Improving the Lighting on my 2019 WRX

I recently purchased a WRX base model which has H11 Projector Low Beam Headlamps with 9005 Reflector High Beams. Additionally the vehicle is equipped with H16 Fog lamps. In short, the current output is abysmal. Coming from my VW GLI with auto-leveling HID's to this was a massive step backwards. I am not considering any HID or LED illegal retrofits - now that that is out of the way...

I do an exceptional amount of driving on log roads here in Washington, often at night. Very rarely do I see another vehicle and some of these roads are 10+ miles long, with the full spectrum of terrain; dirt, gravel, asphalt, winding, straight, rolling, etc. I recently picked up a light bar (a metal bar, not an LED bar to spare confusion) to mount on the front of the vehicle and am currently in the process of selecting lamps to populate it with. Photo link: Hotlinked Image Converted to URL.


The bar is advertised to support four lamps and I often see them loaded with Hella 500's which I have used in the past.


What can I do to improve my vehicles OEM lighting and what auxillary lighting recommendations can the forum make?

BrosefStalin2223 said:

I recently purchased a WRX base model which has H11 Projector Low Beam Headlamps with 9005 Reflector High Beams.

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Additionally the vehicle is equipped with H16 Fog lamps.

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Fog lamps are not auxiliary low beams, and so should not figure into your night-driving output needs. Using them when not needed, at non-fog lamp speeds, will reduce your ability to see. They're probably best left *off*; but using them correctly (genuinely thick fog, 25mph or slower) when needed and turning them off when not won't really hurt too much, but they can generate additional glare for other drivers, whether direct or specular (reflected off a wet road).

I am not considering any HID or LED illegal retrofits

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Excellent!

I do an exceptional amount of driving on log roads here in Washington, often at night. Some of these roads are 10+ miles long, with the full spectrum of terrain; dirt, gravel, asphalt, winding, straight, rolling, etc.

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Not too uncommon-- but is this west, east, or in the middle of the Cascades? The inland side of Washington can have some radically different terrain. If you spend much time traversing the mountains or in the coastal side, wide-beamed auxiliary headlamps are better than "pencil" beams, due to the winding roads and the rainforest hiding potential hazards.

I recently picked up a light bar (a metal bar, not an LED bar to spare confusion) to mount on the front of the vehicle and am currently in the process of selecting lamps to populate it with. Photo link: Hotlinked Image Converted to URL.]
This looks like a better solution than some that just use the soft bumper cover or the front plate frame. You will want the auxiliary high beams mounted as high as practicable there; high beams mounted too low don't give you a lot of extra seeing distance. (Whoever owns that vehicle in the picture might see better if they didn't tint their headlamps and windshield like it appears they have done!)

What can I do to improve my vehicles OEM lighting and what auxillary lighting recommendations can the forum make?

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I don't have sufficient data on the headlamps from this model year group to say other than using the best H11 you can get, but for the high beams, installing the HIR1 (9011) bulbs (base trim required) will be an excellent high beam upgrade.

Thanks for that information. To answer your question I live on the Kitsap Peninsula, directly between the Olympic Mountains and Seattle.

Not a clue who's WRX that is, I merely linked to the photo to show what it looks like. It's a stout piece as it bolts to the crash bar behind the bumper cover.

I have had great luck with both Hella 500's and 4000's in the past. If I were to use 4000's in this instance I would be likely selecting "euro beams" due to their advertised cross between a pencil beam and a driving light. Either that or four 500's., perhaps with higher quality bulbs What is the consensus on those lamps these days?

Very good, very inexpensive upgrades for those headlamps: put an H9 (2100 lumens) in place of the H11 (1300 lumens) in the low beam. They are geometrically, electrically, thermally and optically compatible, and the glare control with those projectors is strict enough that you won't cause hazards or problems as long as the lamps are aimed correctly (which is beginning to get possible to bank on; the IIHS headlight tests are putting pressure on car makers to pay attention to this, finally).

High beams: regular or fancy (higher luminance) HIR1 bulbs, base-trimmed as per Alaric's link. 2530 lumens versus 1700 from the original 9005 bulb.

As for aux lamps: if it's a choice between two 4000s or four 500s, I think you'd be better off with the two 4000s. But you could also go the route of putting a pair (or heck, two pair!) of Cibies in housings as per this thread. Good quality relay harness, good quality bulbs, and voila: excellent lighting with easy, affordable lamp unit swap-out in the event of damage. I'd rank the Cibie setup as better than the 500s. Those housings take any standard 5.75" lamp unit, and they don't all necessarily have to be the same on any given install, too.

BrosefStalin2223 said:

Thanks for that information. To answer your question I live on the Kitsap Peninsula, directly between the Olympic Mountains and Seattle.

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You're in the rainforest there, and probably get lots of dense fog (I recall Snohomish got a lot of it, as well as Whidbey Island). All the evergreens, lots of lakes/ponds, and some very low altitudes (including below sea level) might make for some good fog conditions there, too.
When you get fog as thick and as frequently as I'm remembering, auxiliary high beams will need to be off and you may want to get a rear fog lamp.

Not a clue who's WRX that is, I merely linked to the photo to show what it looks like. It's a stout piece as it bolts to the crash bar behind the bumper cover.

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I figured it wasn't yours, and that it was just to show how it would look.

If I were to use 4000's in this instance I would be likely selecting "euro beams" due to their advertised cross between a pencil beam and a driving light.

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Or you could do one pencil beam on the driver's side and a wide beam on the passenger side.

A friend of mine, acting on my suggestion, has a single selective yellow auxiliary high beam on his RX300, using a 100W H3. It provides quite a wide beam and some punch, but few lamps are large enough to use a 100W bulb effectively-- the oversize filament is not as easily focused on with a smaller lamp. Tasked with the installation and trusted to make good choices, I almost went with centering it but instead put it over to the left side so that way if he wants to add the second one it can be symmetric.


He also now has an LED auxiliary reversing lamp (set to come on automatically when reversing) and an LED rear fog lamp (sharing the DPDT switch so the with the auxiliary high beam so the functions are mutually exclusive not just in theory but in actual design).

I'll have to start a thread on the rear lighting someday, but I'm not extremely proud of the total installation-- like the auxiliary high beam, the rear fog lamp needs to be on a latching relay. I set it all up for him on the honor system just to get him started quickly (wanting the high beam for an upcoming float trip), and didn't have the best parts on hand. I also really need to remount the lamp such that it connects to the impact bar of the bumper-- right now it's just passing the bolt through a hole in the bumper cover and using square stock on the inside to stabilize it. It has a bit of jitter from vibration.

Schedules being what they are, it's hard to find a good time to go back and finish it correctly. The winter weather also interferes with the desire to work on it, and he might need its AWD and winter tire combination *any day now*.

I did take a few pictures while working on it, so I can still get something going at least for the physical installation of the lamps.

Also, yes, he and I both know the factory headlamps are *done*. Particularly that right side lamp.