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05 specd projector headlight leveling?

19K views 13 replies 3 participants last post by  swartzsubaru 
#1 ·
How does one go about adjusting headlight aim on 05 specd projector headlights?
 
#3 ·
There are 2 screws on the back of the housing. One is for up and down the other is for side to side. Get a friend who has projectors to pull up to a wall or garage door to see where they should hit. Make yours match. Do them one at a time by putting a cloth over one. Be careful adjusting side to side too far will make the light turn off. Just back it off and it will come right back on. Swap out the bulbs with PIAA night tech bulbs. DO NOT PUT HID BULBS in these lights! Even if you get a conversion kit. The housing just can't take the heat.

Ignore all the "rice" talk. They are the best looking cheapest alternative to stock I have ever seen. And I've been looking for 10 years.

Ever since a crappy body shop cleaned off over spray on my lenses with turpentine thinking they were glass. Then they claimed It was like that when it came in. Yea,right. The car was a month old and had 1200 miles on it. So I've been polishing them for 10 years every 6 months looking for an acceptable replacement.

Stock replacement was around 7 to 9 hundred bucks. JDM lights were 1200 to 1400. no way I could afford that. I wanted projector I was tired of polishing my lights every 6 mo. So I got the spec-D lights. What can I say? Everything brfatal said is true if not rude and uncalled for.

You get what you pay for. But they work, they look great and the price is right. Some of us don't have a money tree growing out of our butt and don't have a choice.

If your worried about the "rice" factor just don't plug in the halo and the LEDs. Or wire them to come on when the daytime running lights are supposed to come on.
 
#4 ·
Actually, in your case these (click) are the best looking and the work identically "well" (meaning they are no worse) as stock and they are half the price as the Spec D. A set of JDMs can be had for $500 all day long. Spec Ds are the Subaru equivalent of these:



His is not a bugeye though. My main point though was that they they don't work very well at all and that he should return them while he still can because of it. A set of OEM replacements can be had for basically what he paid for these in the 1st place.
 
#5 ·
Wow! those Honda lights are the ugliest lights I've ever seen. I still think the spec-Ds are far better looking than that.

I know he doesn't have a bug eye. Before I answered his question I looked up the Spec-D lights for the 04-05. They still look great!

The lights you suggested for me probably work better but they aren't projector. I'm also not sure they are JDM. I've never seen a JDM bugeye without projectors. Yet that doesn't mean they don't exist. And I don't think they look as good. I've seen way worse.

What I really wanted was the JDM 02-03 WRX/STI bugeye projectors with all the servos and knob for aiming them from inside the car. I have a weird phobia against E-bay and I haven't found them any where in my price range. 500$ or less. If you can find them please point me in the right direction. Also, don't true JDM projectors need some kind of mod to make them so they don't aim at on coming traffic in the left lane?

The light pattern on the spec-Ds are bad true enough. However, the OP asked how to adjust the spec-D lights not a subjective opinion on them. But I did in another post. So I deserve this trash talk, not the OP.
 
#8 ·
As previously stated, these are NOT HID compatible headlights. They use cheap halogen optics. That kit needs to be removed ASAP as you're only making the problem with these worse. I'll see if I can dig up the pictures someone posted of these with HIDs. It looks awful.
 
#7 ·
let me know if they melt anything. Some people confuse HID with projector. They are not the same. I'm told you are not to run HIDs in these lights no matter what kit is installed. Also HIDs won't last too long if allowed to work as day time running lights. I'm not thinking of converting them to HIDs. I'm just curious.
 
#11 ·
I gotta admit I have no idea. What does a ballast do? I really don't know much about HIDs except they blind other cars, they run hot and they burn out fast if used as DRLs
 
#12 ·
Ballasts basically regulate and control the voltage going to the bulb. HIDs have a high draw during warm up (more so than halogens, and this can burn up the wiring harness) and then reduced voltage when they are at operating temperature.

OP, my original suggestion as an informed opinion still stands. Blue is the worst color for HIDs due to the short wave length on that end of the visible light spectrum. Blue is the quickest to scatter. This means you'll see less contrast, get range, and you're getting less usable light (the human eye has evolved to best utilize off-yellow light and the bulbs put out less light at that temp compared to lower ones). Again, these are not HID optics in these lights. That package deal is a scam. HIDs don't fit into the housings the same way as halogens. The light source is in a different location in the assembly and the light is emitted in a different pattern from the bulb. It's basically the same as moving a mirror in a telescope. You're gonna get hot and cold spots in the output (you can see them in the pics I posted), a poor cut-off, and lots of glare that should not be there.

FYI, there are a set of '05 STI HID headlights (just the housings, no harness or bulbs and ballasts) for $250 on IWSTI right now.
 
#14 ·
I agree they don't have the same light output that my stocks did with all Philips ultra white crystal visions. Problem was, I had my old lenses tinted. The bulbs ran too hot and burnt the tint making it even harder to see. When I removed the tint it left burnt adhesive all over the lenses. I decided to change the look due to the loss of the tint to keep everything black. These were my favorite I could find. Id love them to be brighter but I'm realising that may not be possible. I don't have the money right now to replace them or toss them. The old housings had broken pieces and couldn't be aimed properly either so going back to them is no longer an option either. Basically I got the look I wanted with less light output than expected. I suppose lesson learned. This is what I have now and will make the best of it. The most I could do at this point is possibly change out the blue bulbs and level everything.
 
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