Can I get LED or Halogen headlights if I buy new housings?

Hey guys,

I hit a deer a while back and I'm just now getting around to fixing some cosmetic problems in the front of my truck. I'm planning on replacing both headlight housings, and I've always wanted LED's or at least maybe halogens with a much "cooler" white color, with as clean of a cut-off horizon as possible. I know you aren't supposed to put LED bulbs in OEM housings, but will it work if I switch out the housings entirely?

If so, which would you recommend on a tight budget?
Preferences
-"Cooler" color
-Sharp cutoff horizon
-Bright but not so bright that it blinds oncoming drivers

Thanks!

 

You can put LED bulbs in OEM housings...I did, no issues (many others have installed them, as well)

Very happy with these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QFFGD3M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Please do not put LED bulbs in a housing that is not made for them.

If you want a nice upgrade see here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

I did this 2 years ago and have no regrets.

 

Here's some reading material:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

Please, please don't be one of those guys that put in LEDs or HIDs in a stock housing.

 

+1 to ALL of this!

 

I "put" LEDs in my "housings". Lol. I got a 30 gallon compressor and the vibration along with stiffer tires always kills my filaments. Got sick of replacing them. Didn't want to spend 100s of risk on leaky aftermarket fixtures. Even though many people get a laugh when they see what I did, it works fantastic.

 

Here to +1 the +1 on both of those references.

This is a case where 'science wins' over 'I like it 'cause it's what the cool kids do'. And @crashnburn80 demonstrates the science.

 

Those posts are three years old...things have changed, LED design is different (to ensure directing beam correctly) and are made for stock housings...do some research on the new designs. The pattern cuts off at the same point my stock bulbs did.

No one has ever flashed me when my lights are on.

 

Any real science to back that up? Three years isn't that much time honestly. He even covers the companies trying to put out halogen-compatible LEDs in his post and that they're garbage.

 

It’s still sound, this year he even did it all over for the third gen using updated LEDs. Guess what they were still shit.

 

Nice try, but the physics involved hasn't changed any time recently. Moreover, while the posts originated ~3yrs ago, you must have missed the fact that the author has provided steady updates through June and January of THIS year, respectively.

 

The only thing that has changed significantly is the marketing. LED bulbs in housings designed for halogen bulbs are still crap. Read @crashnburn80's post(s) and you'll see that science triumphs over marketing every time.

If you don't believe that, ask me. My son recently bought a set of $300.00 "latest & greatest" LED bulbs for his Scion xB and couldn't wait to show me the "results." Yup, still crap and they came out a week later. They're still sitting in the basement if you want them.

 

I looked into it before too and the bulb sizes are just too small to replace with decent LED units for now, since anything decent requires some proper cooling. Had a friend try it as well with his car and he went back to halogens because he couldn't see shit. Which is why I'm going to install 2 100W LED projectors pretty soon in my chopped housings . I got a converter from 12v to 33V to drive them, heatsinks I'm going to tap with something like an M4 thread, and projector lens. I may still keep my weaker LED pods for normal lights and use these as brights (or for assholes that like to drive with brights).

 

Does @crashnburn intentionally blow things up in his demonstrations? Those are the best kind.
Link...? Lol

 

Whatever, guys...

 

OP @Bbar97
I found that I didn’t want to upgrade the whole wire harness or try and source high efficiency bulbs like crashnburn did, and went with one of his other recommendations.
Philips xtreme vision +130% H4’s
About $35 on Amazon I think, and they have great output, high and low beams. Also almost a white looking beam without a blue (output diminishing) coating. Not quite LED white, but nowhere close to yellow like oem halogen.
Very happy with them.

 

Here is a modern post from today.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ector-headlights.589465/page-74#post-21596941

 

There you go again - placing empirical data from repeatable tests above anecdotal tales.

 

Awesome, I'll probably go with these. Excuse my ignorance but do the foglights use the same bulb? Probably not right? Should I try to find Fog bulbs from the same brand if I need to replace those as well?