REVIEW: PIAA 18" RF Series LED Light Bar. (DRV/Beam)

I recently installed a PIAA 18” LED light bar. In full-disclosure, I and a few others were provided different light bars for evaluation. Thank you to @automatcentral. I will be as objective as I can with my personal opinions. I will also add photos, so you can look and begin to form your own opinions. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions about install. I will warn you now… … there are many photos in this review.


Let’s start with the statistics. Some of these photos are from the instruction manual and a few I found online so you can get a sense of the dimensions and features.

I have seen prices vary on these from 249.00 to 599.99. Shopping around is always good as with any major purchase for your rig.


PIAA RF18

• 18” Driving Light/Beam
• 64 WATTS
• 6000 Kelvin
• 116000 Kelvin

Dimensions


Mounting location(s)

• Bottom /Back only. (no side mounts available)
• Neat feature, if you want to add additional light bars you can connect them together via a connection bracket (included with the kit)

Mounting Bracket and options (if you so choose)



What is in the Box:




Update: After using the light for about a year, the output is still about the same. The downside I have discovered is that PIAA customer service is pretty much non-existent. I had a hex nut, bolt, and slider fall out. The setup for these lights uses a slider which the hex nut sits in. This allows the nut to slide into place and allows you to tighten the bolt. I was unfortunate enough to have one come loose. No more slider nut or bolt. At first I figured not a big deal. I can get another nut and bolt. The part you can't get is the slider. I tried for more than two months reaching out to PIAA and resellers trying to get the part. NO ONE HAS IT. As for PIAA, they will not call you back. So out of luck the light has been pulled out of my truck and I am off to find something new. If I had paid for the light bar outside of this review I would be pretty pissed. Since it was provided as part of an honest review I figured I should come back and let folks know how its working. Note - if you have one of these light bars I highly recommend putting something in each end of the light bar mounting points so if a bolt falls out you don't lose the slider.


Update: I have had the light bar sitting in a box for a bit, finally found a replacement online. So its back in and still works nice. Other than PIAA customer service, all good. The light is great... When you install these, use some Loctite.

Next Up ... The installation.

 

On to the Installation:

Initially, my plan was to side mount the light bar behind the grille. (using a side screw into each end of the light bar.) I had also considered adding a couple small round lights as well. I debated between a couple mounting options from different fabricators. I decided to go with BAMF (Elusive Elements light bar).

As it turns out, I am glad I chose the BAMF mount because the PIAA Lightbar is set up with no side mounts. Something to be aware of depending on how you want to mount your lightbar. On the upside if you mount it on an outside bumper it seems like it would provide some added security for someone looking to score an easylight bar.

I did end up turning the mounts to face backwards, so I could mount it from the rear rather than using the traditional downward mount or side. I then had to figure out how to get it centered because neither the mount nor the light bar had side to side adjustable sliders.

As you can see in the photos below, I could not mount equally on both sides of the light bar. I am not a fan of this but nothing else lined up quite right. I could center mount it right in the middle of the Toyota emblem, but I would only be able to fit one single mount in the middle. So my only option was to slide it down and attach it with both mounts, one being slightly off.





Overall the install was straight forward. It took me about 3 hours. I did end up making a small bracket for relocating the horns (due to the BAMF bracket installation so that took some time.) It also took me a bit longer because I had to fit and refit the mounts until I got it centered. (notice the photos above) my adjustments had to be in various increments, I had no way to just mount and slide it one direction or the other and then tighten it up. I am also a little picky when it comes to extra wires, having everything level, and clean looking. Lastly, I did not have to do the work or running wires through the FW and add a new switch since I have and sPOD. On a difficulty scale it was about average (5 on a scale of 1-10) with 1 being very easy and 10 being extremely hard (PITA).

Couple finished photos at an angle:

Note: I did try to get off angle, so you could see the light without blinding the camera.



Next up... How is the light output.

 

So how well does it work? Is the light good? I will let you judge those for yourself below.

A few notes on the following photos:

Since I installed behind the grille, I will add photos of both grille on and grille off so you get a sense of how much light is blocked by the grille.

• I took two sets of photos.
  • The first will be facing a slight hill
  • The second on a road with a slight downward grade.

• You will see the comparison from driver’s viewpoint with Brights, Brights + Lightbar, Dims, and Dims + Lightbar.
• Last note. I could probably adjust slightly downward, but I liked this angle. I am open to opinions and experience if anyone wants to PM me with more questions. I did the best I could to mark my spot so I could give an accurate idea of the difference grill on/grille off. (and not annoy neighbors too much)

Both sets of photos below facing a slight hill.

Bright Uphill -Grille Off


Bright Uphill -Grille On



Dim Uphill -Grille Off


Dim Uphill -Grille On

 

Both sets of photos below facing slight downhill

Down Hill Grille OFF (brights)


Down Hill Grille ON (Brights)



Now for the Dims view.

Downhill Grille Off (dims)


Downhill Grille On (dims)




Example closeup with lightbar.
Bright

Dim

 

Final Thought on the PIAA RF 18" Light Bar.


My initial hope was that I could use this light as a driving light at night on highway. After trying several different angles, I don’t think I could get away with it without blinding oncoming drivers. The lights are probably still a little high but I like them where they are currently and will leave it for a while.

Overall, I am happy with the light and the output. It adds a very noticeable amount of light and helps visibility at night tremendously over my stock headlights alone. At some point I may upgrade this lightbar and add a couple attachments to each side. I am a little curious to see how the attachments work and how much more light they put out. I also think it would balance out the spread a little. Its a nice option to be able to increase the size of the light bar without buying a whole new bar. If I do end up with a couple RF 6" (which I think are the smallest in the series) I will update this review.

If you have any questions feel free to ask or reach out to @automatcentral for more info and even some potential discounts.

 

Nice writeup on install!

I don't suppose you wired it in so that it could come on/off with brights did you? May be a safe way to run on dark Colorado roads without blinding other drivers. Just a thought!

 

Nope. Ran it to my sPOD. Quick and simple... ...Funny, I had a buddy mention that idea a few weeks ago when chatting. I like the idea and thought about it but wanted to keep it simple for the review. (And the instsll took longer than i thought it would)