Poor Lights Forester 2004

[Hiver]

Hello,

I am a new owner of Forester 2004, I misse the gas consuption of
my Civic and the way it feels at high speed but, besides that I love
my new Subaru and don't regret for a second my choice. I am very
anxious to get snow.

I find that the lights are not very bright compared to my Honda. I am
the only one feling this? Any of you changed bulbs in driving or fog
lights?

Thanks in advance.

 

[reality intrudes]

i replaced the headlights on my 1999 Forester with PIAA H4 BULB: 60/55W
Super Xtreme PIA-15760 $69.00 Twin Beam H4 Type Bulb is similar to Super
Plasma, but has Xtreme White Low & Super White High. 60/55w = 135/125w
SAE 4200K low, 3950K high.
was well worth the $70.
kurt

 

[Larry Van Wormer]

I find that the lights are not very bright compared to my Honda. I am
the only one feling this? Any of you changed bulbs in driving or fog
lights?

Have you checked the aim of the headlights? (A friend just got an '04
Forester, and I had occasion to drive it at night. I found the lights to
be very good. you mention fog lamps. Of course, they are not going to
help for normal driving. So, maybe headlight aim? Not knowing what the
latest Civics are like, though, they may still not be as good as that.
Higher wattage bulbs should help, though.)

Larry Van Wormer

 

[Ken Gilbert]

Hello,

I am a new owner of Forester 2004, I misse the gas consuption of
my Civic and the way it feels at high speed but, besides that I love
my new Subaru and don't regret for a second my choice. I am very
anxious to get snow.

I find that the lights are not very bright compared to my Honda. I am
the only one feling this? Any of you changed bulbs in driving or fog
lights?

Thanks in advance.

there's a good deal of voltage drop in the switched-ground system that
subaru uses. for some reason, they use relays to actuate the
headlights, which is good, but they put them in the passenger's
compartment under the glovebox, which is bad (you'd really like to
have the current loop as small as possible to minimize losses in the
cabling).

if you relocate relays to the vicinity of the headlights you can
probably get a half volt or more across the filaments. that's
actually a discernable ammount of light output. you'd have to buy
some relays and connect them to the existing harness, which puts off a
lot of people.

hth
ken

 

[Hiver]

Thanks,

I will take a look for those in Canada.

 

[no way]

Hello,

I am a new owner of Forester 2004, I misse the gas consuption of
my Civic a

my impreza outback gets better milage than my 2000 neon ever did

nd the way it feels at high speed

my subaru is much more stable than any car i have had.


but, besides that I love

my new Subaru and don't regret for a second my choice. I am very
anxious to get snow.

I find that the lights are not very bright compared to my Honda.

my lights are great.
did you buy a subaru? )

 

[Hiver]

I am a new owner of Forester 2004, I misse the gas consuption of

my impreza outback gets better milage than my 2000 neon ever did

I used to do 550 km with my Civic now I do 420 KM with a bigger tank
:-(( I only have 2000 km on it, maybe it is going to get better ???

my subaru is much more stable than any car i have had.

I feel my Forester is better up to 140 but past 160 I like it less. My
Civic felt better past 160. I know the Forester is not a car made for
high speed but the STI was out of my budget.

but, besides that I love
my lights are great.
did you buy a subaru? )

It is what I read on the contract and the logo in front is Subaru logo
)

 

[Hiver]

I find that the lights are not very bright compared to my Honda. I am

if you relocate relays to the vicinity of the headlights you can
probably get a half volt or more across the filaments. that's
actually a discernable ammount of light output. you'd have to buy
some relays and connect them to the existing harness, which puts off a
lot of people.

Yupp!, it would put me off. I do not think I want to go to that mutch
trouble, I will try other bulbs or get used to it.

thanks

 

[Edward Hayes]

The lights on my 2000 Forester are good. Before going to much trouble I
would check that all connections and grounds are good. Check that the bulbs
are getting the full voltage and aimed correctly. Maybe do a comparison with
other Foresters if possible. eddie

 

[H. Whelply]

Your '04 Forester surely is still under warranty. Take it to the dealer. Or
(and perhaps you said it---I don't recall) maybe the dealer already said,
"You're nuts. The lights are fine. That's the way they're supposed to be."

Does modifying the lights, e.g., putting in different bulbs as described in
an earlier post in this thread, affect warranty?

HW

 

[GTT]

Likewise the lights on my 2004 Forester. I was amazed at just how
good they are, and I am comparing them to my daughter's 2002 Honda
Accord (which I always believed had the best headlights I'd ever seen.)

Compare to another Subie if you can. Something must be wrong.