i'm gonna be buying some hellas for my 03 wrx in the next few weeks, first off i do about 90% country driving and the rest is highway and city driving, i cant decide if i want to get driving lights or yellow fogs, are the fogs even gonna be any better than what i've got now? how about the driving lights, if i do run the driving lights i'd wire them to come on with my hi beams and off with the lows, just lookin for a bit of advice help me out, which is better the 500's in the driving beam or the 1000's???


thanks

The FF1000s are a far superior lamp to the 500s. If you really do alot of country driving without much or any oncoming traffic I would get the FF1000s. You should not ever use them around traffic though.

An aftermarket fog will help some, but not in the way that you really need it to (lighting up the road far infront of you).

Go for some driving lights. The 500's are decent lights that don't cost a ton, but put some 100W bulbs in them. I've used them on a couple of my cars in the past & been happy with them. I've also have Hella 4000's, on my truck & my OBS they are far superior to the 500's, but come at a heavy price premiuim. I'd say the 500's should be adequate for most uses, I only put the 4000's on my OBS because they happened to be sitting in my garage & the are nice for doing night Rallies. ;-)

Fogs will help in bad weather, or on tight twisty roads when you need more lighting on the side to help in corners, but they won't get you any more distance.

I personally like to have Fogs, Highs & driving on all at once in my cars (when no one is around of course) to give the full range, of distance, midrange & the up close/corning light.

What ever you decide on the most important part is aiming them correctly.

either way i'll be upgrading/making my own harness and running 100w bulbs, the wrx package for the ff1000's is only $150 for the kit(brackets and wiring), i didn't think that was too bad :confused:

If you have the money, there is no choice. FF1000's. The light output doesn't even compare to the 500's. I have both on different cars.

Definitely spring for the 100 or 130 w bulbs. The harness that comes with the light kit is very high quality and is good to 130w. No real need to "upgrade" as the wire guage is very good and they are coated with a nice soft silicone type of cover. Not the cheapy vinyl plastic stuff you normally see. Also get the clear acrylic covers so that you can use them at any time without having to take the covers off.

My FF1000's with the acrylic clear covers>

http://www.frustmag.com/car_pics_for_web/hella3%252f4.JPG

http://www.frustmag.com/car_pics_for_web/hella_closeup.JPG

FF1000s all the way!

RR:D

Get both. :lol: Well, i got both. The Hella 500 driving lamps project more of a spotlight kind of pattern (nice circular and well defined), the Hella FF1000's are a tad more oblong (it's the only word i can really describe it with).

If you need to to ever deal with tight corners though, i highly recommend having some foglamps on your car since they throw light in a 170degree arc. Hella500 foglamps are better than the OEM foglamps.

That's it, i'm going to go take some pics... Be back in a bit...

I'm back. Here's some options:

Hella 500 Driving Lamps are projecting the two center round beams, Hella FF1000 Driving Lamps are projecting the two outer oblong beams. I have the FF1000's pointed to the side and slightly slanted. I find they work well to supplement the two center beams when set like that. My headlamps and foglamps are not turned on in the picture. To me it seems the level of light between the 500s and the FF1000s are about the same, except that the FF1000's are able to throw a bigger pattern covering more area while still remaining just as bright.
http://www.wrxfanatics.com/uploads/post-10-1111211867.jpg

Here's a closeup of just my headlamps and foglamps (Hella 500 Clear Foglamps with 55w H3 Yellowstar bulbs). The picture shows you just how wide the lighting arc is with the foglamps.
http://www.wrxfanatics.com/uploads/post-10-1111212112.jpg

woah hey thanks for all the pics guys, i think i've made up my mind and i'm just gonna go with the FF1000's, it seems bigger is better and those are the ticket, i'll be sure to post up pics once i get them installed, btw what bulbs are you guys runnin in your 1000's they look "hella" bright

I buy all my Hella products from www.rallylights.com

I'm just using the normal hella halogen 100w bulbs. Nothing special and more than adequate.

thats where i was planning on purchasing them from, thanks for your help fellas

I've got the "plain" 55w bulbs. With good wiring they'll be brighter than your highbeams.

Oh yeah, +1 for www.rallylights.com