I've been driving round this winter and the normal headlights on my Wrx are cack.

I've had company cars and xenons for the past ten years and the headlights were so much better.

I've seen JDM blob headlights are hid as standard, so nice easy swap, plug and play. Are they going to be that much better? 350quid better?

Or do I spend 20quid on decent bulbs and just accept they are what they are?

I've looked about at some of the hid kits, but they don't seem to be plug and play, most list "modifications" required.

 

I had the same dilemma as you when I brought my STI last may, My everyday car and previous two have had xenons and you kind of get used to them, the STI standard lights seemed naff in comparison plus I don't like the yellow wee stain look of standard lights

I sourced a set of JDM HID Lights for my Blobeye and was lucky enough that the previous owner had gone to the effort of making a custom loom to make them as plug and play as possible into a none JDM car.

The problem is there is no power to the ballasts in a standard loom.

I am trying to remember the loom setup, It has two relays (One per headlight, he said he had done it just in case one fails you don't loose both lights) which connect directly to the battery terminal and he outputs to each ballast, He had even got all the correct plugs, which I think most breakers leave on when cutting from loom.

The inputs were wired into the plug and connected to the plug that would normally go into back of standard headlight so when you put lights on you switch the relay and ballasts get power.

The other side headlight lead was taped off as no longer in use. Other than neatly hiding the wiring, connecting to ground on each side and locating the relays it was a straight swap.

 

As above: either get some GENUINE JDM lights, or put uprated bulbs in and live with it.

Or...you COULD go the projector route?

 

Projector route? Is it worth it? How much?

 

I've only ever done it on a classic, have a look here: https://www.scoobynet.com/technical-...mpler-way.html

Cost at that time was around £200 not inc the crystal lights if you didn't already have them. I didn't, and mine came from ebay, genuine ones with electrical load compensation, for around £80.

2003 WRX? Is that a Bugeye then?

If so, it will use a standard H4 bulb, the projectors I used went easily in place of an H4 bulb, but you DO need to split the light unit.

 

Its an early blob eye.

HB3 for low beam, H1 for high.

At that price, mite as well try and get some JDM Hid units.

 

Are there any mot restrictions for retro fitting HIDs?? Its something I've considered for a while for my blob.

 

TBH, the single filament bulbs usually convert well to HID, with decent beam pattern and cutoff.

It's the twin filament bulbs like H4 that cause problems: it's impossible to get the focus right

If buying HID aftermarket kits, look out for:

DO buy decent kit, branded if you can.

DO NOT buy cheap Eastern European or far eastern stuff, cheap is NOT cheerful.
DO NOT go above 5000K for colour temperature. Many people wrongly think that a higher colour temp means a higher light output. In fact, it's the reverse: 4300K is OE, 5000K is near enough.
Above 6000K will attract unwelcome attention

As far as the MoT is concerned, they look for beam pattern and cutoff, plus alignment. Get those three right, you'll be fine.
There is NO requirement to fit, or have fitted, self-levelling or headlamp washers. But IF FITTED THEY MUST WORK PROPERLY.
They talked about matching bulbs to reflectors, but the legislation seems to have stopped short of that, there is no mention...and trust me, I've looked.

 

I was under the impression that it was an MOT failure to have HID's without headlight washers, but if thats not the case then I will look into doing a HID conversion on my Blobeye too.

 

I remember hearing something like that before, but thinking about it Ive had two cars with hid/xenons and neither had washers

 

Not an MoT fail.
What IS a fail is if it has the washers/levelling and they aren't working.

 

So can you just buy the JDM headlights and use them on a UK spec sti or do they need to be modified to work?

 

See post #2 mate.


Basically you just need to obtain power to the ballasts as that is the only part not in a UK loom.

 

Ok thanks mate. Think il just see about getting projectors fitted instead

 

Did u get projectors fitted in the end?