Lights mounted behind the grill

I am considering mounting two 7" off-road 100w driving lights behind the factory grill on my 2019 Tacoma. There is plenty of room for a good, solid mount and good light adjustability.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of set up? My question really is, will the grill deflect or diffuse the light beams to any significant amount?

The round circles on the Tacoma photo probably aren't to scale.

Edited to add - these are lights I already have from my previous Tacoma. Although not in this photo, there is now a hidden winch mounted. I got this idea from watching a Baja 1000 pre-run video this morning and there were lights mounted in a similar method - so, I figured if it's good enough for a $400,000 pre-runner it might work on a $35,000 Tacoma.

John M

 

Have you considered a hidden light bar or ditch lights? Would probably be a cleaner install and brackets are readily available.

 

Will it melt/warp the plastic of the grille? That would be my first concern.

 

Cut the grill insert and do a retro lamp install...
offroad lights

 

the best part about that is him saying the output sucks compared to his headlights.

 

Maybe he was looking at the store glass at the Mall...

 

Hidden bars behind the grille have worked well for us. We have them on two of chase trucks and haven't had any issues with the grilles melting or getting hot.

 

Thanks for the advice and ideas. BAMF mount looks like something that may be worth considering if they make it for the 3rd gen. I've emailed 'em.

JM

 

Behind the grill here with no issues. Diffusion of light is not noticeable

 

just get a hella bar on your roof