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Subaru B9 Tribeca (B9X)

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Comments

  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    ...but OEM fogs on my cars are pretty much a non-event, they are dismally dim and provide next to no light.

    Then why bother running them all the time?
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    Because it's a clear signal to oncoming traffic that your high beams are off. I'd rather that than being flashed by other drivers telling me to put my low beams on—and yes, my lights are properly aimed.

    Bob
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    Bob - most of us are very cognizant of when the high beams of other vehicles are on or off. Running fog lights when not needed doesn't tell me their high beams are off. It tells me they don't know the proper use of automotive lighting.

    If it's for an additional source of lighting, I have to say that fogs don't add much illumination when it's not foggy out. If one wants more illumination, one should be running driving lights mounted in the same position and only when needed. Lastly, paisan noted that they're weak and don't add much light. To that comment is why I ask why bother.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Cause the OEM headlights I meant to say are not good sources of light. Yes I should mount driving lights, but I haven't done so yet. Forward OEM Fog lights are not an annoyance to other drivers IMHO, Forward DRIVING lights are an annoyance. Generally I will mount 2 Hella 4000s (Big Suckers) with 110w bulbs on a bull bar and wired to my high beams to really supplement my headlights on dark roads. Just haven't gotten around to it yet on my current truck.

    The fogs add a bit of extra light to fill in where the OEM headlights leave off, that's why I usually run them, it also make me more visable to other drivers as well, similar to DRLs.

    -mike
  • morey000morey000 Member Posts: 384
    Scott! You're too cool. What a great mod. Something I really miss coming from my old Chevy Blazer that retained power until you opened the door. Boy I miss that!

    Where can I buy your box and instructions? I'm reasonably handy.

    You might want to post over on ScoobyMods:
    http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=91 (Peaty will be impressed)

    And perhaps over at:
    http://www.sb9t.com/forums/index.php

    I think you'll have yourself a nice little business.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    drop me an email i'd like to include this with our security installs.

    -mike

    email mike at iace.com
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    "It tells me they don't know the proper use of automotive lighting"

    And why is that an issue? It doesn't bother me one bit as to whether people are using their fog lights properly or not. I just don't see this as a big deal. I'm much more concerned about being blinded by oncoming xenon headlights than I am by improperly used fog lights.

    Bob
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    IMHO, use of foglights, driving lights, high beams or rear foglights when not needed is a distraction to other drivers. That's how I feel - it's merely my opinion.

    I was actually rather confused by your response. I still don't see how using foglamps keeps other drivers from flashing their brights. Does that have to do with Xenons?
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I can answer that one - because the fogs go off when you have your brigths on.

    Remember, Bob lives in a pretty rural area with more deer than pedestrians. The roads aren't lit at night so he needs the fogs. I use them whenever I drive to his house.

    -juice
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    That I can understand but fogs don't do a heck of a lot to light up a dark roadway. They're designed to illuminate a short distance down low so you can see under the fog. They do not illuminate a long distance so they are pretty much useless when no fog or snow is present. In reality, foglights are generally useful without any headlights when used in fog or snow. When I turn on the fogs on my Passat I get very little useful light in normal weather. But they shine (pun intended) under proper conditions.

    I drive in rural, dark, wooded areas in NH and ME all the time and know those conditions. Good driving lights (which I've had) or judicious use of high beams will out perform fog lights everytime.

    I have no problem with people using fog lights, driving lights, or high beams - as long as they use them properly.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Next time you're in the DC area, gimme a call. We should get together for lunch or something, but I'll show you my fogs ('98 Forester).

    The lighting improves rather dramatically with them on. For slow speeds, on a curvy country road, they are excellent. In fact the lighting in general for this model and year are quite good.

    My fogs are definitely not useless. They make a noticeable improvement. I can see the divider lines much better, and there's some overlap with the regular beams, maybe on the lower half of the light pattern, but it still helps.

    Useless on a straight autobahn, sure, but on a twisty, dark road with deer, priceless.

    -juice

    Disclaimer: the headlights on Bob's wife's Forester (01 I think) just aren't nearly as good as my '98, nor are my wife's '02 Legacy headlights.
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    For slow speeds...

    And that's when foglights should be used. If you're blazing up the highway at 75 mph, you are out driving your foglights.

    Are yours aftermarket or OEM?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    That the Fogs will burn up those 3M coatings and render your fogs useless! :)

    -mike
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    Ah who cares about the original post? The internet is all about tangents!!

    Who among us hasn't started looking for information on valve stems and not wound up reading the secret KFC recipe?
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    LOL mike, that was hilarious!

    We heard you loud and clear, buddy.

    At high speeds my fogs are off because they actually force you to focus too close in. You need to look farther ahead.

    -juice
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I need to get some Hella 4000s installed on the Ramada!

    -mike
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    Yep, the fogs go on when your low beams go on. So it's easier (for me) to tell when oncoming drivers have have their high or low beams on.

    Again, for me driving with the fogs on has nothing to do with "looking cool." And the last point I want to make is I don't deliberately drive with my fogs on. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. If Subaru had a dash light in the main instrument cluster (not down low on the dashboard), I would certainly pay more attention to it.

    Bob
  • megreyhairmegreyhair Member Posts: 154
    I think this just came out. Got a GOOD rating and the safest SUV out there. That means our insurance on the car should be dropping :)
    http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ratingsbyseries.aspx?id=579
  • megreyhairmegreyhair Member Posts: 154
    I keep getting connection timeout connecting to that site....
    Can you post it here?
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Saw that in another thread.

    Fantastic results. I e-mailed the link to my wife and she said that was the most compelling argument yet in favor of the Tribeca.

    If you look closely, you'll see every single sub-category is rated Good, in every single test.

    Straight As for safety. :shades:

    -juice
  • morey000morey000 Member Posts: 384
    Here's something else that adds to safety. The AWD-VTD system does very well for handling. Watch the comparision with the volvo wagon- wow! (granted, it's a Subaru marketing video)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7dVFY5CxT0
  • rblnrrblnr Member Posts: 124
    Got back-ended/side-swiped while stopped in my Tribeca the other day. Offending car was travelling at good speed, and made contact from the back of my drivers' side to the back seat door. I felt a jolt, but was quickly aware how solid the structure was. The rear-side crumpled (as it should) w/a lot of damage, the back drivers side door is in bad shape, but in the drivers seat I was completely isolated.

    As the tests show, this is a really, really solidly built car.
  • megreyhairmegreyhair Member Posts: 154
    Yeah.. That was me posting in the wrong board by accident...
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    That was a video used in dealer training. It wasn't used as a marketing tool to the general public, i.e. only dealer employees were supposed to see it.

    I'm not surprised it leaked. I'm also not surprised that SoA hasn't tried to stop that leak. ;)

    -juice
  • kmartinkmartin Member Posts: 427
    Glad you are OK...that's the most important thing. Thanks for your testimony... I am definitely filng that one in the back of my noggin.

    -Karen in AZ-
  • scottmcpheescottmcphee Member Posts: 10
    "Where can I buy your box and instructions? I'm reasonably handy."

    Umm.. the moderator deleted my message giving the URL of where to buy because we're not supposed to use this board for selling.

    If you visit legacygt.com board, and search on RRAP you can learn a lot more about this topic.

    Thanks for the interest!
    Scott
  • x5killerx5killer Member Posts: 368
    Where can i get some 3m or other brand film for my B9
    s foglights. i think I asked this already but instead of an answer there was just a whole discussion about driving with your fog lights on or not.
  • terry92270terry92270 Member Posts: 1,247
    Try the 3M website, or a Google search. Track Auto, Pep Boys, or another of the major auto part chains would have it, or be able to order it.
  • megreyhairmegreyhair Member Posts: 154
    Try www.xpel.com
  • mikejlmikejl Member Posts: 78
    I got mine (X-pel brand, 3M film) from drivingcomfort at a substantial discount over the X-pel web site. The fog light pieces are easy to put on. The headlight pieces are rated for experts only.

    I have 40,000 miles on my Tribeca as of this evening. My foglights both cracked within six weeks of when I bought the car and both were replaced under warranty about a month later. That tells me that I applied the X-pel film at about 5,000 miles.

    The film is still as clear as the day I applied it and it has provided complete protection for the fog lights.

    I do not drive with my lights on during the day - that's what DRLs are for - but I always have the fog lights on at night when the low beams are on.

    The X-pel headlight protection film is 40 mils thick. I don't know how that compares to other products, but I can tell you it works as advertised. No cracking, no peeling, no yellowing and most importantly, no broken fog lights.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    How often do you leave your car idling with the lights on? How much night bumper to bumper traffic do you drive in? Just curious because that's when the films will heat up.

    -mike
  • megreyhairmegreyhair Member Posts: 154
    I have it on my 2000 Passat for over 5 years now. It won't turn yellow. However, after awhile, you will see little tiny bubbles between the film and the light service at certain spot where the light concentrate the most, kinda like in the middle of the headlight.

    No big deal. You can only notice it at close distance..
  • mikejlmikejl Member Posts: 78
    I don't leave my car idling with the lights on and the bumper-to-bumper portion of my commute rarely exceeds 20 minutes or so.

    Please don't infer that I doubt anything that's been said in this forum about the film. I don't. But, my experience is what it is.

    There can be many reasons why it is different from others - fog lamp wattage, heat transmission through the lens, film composition or thickness, driving conditions, etc.

    For me, the benefits of having the protective film far outweigh the risk of not having it.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    We all get different results, YMMV as they say.

    When I got my windows tinted everyone told me SolarGard dyed film would go purple.

    9 years later it hasn't. Looks perfect, actually.

    -juice
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I wasn't doubting it at all. I wanted to see what conditions were different than my experience so I could narrow down why mine (and a bunch of folks I know) have had their melt and burn. It's most likely the long idling at the track in the rain/night and the constant BtoB traffic I sit in in NYC that did them in.

    -mike
  • megreyhairmegreyhair Member Posts: 154
    I drove my passat for 5 years in NYC and the film is still on ok. I go out to Tribeca, (not the car ;) every sunday and get stick in traffic trying to get in Holland Tunnel to get back NJ. I have the B9 for over a year and the film is fine. My co-worker has a x3 with HID and his film on the lights is fine.
    The only think I can think of is maybe the film is not the 'thick' 3M film for lights? They do have the thinner ones for body panel, which is ALOT easier to work with being that the lights is so curvy and very hard to put on.
  • morey000morey000 Member Posts: 384
    I am seriously impressed with the range on my 'beca's remote (door locks). From my office door to the far end of the parking lot- which includes trees, humps and *not* a direct line of site to the car I paced off about 150 yards, and the remote door opener works at this range. I've never had a vehicle that could do more than 20 yards or so. Amazing!
  • terry92270terry92270 Member Posts: 1,247
    Mike,

    Any chance its because of the 1000 watt after-market fog lamps you bought? :P
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Any chance its because of the 1000 watt after-market fog lamps you bought?

    Actually the fogs are stock. I rarely ever upgrade the stock bulbs as it's the reflectors you want to upgrade. As I said there are at least 3 others (Nissan Frontier, Dodge Durango, and my Nissan Armada) all had them burn on the fogs due to leaving the fogs on all the time.

    My aftermarket Hella 4000s have plastic covers you leave on until you are ready to run the lights then you remove em, but I've never had those chip at all, even leaving the covers off.

    -mike
  • terry92270terry92270 Member Posts: 1,247
    It was humor..... :(
  • jerrys2jerrys2 Member Posts: 189
    Well, we are back to the "Table of Contents" approach. IMO the Board is much more effective (and fun)with a handful of general topics as in the past.

    There are other Subaru discussion groups out there and after 4 Subarus and many years on Edmunds I am ready to look for a new forum. :mad:

    Jerry
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    We created the Subaru Crew topics for this exact reason.

    The cars all have a lot in common (the H6 is shared with the Outback for instance), and so do the owners. We found a lot of pet owners, Mac users, educators, basically we have a lot in common.

    So come here for the one catch-all topic for Subaru owners:

    ateixeira, "Subaru Crew - Meet The Members II" #27758, 7 Dec 2006 7:09 am

    -juice
  • jerrys2jerrys2 Member Posts: 189
    See you there!

    Jerry
  • kmartinkmartin Member Posts: 427
    We found a lot of pet owners, Mac users, educators, basically we have a lot in common.

    Oh, my gosh...you mean to tell me that on this forum I'm actually considered "normal"???

    -Karen in AZ-
    Mac user, teacher, former pet owner, and Subie nut
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Yes. Welcome home. :D

    -juice
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    ...and they aren't good. :(

    http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/first_drive.php?sid=334&page=1

    Nothing really new here being said, but I suspect the Tribeca will be a much harder sell in Europe than here because of the lack of a diesel.

    Bob
  • tupintupin Member Posts: 71
    Anything that breaks new ground is often subject to ridicule. We all know the looks grow on you. I don't like how that review left out some important stuff...like the sport mode or tiptronic aspect of the transmission. It's funny how the people who don't like the looks really try to not like the whole vehicle.

    It is strange to see the steering wheel on the other side of the vehicle.
  • cluelesspacluelesspa Member Posts: 648
    well it does answer the one question. the tail lights on the Euro model are not clear.

    they do have yellow turn signals (which I prefer to all red). I was following a B9 the other day and its tough at first to tell when she was breaking and when she turned on her turnsignal. both being red in the USA models.
  • ajm831ajm831 Member Posts: 11
    I am interested in buying a 2007(trading in my 2000 outback) but am not interested in xm satelite radio but want sirius instead. Is it possible to have that installed in place of xm without it being an add on with dangling wires? thanks AJM
  • kmartinkmartin Member Posts: 427
    I stayed in a Marriot Hotel in Mesa, AZ, with some friends last year for a conference. We were on the 10th floor, and the car was parked about 100 yards from the hotel's back door in direct sight of my hotel window. I found that I could lock it from there, too. That was kind of fun to show off :-)

    -Karen in AZ-
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