I have a UK STi, and have noticed something about the rear lights on mine that seems different to apparent JDM cars.

Look at the lights below:




See how the inner circle lights are on.. instead of the outer lights (which my UK has?)

I think this way looks much nicer (more like the Evo 8 lights which are awesome)... the brake lights are then using the outside of the cluster as per below:



Is their a legal reason why the UK STi doesnt have this? If you have a JDM... does it have this?

edit: I know this is a US car... but it mentions it as a 'JDM' mod

 

I've often wondered this myself and would be interested to know the reason...?

You can of course swap the bulb & fitting from one to the other (if the wiring will allow enough slack that is).. !

I've actually tried this as I noticed the fittings were the same and wondered what round rear lights would look like (I might add before I realised that JDM scoobs have this setup). My opinion at the time was that I preferred it the way it was, so changed them back. IMHO your brake lights spend more time on so therefore I prefer them to be round IYSWIM..?

 

You have WAY too much spare time!!

But well spotted....

 

Hi mate,
I have a JDM STI. Is the UK model got 280 BHP?

 

yep... waaay too much spare time.

 

ha! a forced week off work because you have to use holiday before you lose it does this to you!!

So am i correct in thinking their would be no legal reason for me not to do this to mine? is it just a case of swapping the wiring looms around?

I didnt look for it.. but i noticed something looked different on this car and he mentioned a 'JDM' tail mod, assuming this is what he meant when i looked at mine and it was different.

I will be admitted to professional help tommorrow probably.

 

Virtually every blobeye on NASIOC has this mod. It's apparently very easy to do, just switch the bulbs, although the loom is a bit tight.

Mines JDM so allready has em like this and it looks way cooler than UK spec

 

My old JDM STi had this.

Agreed it looks much better.

Looks like a set of evil eyes as it disappears into the distance

 

Just swapped mine over but they are not on the far outside like the picture.

My outside one has the rear fog light in and the nearside is blanked off, so it was straight swap from rear lights and brake lights

Also its a bitch due to the length of wire being tight and the connectors are also very tight to put back, simple mod took me 20 minutes
Have cuts to both knuckles of each thumb as well, but at least the light look

 

 

I noticed this at a recent rolling road day, it was one of those things you can't quite put your finger on straight away but knew there was something different.

Be interested to know why they are a different way around.

 

Haha.. was just about to post pretty much the same. Just done mine.. and same thing.. swapped the bulbs Brake Light for Rear Light. Looks much better now.

Can anyone answer the question as to why the JDM has this and the UK doesnt?

 

I can't notice any difference, doh!!

TX.

 

If you look at the pic below you will notice this is a JDM rear light set up... with the circular parts of the rear light cluster lit when the sidelights or main lights are switched on:


The lens the next to them (in the bottom centre section of the cluster) are then the brake lights along with the spoiler centre light.

On a Type UK for some reason these are the other way round.. so the circular sections are the brake lights and the bottom centre light in the cluster is the main light that comes on when you switch your sidelights on.

I think (hence changing mine) that the JDM way looks much nicer.. and its literally just changing the bulb+holder around to achieve this (meaning the brake light is still using the same loom/bulb.. and is also still the brighter light when pressed).

Really silly and sad tbh... but it makes me happier having it done now cos it looks loads better

 

Never noticed this on the 05 jdm sti i have and i can't run behind the car when driving to look

 

I never noticed it either until i was looking through http://www.cardomain.com/ to see what those guys had done with Audio installs / small cosmetic mods and noticed quite a few of them quoted a 'JDM Tail Light Conversation' and posted pics.. didnt know what they meant.. so i went out to my Type UK and noticed that my lights were illuminating differently to theirs and having looked it would appear JDM Imprezas have a different Brake/Main light setup to USDM/UK versions.

Looks nicer with the JDM setup... but im wondering why the UK has different and whether its a legal thing or not? cant really see any difference except shape?

 

I have an MY06 JDM

Must admit have NEVER looked at the rear lights
Toooooooo Busy Hanging on to the wheel at warp speed over the Mountain

And legal as well! what with no upper speed limit here an all BUT common sense has to prevail, 150 plus round corners don't work!!

Ta Ta
Richard
Scooby Island

 

Im no expert and cant remember the requirements but I vaguely remember something about headlight and fog light placement. They have to be set at a certain height and width apart depending on the vehicle width. eg 2 lights next to each other in the middle of the grill would be illegal.

Is it not something to do with the uk law that says the lights have to be within a certain distance from the sides of the car?

 

I thought it would be something like this... but if this was the case, would the JDM Imports not be required to move theirs to the same positions as the standard UK models as a part of the SVA test? (or whatever they go through to ensure they meet UK laws.)

 

No idea, like I said I'm no expert on the matter. I bet there is some stupid law about if the car is designed for the uk market or if it is imported. Who knows?.....

For all we know this is a unique occurance with a car, I can't think of any other car that does this. There can't be that many that come into the uk compared to offical ones. Maybe it has always been assumed that they were the same. Or maybe it is such an obscure law that even the testers dont care.