Upgrading to aftermarket headlight set to LED

I have a 2003 and want some advice on upgrading my headlights set (main, corner, signal). There is nothing wrong with my lights, they just look old. I was looking at the regular cheap ones on Amazon for $90. Are they good enough? Can I use those LED bulbs like the $20 H4? I am hoping so, because spending a little over $100 for a new set of lights sounds like a no-brainer.

 

No, stay away from any LED bulbs for headlights. Wasted time, money and the only thing you will earn is an a-hole title from oncoming drivers.

 

I have morimoto LED headlights and love them. Also have "superbright" LEDs in the corners from the parts store. Love them also lol

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

Based on this thread, I can't use LED bulbs in Halogen lighting. Can I get a link to a cost-effective set of housing lights and bulbs?

 

I won't go find a link, but search for headlight(headlamp?) housings made by TYC and Depo(I think). Apparently they are the best quality for aftermarket, other wise go OEM.
For the headlight bulbs, run the Osram Night Breakers or the GE Megawatt. None of those cheap blue eBay bulbs or other junk.

 

https://www.meguiars.com/automotive/products/meguiars-heavy-duty-headlight-restoration-kit-g2980-kit

Not sure what you mean by "look old" but I used this on mine and they came out looking pretty good.

 

I've got these and have been very happy with them.
https://headlightrevolution.com/sta...ector-headlights-kit-2001-2004-toyota-tacoma/

 

They may be brighter than halogen but these aftermarket LED bulbs don't hold a candle to HID setup in brightness and longevity.

 

That's fine. Seen too many issues with HIDs and didn't wanna be bothered with them.

 

If you are going to "upgrade" to LED then you must get LED built projectors like the Morimoto M-LED or Koito/Koito knockoffs etc. No drop in LED bulb is an upgrade in a halogen housing.

 

Eh, those are ok.

Here's a comparison between an HID projector and the M-LED projector.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaAWu-f9EJQ

Keep in mind, LED designed oem 'headlights' actually have more LEDs inside and are optimized

 

I said this after already testing LED setup. They were the brightest but after breaking it down it didn't seem like it would last long because the solder points for the fan fell off and other solder points providing power to the LEDs were almost on their way out. Which meant the lights would've been out on while driving.

 

I'm not saying they are better than HID or even on par. I'm just saying if you have already made up your mind that you want LED then at least get an LED built projector and don't just throw in a LED H4 or whatever bulb.

 

No doubt, it would be better than getting these crappy led bulbs.

 

Some stuff to think about:
Low beam:
1. Projectors (Halogen, HID or even LED) are superior for cut-off with no glare above the cut-off line (if the glass s not dirty or covered with rain droplets). As it can be seen on many videos halogen or HID bulbs have uniform light coverage, but LED bulbs introduce dark spots. However there is a big flaw in bi-xenon projectors: when shutter is in low beam position it can use only 50% of total light created by bulb, the rest is mostly blocked by the shutter. I don't know if the more expensive bi-xenon projectors have different shutter design that would reflect the blocked-off light into desired direction. And of course not every projector is the same. Quality over price - some cheap projectors are "eating" most of the light created by the bulb in bad geometry.

2. Reflectors are superior when regarding the amount of light put on the road, but they suffer from some glare above the cut off line. The amount of glare is a combination of both: quality of the bulb geometry and quality of reflector geometry.
- By the nature of LED bulbs design they are the worse and should be banned. Unless the LED bulb comes with reflector designed specifically for that exact bulb, the glare and light pattern are simple unacceptable for public roads.
- HID bulbs in reflector housing are little better regarding the uniform of coverage, but still create unacceptable (and in most countries not legal) glare above the cut of line. That glare is amplified if lamp's glass is dirty or covered with rain droplets. This is why on some countries HID are not legal if the lamp does not have wipers or cleaning sprayers.
- Quality H4 halogen bulb (not a freebie you get with your ebay purchase) are superior in light coverage and glare control. In H4 bulb the cut-off shield not only blocks the light above the cut-off line but also reflects some of that light into desired direction. The H4 quality depends not only on the filament geometry but the glare shield geometry as well. Phillips and Osram (Silvana) are well known brands for quality bulbs (good geometry).

Regarding reflector's quality there are two aspects of it: the geometry of course and the build quality, that is the windshield material, leaks, strength of mounts etc. If not OEM, then it is hit and miss game. Even if you want the new reflector housing for projector retrofit going the cheapest route does not pay much as you may end up with brittle windscreen plastic or getting milky prematurely from UV or mechanical abrasion. By the way high price of aftermarket housing is not a criteria of quality (there are many overpriced crappy items on the on-line stores).

High beam:
I did not see much difference between projector and quality reflector regardless of bulb used. As with low beam the LED is the worse of all three types of bulbs with dark spots and missing hot spots for distance lighting. HID bulb will be superior for the amount of light over halogen of course. For some it may be worth the trouble with all electrical additional setup to put HID bulb in place of halogen. But personally if I need more high beam lighting I would add LED bar instead of messing with original lighting. I have that setup in my 4Runner. Cool white light from 13k lm LED bar finds wildlife easier than 2700k halogen. And finally the other option would be to use high wattage halogen bulbs (where it is legal) as described in the thread The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID).


By the way, unfortunately the Internet is full of crap, paid advertisement and hoax so don't blindly believe everything you see on youtube, tweeter facebook or even TW. Read what honest people have to say (@crashnburn80 is resident lighting guru, who does not write crap like many "reviewers" who are most likely get paid one or other way) educate yourself and then make a conscious decision (don't fall for impulse buying).

 

Wow, everyone here is so technical and detailed. Thank you! I just wanted something simple, cheap, and brighter than my dull lights (15 year old lenses). I think I will just go with the aftermarket lenses, then use the Sylvania halogen bulb. I think this will be brighter and cleaner than my current setup. Let me know you totally disagree.

 

just a word of advice @fisherup not all aftermarket lenses are equal either. I bought a set of DEPO brand (good reviews and good quality, I have other lenses that are this brand, just not headlight) that I was going to use for an HID conversion but since my 15 yr old factory lenses were pretty much done I tried to buff them out myself and ruined them. Figured I had the DEPO so put them in. I immediately noticed the light spread pattern was not as good as OEM. There are noticeable missing coverage spots and the light is a little less due to the reflector design. It must be the angles that the reflective surface is cast/molded that helps throw the light off. seeing as I am still wanting an HID conversion I am not going to buy another set of OEM just yet.

 

OEM headlight housing will be your best bet. All the aftermarket(not proper retrofits) stuff is crap compared to it. Most of it is Chinese made junk.