Aftermarket Headlight suggestions

I’m wanting to purchase a pair of new headlights, not directly just a pair of brighteners, I want a whole new look, any suggestions on who and where to purchase from? I’ve seen some that I’ve really liked but most had bad reviews

 

Unless buying a set of custom retro HID headlights you won't find a headlight with better performance or quality over OEM. The smoked TRD Pro versions would change the look a little if you don't already have them.

 

im not really looking for better quality, just a new look

 

@crashnburn80 is our resident lighting expert

 

In your first post you said you saw some you liked but it had bad reviews. You either want quality or you want to be a poser with "cool" looking headlights. If all you care about is looks it doesn't matter what the reviews are, right?

 

The pro ones don't fit 05-11 MY's.

 

There's always the Sports that are smoked. Same price I think.

 

My oem one's are literally melting from the inside. Just took a long road trip and the melting grew half an inch.

There are expensive aftermarket ones that are the same quality as oem, but they don't make them for 05-11's. I've seen people run $900 headlights on 3rd gens that are great quality. All these brands don't bother with the 05-11's anymore since there's a bigger market for 3rd gens. So all we have are the shitty brands.

Edit: The one's I have are the smoked trd one's, the melting is pretty bad, still usable though.

 

@hyper15125

 

The only way to get quality aftermarket headlights are to retrofit your current ones with a projector. You can add a halo for some style.

You can either do it yourself or pay someone on here to do it.

 

There are no aftermarket headlight assemblies that are the same quality as OEM. None. Also note that large reflectors are the most performant type of headlight tech available. Projectors are actually lower performing, and used for their small form factor. Check out post #2143 demonstrating that the stock massive 2nd Gen reflector headlight assembly is 56% higher in output intensity than the high quality OEM 3rd Gen projector. That is the best case scenario, unfortunately the aftermarket components are complete garbage, meaning output loss will significantly exceed the the 56% seen with OEM components.

If your headlights have melted, then you have the pre-TSB units that are faulty and Toyota offered to replace for free with the revised TSB model that solves the design flaw. The free replaecement period lasted for many years, but has recently expired. New models exist that no longer have the melting issue.

All the info you need for headlights is in this thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

Also, while you could spend $1200+ on aftermarket LED assemblies, the $130 halogen upgrade linked above completely blows that out of the water.

 

Mine started melted after the tsb period ended. I didnt even know it was an issue until it happened to mine. Would've been nice if they sent an extended warranty for the headlights in a letter. Not a big deal, it's just headlights.

I have no issues with light projection, I dont want more and can see clearly the way they are. I have no problems at all with the oem headlights other than the melting issue.

No doubt aftermarket headlights are worse than oem, pretty obvious actually. But $1k aftermarket headlights are gonna be closer to oem quality than $200 ones.

 

That's only if they use OEM housings to mod. Otherwise your still getting a sub par housing with $1k worth of upgrades. Longevity and quality will suffer.

 

I don’t like the looks of my stock headlights, now brightness isn’t my top priority although I don’t want some pieces of shit, overall I was asking if y’all know of any headlights that are good in both aspects? As much as I liked the look of those, I won’t buy them due to the complaints from leakage and what not, not about the brightness

 

Unfortunately no such products exist for 2nd Gen, unlike 3rd Gen that has some options. If you really want to change the look without sacrificing poor quality and reduced output, you’ll need to do a custom retrofit. A retrofitter was tagged in post #9.

 

I'm afraid it's a toss up on whether they are going to leak or not. Even OEM will leak if they are retro fitted with extra bling and they aren't properly sealed back up. Some aftermarket brands are guaranteed to leak from the start.

 

These appear to be the newest ones on the market with LED switchback daytime lights and sequential turn signal:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-2005-2...ignal-Black-Projector-Headlights/303323594295
https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-2005-2...ignal-Black-Projector-Headlights/313036531087

90-day warranty from either seller.

Expect worse output and low-beam pattern than your OEM headlights as others have stated.