1. Welcome to Tacoma World!

    You are currently viewing as a guest! To get full-access, you need to register for a FREE account.

    As a registered member, you’ll be able to:
    • Participate in all Tacoma discussion topics
    • Communicate privately with other Tacoma owners from around the world
    • Post your own photos in our Members Gallery
    • Access all special features of the site

Headlights

Discussion in '1st Gen. Tacomas (1995-2004)' started by Tacpop, Feb 23, 2018.

  1. Feb 23, 2018 at 2:19 PM
    #1
    Tacpop

    Tacpop [OP] New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2018
    Member:
    #245385
    Messages:
    1
    Gender:
    Male
    Vehicle:
    2004 Tacoma single cab 4x4
    My 2004 Tacoma headlight lens are pretty cloudy and I'm not interested in cleaning/polishing them. Any recommendations on replacements??
     
  2. Feb 23, 2018 at 3:26 PM
    #2
    mwrohde

    mwrohde Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2014
    Member:
    #125160
    Messages:
    1,052
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    Sugar Hill, GA
    Vehicle:
    2003 Tacoma 4x4 5-speed 3.4 TRD SR5
    I bought TYC headlights from Rockauto. They don't throw as good of a pattern as OEM, but they were $30 each and a vast improvement over the clouded lenses that I had.
     
  3. Feb 23, 2018 at 7:32 PM
    #3
    2004TacomaSR5

    2004TacomaSR5 Nemesis Prime

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2011
    Member:
    #55722
    Messages:
    5,081
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Jon
    Montana
    Vehicle:
    2004 Tacoma DCSB & 1980 Toyota Pickup 4WD
    Tacoma is stock and staying that way, Pickup is TBA as of now.
    +1
    Mine have been in there almost a year and still look and function nice.
     
  4. Feb 23, 2018 at 10:25 PM
    #4
    03 NIGHT TACO

    03 NIGHT TACO Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2016
    Member:
    #201056
    Messages:
    1,012
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Jack
    Eastern Washington
    Vehicle:
    3.4 5 speed TRD
    Kings/Dakars/ARB
    CAPA certified replacements will generally be better than non-CAPA headlights, but they're more expensive.
     
    crashnburn80 likes this.
  5. Feb 24, 2018 at 8:23 AM
    #5
    jbrandt

    jbrandt Made you look

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2011
    Member:
    #51038
    Messages:
    17,612
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Justin
    El Dorado, CA (NOT El Dorado Hills)
    Vehicle:
    '04 TRD Tacoma 4x4 DC
    Kings, J59's Total Chaos UCAs Custom skids Sticker mod
    True, but barely more expensive, and totally worth it. Iirc, the non capa lights at rockauto were like $25 or $30, the capa cert ones were $40 each.

    OEM headlights are redonk expensive, and the capa ones, while they don’t have that perfect light beam like the new trucks, they are worth every penny, and I’ve been happy with mine.

    If you want better light than that, be prepared to shell out some cash for HID retrofits or get some LED pods or a light bars (if it’s for offroad lighting).
    I posted somewhere where I compared my old fogged oem lights and the capa ones.

    Here’s a pic of the light beam of my capa housings, upgraded wirin harness and phillips bulbs. Certainly not the “best” light beam, but I’m not even sure oem would be much better...
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2018
  6. Feb 24, 2018 at 11:01 AM
    #6
    03 NIGHT TACO

    03 NIGHT TACO Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2016
    Member:
    #201056
    Messages:
    1,012
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Jack
    Eastern Washington
    Vehicle:
    3.4 5 speed TRD
    Kings/Dakars/ARB
    @jbrandt That looks just about as good as OEM.

    My current truck has non-capa certified headlights that the P.O. put on and they're noticeably worse than the OEM’s on my old truck, but I may retrofit them in the future.
     
  7. Feb 24, 2018 at 12:09 PM
    #7
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 Vehicle Design Engineer

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2015
    Member:
    #156893
    Messages:
    14,563
    Gender:
    Male
    Kirkland, WA
    Vehicle:
    2003 DCSB TRD OR
    Go Hawks!
    Welcome to TW! As others mentioned if not going OEM, CAPA certified replacements are your best bet. Aftermarket headlights usually have worse optics that stock, resulting in poor beam performance, especially those one that do not look like stock lights.

    If you want brighter lights after replacing the lenses, check out this:
    https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/
     
  8. Feb 24, 2018 at 8:29 PM
    #8
    jbrandt

    jbrandt Made you look

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2011
    Member:
    #51038
    Messages:
    17,612
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Justin
    El Dorado, CA (NOT El Dorado Hills)
    Vehicle:
    '04 TRD Tacoma 4x4 DC
    Kings, J59's Total Chaos UCAs Custom skids Sticker mod
    That's reassuring, I didn’t have anything to really compate it to since the truck is so old.

    I know the build quality was essentially identical.

    Also, @Tacpop, the “upgraded” wiring harness I mensioned is the 1st gen version of the one that is mensioned in @crashnburn80 thread. I just didn’t do the Osram bulbs.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2018

Products Discussed in

To Top