looking to replace my headlights need suggestions

Wish I would've known beforehand. Oh well, they look good. For now

 

I'm sure they'll be fine. At a bare minimum anything would be an improvement over old stock yellowed housings.

 

Hey, Thanks for taking the time on your reply. Not worried about DOT here in NJ. All they test for during state inspection is emmissions only. I've gone through and passed with a headligh completely missing and off the truck. They don't even turn them on. Anyway, HID is out of the question. Just can't afford that kinds money for lights. Pretty much looking to get new lights, Depo from Amazon, then getting the brightest bulbs that work in those. I've seen 85/100 H4 bulbs, but worried they would melt the housings. They did on my motorcycle. Yeah, not many lights are worth a crap when its raining or wet out. My truck isn't used much. I only use it to haul my enclosed dirt bike trailer. So only use the truck when I go riding, or snowing (like right now). Just lookin for the brightest I can get on a budget. Like I said above posts, my lights have been so faded and cloudy for so long, I'm going to notice a big improvement just with new clear lenses. Just want bright without breakin the bank. Modding and or wiring isn't an issue, just cost.

Thanks again....

 

If you want to go brightest without having to upgrade any wiring, check out the Osram Night Breakers. I found best price on Amazon.

 

The Osram bulbs are regarded as the best ones out there, they are the brand that supplies the factory. The 80/85's should be more than fine in the oem housings, but I've heard the 100's will start melting plastic.

The other thing to consider is current draw using high wattage bulbs on the stock wiring. I'm willing to bet throwing 80+ watt bulbs while it won't melt the housings, will overload the stock wiring. There are lots of threads with melted engine compartments from underrated wiring.

Best bet is to go for the upgraded wiring harness and new housings. That alone will drastically improve your light. If you still want more after that, go for the ultra bright Osram bulbs.

As for the bright lights being "legal", it's not inspections that you should be worried about, CA doesn't care about that stuff either (surprisingly, lol). Getting lit up by the boys in blue would be the problem. Years ago my brother got lit up by a cop that was *in front* of him! Cop pulled over, let him pass, and then pulled him over.

With the stock housings/halogen bulbs, etc... you really shouldn't worry too much about that, though. The real problem comes when people put the HID or LED bulbs in the stock housings it scatters the light and glare goes everywhere making it basically impossible to "aim" them.

 

Yeah, Good points. I'll just get the new lights and go from there. I'll mist likely be happy. Yes, the higher output bulbs would get wiring hot, and also put an extra load on the alternator. When the snow melts and I swap out my lights, I'll post a pic of my old faded ones. I wasn't lying about my marker lights being brighter than my headlights.....LOL

I wanted the brightest bulbs I could get due to most of my night driving is in the country, and the deer are all over. Just like to see a little farther to keep an eye on them. Yeah, biggest issue I have at night are all these newer cars coming at me with very bright headlights blinding me. You flash them with your high beams real quick, to find that they hit their high's and Wow. I figured they had their highs on already....LOL So of course now I wanted brighter headlights....LOL I'll be fine with my new lenses I'm sure.

Thanks guys for your replies and helpful advice.....

 

In 95.5 Tacoma (don't know if this applicable to later years) I think the weakest link will be the Hi/Lo/Flash switch. I think the switch will melt first as the current combined from both headlights (left and right) is going through a single contact. At 100W each bulb you are looking at 16A total. That is a lot for this switch. Each bulb is protected by 10A fuse, but this protection is intended for short, not overload. Even 80/85 bulb at 14A will probably push the limit of this switch.

 

Exactly. That is why the $100ish for the heavy duty aftermarket harness mentioned in the "ulimate upgrade" is probably the best upgrade to make. It takes the stock wiring and switches out of the equation.

Even doing the harness and nothing else will get more wattage to the kights and brighten them up, but I'm not sure how significant of an increase in overall light that would be.

 

I have converted all bulbs in my Taco to LED just for the reason to save old wires, switches and connectors from high current. All, except the headlights which is bothering me a lot. I have replaced original H6054 with Euro style housing for H4 but with this I can only use halogen bulbs (no LED bulb can work in such housing correctly). So I just use good quality 65/60 H4 bulbs, which will not last long but they are cheap and easy to replace.

 

Did you ever get these/put them in? I'm honestly waiting on you before I pull the trigger on those. They're gonna be turned into retros, but I need something decent for now.

 

UPS says they will be here tomorrow.

I wanted a before picture of the my OEM headlights at night for comparison after the install. Now maybe because I hadn't really examined how good or bad these are working, and maybe because there was snow on the ground, but my OEM lights are not that bad for both distance and illumination. They are foggy to look at, but seem to be working decently. The exception would be when the road is wet. Then they seem weak. But isn't that the case with most headlights?

So when the new ones arrive, I will really check them over. They will go back if they seem defective in any way. If OK, it looks like a few warm days are heading this way later this week, so they should be installed then.

 

Awesome. Please post results!

 

LED blues are the bees knees

 

Bulbs*

 

Received the Amazon headlights. They were inside a plastic bag wrapped in heavy bubble wrap. They are made in China. The fit and finish looks decent, except the mounting on one of them is a little loose. Until it's on, I won't know if that's a problem. They are certainly crystal clear, and came with bulbs installed. The forecast for Wednesday is for warmer temperatures, so will try to fit them then.

 

Looks good. Please take a picture of low and high beam pattern (like on the wall).

 

As in 25 feet from the wall so the photos are meaningful for beam pattern.

 

Are these the ones?

$80 Brock Replacement Pair Set Halogen Headlights Headlamps Compatible with 01-04 Tacoma Pickup Truck 81150-04110 81110-04110

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008G32B1O/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8

 

Those are the ones I ordered. I'm not ready to recommend them yet though. The mount on the right housing is not tight. This is a ball and socket type connection, and there is no way to adjust it. A bolt with a ball formed on the end fits into a socket in a clip in the housing. It's just a pressure fit. These are loose and sloppy, which could mean a shaky light as you are driving. However, I may be able to swap the OEM mounts, or at least the connection to the housing.

This is not really a problem, as I did not expect perfection for $50. My OEM lights are just going to be trashed anyway, so I don't have a problem swapping parts. And you know that those are a much tighter fit, unless your's are rattling around. It will be a problem if I can't swap them though, so stay tuned.

They are also NOT CAPA certified.

 

Alright, I decided to work on these tonight in the cold (not really that cold) to see how these would work.

First, quality is not their middle name. It's not in the light itself, but the mounting. I ended up removing the OEM mounting brackets from the OEM lights and reusing most of them. Definitely used all the OEM nylon clips (sockets) that hold the mounting bracket bolts (with the ball on the end) on to the light. The aftermarket clips are not nylon, just plastic, are sloppy, and in one instance, was broken. The ball and socket arrangement allows for the adjustment (aiming) of the light after installation. Everything between OEM and aftermarket was interchangeable. In seating one of the nylon clips in the aftermarket lights, part of the rim of the hole for the clip broke off. The nylon clip was a hair thicker then the aftermarket clip. There was still enough left to hold the clip, and I don't think it will be a problem. But the lights are seemingly more fragile than OEM.

The other problem I had had nothing to do with the headlights. It seems the prior owner had broken the mounting pieces off one corner light; it was held in with a zip tie. Unfortunately, I broke the other one. So that happened.

There're on, need to be adjusted (I could land aircraft right now), and seem to be plenty tight and bright. But I wouldn't recommend them unless you don't mind swapping parts, and are really so destitute (cheap) that you wouldn't pay for a better pair. They'll be fine for now. I will get some pictures of the headlight spread tomorrow, after I put my grille back together, and duct tape the corner lights in place. My next task is to order some new corner lights.