sorry if this has already been asked....
everyone says you cant run too high wattage bulbs on stock wiring. i was wondering what exactly will fail and is there a way i can upgrade them without buying a harness kit or relay kit from, say daniel stern? (im a cheap cheap guy). can i do the same thing for my stock foglights?

is there any concern of the lenses melting on the lights if you run higher wattage? i dont know if mine are plastic or glass, i think theyre plastic.

thanks for your help

andrew

It isn't so much the housing or bulb operating temperature itself, it's the current draw. Higher wattage and the bulbs are demanding more of the electrical system. The thing that 'melts' is something in the wiring.

What fails if you hook a garden hose up to a fire hydrant? I dunno, but something's gunna give because the garden hose and fire hydrant aren't made to work together.

the plug itself is what melts...the terminals of the plug, and the plastic around them begin to melt...this makes it harder for the bulb to make contact and hence bulbs blowing out or dimming out.,..

thanks guys

so can i just buy heavier duty plugs and be okay or is a wiring kit the way to go?

Heavier plugs aren't going to solve anything. Look at how spindly the terminals are on the 9007 bulbs. Even if you hooked them up directly to 4 gauge wire, the extra current draw of overwatt bulbs will eventually cook the terminals. One indication that overwatt 9007's are no good is the fact that none of the major bulb manufacturers make the things.

Do yourself a favor and order relay kit RIK-H4R from Daniel Stern. This will effectively turn the 9007-based stock headlights into H4/9003-based headlights. These are designed for the excess current draw and you can go up to 130/100 or higher. Mind you, at that level you may find that the plastic lens becomes a failure point.

Once you install a relay kit, most of your desire for overwatt lamps will disappear. Once the stock lamps (or the Sylvania XtraVisions I'm running) get a dose of clean voltage and current, they actually manage to throw decent amounts of light.

He has a Legacy which IIRC does not use 9007s. Pretty sure they are H4s. The H4 connector and bulb have a much larger contact area and can safely handle at least slightly higher wattage, although the associated wiring may still be somewhat undersized and marginal for any more current than the stock bulbs can draw.
I'm also pretty sure the lenses are glass. Just tap on them and you will be able to tell. However with extended use of high-wattage bulbs there may be some discoloration of the reflector in the lamp housing.
Having said the above, I still wouldn't recommend high-wattage bulbs without at least upgrading the wiring. You'd be better off with decent stock-wattage bulbs that can perform somewhat better than the standard ones. Unfortunately the lighting performance of most such bulbs of the dual-filament type (H4, 9007) isn't that dramatic of an improvment, but at least it will be safe for the lights and wiring.
Finally, the life expectancy of high-wattage bulbs tends to be rather short so you will likely find yourself replaceing them more often than you'd like, and they aren't cheap.

thanks for your help guys, i think im gonna go with a whole other unit with combined fog/driving lights from jcwhitney. that way i can get more lighitng on both low and high beams for a reasonably price and i can stick with cheap stock bulbs.

thanks,
andrew