'96 Tacoma Headlight Upgrades

I was thinking of upgrading the headlights on my new Tacoma. It's a '96 so it has the older square lights.

Are these any good? http://www.ilovebodykits.com/product/145367/4_X_6_Projector_Headlights.html

What about converting to the newer style grille and headlight combo?

 

http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=744

If you are looking for light output only, buy these and upgrade the bulbs and wiring harness. I had them on two previous trucks and really wish I could get a set to fit my current truck. I had 80/100watt bulbs and a custom harness I put together to handle the extra amp draw. As long as they were aimed right, no one ever flashed me, and they made the extra 130W off road lights I had completely unnecessary.

A buddy has them on a Jeep he owns. Even with a lift and 90/100watt bulbs he has no problems with glare for oncoming traffic.

As far as style....that's your call. I know the newer factory lights don't have the potential for good output that you have now with your current setup.

BTW-Your link says 4x6 size lights. I am ALMOST certain that you want 5x7 size. Also known as 200mm. Fits all square headlight Tacos up till 97 I believe. Double check me, but I used to sell auto parts and I have a pretty good memory.

Some will chime in and recommend HIDs. I don't know much about those, but the quality seems to be hit and miss. For the price, hard to go wrong with the Hella conversions. You can have the lights, upgraded bulbs, and harness for under 200 bucks and they should be reliable for you. I did seem to burn out the 80W low beams fairly frequently. You can also get a 55W (stock wattage) low beam that will still put out ridiculous light compared to what you have now. Technically not street legal, but neither are HIDs.

 

x2! I ran a set of these on my '92 Pickup, and loved them - Highly recommended!

 

Great! I like the look of the newer lights, but I thought I would get better performance from the sealed beam style.

Did you buy their wiring upgrade or make one? I see they offer two wiring upgrades, one with separate relays. Sky's the limit with new separate Bosch style relays...

 

I made my harness. I used twelve gauge wire from the battery, to each relay (high/low), then twelve gauge out to the lights and back to ground. The only issue I had is I could not find h4 plugs with 12 gauge wire leads. So the last couple of inches of wire is 14 gauge at the lights. That isn't a problem, I just was going for minimum voltage drop at the lights. Ran the truck for six years like that with no issues.

There are cheaper harnesses out there. My buddy has one on his Jeep that was around 30 bucks. It's been fine, no failures. Check Summit and Jegs and see if they have one and what they want for it. There may be a vendor on Tacoma World that carries them too, not sure.

If you do it, be sure you get the correct harness for a Toyota. I think the first gen Taco is negatively switched, the second gen is positive (normal).

 

Or if you don't want to drop the coin for the hella setup Amazon has the silverstar's for $18 a piece. Much better than the stock factory headlights.

 

Or the ones Round Eyes makes
edit: heres the link http://www.roundeyes.com/Toyota_Headlamps-Rectangular_Toyota_Conversion_Headlamps.html

 

I was happy with stock wattage bulbs on stock wiring. The "lenses" provided a very nice upgrade over stock headlights.

 

This is a good point. Might be best to just stay with the stock wattage at first. You might not even want more at that point. I was happy with the low beam especially. But if you ever do want more, I'm telling you the first time I tried the 100w high beams I was like: "damn!"

 

I live in the mountains and BRIGHT lights is a must. My wife's Scion Xb has the best headlights I've ever seen. I had originally thought HID, but you guys are making some good arguments. $110 for a pair of good lights, plus $35-$100 for wiring.

I would like to run a good reverse light too. Like these which I have mounted on customer's trucks. http://visionxsuperstore.com/SolsticeSolo2SquareLEDLight35WideBeamXIL-S1101.aspx