The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

work truck spec has these funky fog lights. but the aftermarket pod lights are on the radar to. but i have to wait. my tacoma is on the verge of finally getting the engine and transmission put on its new frame. tundra is "done" for right now till thats all squared up

 

Yeah the first gen Tundra fog light space is big. An adapter to pod style there would be awesome but probably would need to be custom built. Aftermarket bumper might be better value but changes the look. I hope to one day be facing this challenge.

 

Which type of bulb does it take?

If it's halogen you could perhaps fit a second harness and use another 100/90W bulb?

 

9006 bulb. i have 9012 bulbs in it now. more than bright enough. just not happy with the fact they wont adjust down.

 

Dang, there is sure a lot of reading in this thread, I've read so much I'm about to go cross eyed. Hoping I can make this short & simple. I don't want to rewire, or change to new housings, nor anything. I just want to get a light that will give the best Hi beam lighting I can get without losing from the Lo beam in my stock Taco. I think I read the Phillips +200 were better on Lo, but lost a little on Hi due to blue tint, so maybe the +150's would be better for me, maybe the Osram night breaker Lasers or one of the others. Just want to do the best I can, just by changing the light bulbs. Thanks to all who have searched all this stuff out.

 

anything over stock wattage really need the upgraded harness, even stock is brighter with upgraded harness
if you do not want to do the harness upgrade IPC (I think it's IPC) is about you only option over stock
factory wire can not supply enough current to high wattage lamps without over heating

 

When I started looking into this I was of the same opinion and only wanted to upgrade the bulbs. I started looking into the harness and am so glad I did. It was very easy to install and the light, both high and low beam, that is produced with the recommended Osram is simply incredible.

 

I used Philips +100 for many years and they worked well, but it's no comparison to the Harness + Osrams

The harness will cost you about $100 but it's a one-time expense

The Osrams give much more light on low beam and are much cheaper to buy than any of the +100, +150 or +200 bulbs

 

If you’re looking for upgraded light output you’re a fool not to get the harness. You could install it with a head full of mescaline while having a millennial explaining to you the pro’s of renting over owning.

 

I got a ground switched harness off Etsy from China for $40. Took about a month. Quality was excellent. I plan to use it to build my own overpriced and sealed version. But H4 connectors aren’t sealed so it’s all pointless.

I could post a link but don’t want to take away from Headlight Solutions. They (Headlight Solutions) are awesome and should be the first choice. Since my purchase was for a template I wanted to cheap out. I was rather surprised at how nice it was.

 

OK, I guess I've got the message. Ya'll are saying there is absolutely no 60/55 lights that will do anything any better than the OEM lights from Toyota that are in my Taco now. I'm 68 yr. old & not sure I can change the bulbs, & for sure know I can't do the rewiring, mounting relays, & reconnecting stuff. Thanks for the help anyway, I do appreciate it.

 

There are better bulbs. Just harder to find I believe.

Do you have access to a neighbor or relative who can assist? It’s an easy task. And well worth doing. Or can you pay someone to do it?

My father is mid 70’s and would be in a similar spot. I’d have to do this for him. He would get quite confused without me there.

Also, make sure you have read the stock wattage bulb section of the first post (scroll way down). Nighthawk +120’s would be my pick if I had a gun to my head and couldn’t upgrade the harness.

 

If you had a copy of the directions you could bring them to a local independent garage or automotive accessory install shop/auto audio install shop and ask them if you could pay them to install the harness. If someone would agree you could buy the harness and bulbs and have them install it. I would think it would take no more than an hour of labor. Not a bad solution to the problem. I am not sure if I still have a copy of the instructions but I am sure someone in this thread will. I am sure you could get a pdf of the instructions sent to you then just print it out and you are good to explore to see if there is a shop who would do the work for you.

Edit: Or maybe there is even a TW member who lives close to you....

 

That's actually not what anyone here has said in response to your question, but ok.

Philips and Osram have several stock/standard wattage H4/9003 bulbs that offer improved performance.

The best upgrade (assuming your headlamp reflectors and lenses are still in very good shape, otherwise start with new ones) is the Osram Rallye H4 100/90w bulb. It, however, **Requires** a relay harness because it would be at risk of damaging your OEM wiring harness and headlight switch from the amount of power they draw.

The osram rallye 100/90 H4 results in the largest visual improvement, because the lowbeam is putting out significantly more light than the standard 60w h4 lowbeam filament. So it doesnt just improve maximum low beam distance projection, it also puts more light flux evenly throughout the entire beam pattern.

The various performance "+Focus" rated H4/9003 bulbs do not necessarily produce *more* light, they produce a higher intensity beam, which translates into increased distance projection over a standard bulb. The tradeoff these manufacturers have to make, because their bulbs still have to fall in the legal standards for street legal bulbs, is that in order to reduce some of the higher intensity from the lowbeam, they have to shade the highbeam (or, for some bulbs they market as being "whiter" they shade the entire bulb) portion of the bulb with blue. This cuts down the performance of the highbeam.

The osram rallye h4 is not marketed as a street legal/compliant bulb, therefore they don't shade the highbeam filament. Its the best option, by far.

The relay harness installation is very simple, and the headlightharness guy has very clear instructions. If you can use simple hand tools, you can install this harness.

Even if you do not use high wattage bulbs, the relay harness will result in measurably improved headlight performance with standard wattage bulbs. Halogen bulbs are voltage driven - very small increases in the voltage they are fed result in very big improvements in output. The tradeoff is lifespan. High wattage bulbs and high performance bulbs generally have shorter lifespans than stock wattage and long-life bulbs.

There is one bulb that Crash has tested that offers improved Low Beam performance without the manufacturer stating it has a short rated lifespan. Philips Racing Vision +200 H4 is rated at an atypical 400 hrs of burn time, vs 250hours for most of the other Philips/Osram/Tungsram performance focus rated bulbs.

If you want no bluer/whiter light, you have a few options: 1- the Osram rallye 100/90w H4 (and relay harness) or Philips Xtremevision +100 H4/9003.

If you want maximum lifespan and improved Low Beam performance, and are willing to accept some slight increase in color temperature for both lowbeam and highbeam, Philips Racing Vision +200 H4/9003.

Philips Xtremevision +130 or +150 will have similar low beam performance, and slightly lower color temperature, but are both rated at 250hrs lifespan.

 

I'm 65 and I had the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade in my 2014 Tacoma. The light output is amazing and the installation is easy. But if you don't feel comfortable running some wiring, I can understand. You did ask for better bulbs though and that will require a bulb change. Unfortunately, Toyota has made a simple exercise like changing headlight bulbs a bit of a contortionist special. So you might need some help just to change the bulbs.

What stock wattage bulbs should you use? I've done a quick copy and paste from the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade post to make that easy for you:

Stock wattage performance bulbs
Stock wattage high performance bulbs do not actually put out more light, instead they use smaller high precision filaments to make the light more focused and intense for the headlight to use more efficiently and project a brighter hotspot further. You can see an short article by Philips explaining how these bulbs work here.

These are currently the highest performing stock wattage bulbs on the market:

• Philips Racing Vision +150 or +200 - Best low beam, reduced high beam output. See updated +200 review in post #3169.
• 
  
  
  
  GE Lighting H4 NHX/BP2 Nighthawk Xenon Replacement Headlight Bulb, 2-Pack
  GE Nighthawk Xenon +120 - Full performance high beam

Which bulb is best? Depends on your needs. The +150 bulbs are going to provide excellent low beam performance, but coat the high beam reducing performance. The Philips are rated at 200hrs. The GE +120s have a blue coating on the tip but leave both the low and high beam uncoated giving superior high beam performance with a slightly lower low beam performance over the other bulbs. You can compare lux performance over stock in the above charts.

Philips vs Volsa:
While Osram and Philips are constantly compared and about equal when running the latest version of each bulb, I hadn't seen any comparison with Volsa +100, which was marketed as a replacement to the outgoing 70w Osrams. So I took the opportunity to compare them on a 1st Gen later in the thread here.

Note that Sylvania Silverstars (different than Osram Silverstars) are not on the list, as a fully coated stock wattage bulb is lower performing. The Silverstar XZE have an output of 1500/910 lumens and a life of 150hrs.
Here is a breakdown from Candlepower.

 

Not sure what age has to do with any of this other than making good headlights even more important. (Says the damned-near 68 year old.)

 

I'm going to go way out on a limb and suggest two things that may make it more important to a 68 year old. First, maybe his night vision isn't as good as it used to be, so he needs better lighting. Second, maybe he's not quite as able to tolerate the contortions required to swap bulbs or install an HD harness on a 2nd Gen Tacoma.

 

Very understandable, when I was 50 I never imagined what it was going to be like at 68. Shoot, now ya'll got me wondering if I'll be able to even change the bulbs, let alone the harness.

 

Man, I thought you were much younger!

 

If it makes ay difference, I feel (and act) 20 years younger.