The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

I just replaced my 2002 Toyota Tacoma headlights with an "OEM" set from TYC. I took before and after pictures with identical camera settings and was disappointed with the beam pattern. Both low beam and high beam had significant scatter and irregular borders. The lower lights are LED fogs mounted in the wheel wells on custom brackets which prevents blinding other drivers. My truck looks brand new, but downgrading is not an option
I've contacted TYC and am awaiting their reply.

 

Yikes. Aftermarket “OEM style” assemblies are definitely not comparable to OEM, hence recommending OEM assemblies in the thread. I don’t think you’re going to get any real support options from TYC.

 

Did you go with their

$46 TYC Right Headlight Assembly Compatible with 2001-2004 Toyota Tacoma

CAPA-certified or

$53 TYC 20-6073-00-1 Compatible with TOYOTA Tacoma Right Replacement Head Lamp

non-CAPA-certified versions? Years ago, I was happy with the certified-version in my 1st Gen.

 

you dont want to see the beam pattern of my "certified" TYC fog light assemblies on my tundra.. at least the dont blind i guess. cant swing 250 a piece new OEMs right now though.

 

Yikes! That's almost as bad as the hacked 3 bulb with cooling fans disaster we recently endured here. Are OEM units still available for a 2002?

 

That is amazing. I would just about kill to have that kind of light output. Mine look nothing like that.

 

2012-15 have better headlight assemblies than earlier trucks. But a lot can vary from how the picture was taken as well.

 

So the ultimate headlight upgrade for me might include a front end conversion.

 

might be a dumb question but which exact bulb setup is this? Looks good

 

I’ll take a look tomorrow, pretty sure I still have the box in the garage.

 

After going between this thread and the ultimate foglight upgrade thread, I plan to buy the harness and run the Osram's super brights with the GE H11 megalights as fogs. Hopefully the color/temp isn't too far off from one-another.

 

Based on my measurements the SuperBrights are 3277k as shown below.



Tested in a 3rd Gen headlight, here are my H11 color temp readings (ignore the H9s for this application).


And here is the output lux readings.


You’ll see Volsa +120s are a near perfect color match, but output isn’t as intense. If going for best output, the GE Xenons +120s are the best stock wattage bulb, a little higher output and lower color temp than the GE Megalight +130s as they have less blue coating.

Note the 3rd Gen headlight data is from a projector, reflector fogs won’t see the same level of intensity increase over stock from a high efficiency bulb as the focus is different.

 

Really?

Standard pattern, 100w bulb, one headlight:



The triplet halogen, 3x55w:


The reversed triplet halogen, 3x55w:

All the above photos without editing.

Much better results, no glaring at all, and this is just the beginning. A lot are waiting.
(All the above photos without editing).

And this is not my final word.


Thank you for your time.

 

Thank you Sir. Any way we can get the creepy van guy who gives out free candy? Asking for a friend

 

In all seriousness - @crashnburn80 good Job on remaining professional and attempting to keep the thread on track.

Also update your sig and add the Brake upgrade link. This will hopefully help people stop before they get a little ahead of themselves.

 

I’ve got some exciting parts showing up today for that thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/brake-upgrade-stoptech-rotors-trd-performance-pads.523829/

 

I made myself curious and looked around and it’s not really a cost effective option. Guess I knew this but the light in that pic is so what I’m after. Since it sounds like I will not be able to achieve that from where I am at I’m going to start researching the retro fit threads. While I used to think ~$700 was too much that’s way less than a front end conversion. And if I can end up with lighting like that pic with a reliable retro then it would be worth it to me. This site will be the death of my wallet.

 

Are you running the headlight upgrade now? You can get slightly better low beam results with the IPF bulbs, but they are pricey and stock high beam.

If you want to do a retro, I would recommend:
Lexus RX350 projectors - OEM Toyota
Denso ballasts (TRS sells them) - OEM Toyota
German D2S bulbs from Osram/Philips - OEM HID bulbs

I would avoid kits that use H1 based HIDs, as that is a HID bulb mated to a halogen base, and no reputable manufacture will make those, so your going to be limited to aftermarket China bulbs. Use D2S based projectors, so you can buy bulbs from Philips or Osram, the same bulbs that are placed in vehicles with OEM HIDs. Denso Toyota ballasts are also OEM and made in Japan, meaning they will have much higher quality control and not be over/under wattage like some China made aftermarket ones, which is bad for the bulbs. They will also be appropriately shielded against EMI and should have a much longer life span. And the heart of any headlight system is the optics, just like I recommend OEM headlights in this thread, I would recommend an OEM projector. The RX350 is said to be among the best. Performance will be significantly better, as will build quality. Small H1 projectors will also not perform as well as larger projectors. Often with HIDs people are looking for budget friendly options, but sacrifice a lot of quality in doing so. All the above options will cost more than the budget Morimoto style builds, but if your spending that much money on a headlight I personally believe it is worth spending a little extra to do it right.