Review : Pro Tuning Lab 1995-2001 Subaru Impreza Projector Headlights
I’ve had these Pro Tuning Lab 1995-2001 Subaru Impreza Projector Headlights installed for nearly a year and a half– as of the date of writing this.
They weren’t as straight forward as they claim to be to get working properly– however, I have the information listed below to get the high beam and low beams functioning as they should. You can decide from there if the extra steps are worth it for you to purchase these.
Step 1: Acquiring the Projector Headlights
For years I lusted over the DIY Projector Retrofits fitted to the first-gen Subaru Imprezas. Not that the OEM headlights were bad, especially with the correct bulb, but the updated looks and additional performance of projectors were definitely a plus.
I’m all about DIY, as that is my main go to when modifying my vehicles– but the cost of the parts alone was enough to make me postpone my retrofitting dreams. Fast forward many years and I decided to revisit this topic– I had more money to spare and the cost of parts drastically reduced. Upon searching for the right parts and spending time nearly memorizing the steps to accomplish the projector retrofit– I stumbled across some some projector headlights that were direct bolt in – and well under $200 for the pair. (That’s both true and not true, but more on that later.)
I placed an order from an Amazon vendor– a couple days later I was notified that they were out of stock with no ETA on when another shipment would arrive. After receiving a refund– this happened again with another Amazon vendor.
Finally, I decided to go straight through the source and try my luck– Pro Tuning Labs.
LINK TO HEADLIGHTS
SKU: LHP-WRX97JM-RS
Regular Price: $235.21
Sale Price: $160.99 (as of the date of writing this July 22, 2022)
After placing an order, I was once again notified that they were not in stock. However, this time I decided to wait it out.
Keep in mind– this is during the Pandemic Shipping Chaos.
I ordered them on November 24, 2020.
I reached out for an update on December 18, 2020– they said that they weren’t in stock with no known arrival date.
However, on March 31, 2021, I received a shipping notification and on April 7, 2021, they arrived on my doorstep.
Was it worth the wait? Yes, yes it was.
But, there’s more to the journey.
Installing the Projector Headlights & How to Get them to function properly
So, it is true that the Projector Headlights did bolt right into my 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5rs – and the wiring harness did in fact plug right into the factory harness. However, they weren’t fully functional, as they should have been. When I plugged the headlights into the harness (its an H1 bulb with a H4 adapter) it was stuck on high beams – no matter the position of the light stalk.
Quick note on how these projector headlights work before I get into the nitty gritty:
There is a single filament bulb that is putting out the same amount of light at all times. The low beam and high beam light outputs are dictated by a shutter that opens and closes to control the amount of light. Low Beam is “closed” position, High Beam is “open” position.
Now back to the process:
No biggie, I thought. At the time I just disconnected the high beam wire. I could hear the shutter close and thus taking the form of low beams.
However, I wasn’t content with that and did want to have fully functional headlights. So, I looked up wiring diagrams, moved pins around in the connector, nothing seemed to fix it. I spoke with Pro Tuning Lab and their thoughts were the same as mine, that the wiring pins were in the incorrect order– which wasn’t the case.
After some trial and error– this is the conclusion that I came to:
The projector headlight wiring setup doesn't allow for proper power management. No matter what wiring combination I tried I was not able to successfully control high & low beams independently, nor have both headlights function correctly at the same time. It was either high beam all the time or functional lows, no high beam– the shutter would activate the high beam but the bulb would turn off.
Those "relays" bridging the high and low beam wiring together appeared to be useless. Inside looked like JB Weld with two wires disappearing into it.
THE SOLUTION
I ended up removing those "relays" so I could have proper low beams (no high beam bulb illumination at this point).
After removing the relays, when flipping from low beams to high, I could hear the shutter flip open but the light would go out since the Impreza’s headlight wiring layout is made for a 2-filament bulb. When the high beam is activated, the low beam turns off. In this case, the high beam wiring triggers the shutter open but then turns off the light since that is activated by the low beam wire.
In my head, the solution was to find a way for both the high & low beams to be on at the same time– but only when triggered by the light stalk.
By doing this, the wiring for the low beam stays activated– which keeps the bulb illuminated. The high beam wiring then flips open the shutter to activate the higher light output.
With this idea in my head– I jumped back online to see if there was a DIY of how to do this before I spend even more time following wiring diagrams.
An of course, RS25 came to my rescue once again! I’ve been a member there since December 2007 (Username : ALL NATURAL), and I owe a lot of my knowledge to that forum.
DIY ON HOW TO MODIFY THE LIGHT SWITCH :
RS25.com : DIY: Low Beams with High Beams
+ Another side effect of this mod is that the fog lights will stay on when the high beams are activated, instead of automatically turning off.
Personally, I’m a fan of this!
The high & low beam positions on the light stalk did swap around– but the high beam light will still activate to let you know when they’re on.
Another side effect– to turn the light completely off, I have to turn the switch to off, then put the stalk in the current high beam position.
If the stalk is in the low beam position, the lights will remain on no matter what.
This isn’t a big deal for me though, and you get in the habit of things very quickly.
I hope this writeup wasn't too confusing and can help some of you with the install process.
You can find me on Instagram, @2.5rallysport if you have any questions!
MY CONCLUSION ON THESE PRO TUNING LAB SUBARU IMPREZA PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS
All in all, even though I had to make modifications in order to get the headlights functioning fully– I still recommend the Pro Tuning Lab 1995-2001 Subaru Impreza Projector Headlights.
1.) They are affordable, but perform very well once setup properly.
2.) They look good (in my opinion).
3.) Modifying the system to work properly is pretty dang easy in my opinion.
The choice is yours- but now you know what to expect!
It did originally take me quite some time to research and test solutions – but that’s why I’m writing this article, so others can get straight to the answer if they have the same issue as me. If I had to install these on another Impreza and make the same modifications – I’m fairly certain I could get it all done in under an hour. It’s that easy once you know the steps.
OPTIONAL MODIFICATIONS TO THE HEADLIGHTS:
I did end up replacing the halogen bulbs that came with the headlights with an LED variant.
I was able to dial in the cutoff lines of the light very easily and have had zero issues with blinding people.
LINK TO THE LED H1 BULBS
I’ve tested out a lot of LED headlight bulbs over the years, and this set is easily among the best of them.
Almost 15,000 reviews with a 4.5 Star average on Amazon.
I also installed LaminX Yellow Headlight & Fog Light Vinyl to give me the look that I was aiming for.
LINK TO LAMIN-X FILM
I highly recommend LAMIN-X. Their products are very durable and top-notch quality!
The set includes film for the Headlight, Corner Lights, and Fog Lights. It is available in multiple colors, clear, and smoked/tinted.
Happy Modifying!
- Ross M Perkins
