Headlights

Alright! Throw some good halo light brands at me, some nice tail lights And some good LED fog lights!!

 

Welcome to TW, Cameron!

These aren't exactly what you requested, but they're probably worth reading before pressing forward with your light upgrades...
Why LEDs should not be run in Halogen reflectors
The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)
The ultimate foglight upgrade H11 (not LED or HID)

 

I used these, and they are incredible and easy to install!
H4 Philips 12953BWX2 LED Bulbs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013DHXKK8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_U-zpCbDJ8FWEE

Philips 12834UNIX2 ...

Philips 12834UNIX2 X-tremeVision LED Fog Light, Fits Fog H8, H11, H16, 2 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U2NHLTI?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

Check out the ‘search’ area in the upper right of this page. You’ll find lots of good info...good luck.

 

Unless custom made, don't bother.
The eBay/carid/tacomabeast/Spyder headlights are all crap.
They leak, they fog, meh optics worse than stock, inner clear coat peels in about one year.

 

If you want Halo, a projector retrofit would be in your future. Please don't run HID or LED bulbs in a reflector designed for halogen bulbs. They just blind oncoming drivers and scatter the light. See the links in the second post by @Norton.

 

Here are nearly all the LED fog lights:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

I disagree...with the following argument.

Lets start with the basics or YOUR purpose for changing the lighting system.
Notice I said lighting system!
If you're going for looks projectors are the way to go.
Don't try to be cheap about it either. Many people have posted their dissatisfaction on low cost/low quality projectors.
You usually get what you pay for.

The true issue with the blinding as vssman claims, comes from the fact that your present headlamps are not properly aligned to begin with.
Zero cars coming out of a dealership are verified for proper alignment when delivered to the customer.
The blinding part is less apparent with halogens than with any other bulb, thus we tolerate misaligned bulbs for the brief period as you pass us on the road.

Drop in a set of (any bulb brighter than halogen), and the issue is just multiplied, therefore flashing from on coming traffic.

I spent $150 on a set of HID's (5000k) for the headlamps, and 6000k LED's for the for lamps.
All installed in my stock 2013 reflectors.
Did the headlamp alignment, and get ZERO flashing from oncoming drivers (on any road).
And that is with all lights on.

The end result is lighting that I would honestly qualify as being 3 to 4 fold brighter.

So I don't mean to shoot anybody down in their opinions.
However , its hard to argue with success.
In my case, better lighting,..and no flashing with oncoming traffic.

 

Headlights are aligned in the factory. I've witnessed it with my own eyes as I'm an Engineer and have been at various assembly plants. They also are aligned at better body shops when altered. Just because you don't have anyone flashing doesn't mean you aren't blinding. It's plain physics; angle of refraction, reflection. Putting in a bulb with the light source in another position from where the light bowl was designed will only scatter the light versus having a focused beam. You can't argue with science.

 

I'm always up for a pissing match from another engineer that CLAIMS to know it all.



Headlights are aligned in the factory (AND THEY GUESTIMATE THE AJUSTMENT), FYI..THATS WHY DEALERS ARE FACTORY PAID TO DO FINAL ADJUSTMENTS). I've witnessed it with my own eyes as I'm an Engineer and have been at various assembly plants( WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON WHICH IS GOOD, I GOT MY ENGINEERING DEGREE IN 1984, WORK FOR 3 NON TOYOTA MFG FACILITIES IN THE QUALITY DEPT. FOLLOWED BY FIELD SERVICE AS A FIELD SERVICE REP FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS, ..YOU ON THE OTHER HAD VISITED FACILITIES). They also are aligned at better body shops when altered. Just because you don't have anyone flashing doesn't mean you aren't blinding (THIS IS TRUE, HOWEVER i DROVE MY WIFES CAR FACE TO FACE TO BE SURE, AND NO BLINDING). It's plain physics; angle of refraction, reflection (ARE YOU SAYING THE ORIGINAL REFLECTOR IS FLAWED?, ALL THAT CHANGES IS THE INTENSITY, NOT ANGLES). Putting in a bulb with the light source in another position from where the light bowl was designed will only scatter the light versus having a focused beam.(YOUR ARGUMENT ON THIS IS GOOD AND TRUE AS WELL, HOWEVER THIS CAN BE OVERCOME BY LOWERING THE HOTSPOT OF THE BEAM). You can't argue with science.( ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT!).

The fact is, that you cannot get as much bang for the buck, fewest modification, and simplest install as I'm proposing.
Is there wasted & scattered light in my install, yes.
The price makes up for that waste.

Double the price for projectors and bulbs DOES NOT produce double the light or BETTER lighting.
IF the hotspot is PROPERLY adjusted, the blinding can be overcome.
The waste from projectors is simply hidden from the end user as a shutter is used to produce a cut off line.
Is the projector more efficient, absolutely.
In terms of production costs per unit, dollars to lumens is NOW cheaper for OEM's to use projectors.
But not in a retrofit for laymen.

 

I see I struck a nerve.

Enjoy your evening.

 

Lowering the hotspot limits your own distance vision/scanning

Your eyes become drawn to it, your pupils constrict.

It's the same reason u should have interior lights off and dimmer as low as possible at night. Toyota even exercises that with auto dimming clocks and compass readouts when headlights are turned on.

Ever played kick the can and hid right behind or beside a bright light and laughed to urself as ur friend never seen you?

Run your fogs on a clear day.... Then turn them off.... You will concentrate on the nearest brightest light source naturally.

 

Yep, my old light forces were driving pattern.... The option to make the a spot pattern consisted of one thing.
A bulb with the filament in a different position. One was perpendicular to the truck front to back, the other was parallel with the truck front to back.

 

LEDs do change the light source position, they move it off center. They are not an omni-directional light source the size of a wire filament. All the geometry changes significantly due to the wider off set from center from the LEDs, this is a fact. That change of moving off center causes scatter, glare, loss of focus and loss of distance projection and shifting the pattern closer to the vehicle. Using a heavy duty filament halogen bulb is enough to affect output and reduce intensity, hot spot and distance projection even though the two look almost identical to the naked eye, changes that small matter. Halogen optical performance is enhanced by making light sources smaller, not larger. Here is an article by Philips explaining how this works:
https://www.philips.co.uk/p-m-au/au...e-articles/article/improve-your-lights-easily

This is all even before talking about using directional light sources in a housing designed for an omni-directional source resulting in non-uniform lighting pattern with undesirable hot spots and dark spots.

See this thread on why this does not work:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

For the headlights, you can do HID retrofit.

 

Slap some leds in and put on a greasy light bar and watch the people here squirm

 

After 36 years in manufacturing, I think I'm somewhat qualified to address your claim that "they guesstimate the adjustment." Headlight assemblies have their adjusters set to specifications at the supplier. This is done to minimize the amount of final adjustment required after installation in the vehicle at the final assembly plant. Then, after final assembly, the lights are set to final specifications using much higher tech equipment than is available to you and I - or the dealers. No, this isn't the guy that sweeps the floor with a screw driver and some tape on the wall as you suggest.

I could go into a ton more detail on how and why your logic about slapping HID's (or LED's) into housings designed for halogens is totally flawed, but again, crashnburn80 has already done that and he's more than proved his chops around here. Besides, he's used sophisticated measurement equipment and controlled conditions to make his points. And you?

BTW, My son - a Certified Lexus & Toyota Service Technician - just got back to me. Checking headlight aim is not part of the Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) process that every new vehicle goes through.

 

Did you retrofit? If not, you are THAT guy that blinds everyone on the street!

 

I "upgraded" my headlights with Phillips Vision Plus bulbs last week based on the good work of crashnburn80. While not the best bulbs, I did a few things to help:

I removed the bulb connectors and cleaned all the grease off. I used NO-AL-OX compound on the new bulb contacts instead.
I measured the light output, with the new bulbs, at one foot distance, in lux, and had a 50% improvement on the passenger side and 30% on the drivers side over used oem bulbs.

The oem bulbs were about three years old and still going although some degradation of light output is expected.

I run at about 13.9v at the battery. I forgot what the voltage drop at the bulb was but it wasn't pointing to a significant problem. Any voltage lost to wiring/contact resistance results in lower output as we know. Aiming is very important and that made a big difference in useful road illumination for me. There is a distinct cutoff line ,produced by the lens and reflector, that can be positioned accurately without blinding other drivers. Cleaning the headlight lenses and polishing them with Plastex made a measurable improvement too. I apply 303 protectant every so often so yellowing was not a problem for me, just road film and water spots.

Many thousands of engineering dollars have been spent designing, modeling and testing those headlights for the best optical performance with a specific type of bulb. Why not build on that?

Upgrading the wiring harness and going to higher wattage bulbs will obviously produce much better output, but I would try the simple things first , especially aiming, and see what improvement it makes.

I am not claiming that this is superior in any way to a properly designed led or projection headlight system.

 

Another Engineer here lol. I love how we all get passionate about this topic.

For the original poster if you're still reading replies, pay a professional to retrofit your stock headlights with a proper HID projector like a Mini D2S 5.0 or similar. The output will be superior to anything else available and you can get the halo you want and even paint all the chrome black. Custom look with superior output. Win win.