HID or LED?

Hello. New to this forum. Never owned a truck before, so I am learning still. 2019 Tacoma 4x4 TRD off-road. Looking to upgrade my headlights. Any suggestions on which is best, HID or LED?

 

Hey, welcome to the forum. I’m pretty new too. But, from what I have found lurking. LEDs are a no for our low beams.
The headlight was not designed for that.
Check out this post and read up on it. The gentlemen crashburn did an outstanding job explaining it.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

 

I went w LED over a year ago, happy with them, chose for the reliability

 

HID FTW

 

Just go with LEDs. Only reason is that 3rd Gen Tacoma's have projector headlights and the light spread really sucks. HIDs wont make them any better and you'll save a whole lot of money. Only downside with LED lightbulbs in the headlight assembly is that they usually come with a small fan attached to the LED itself. This help keeps the bulbs cool as they get very hot. And you'll notice a buzzing sound from the fan if your hood is open or the truck is turned off with the lights still on. But none of that really bothers me.

 

If you want to actually put more light down road, get a set GE +130 H11 halogens for $35 and aim re-aim your headlights (search the 3rd gen headlight thread sticky) or get a 4300k HID kit. With the better halogens and a slightly higher aim I really like the headlights on my truck. For whatever reasons Toyota’s nominal spec aims the headlights low from the factory; this coupled with long life but low brightness bulbs makes for bad light at night. Giving the projector good bulbs and a proper aim makes them work really well.

If you want a color change to match the DRL’s and don’t care about seeing, get LEDs. They’ll actually put less light on the road but the light will be whiter.

 

How about data:









All covered in a high level of detail in the 3rd Gen headlight thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

 

Stock headlights are crazy bright. Can’t understand why so many guys complain about em. Hell I have 50 percent tint on the windshield and have plenty of light to see at night on back roads. Save your money, stock output is more then enough.

 

No one has mentioned that drop in headlight kits are a violation of Federal road safety laws and quite a few states statutes......like all 50 states.

Only legal way is a full lens assembly refit with the approval of DOT.......have yet to find anyone that builds these for the US.

Euro yes, US no.


That’s all.

 

Your entire front windshield is tinted or just a strip?

 

Full windshield, same on the wife’s T4R.

 

Oh boy, your in for it now. Be prepared for everyone to tell you how dangerous it is to have your windshield tinted and how your gonna kill poor innocent children playing in the road at night because you weren’t able to see them.

Side note - Retrofit ftw

 

They should see the cop cars that have 30 percent on em around here haha.

 

Yeah I know. I’m about to redo mine in 50%. There was a thread a while back that turned into a shitshow because of windshield tint.

Out GX460 has 70% ceramic and you can’t even tell it’s there.

 

Ya we have 50 ceramic and its dark but not bad. 70 percent mother in law just got. Helps so much down here with heat reduction, don’t even need a sun shade. Could not imagine having a vehicle without it in the south.

Was kinda worried about going 50 percent, till I saw all the 30 and 20 percent tinted windshield. That’s way to dark for me.

 

After aiming them, the stock bulbs are adequate. The GE +130’s are excellent. They literally double the output for $35.

Probably because it’s fix-it ticket illegal, not go to jail illegal. Lift kits, engine mods, etc are all illegal too. Calm down Francis.

 

So what you're saying is Philips HID is the way to go

 

HID for sure is the way to go. LED May look the part and look better overall over stock but the way our projectors are set up, they’re not meant for LED.

If you have the cash, A proper retrofit is the way to go. Huge upgrade in light with a sharp cutoff. In addition, you won’t blind other drivers

 

What was pushing me towards not going led was driving in snow. Led wont melt the ice or snow off the lights and you lose visibility over time

 

I've been real satisfied with the morimotos HID 5500k. It was one of the first things I installed on my truck.