HELP!!!! 2004 Toyota Tacoma Headlight Recommendations

To piggy back on this thread...what's the best way to get rid of the 'fog' on the lenses?

 

depends.

if you just want looks, then get one of those polishing kits.

But if you want to return the actual function of of the lights (light beam pattern, etc...) then get new housings.

This is what mine looked like after 2 rounds of polishing ~3 months apart. In other words, they looked nice, but the light was still severely smeared. Notice how my gutters are lit up...

vs, new CAPA certified. About as good as you'll get unless you go with HID retrofits (which are $$$).

The TYC brand (the CAPA certified ones) from Rock Auto are a great alternative to OEM. But IMO those are your choices. Most aftermarket brands value form over function.

 

My 99 Tacoma is in dire need of new headlamp assemblies.

Based on reading around on this site (thanks!), I checked Rock Auto looking for TYC CAPA cert assy's. As of 12/18/21, they have 3 listings for my truck:

TYC20506800: LEFT assy, in choice of "Regular inventory" or "CAPA Certified" (and only $1 difference?),
TYC20506700: RIGHT assy, no indication of CAPA cert available,
TYC20506800SET: SET of BOTH, no indication of CAPA cert available.

For y'all who have bought TYC CAPA cert headlights for a Gen 1 from Rock Auto before - was there ever a clear option of both LEFT and RIGHT available as CAPA certified?

 

I too replaced my original headlight assemblies with these aftermarket units. I typically would pay more for OEM but in this case the TYC units are very nice and much cheaper. The part numbers I have are from my Rock Auto invoice, both are CAPA certified:

$37 TYC 20607300 TYC Right Headlight Assembly Compatible with 2001-2004 Toyota Tacoma

TYC 20607300 (OE 8111004110) right and 20607400 (OE 8115004110) left. I am happy to report they perform much better!

I did not upgrade the bulb. I am running only the new TYC lights and (so far) I am very happy with the improvement.

 

What's going on in these photos? Is the preference the more concentrated light or dispersed light?

 

Thanks for the feedback, jimtoyota. For some reason, Rock Auto is not currently offering the CAPA certified version of the RIGHT TYC headlight for my '99 (TYC 20-5067-00-09). So I ordered the left one they did offer, and found and ordered the CAPA certified RIGHT headlight from Autoplicity (TYC 20-5068-00-09, who currently doesn't offer the CAPA certified version of the LEFT headlight). Maybe these strange inventory observations are just a function of the global supply crisis?

Got my harness and Osram super brights ordered from headlightservices too. Looking forward to a serious improvement in my nighttime visibility.

 

The preference is to have a sharp light beam cutoff. By far the best are the HIDs with projectors where you can basically draw a straight line between light and dark (although as I say later, it's not always the "best"). Something that lights up the road, not the sky above you, or oncoming drivers' eyes.

The 1st pic is after doing those polishing kits, so the housing/lens itself looked smooth and clear, but the light it actually produced still sucked.

Since I'm parked so close to the house, in order for light to be hitting my gutters, it's basically going straight up, which is definitely going to blind other drivers which is dangerous in of itself, but it also just wastes light by putting it where it doesn't need to be. Also in the 2nd photo you can barely see that alarm sign on the door. That's another sign the light is being fairly well cut off and being pointed mostly towards the road where it's needed (compare that to the 1st pic).

Like I say in that post, it's not perfect nor is it the same as modern HIDs with projectors, but the price of admission to get that projector style sharp cutoff just isn't worth it (to me).

I live in a rural area of the foothills, and my lights have always been more than sufficient to see what I need to see at what are safe speeds on deer infested mountain roads, and I don't blind other drivers. I can't see a reason for super bright lights in the city, except as panty magnets.

In a lot of ways, I actually prefer the lights in my ~20 year old truck compared to my '17 4Runner with projectors. This is especially noticeable on hilly/curvy roads. Sometimes I can't see 30 feet in front of me (like coming down a hill into an uphill section) with my 4Runner lights and need to pop my brights on. Generally not as necessary with my Tacoma. You can see in that lower photo where the light is being diffused is right in front, but off to the side (where a passing car would be) the cutoff is perfectly sharp.

For me, if I wanted to throw a massive amount of might, it'd be for off-road, and there are far better options for off road light than something in the stock headlight location (i.e. light pods or bars on the roof or ditch lights).

 

There is a caveat here. The TYC CAPA housings I'm talking about are for the 2001-2004 models.

Since you have a 1999, you have different headlight housings, so the options might be a little different for you. I don't remember the specifics, but @crashnburn80 is kind of known around here as the light guru, and has talked about some of the better options for the earlier model years.

That's not to say that the CAPA cert housings for your model aren't good, I'm sure they are, but as far as upgrading to something like sealed LEDs or HIDs and that type of stuff, there may be different options.

Just food for thought...

 

Thanks! That helps. So the first photo is stock lights after being cleaned, and the second photo is after replacing the headlights with CAPA certified replacements? Basically the exact same light and housing just new?

 

Thanks jbrandt. I'm working on crashnburn80's halogen ultimate headlight upgrade option.

I managed to get the CAPA cert TYC headlamp assys for my '99 from RockAuto and Autoplicity. TYC's part#s for the CAPA cert versions have a suffix of -9: i.e.,
20-5068-00-9 = Driver (purchased from RockAuto), and
20-5067-00-9 = Passenger (purchased from Autoplicity).

I placed my orders at both within 5 mins of each other (Sat night, 12/18 11PM). RockAuto was the clear winner, I had it in hand from them Tues 12/21. The unit from Autoplicity didn't arrive until a full week after that, Tues 12/28, and was a little dustier as if it had been out of the box for a while (maybe a return?). Wish RockAuto had both in stock when I ordered. As old as my truck is, I wasn't willing to spend the extra money for OEM in this case (I my time of searching, OEM was ~$390 after tax and shipping, these two TYC CAPA assys were <$83 shipped to my door).

Much to my relief both TYC units had the yellow CAPA cert stickers on them, and looked very good. A huge improvement in clarity, color, and condition compared to my OEM assys. I already installed the HLS harness, TYC assys, and Osram 100/90W Super Brights. Out of the box the TYC assys have their hotspots aimed noticeably lower than my stock assys. While it looked "ok", I think it might be better if I raise the aim (towards my stock arrangement) to get more light further up the road. Planning on playing with that in the next few nights.

I'm working on some pics at constant exposure conditions to show the improvement in light over my aged stock components. I plan to post those when ready in the Gen 1 daughter thread to crashnburn80's original ultimate headlight upgrade thread, in case any are interested in my results.