for the super fast reply, greatly appreciated!!!!

[@fxtblues]

Longest speed garage loop ever 😉

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

You say speed garage loop, I say race track pitstop.

[@trleith]

There's two problems with LEDs. 1) The lamp housings are designed to work with halogens that have a filament at just that height and orientation to make a beam with that reflector and that lens. LEDs will be at the wrong place and will make a brighter (maybe) but worse beam. 2) It's illegal modification of the forward lighting system. You can use them in off-road auxiliary lights, but not your highway forward lighting. If your state vehicle safety inspector is on the ball it'll fail; a state trooper could wreck your evening. Any modifications and most/all? retrofits are illegal. I don't think it would be legal to get a Japanese or European spec factory lamp with all the technology, even directly from Subaru, and bolt it on your USA Forester. That one you might get away with because the Subaru logo would be molded in the plastic, and it would presumably work correctly. But technically, no. Those HID kits you see -- illegal. The so-called plug 'n play versions are downright dangerous. It absolutely sucks, but the USA has been the worst about automotive lighting for many decades. In defense of DOT, until self-leveling headlights became reasonable (Xenon projectors are required to have them.) permitting a super bright headlamp was dangerous. You load up your Forester, even a "low beam" goes high due to tail squat. But now that these things are reasonable to make, there's no reason the USA can't catch up. Staying caught up, that'll be the trick. The good news is the infrastructure bill gives DOT an excuse to do it. www.motortrend.com/news/us-headlights-standard-108-update-infrastructure-law/

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Thanks for the info. The good news is that the light pattern is great! The better news is that I only upgraded the high beams which is illegal to have on with oncoming traffic anyway so I'm OK there. The state I live in doesn't care about modifications unless it's a hazard to you or other drivers. Finally, I also don't have any annual vehicle inspection of any sort so I'm good there too. Thanks for watching.

[@alexauma6632]

kindly whats the name of the bulb you removed before replacing new ones.

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

They were a standard halogen bulb. 9005 and 9006 are the bulb numbers for high and low beam.

[@barrythomas6429]

great vid..just a question Seeing that your XT originally had HID low beams, and the replacement lights do not, is there an issue with the original wiring harness in converting to the halogen low beams?

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

The OEM ones were halogen and not hid.

[@barrythomas6429]

@@DIYEVERYTHING really..Maybe it was only RHD XT's that got HID low beams .

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

I think so

[@jerrylee8771]

@@barrythomas6429 I have HID on my 2006 2.5 XT LHD European model.

[@mattcaselles]

No moisture or fogging? The reviews are not good on amazon.

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Haven't had any issues yet.

[@VinzTherailroader]

So thats 300$ for set?

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

amzn.to/4a5Nw1n

[@thomasbrown9402]

This is great! Nice car, good tips, and I can get my step aerobics done at the same time :)

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

Thanks for watching

[@bob5074]

I have basically the same car...08 xt limited...I want these headlights and the sport bumper really bad...

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

I would also like the sport bumper.

[@correct_lee]

Gotta get that sport bumper it loookkss soooo goooodd. Just got mine from the dealer and im getting it painted!!

[@dns938]

Your car doesn't have fog lights, they're driving lights, fog lights are yellow

[@DIYEVERYTHING]

You're correct but if it's any consolation, I tinted the lenses yellow and added yellow LEDs.

[@DanSlotea]

Depends on the country. In Europe fog lights are white