Basic lighting upgrade for 2nd Gen

Greetings. New here. What a fantastic info resource TacomaWorld is!

I'm interested in doing a basic upgrade on the headlights of my 2nd gen (2013 - bought new), Prerunner, access cab, SR5. Not interested in an "ultimate upgrade" for a few reasons.

My goals in a headlight system are:
- update the look of my truck without breaking the bank.
- gain some lighting performance. I drive home from work in the dark on 2 lane somewhat curvy country roads.
- going toward the blacked out look without going to dark colored lenses that will interfere with light output. - so I want black housings.
- interested in some LED DRL but maybe the strip type - not halos.
- possibly projectors.
- not HIDs - probably halogen
- plug and play, no new harnesses, customizing parts, etc.
- reliable install with little maintenance - like OEM

Thoughts?

I was looking at

$250 AKKON - For 12-15 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pickup Truck Black Bazel Dual Led DRL Projector Headlight Lamps

something like this or other similar. Although I want to do a "system approach" for housings and bulb replacement so that I'm sure to increase performance - not degrade it.

BTW - several years back I tried upgrading just the bulbs to Sylvania Silverstar mid grade halogen bulbs and after about 10 bulb replacements at about 2 month intervals went back to stock. At first I thought maybe I violated the "don't touch" rule but after buying cotton gloves specifically for bulb changes - that wasn't it.

And yes, I spent a few+ hours reading other threads here (mostly in the lighting sticky thread area) including the 101 thread, Lighting FAQ, the one about not running LEDs in Halogen reflectors, projectors, etc, etc, as well as stuff at other sides and watched some you tube videos. Learned lots about things like beam pattern, cutoff, actual lumens, etc, etc.

 

Don't waste your money on cheap-o lighting upgrades. They look great for a little while. But go down-hill very fast. Those cheep fixtures are bad about getting moisture inside the lenses. If you really want to go that route, spend the money on high quality products for a more trouble-free investment.

Here is my $0.02. Best lighting mod you will ever have - Get an LED strip (or pair of lights) in a Euro / Driving Beam Pattern. Connect these lights (with a relay harness) to turn on at the same time as your OE High Beams. You will smile every time you use them.

PS: Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome to the forum! Those headlight assemblies will be garbage for output, you will lose performance. OEM is by far the best performing. If you want to update the look to darker housings without spending much look up the BHLM (Black HeadLight Mod) which converts your non-reflector chrome surfaces to black while retaining OEM performance. The OEM smoked chrome lights are a great upgrade as well, though not inexpensive. While you may not be interested in the ultimate headlight upgrade, check out the bulb output charts in that thread for the best performing bulbs available.