Ever Since I Changed to LED...

Back in early March this year, I swapped my factory headlights and fogs to H4 U3 & H11 U3 respectively. I also installed hood hinge mounted light cubes (that are obviously illegal to turn on while driving on public roads) in my state. I only use them on private property.



On the subject of low beam use alone...

Pros:
- Much less people cutting me off at night
- I can see further into the unlit, deer inhabited highways on my way to work, early in the morning.
- A step over factory when visibility is needed through a storm.

Cons:
- Vulgar reactions from the elderly
- Tend to get flashed with high beams by oncoming vehicles on two way roads with no barrier
- Tend to get flashed w/ hbs in parking lots
- People think I'm being aggressive and purposely slow down in my lane, and slow down on entry ramps. Then they proceed to get behind me at full speed with their high beams on.

Remember - all this happens with low beam use ONLY. The only time I activate the fogs are when I'm alone on the highway.

People flashing me and being aggressive only ends up being so cute and adorable when their lights are lost in mine.

What's my point? I really don't intend on being that one annoying guy! Maybe lighting up a highway and preventing people from cutting me off isn't so important?

How do my fellow Taco brothers/sisters deal with this? Or do you all even care about how other people react?

 

Maybe you should aim your headlights just a little lower. It's not so much that your headlights are bright, It's that they are blinding other people. Sometimes lowering them just a little bit does the trick.

 

And now I'm glad I posted this. You would guess that the shop who sold it to me took care of that. I'll adjust them against a garage door some night soon. This way I know it's done right. Thanks!

 

Glad to help. Same thing happened to me with brighter halogens. Only lowered them a little bit and now I don't get flashed.

 

Do the ditch lights cause any glare problems off your hood?

 

Initially, yes.

After testing them, I adjusted them to aim up and further out. There is still some small amount of reflection on the outer parts of the hood, but it gives me no problems.

 

Do you have a defined upper cutoff with the LED headlights, or is the light scattered?

 

It looks like they're in reflector housings, so 100:1 odds are it scatters light everywhere.

 

Changing the driving lights to LED, I noticed the light spread everywhere and not just below the bumper area. Do you get flashed when your driving are off (LED headlights only)?

 

Definitely not a defined cutoff.

I drive with my headlights alone. (Low beam) As stated, no fogs unless I am on an empty highway, or ditch lights unless I am on private property. These LEDs cover a wider area than factory, but I wouldn't say it's everywhere. I'm almost certain the flashing and aggressive driving around me will stop after the adjustment.

On that note, I did notice upon install that there wasn't much difference from driver's POV on high beam to low beam modes. A big sign that adjustment was needed a long time ago.

 

I doubt adjustment will help you since there's no defined cutoff. You're suffering from light scatter. You'll adjust it down so far the lights won't be usable, or have them up high enough that you'll still be blinding oncoming traffic.

 

I'll give it a shot on my off day, and update here... I'm hoping it will be better.

Edit: I should probably get sleep before I reply to all of help I'm getting here. I make no sense sometimes...

 

Update: Finally stopped being lazy - that's a lie. ✖️✖️

Finally got tired of annoying the oncoming traffic and people directly in front of me. ✅


Adjusted the lights as suggested here.

Now I'm wondering if the fog lights on our truck are adjustable...

 

Yes they are but are more likely NOT to aggravate on coming drivers. I also run LED's that DO have a definite cutoff but did lower and did minor side adjustment and don't get flashed even with my low/fog combination (both LED's) running. I'd wait and see if you still have issues driving the roads you do with both on before tackling that issue.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

Pics of your cutoff and housings?

 

Certain LED H4 bulbs are very poor quality and do not locate the LED in the correct position in the housing which causes scattered light. No amount of adjusting is going to correct that. The H4 LED I'm using have a sharp cut off line and I never get flashed by oncoming vehicles.

 

If I saw this 30min ago I could. I'll get some either tonight or early tomorrow morning.

 

What bulb are you using?

 

I used these. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01BF6EGY8/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1#immersive-view_1477752777043

The nice thing is the bulb can be rotated in the housing to achieve a good cut off line. It uses a large heat sink on the back which can be removed to help with installation. They are all metal construction. I had the opt7 bulbs which were junk compared to these. The opt7 are made from plastic parts and I had quite a bit of scattered light.