Nordic members: winter driving lights

[James in Västerbotten]

Hello everyone.

Since joining the forum and buying our MY2019 Levorg we have moved from the city to the countryside. We now live about 20km from the nearest highway down a sparsely populated gravel road. It's forested and there are a lot of moose around. Since we're around 64°N, in a couple of months it will be dark for twenty hours a day.

I've seen a lot of Subaru XV, Forester and Outbacks with aftermarket winter driving lights, but Impreza and Levorg are less common. Hella 3000 and Bosch Rallye seem to be very popular on those bigger cars, but I haven't seen any of these larger round "old-style" rally lamps on the lower nose of the Levorg.

I'm coming round to the opinion that round lamps look better, but LED lightbars are lower profile and getting better and better.

What are your thoughts and experiences? What have other Nordic members of the forum in similar situations to us done with their cars?

 

[ToxyRocker]

I don't like the look of extra lights but wanted more light in the winter months here in sweden. So i comprimised and got a led lightbar and hid it in the airvent under the licence plate. it's barly notiseble and works good enough for me.

 

[James in Västerbotten]

I don't like the look of extra lights but wanted more light in the winter months here in sweden. So i comprimised and got a led lightbar and hid it in the airvent under the licence plate. it's barly notiseble and works good enough for me.

You’re right - I had seen photos of your car in other threads and assumed you hadn’t got any lights. I know you have done some electrical work yourself installing the backup camera cleaner, so I presume you did this yourself. Is it easy to do if you’ve never done any auto electrics yourself? And which brand of lamp and mounting did you go with?

 

[ToxyRocker]

I have a few things I haven't posted about yet.
The Lightbar is one of them.
The mounts I made myself and drilled holes in the crashbar to mount it. I have a few pics of it.
There are some premade mounts that you put in the same holes as the license plate. But those aren't as stealthy.
The wireing is fairly easy. Just 3 wires and a relay. 12v, ground and signal.
12v you connect to the battery with a fuse in-between.
Ground to any part of the chassis.
Signal you tap in to the highbeem. That way every time you turn on highbeem the Lightbar also turns on. There is an easy accessable wire to do that.
My lightbar came with a wire kit that was ready to mount.

 

[James in Västerbotten]

I have a few things I haven't posted about yet.
The Lightbar is one of them.
The mounts I made myself and drilled holes in the crashbar to mount it. I have a few pics of it.
There are some premade mounts that you put in the same holes as the license plate. But those aren't as stealthy.
The wireing is fairly easy. Just 3 wires and a relay. 12v, ground and signal.
12v you connect to the battery with a fuse in-between.
Ground to any part of the chassis.
Signal you tap in to the highbeem. That way every time you turn on highbeem the Lightbar also turns on. There is an easy accessable wire to do that.
My lightbar came with a wire kit that was ready to mount.

Thanks! This is absolutely the kind of job I should be able to do myself, but am too scared to get it wrong.

Did you go for a premium brand for the lightbar, or was it a no-name Biltema (or similar) item?

 

[ToxyRocker]

It was one recommend by my local subaru dealer.
They also supplied the wireing for it.

 

[James in Västerbotten]

Still considering my options here, and made aware of the rally light nudge bars made by SSD in Lincoln, Missouri. They retail for USD199, but shipping and import taxes to Sweden will make it quite expensive. However, they have a really neat and strong bar that mounts to the crash bar. Only detail to consider is that the lower grille on the Levorg fascia is different from the US-market Impreza and XV, so they are a little unsure about how the US-market nudge bar would fit through the Levorg's grille.

The license plate panel is completely flat, so a Euro plate could be attached on top of it. Unfortunately (on first inquiry) Trafikverket will not permit me to change to the smaller 300x111mm "US-skyllt" plate which is allowed on certain vehicles. Fitting new accessories to a car does not count as reason to reduce the size of a registration plate.

 

[nicodache]

and fitting the regular EU plate on the light bar plate support isn't something you're considering, I guess

[edit]and mounting winter lights "Hella-style", behind the grille ? or remove the plastic around the turn signals and fit a couple of lights there ?

 

[robo498]

Great job, the lights look awesome! And don't stand out, but ready you need them!

 

[James in Västerbotten]

Just to update the thread, the SSD Performance bar is on order and making it’s way from Missouri to Sweden.

Next I need to choose some lamps. Norrlanders like to fit three big lamps on their cars: two wide beams and one longer “pencil” beam. However the SSD bar has four evenly spaced mounts, so if I can stomach the cost I’m thinking of going for two of each but in a smaller size.

The NBB Alpha 175 LED is currently the front runner, smaller but a bit cheaper than the more popular Alpha 225 (both numbers refer to the physical diameter of the lamps). I want to cut out some cardboard and see how 4 x 175mm lamps look before I order.

 

[James in Västerbotten]

A further question, ahead of this weekend's (planned) installation: does the Levorg have positive-current or negative-current beams?

Thanks

 

[James in Västerbotten]

Spent the weekend in the shop assembling the hardware for the lamps. It took about a month, and a hefty customs duty invoice, but here is the bar as ordered from SSD Performance. The product is designed for US-spec cars, so comes with a license plate mount dimensioned for a US plate.



Removing the bumper was a little unnerving at first, but it came off without too much fuss. Two of the annoying plastic pop fasteners broke, so I will need to get replacements eventually.



The good news is that the Levorg has an identical or similar impact beam to the US-market WRX/Impreza for which it was designed. Installation requires boring out two existing holes, which I then spray-painted (red-brown colour) to protect against rust. Two hefty plates hang off the front of the bar, held in place by 1/4" bolts. Loosely fitting the bar now allowed me to check it was level, before tightening the bolts holding the two plates to the impact beam.




I had to remove two of the vertical plastic fins above the chrome strip in the lower grille.



The (almost) finished product. I drilled two new holes in the US license plate panel to fit the Euro plate to it. It now overhangs the bottom and the sides of the metal plate. The bottom of the license plate is just above the bottom of the bumper. In time, I may try to get into the metal shop and cut and bend a new registration plate panel which provides a steel backing to the whole Euro plate. I had to slightly reposition the socket for the dealer-installed block heater. It now sits neatly on the right-hand side of the lower grille, angled upwards so that the cable can be plugged in over the top of the bar.





I looked at the wiring but it is beyond my abilities, so I will be getting some help from someone more experienced than me later in the week.

 

[nicodache]

That looks hot AF

 

[James in Västerbotten]

Some further updates.

Firstly I didn't think my car had headlight washers, so when I neglected to remove the headlight washer caps before I removed the bumper. They fall off in the process, but when I came to put them back I assumed I had broken them, so taped them back on while waiting for a more permanent solution. Today I used the washer while driving to town, and lo and behold one of them flew off into the dark Swedish night, and is probably crushed by the plough or buried in a snowbank. The other, luckily, remained attached to the bumper with the remaining tape.

So I need to replace left (as you drive) headlight washer cover, in black.

Secondly, since I am likely to drive this car in countries other than Sweden where 17,000 lumen of full-beam is undesirable (or illegal) I want to wire them in so that I have an auxiliary on/off switch in the cabin to de-activate the circuit to the driving lamps when they're not required.

To the left of the steering wheel (LHD car) there is a panel with a control for instrument brightness and a button for "Vehicle Dynamics Control OFF". To the left of both of these, not numbered in the diagram below, is a blank switch panel. Does anyone know the part number for an appropriate push-button on/off switch that could fit here? A US website has 83002FL03A for the Impreza which might be suitable. Any recommendations? The goal is an OEM-appearance push-button switch that matches the rest of the interior.



Thanks for any tips!

 

[James in Västerbotten]

Summertime updates. The SSD Performance Light Bar comes with a US-dimensioned backing plate for the reg plate. The 520x120mm European plate and its plastic holder overhung this backing plate. As a result I lost one driving in deep snow back in the winter, and two weeks ago broke another plastic plate holder when the ruts in the middle of our unmade road started the drag the bottom of the plate.

Transportstyrelsen reviewed my plea, and granted exceptional permission to replace the Euro plate with a smaller 300x110mm "US" plate (normally reserved for vehicles imported from North America). It's not a true US-plate dimension, perhaps closer to the Australian 372x135mm. Anyway, it fits more snugly against the steel backing plate, which itself hangs from the bolts holding the two central driving lamps.



Regarding the front wing - yes, it's dented, but luckily the paint hasn't been broken. Hoping it can be tapped back into shape, but the insurer suggests it'll be easier to remove the lightbar, fender and wing for a wholesale replacement.

 

[nicodache]

That's still hot AF

 

[Virgonaut]

Hello!
I've bought Hella Black Magic 20" light bar.

Do any of you have any suggestions how to connect such thing to Levorg? Is this possible to connect somehow to high beams? Using relay or something? Diagrams would be much appreciated!

Edit:
Sorry for digging old topic but it seems to be the best place to ask. I didn't notice it's already over one year old...

 

[James in Västerbotten]

No worries, welcome to the forum.

Here in northern Sweden, where everyone has a light bar or extra lamps hooked up the high beam, you can buy complete wiring kits. For example, the selection from the Mekonomen chain of auto parts stores:

Sökresultat för: 'Ledningssats'

Mekonomen.se

www.mekonomen.se

You need to wire into a) the battery and b) the high beam signal wire. Please don’t ask for details because I paid an expert to do it. But I’ve long meant to go back and add an extra switch to the panel on the drivers door side of the dashboard to isolate the extra lamps from the high beam circuit (for summer time, for example, when regular high beam might be useful for signalling to other drivers). Note: wiring in extra lamps can screw with the auto high beam feature on the Levorg… my high beams are now so bright they can reflect offroad signs and fool the EyeSight system into thinking another car is approaching.

 

[luke_84]

I'd just be careful not to block too much of the front of the vehicle, that is where the air must enter to cool the radiator and A/C condenser.

 

[Virgonaut]

@James in Västerbotten Thanks for the link and additional details! Didn't know about existance of such kits.

@luke_84 Yes I know, thank you! I have one idea but I'll need to test it out

Edit: Here is thread showing how I installed this.