Can I just drop LED bulbs into my factory WRX headlights?

Sometimes. A quality LED bulb designed for a projector or reflector housing can work well, but a poorly matched bulb creates glare and a bad beam pattern that blinds oncoming drivers and actually reduces your usable light. If your factory housings are old and hazy, a full LED assembly designed for the beam pattern is often the better upgrade.

What color temperature is best for headlights?

Around 5000–6000K (bright white) offers the best real-world visibility for most drivers. Higher 'blue' color temperatures look flashy but scatter more in rain and fog and give you less usable light. Stick near pure white for the best combination of looks and function.

Are LED headlight upgrades legal?

It varies by region, and enforcement targets glare and beam pattern more than the bulb type itself. A properly aimed assembly with a correct cutoff is far less likely to be an issue than a cheap bulb that throws light everywhere. Always aim your headlights after any lighting change.

How do I find the exact bulb size for my WRX without guessing?

Don't trust a generic year-based chart — bulb type and even connector shape can differ by trim and by which facelift you have. The bulb already in your car has its size code printed on the glass or metal base (pull it and read it, or shine a light in from outside); your owner's manual has a bulb-replacement table in the maintenance section; and any parts-lookup site that takes a VIN will return the exact factory part number for your specific car. Cross-check at least two of those three before you order.

Why did my dash throw a bulb-out warning or my turn signal start hyperflashing after an LED swap?

LED bulbs draw far less current than the halogen or incandescent bulbs they replace, and many WRX generations use load-sensing circuits (mainly on turn signals, sometimes DRLs) that read that current drop as a burned-out bulb. The fix is either a CANbus-ready LED bulb built to mimic the stock load, or an inline load resistor wired in parallel with the bulb. This is a turn-signal/DRL issue far more often than a headlight low/high-beam one, since headlight circuits are rarely load-monitored the same way.

Choosing WRX LED Headlights: Bulbs vs. Housings & Fitment

Factory halogen or aging projector headlights on an older WRX can feel dim and yellow, and hazy housings make it worse. LED upgrades are one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost improvements you can make — if you buy the right kind, for the right housing, on the right generation. This guide covers all three upgrade paths, how to identify what you actually have before you order anything, and points you to new parts on Amazon and used/OEM lighting on eBay Motors.

Three ways to go LED

LED bulb swap. You replace the halogen bulbs with LED bulbs in your existing housings. Cheapest and quickest, but only worth it if the bulb is engineered for your specific housing type (reflector vs. projector) and your housings are still clear — an LED bulb can’t fix a hazy lens, and a bulb built for the wrong housing throws a scattered, unfocused beam.
Housing restoration, then a bulb swap. If your factory housings are only yellowed or hazy on the outside — not cracked, not full of moisture — a polish-and-clear-coat restoration kit can bring the lens back to near-new clarity for a fraction of a full assembly’s cost, and you go into the bulb swap with a clean lens instead of fighting through a foggy one.
Full LED housing assembly. You replace the entire headlight unit with one built for LED output and beam pattern. Most expensive of the three, but it’s the only fix for cracked, waterlogged, or badly pitted housings, and on many WRX generations the aftermarket “sequential” LED assemblies are a genuine visual upgrade over stock.

If your housings are yellowed but structurally sound, try restoration before you spend on a full assembly. If they’re cracked, foggy on the inside, or holding water, skip straight to a full assembly — no amount of polishing fixes a compromised seal.

Find your exact bulb type before you order anything

Don’t guess from a generic “WRX bulb size” chart floating around the internet — bulb type, and sometimes even the connector, can differ by trim, by which mid-generation facelift you have, and by whether your car left the factory with halogen, HID, or LED lighting on that particular trim. Three ways to confirm what you actually have, in order of easiest:

Read the bulb you’re replacing. Pull the old bulb (or shine a flashlight in through the back cover with it still in place) and read the size code printed directly on the glass envelope or metal base. That code is the ground truth for your car, no lookup required.
Check your owner’s manual. Every WRX manual has a bulb-replacement table in the maintenance section listing the correct bulb for each light on your specific trim.
Run a VIN-based parts lookup. Any dealer or aftermarket parts site that accepts a VIN will return the exact factory part number for your car’s headlight bulbs, filtered to your actual build — not just your model year.

Cross-check at least two of the three before you order. It costs five minutes and it’s the difference between a clean fit and a returned box.

Generation fitment: why “it’s a WRX headlight” isn’t specific enough

Headlights are one of the most year-specific parts on the car, because they’re also the part that changes the most every time Subaru refreshes the front end. See the full generations & fitment guide for the complete year-by-chassis breakdown; the headlight-relevant summary:

GD (2002–2007). Three distinct front-end styles in one generation — “Bugeye” (2002–2003), “Blobeye” (2004–2005), and “Hawkeye” (2006–2007) — and the headlight housings are not interchangeable between them. A Bugeye housing will not bolt into a Hawkeye car, styling aside. This is the used-and-restoration market now; the GD-specific eBay button above filters to it.
GR/GV (2008–2014). One consistent front-end design across the generation, sold as both sedan and hatch.
VA (2015–2021). Its own housing design, unique to this generation — don’t shop VB-labeled listings expecting a fit.
VB (2022–present). The current front-end design. New enough that aftermarket full-assembly options are still expanding faster than restoration or used-OEM supply.

The same rule that governs every other part on this car applies here: match the exact year range on the listing to your exact car, not just the “WRX” badge.

What actually matters once you’re shopping

Beam pattern and cutoff. This is everything. A good upgrade lights up the road without blinding oncoming traffic. A bad one scatters glare and gives you less usable light than the factory halogen it replaced.
Color temperature. Aim for ~5000–6000K pure white. Skip the blue-tinted “style” bulbs — they perform worse in rain and fog and don’t actually put more usable light on the road.
Housing type. A bulb engineered for a projector housing will not perform correctly in a reflector housing, and vice versa — this is a bigger factor in beam quality than the bulb’s brand or price.
Aim. Always re-aim after any lighting change, whether it’s a bulb, a housing, or both.

Fog lights and turn signals aren’t the same circuit

A headlight upgrade is a natural time to also touch fog lights and amber turn signals, but treat them as separate decisions:

Fog lights are usually their own bulb size and housing, upgraded the same way (bulb swap vs. full assembly) but shopped separately from the main headlight.
Turn signals on many WRX generations use an amber-tinted bulb in a clear housing, not an amber lens over a white bulb — swap the wrong type and the signal reads dim or the wrong color even though it “fits.”
CANbus load warnings. LED bulbs draw far less current than the incandescent bulbs they replace, and load-sensing circuits (mainly on turn signals, occasionally daytime running lights) can read that drop as a burned-out bulb and throw a dash warning or hyperflash the signal. A CANbus-ready LED bulb or an inline load resistor fixes it. Headlight low/high-beam circuits are rarely monitored this way, so this is almost always a turn-signal issue, not a headlight one.

Troubleshooting a lighting upgrade

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Beam looks scattered, hazy, or unfocused	Bulb type mismatched to housing (reflector bulb in a projector housing or vice versa)	Confirm housing type before rebuying; don’t just try a “brighter” bulb
Oncoming drivers flash you	Beam not aimed after the swap, or wrong bulb geometry shifting the cutoff line	Re-aim immediately; if aiming doesn’t fix it, the bulb geometry is wrong for the housing
Flickering or dash error after an LED swap	Load-sensing circuit reading the LED’s lower current draw as a bad bulb (see above)	CANbus-ready bulb or inline load resistor
Housing looks foggy from the inside	Failed seal letting in moisture, not surface UV oxidation	Full assembly replacement — restoration only fixes exterior haze
One side visibly dimmer than the other	Corroded connector/ground, or two different-generation bulbs installed by a previous owner	Check the connector and confirm both bulbs actually match

How to buy

New LED bulbs and full assemblies: Amazon Automotive — browse the lighting category.
Used, OEM, or generation-specific housings: eBay Motors, via the search buttons above — filtered by generation where fitment is tightest (GD’s three facelifts especially).

Identify your exact bulb and housing type first, match it to your specific generation and facelift, and a WRX lighting upgrade is one of the highest-impact, least-risky changes you can make. Get it backwards — bulb before housing type, generation guessed instead of confirmed — and it’s an expensive box of returns.