Can somebody help me? I have a 97R Facelift Impreza and I want to change my headlights from Frosted to Crystal/Jewel like on the last of the classic shape(98-00 I think). I have been told that this is possible by some and not by others, they appear to be identical in shape and would really appreciate your feedback

 

afaik they are the same! i was looking at doing the same but ended up getting morretes!!!
steve

 

Cheers,
Thought so but 2 different Subaru dealers said they were different, yet the very friendly people at www.scoobysport.co.uk said that they'd fit....

 

they are the same so it's just a straight swap over.

 

But unless you can source some from a breaker, or seconhand, you'll pay as much as for Morettes for half the light output!:
Alcazar

 

Does anyone on your side of the pond do this - on a vehicle with factory-original headlights, mask the lights with black plastic that has two holes to make it look like the vehicle has small quad lights. That is to say, cover approximately 75% of the headlight lens, leaving open only two small sections.

I see this on a lot of little "rice" cars, but it looks really funny on something like a big Ford F150 pickup truck. I don't know what's left of the useable beam pattern, but thes I suppose these vehicles never stray too far from the lit city streets.

TL

 

Yep, seen it done, also with masking, and sprayed black/car colour!!
Seems daft to me, unless, as you say, they never really need their lights. After all, the Scoob lights are sooooooo good, aren't they??
Alcazar

 

The lights on my 98 Outback have a beam pattern similar to the CIBIE and hella conversions I used to run in other cars. It's the beam pattern used in Europe, with the sharp cutoff.

You don't realize how BAD the US lights used to be! They would give a little warm amber spot of light, like a bicycle headlight, in the middle of a dim yellow bar of light.

Imagine a beam pattern something like this

====( )====

I would replace these with, say, a CIBIE 7" round (imagine those in my '73 Hornet or '75 Buick Regal) and then have decent lighting. Before halogen lights were common here, people thought I had the high beams on just because the light was white, not yellow.

Now people here are installing brighter bulbs with varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, others are placing dark-tinted plastic covers over their lights.

And everyone must, Must, MUST have their fog lights on at all times. Ah, all the wasted alternator load...