Headlights No Good Solution?

Four years ago I had a crack on the lens of one of my OEM headlights on my 2011 Tacoma.I saw this as a chance to buy those cool headlights : Carid here I went. One of many of my life’s mistakes. Now I only have high beams on the Carid lights and it is not the fuses or low beam bulbs. But most importantly after reading Tacoma world I realize I was not crazy when I hated those headlights a month after they were installed. So now I have pulled out my old quality headlights but the crack has not healed itself.(I am a math teacher: the crack looks like a 6 inch long exponential equation).
Please someone give some advice that does nit involve Carid Spydervheadlights.

 

http://www.headlampsamerica.com

Remanufactured/Refurbished OEM. They have an eBay store as well and may be cheaper there. I replaced my OEM non-Sport headlights with the Sport ones. Holding up VERY well. No condensation, no leaks and MUCH better than my old ones which were cracked and faded.. Second photo is the before and after swap.

 

Get a new one?

 

Don't bother with ANZO from Rockauto. The quality of fit is terrible and light output is not that good. I ended up going back to OEM.

 

So they are legit oem , just refinished / refurb?

 

Welcome to the forum!

Lots of lighting info in the 2nd Gen headlight thread, including part numbers with links to buy for new OEM assemblies:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

OEM is definitely not inexpensive though. Another option is to watch the 2nd Gen market place thread on here or check eBay and buy some decent condition used OEM units. Note that the early 2nd Gen original lights had an issue with melting DRLs. Toyota issues a fix and came out with updated revised lights that didn’t have the issue. Link to the TSB is also in the above thread under the replacement assemblies section.

 

Yes, one thing to keep in mind. The ones I got were NOT the TSB/Recall ... at least that is not what the part number suggest, since I don't have DRL's its not an issue. However if you have DRL's check with them.

 

I had TYC from Rock Auto, the light output sucked and was scattered everywhere.

Then I got backed into and the autobody guy talked me into factory second headlights. The left one is fine, the right one scatters light high, but its tolerable. They covered one, the other one cost me around 250$. I'd go with the ones bodyguard posted if I had to do it again.

 

Or you can try to restore them yourself if the cracking is just crazing and not all the way through the plastic.



Of note, I haven't tried this method so I don't have a dog in the fight.

-J

 

Thank you all for the input. I spent a couple of hours reading the posts on this site before posting my question. The more I read, the more confused I became. All the responses today have helped a lot. Bottom line is I am already on overload teaching I’m this virtual world where Math students need constant input and this situation with my lights has been very time consuming.
But now I have a plan: attempt to fix the crack that is not all the way through tomorrow. If that does not work I am going to use headlampsamerica to replace that one OEM. I have used Sylvanua Headlight Restoration Kit in the past with great success so I can get the other OEM looking new I order to match as closely as possible. Why is it that problems with vehicles never repeat? It is always a new issue that you don’t know anything about?
Thank you very much for all the input!

 

Just ordered from HA yesterday. Tip, you can type in 0s for the tax id number. HA generally sells to shops, so HA asks for the shop's EIN. Also, watch the Ebay store. Prices reduced, as is availability. https://www.ebay.com/str/headlampsamerica