Headlight Upgrade 2017 TRD

Fogs yes, highbeams no. The 2100 lumen H9 highbeam bulb is already brighter than many LEDs.

If you wanted LED fogs, check out this thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

I thought the 2016+ Tacoma’s had H11’s for the low beams, high beams and fogs.

 

Low beam is H11
Fog is H11 for TRD trucks
Highbeam is H9

 

Awesome! Thanks for that clarification.

Is there a halogen performance bulb upgrade that you all would recommend for the high beam H9?

 

My 2017 TRD Sport have H11's in the low and high beams. My fogs are Morimoto XB but H11's worked in the OEM housing too.

 

Not to confuse things, but the high beam is H9 halogen.

If going with drop in LEDs their bulbs fit several different housings with a generic application LED including both H11 and H9 with the same LED.

 

I’m not wanting any LEDs.

I was looking just to switch to a better quality halogen bulb than the stock ones. Is there a good performance H9 bulb out there that anyone would recommend?

 

H9s are already an exceptionally high performing bulb, there is no ‘performance H9’. Best halogen is to use is a quality German made bulb by Osram/Philips/Sylvania/Volsa, which is what Toyota has already done. You could go high wattage but the marginal gains don’t seem worth it. If looking for more high beam light you might consider mods that allow you to run low and high simultaneously, or use some aux driving lights.

 

These Philips H9s will work but you'll have to trim the upper tab to allow the bulb to fully twist into the socket. Virtually identical output to the

$40 Philips H11 CrystalVision Ultra Upgraded Bright White Headlight Bulb, 2 Pack

Philips H11 Xtremevision which draws 55w vs 65w for the H9. The H9s are considerably less money. At least on my 2018 Tacoma, when switching to high beams, the low beams have always stayed on. Maybe that was not the case earlier, I don't know.

 

Now that you mention that, I believe I’ve heard the same for earlier trucks about the low/high. You guys are lucky, earlier gens with a dual filament bulb it is one of the other.

 

The new Supernova v4 leds is way brighter than the version before v3. Probably just as bright if not brighter than the GTR Leds. V3 crapped out on my after a 1.5yrs of use. However headlight revolution is true to their word about warranty.

The biggest difference is the cut off line and the intensity of light in the middle of the road.

Also I’m running the TRd pro rigid Fogs. In these pics.

 

Don't go for the Philips 4300K... they bounce and it's "normal".

 

Also to add the only LEDs I would get is the supernovas or the GTRs. Only con of GTRs is that you have to take apart the headlights to make them fit and doing that is a hassle. Supernova you can just put them in.

YouTube them there is a huge comparison of lights to a lot of other leds.

Yea you can buy the cheaper ones but they have their cons. They look nice especially up against your garage door but often enough the cheap ones have less throw than the stock halogens or the halogens overall are brighter.

Unfortunately you have to pay to play for lights. For me driving down the street and being able to see is pretty damn important. Don’t cheap out.

 

"You guys are lucky, earlier gens with a dual filament bulb it is one of the other."

Typically with the H4 headlights, you wouldn't want to run both filaments concurrently anyway. One is that it produces too much heat, but even more importantly, it puts too much light right in front of the vehicle, actually reducing your distance vision as your pupils adjust to the closer, brighter light. That's the same reason you virtually never want to actually use your fog lights. Most of them are crap no matter what bulb you put in them and don't have an effectively designed light pattern. Now, I do have a mint set of NOS Cibié 175s that are a completely different animal. Even Stern told me, "oh, well, those are different, they're actually great lights"

 

Don’t get me wrong, you certainly wouldn’t want to run both filaments at the same time in an H4 bulb.

And definitely agreed on running the fogs when not needed. Do you have the Cibies on your Tacoma?

 

"Do you have the Cibies on your Tacoma?"

Not yet. They might fit in place of the stock fogs with some trimming to the stock bezel. Too many other projects in front of that right now, and frankly, living in L.A. fog lights are pretty much not necessary anyway. Hell, you could get by with no headlights most places here at night. But I've got a set of hard bicycle forks to braze together, hopefully this weekend and then I'm trying to see if I can shoehorn a set of 90mm Hella Bi-Xenon or Bi-LED into the headlight buckets of my '88 911. There's very limited space there and then you have to procure a set of clear Hella or Bosch lenses with the appropriate Porsche mounting rings. It's really down to if there are enough millimeters. It has to be both effective and look good on that car. But either one of those lights is in the $700-$800 per light range - really not that much more than the Euro Bosch that are on there now.

 

https://www.powerbulbs.com/us/product/osram-night-breaker-laser-next-generation-h11-twin

Are these any better than the GE Megalight Ultra +130 bulbs that are also on their website?

 

No, suprisingly those are lower output than the GE +130s. I think Osram got over-zealous in their application of the blue tint zig-zagging around the filament. The GEs were about 20% brighter IIRC.

 

Thanks! You rock!!!

 

Received the GE Megalight Ultras in the mail today and had a chance to go for a quick drive earlier after dark. There is definitely a noticeable difference in the 'throw' over the RSI LED bulbs I removed.
This was just around town and has me looking forward to Sunday when I'll be making a return trip in the dark after a weekend in Edmonton, around 450km worth of driving. That will be the real test, but so far so good!

Wish I would have dropped the coin on a quality pair of halogens rather than LEDs and would recommend the same to anyone on the fence