Headlights upgrade

Retrofitting projector assemblies designed for HIDs give better light spread (width) and a sharper and more distinct cutoff. There will be less light leakage that makes it to areas that may be blinding to on comming traffic. I've done HIDs on the stock projectors though and there wasnt much in the way of light above the shutter. Width was not great though.

 

I look at it like this. Getting retrofits is like getting an icon or king stage 57 suspension kit lol. I do a lot of night driving so it’s worth it. I don’t wheel much so 5100’s and ome springs was fine for me. I don’t see spending thousands on suspension if I’m not using it but it doesn’t mean it’s not leaps and bounds better than what I have now. To say otherwise is well.... you know. Proper projectors are made for hid bulbs. There is no arguing it. Will they work in the oem projector, sure they will. It’s all in what you want to spend your money on. Not only that but everyone wants the bhlm mod so I figured might as well upgrade while I’m in there.

 

For a bit more technical comparison see post #14 here.

 

Had 55w HID. Too bright for city driving. Back to stock bulbs. Gonna spend my money on Baja Designs. Might do that wire harness upgrade just for fun.

 

The H11's that everyone buys on Amazon look really good.

 

2012 Dc TRD

So my drivers side light kept going out. Not sure why...never figured it out. Eventually i replaced with a 359$ set of HID Super brights.

Heres my take.
Reflective stuff....see it waaaaaay far away.
Dark country roads with reflectors....like driving a video game with fake markers. Signs are bright and even on lit highways I can tell its MY lights that have enhanced the sign for everyone else....no shitting...its that good.
HOWEVER.....roads with no signs or poorly painted stripes..not so much. I used the brights instead(more on that.later)
I can still see good but the light isnt the same and it creates shadows that normal headlights dont.
The color of light matters and you pick one...vs. what looks like a broader spectrum with regular headlamps.
So I kept them because it did enhance the road but I also use the lower fogs which are standard bulb and it provides more of a yellow, on darker roads I use the brights and my led bar flood/spot bar and its daylight.

So theres an issue with color and eye fatigue that you may notice and the shadows you probably wont like. Its like theres no ambient light outside of the beams(or its so damn bright I cant see into the dark outside the trajectory of the beams?)
If you do.it consider adding other light color or maybe keep the original and add an hid bar or fog set.

Thats my experience on a set of good HIDs.
After 5 years they seem to be dimming also.

The 12' TRD has a great reflector in the lamp bays that really made them perform well and the installer at the local soup shop commented on how much that helped the performance.

Be sure to keep your old hardware...you may not like it.
One more thing....almost forgot..my HIDs have a Highbeam function that activates bright orange super bad ass LED( 3 little tiny lights..which Indidnt know I had for over a month after I got them installed) and they were great!(look.for that feature....closer in color to my normal lamps) From my position it was a nice amount of light but from oncoming law enforcement it looked like my headlights werent on, (or just fog lights were on)
which I did get stopped for once.


Hope that helps your thought processes.I think unless its offroad lights the Toyota engineers have done the work and you may not like the modded result.
Good luck!

 

You realize the reason you can see overhead street signs so well is you have lost all your beam control and no longer have cut offs? And the reason you cannot see anything on dark country roads is you have no focus, or pattern distance projection. HIDs should never be run in a halogen reflector, it does not work at all and causes massive dangerous glare to all the other drivers on the road. Most people stopped doing this 10 years ago. I would never go back to that local shop again. Here is a thread demonstrating the effects of doing the same thing with LEDs and why it doesn't work: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

On the topic of headlights what can I get for a 95 tacoma that would work with the old type wiring. Or if i do want an upgrade do i need a converter kit to make the old tech compatible to work with the new?

 

That thread was comparing Opt7 with halogen. The Opt7 led are a junk led. Led's have come a long way since.

 

uh oh

 

There’s really not much to discuss when it comes to lighting. It’s been beaten to death. If you run led’s or hid’s in any projector other than what they were designed for you are affecting the light output on the road and also other drivers. When it comes to lighting especially headlights I take it a little more serious because I live in a rural area so lighting is in essence multiplied because of the dark roads. Doing something so irresponsible as to blind other people is just plain selfish imo. When it comes to other things like suspension or other modifications it really only affect you the driver. Do your lighting the correct way or just leave it alone.

 

Best cost effective upgrade is to get the 200mm Hella E-code H4 conversion. These replace the sealed beams to run replaceable H4s instead. The E-code pattern puts more light on the ground than the DOT pattern. There are other E-code H4 conversions for cheaper, I've used a few different ones, the Hellas are by far the best, I highly recommend them. Then use a high performance bulb such as the GE Megalight +120 or Osram AllSeason Super H4. It will be a huge improvement. If you want even more you can up the power and run higher wattage bulbs with a relayed harness. You can see more info on high power options and recommended bulb types here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

Re-read it. It compares many LEDs from some of the latest designs out this year updated as recently as a couple months ago. All LEDs and HIDs in halogen reflectors are junk. And HIDs cause far worse and more dangerous glare than LEDs.

 

That explains why the LED s work "better "when I use them. The guy at the shop when I asked about that glare issue pointed out a little shroud that covered the top half of the "bulb" explaining that was why it worked.He did that because when I told him J wanted better lights I also told him I wanted them as bright as I could get without being that asshole with the HIDs that Ive been wanting to murder everytime one of them drove behind me. He then told me about the extra piece and advised me that sime people cut it off and thats those people I wanted to murder. It seemed ro me the light was too focused because it literally cuts off everything outside of its beam so I cant see off to the corners at night on dark country roads. Either way ....I live in the rockies now and cant keep them....its waaaay to dark out here so Im thinking some projectors might do well here. Thanks for the tips though if I were going to keep them Id definitely look into that issue. I do recall asking if I needed a whole new reflector because my research prior to that discussion suggested it. I didnt feel debating something I knew little about was cool, and thatvwas prior to using this forum...now I can getvthe community opinion on the next questionable piece of advice I may encounter.

 

Few if any people cut the cap off. You would have to take apart the headlight for that. It is a geometry issue, headlights are highly engineered to have the light source at a specific point. If you move that point using an HID or LED in a halogen reflector, all the geometry is wrong. This causes glare, even though the cap is there. It also causes your lights to not project correctly to the side, which is why you cannot see off to the corners. The guy you took it to has no idea what he is talking about.

Seriously look at this mod. It is designed for the OEM lights and far cheaper than projectors, and the performance is outstanding. Especially if you have come from LEDs. Read the reviews at the end of the first post and you can see many others have made the same mistake, and did this instead and are far happier:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

 

Thanks for the info.Im definately going to check out the mod. Cops keep flashing me with b&r's with the grill lightbar on.