Just finished installing a set of PIAA ion's from safedrive's groupbuy. Fits my recently installed STI HID's very nicely. Although one thing is kinda odd.. but i'll get to that in a second. But first...

HID's with PIAA Ion's

http://yucomputing.com:81/WRX/HID/HIDwithIon.jpg

HID's with OEM Fog

http://yucomputing.com:81/WRX/HID/HIDwithOEM.jpg

Beam Pattern against a fence.. kinda crappy

http://yucomputing.com:81/WRX/HID/BeamPattern.jpg

Beam Pattern on Road.. Now look at the passenger side fog... does it look like a different shade of yellow to you??

http://yucomputing.com:81/WRX/HID/BeamPattern_HID_Ion.jpg

Again

http://yucomputing.com:81/WRX/HID/BeamPattern_HID_Ion2.jpg

Head on Shot

http://yucomputing.com:81/WRX/HID/HeadOnShot.jpg

Let me know what you think...

yea the beam pattern on my STi is crappy too
kinda weird how one fog is more yellow

beam pattern looks fine to me - nice and relatively even, good cutoff...
the piaa color difference.. well that's what you should expect with crappy tuner bulbs.

yeaaaa, i know.. i mainly just wanted to try them out for myself.. anyways, the tuner crowd doesn't go for anything less than 8000K.. So those would almost be the opposite of tuner

Also, i meant the picture sucked, couldn't find a decent wall for the life of me.. but i did spend a good 10 minutes aiming them!

beam pattern looks fine to me - nice and relatively even, good cutoff...
the piaa color difference.. well that's what you should expect with crappy tuner bulbs.
crappy tuner bulbs?i somehow i wouldnt not call piaas that.....granted they arent osram silverstars :rolleyes: or the all weathers ....but they are not crappy tuner bulbs by far...teh problem with yellow bulbs is always matching the color. even the piaa ion crystal driving lights i have are a different color... 520's. i would try sending back the passenger side one...if not make sure it is mounted securely....and its not rotated or something...that pattern sux..

piaa's are widely known to have their filaments moved in order to skew where the light falls on the ground, thus making it appear brighter while not actually providing anymore light - www.danielsternlighting.com

piaa's are widely known to have their filaments moved in order to skew where the light falls on the ground, thus making it appear brighter while not actually providing anymore light - www.danielsternlighting.com
i hate how that site is gospel around here.

i dont know why...i think it is just that when ever anything is questioned about bulbs or lighting that site is reffered to...

can we call this the electrical and danielsterlighting forum?

granted he posts some interesting information on that board....well anyway...get rid of the piaas and get some yellowstars...

yellowstars i can agree with

yeah....sorry about those last posts...i was a bit cranky last night...didnt get much sleep.... :D but yeah i got the yellowstars in the heads, and will be adding them to my 500's here soon :D

so you guys think it's the bulb and not how i installed it or the fog? I mean the install is as simple as it gets.. but that shouldn't cause the difference in color or pattern...

is it possible that your bulb is rotated 180 degrees from where it should be? either that or piaa totally screwed up the coating on one bulb.

off topic, but how in the heck do I adjust the hid's? I just noticed today that my left headlight is higher than the right.

diesel, there's a white hex nut in the back of each light.. from the front of the car, turn to the right to lower, left for up.

THANKS!...i now consider you and jeff headlight gurus. on a side note, I was about to get the same bulbs for my fogs but I was going after the lexus look and for some reason, in the pics, the fog dont look that yellow. maybe how the pics came out? Any insight?

diesel, there's a white hex nut in the back of each light.. from the front of the car, turn to the right to lower, left for up.

and after you've done that do yourself a favor and get the OEM leveling switch if you have a WRX and retrofitted the STI HID headlamps. I did the switch and harness install a couple weeks back in my wife's 04 wagon with STi headlights, and it is great being able to adjust them up and down like that.

they are actually pretty yellow.. my sister has an IS and it's def. not as nice as that, but pretty close. The only thing that is kinda off is the brightness.. yellow is about the same, well, at least the left one... :)

There's definitely something wrong here. I have Ion Crystals in my fogs and they are the same color. From your last picture it appears that either you installed the bulb wrong, your aim is off, there is something wrong with your wiring, or you have a defective bulb. Try swapping bulbs from left to right. If the problem stays on the passenger side, you know it's either your aim or defective wiring. If the problem moves to the drivers side, then you have a bad bulb. If the problem goes away, there was something wrong with the way you installed the bulb.

the lexus IS uses a cap inside the fog to achieve that real yellow look...its not really the bulb by itself...

how did the fog install go on your 05? I want to do mine but I took the foglight cover off and I didnt want to screw anything up. Is it really easy? Any writeups you could link me to?

ha, yea fogs are real easy.. all you gotta do is take off the under carriage protector, like 6 screws and 3 plastic clips, take off the plastic brake duct thingy behind the fogs, 2 plastic clips, and done. Unscrew, replace