Roof mount light bars?

understand, dusty, dirty windshield= massive reflection on windshield with a roof mounted light bar. in my sport I have a small bar in the scoop, and a Diode Dynamics combo bar (flood/spot), in the lower grille. once aimed right, it is downright awesome!!! My 17 gmc sierra has a bar in the bumper, and a bar in the grille, with the higher bar in the grille, it was really hard to aim it, to be able to see a huge improvement like the tacoma, until I tipped it down a bunch. but, the sierra is a lot taller, and bigger than the tacoma so, for me... the lower the light bar, it seems, the better the light on what you need it to be. your results may vary. I personally would never mount a bar on the roof, or above the windshield. Ski

 

Are you accounting for curvature of the earth?

 

Thought the earth was flat? Lol

 

Check out the Caliraised hidden bumper mounted light bar. Of all the auxiliary lights on my truck, I use that one the most. Its wonderfully bright and with a little ingenuity, you can easily tie it in to your high beams so it all comes on at once. Although I look like a lightsaber hauling ass across the desert, I find my roof mounted lights cause too much glare on the windshield and hood to really be effective. If I did it all again, I'd likely mount them further back on the cab, or even on the bed rack, but those hidden lights are seriously my favorite.

https://caliraisedled.com/products/...bumper-hidden-led-light-bar-mounting-brackets

 

any light mounted above the hood line is illegal for street use
ditch lights pointed forward and lights on the roof reflect off the hood creating glare and limit your far vision

 

I was going to upgrade my fog lights to amber diode dynamics as the owm halogen are horrible.
What antenna do you have on the passenger side there?

I'm thinking now ditch lights behind the grill light bar and upgrading the fog lights.
I also at.some point plan on upgrading to an led headlight setup with new assembly.

 

Grill lights to illuminate the road only.

Roof lights to illuminate way down the road, and if you get a combo it will spill into your peripheral side vision.

Ditch lights are great to help see animals on the sides of the roads more than anything. I don’t use them to see in ditches.

If your the terrain that your in has dense foliage and the trees are tight on the road, consider using an Amber lights. The white will almost blind you bouncing off everywhere to close to you.

So I got a little bit of everything on my truck. I use the bumper and ditch lights the most.
The roof one I use when I am moving at speed and have open terrain. Like I mentioned if I am in the woods, it almost blinds me it’s so bright. Mine has 2 functions, white spot in the middle and Amber flood on the sides. I end up just using the Amber floods, the center white spot only is turned on when I want to see way out.

 

Check out https://www.morimotohid.com/

Several of my buddies are running these and have switched over from other brands.
I run Baja Designs, and I really like them.

I will say that it’s better to buy quality and piece your setup together, vs purchasing them all at once and settling due to cost.

 

I agree I'd rather save up and do it right the first time. I don't like and can't really afford to waste money on poor cheap products.
My main purpose is to be able to see on my very dark twisty turny back roads.for all sorts of critters to avoid hitting them, deer, wild turkey, wolf ect and love to jump into the road on my way to and from work at night.
Also in bad weather to be able to see better.
I went from a tundra with oem factory led headlights I didn't want or need a full size and thr tacoma for me is more fun to drive and doesn't kill me.with a 38 gallon gas tank.
I have a lot of insight and ideas from this post thank you all so much it's greatly appreciated!

 

Yeah then get some nice lights for front bumper, fogs and some ditch lights. I have never mounted anything behind the grill, as it would seem to obstruct it too much for my liking. But I have not tried it either.

Just got with a company that stands behind their stuff and if you have any issues, you will be good. Both the companies I mentioned before have great customer service, and replace/fix any issues that may come up.

 

Roof top light bar.

I’m actually selling mine with the brackets. It ha served its purpose well on trails but I found a deal on a rack I couldn’t pass up.

 

How does it mount up?

 

One more question/option was also contemplating a brush gard to protect the front end I know I have seen light bars mounted on those as well. How does an option like that stack up?

 

Don’t do it! If you hit something it will damage all kinds of other stuff. Trust me.

Either get a bumper or leave it stock.

 

Those little bars that lights mount to that stick out of the air dam may hold a light up, but they shake like hell sometimes.

 

+1 for diode dynamics, theirv stuff is great.
One factor I haven’t seen mentioned here is the potential for hood glare with a roof mounted light bar. This causes more eye fatigue.
I went with a bumper mounted for this reason.
I also hope for the sake of other drivers that you’re not using this light bar on the highway or populated roads. the best option here would be to upgrade your fog lights. The diode dynamic SS3 sports are the best option, I went with the max’s and regret it because they spill light upwards and imo it’s too bright to use with oncoming traffic.

 

No for populated roads and highway fogs only the.others would be for the pitch black dark back roads I have to use to get to certain parts where I would turn them off.
I used to be a vol. Fire police in my town before my son was born and the roads on the way to calls in bad weather I could not see a dang thing and with how close to the edge of the roads our town has trees literally right on the edge of the road.all sorts of wildlife love to hide in and jump out at the last-minute as I could see them. Too many close calls for me so I want to be able to see.

 

The antenna is a WeBoost.
I got it on sale at REI and figured since my wife likes to use her phone for a mobile hot spot on road trips the antenna would help increase speeds

 

It mounts to the roof mounts under the weather strip which is great. That’s why I got it. I don’t have to drill into any frame.

 

Ah, where I have the factory rails probably can't do that.