The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

@crashnburn80 -- how have the Osram all-season bulbs been? I lost one of my Osram hypers today.

 

I like them and actually prefer the warmer color of the output. They outperform the 100/90w bulbs (on low beam) and the standard 85/80w are no longer available so I’d recommend giving them a try if you don’t mind a warmer color temp. I haven’t had the chance to test them out in heavy snow/fog yet to see how much of a difference they actually make. They do have a small amount of bluish purple at the cut off, which I’m not a fan of, but it doesn’t seem like enough that would significantly negatively affect performance in poor weather.

 

Fresh spares from Bulgaria

 

Nice! I suspect these same bulbs are rebranded and sold under the Bosch and Hella brands as +120 as well, they look identical and all list the same country of origin, though the GEs are generally a better deal without the middle man. I also recently discovered, you can get these faster by ordering off of European Amazon sites vs ebay, such as Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de or Amazon.fr.

 

Gonna need new housing soon. Should I go oem or aftermarket? Looking to go with these bulbs or LED. Want quality over looks, and $300 range

 

Oem housing will last the longest before the clearcoat starts to peel and turn the lenses yellow. You get what you pay for!

 

That's what I figured. I've never called to get a quote. I'll start looking. Not super urgent

 

Think of it this way. No matter what headlight upgrade you do, it can only be as good as the optical reflector is able to perform. No optical reflector is going to be as good as Toyota's OEM unit. Getting a lower quality reflector will not be as precise, not focus the beam as well and not project the light as far. Quality can vary, but some can be awful. So it doesn't make much sense to me to skimp on the heart of your lighting system to go with a lower performing unit, and then try to upgrade it. Build for performance from the ground up. I included links to the lowest cost OEM smoked units I could find in the original post. They will cost you a little over your budget. I think you can save $20-40 by using the bright chrome headlights rather than sport smoked chrome ones I linked.

If you didn't want to go with a harness right away for cost reasons, I would recommend looking at the stock wattage GE +120 H4, or the Osram Super AllSeason H4, which while listed as a stock wattage bulb is actually 75/68w, moderately over wattage for better output. They are yellower in color for better all weather performance, you can see the link to the higher power AllSeasons in post #1520 here.

And whatever you do, do not run LEDs in halogen reflectors. Performance is awful for you as the driver and it causes massive hazardous glare to oncoming drivers. See this thread here for why less should not be run in halogen reflectors.

 

@crashnburn80 is the man when it comes to lighting. I think others of TW would agree that he is a fanatic of giving and sharing proper and documented information about the subject.
Listen and learn from the man, he knows what he’s talking about!

 

Here goes nothing been following this thread for awhile and pulled the trigger on a wiring services harness and some 100/90w bulbs. I was pleased to see they had a 20% discount on the 100/90w and free shipping. Happy moding and thanks for the info @crashnburn80

 

I’ve driven through Concrete WA. Enjoy the additional lighting power once you get it installed!

 

Lol, then you know why I need the light

 

For a beer an taco I will do it for ya.

 

I might have to take you up on that

 

Thanks for all the info. I'll hold off and save for the OEM smoked and do this right. Until then, I gotta get some of the yellow off my current housing

 

This may have been answered before, but The harness can be connected to a blue sea instead of the battery
Correct?

 

Good call, but quality once. In the mean time if you do a headlight restore, apply a UV stabilizer afterward or they will rapidly yellow and fog worse than before the restore. Use something like this:

Meguiar's G17804 Keep Clear Headlight Coating, 4 oz. – Maintain the Clarity of Your Headlights

$15 Meguiar's Keep Clear Headlight Coating, Maintain Like-New Clarity of Your Headlights with an Easy-to-Use Formula and UV Protection that Lasts All Year Long, 4 Ounce Aerosol

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M4RVVX6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_b30qCbCT3EMEK

 

Correct. You could measure the voltage at the plug and see if there is any measurable difference between connecting to the battery and the blue sea. Assuming you have a large enough lead to your blue sea I would expect the voltage difference to be extremely small if even measurable.

 

Just a heads up
Both links for the headlights in OP show a 34% off
05-11 @169$ a piece and 12-15 200$ a piece