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I bought a new Subaru Impreza in 2018, and I was really irritated at how bad the factory headlights were in the late teens. There wasn't even an option to upgra

I bought a new Subaru Impreza in 2018, and I was really irritated at how bad the factory headlights were in the late teens. There wasn't even an option to upgrade the headlights to projectors, the only headlight upgrade available was an LED headlight package that came on a premium trim line. I replaced the weak halogens with LEDs that have an adequate cutoff pattern. I made sure to test it so it wasn't blinding oncoming traffic, but I doubt most drivers are even aware of the concept of headlight cutoff patterns, much less are aware they're adjustable. The reason people buy bright LEDs is because the headlights that come in their car suck. If you want people to stop blinding other drivers, make projector headlights mandatory, and start incentivizing automakers to provide LEDs as an upgrade.

rmcpherson 7y ago
Which headlights did you buy? Asking as a fellow Impreza owner. They really are inadequate.
derekrosemean 7y ago
It's very common, and very fallacious to think that projectors are automatically upgrades over reflectors. It's also very common, and very fallacious to think that a cutoff is the be-all, end-all of a good beam pattern and headlamp performance. The reason people buy "bright" LEDs is they fail to realize that improving headlamp performance doesn't mean throwing random aftermarket parts at the headlamp. The art of car diagnostics has been lost upon the younger generation. Cars come equipped with long-life halogen bulbs; a mere glance at the bulb you pull out a new car will clue you into that fact, because the bulb will have "LL" (long life) or "L+" (life plus) or "L" (life) printed on it. Long life bulbs trade off luminance and brightness for life. The logical upgrade would be getting a bulb that performs the opposite tradeoff--not throwing questionable aftermarket parts at the car and then, without any knowledge or testing equipment, self-certifying that the car still meets federal safety standards. https://imgur.com/Ju1g1eo https://imgur.com/Ju1g1eo

rmcpherson 7y ago

Which headlights did you buy? Asking as a fellow Impreza owner. They really are inadequate.

derekrosemean 7y ago

It's very common, and very fallacious to think that projectors are automatically upgrades over reflectors. It's also very common, and very fallacious to think that a cutoff is the be-all, end-all of a good beam pattern and headlamp performance. The reason people buy "bright" LEDs is they fail to realize that improving headlamp performance doesn't mean throwing random aftermarket parts at the headlamp. The art of car diagnostics has been lost upon the younger generation. Cars come equipped with long-life halogen bulbs; a mere glance at the bulb you pull out a new car will clue you into that fact, because the bulb will have "LL" (long life) or "L+" (life plus) or "L" (life) printed on it. Long life bulbs trade off luminance and brightness for life. The logical upgrade would be getting a bulb that performs the opposite tradeoff--not throwing questionable aftermarket parts at the car and then, without any knowledge or testing equipment, self-certifying that the car still meets federal safety standards. https://imgur.com/Ju1g1eo https://imgur.com/Ju1g1eo