Need new head lights suggestions

60 high 55 low.

 

I believe it is 60 Hi, 55 low
If you have H4 bulbs check Crash's first couple of posts https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/
this also covers the harness upgrade and why it is a good idea even with stock bulbs

 

The harness upgrade is overkill for stock wattage. If you're sticking with 60/55 it's not worth the money to get the harness. The lumens output per dollar spent doesn't make sense. Spending some money on a +20 or +30 high lumen standard watt bulb will net more increase in light output than regular bulbs and a standalone harness.

If you want maximum output without regard to cost, then yes- get a standalone harness. Hunt down some Flosser 145/100 rally bulbs. Be prepared to still mitigate heat at the buckets. Blind people. Gig for frogs. "hunt" deer at night. Whatever.

But best bang for buck combo is still upgrade to e-code lights, put a +20 or +30 60/55 bulb in there, leave the wiring alone. Done.

EDIT: and yes- the 1st number is always the high beam, second number low beam.

 

It's beneficial, the harness pulls power directly off the battery with the relay kit.

I added it because the high beams are 100w, factory only supports 65w. The Hella H4 100/55w is a "Harley motorcycle" bulb.

 

Kinda off topic, but this is probably the right crowd to answer my question. Is there a led turn signal bulb with a built in resistor?? I swear I thought I saw that at one time on this forum, but of course when I search all I pull up is 2nd and 3rd gen threads.
Much appreciated.

 

There are gobs of cheap "upgrades" (LED and housings and new bulbs) for the square style sealed light that came on the early trucks but most are not properly focused and the throw and cut off of the beam are terrible.
Unfortunately to get decent lighting you have to pay a little.
The good LED stuff on the market is still pretty absurdly priced so lets just knock those off the list right now.

This leaves one option.
you get some new housings with a removable bulb.
Then you pick up some quality bulbs

After speaking with a renowned automotive headlight consultant about lighting for another project of mine, it seems these are the best housings on the market right now.

$63 HELLA 003427291 Vision Plus 190x132mm High/Low Beam 12V Halogen Conversion Headlamp (HB2), White

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002M9QRE/

Once the housings are sorted you then need to pick a bulb.
You could simply go to the local parts store and pick a bulb but if I spent the money on decent housings then I would probably spend a bit more and get the best.
Also according to the same renowned headlight guy, the current best pick in 60/55w H4 bulbs is made by
Tungsram (GE of Europe)

They are a +120 bulb which is fancy talk for a lot of care went into the design and production to make them as bright and sharply focused as possible.
The only downside is that, due to their design which makes then so intense, they don't last as long as all the regular bulbs.
I asked how much shorter the lifespan might be and the only answer I got was "shorter".
As such I bought two sets.
If they only last a couple months then I will likely move on to something that lasts a little longer at the cost of some performance.
If they last a year I can probably live with that.

They will set you back about $45 a pair and the only place I have been able to find them is here.
https://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

If you scroll down to the H4 bulbs you will find them at the top of the list

Apparently some people have also been having pretty good luck with these bulbs and they are a bit easier to get.

Philips Automotive Lighting 9003 X-tremeVision Upgrade Headlight Bulb with up to 100% More Vision, 2 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-tremeVision-Upgraded-Headlight-Vision/dp/B00U1OLK86

I am sure there are others out there that would be an improvement over the stock stuff and may even be cheaper and/or longer lasting.

So when it is all said and done you will have about $150 in your new lights which should be about as good as this type of light can get.
The only thing better would be some pricey LEDs

As has been mentioned a relay set up might also be a good idea to insure that you are getting proper voltage to the bulbs.

 

I’ve seen ones that are built into the relay..not sure about the bulb.

 

You are correct! Thank you for jogging my memory. I've got the front end off my truck right now, and want to replace the turn signal and corner light bulbs with leds.
Thank you for your response.

 

Don't know what you are trying to spend or how urgent you want an upgrade, but in my experience I tried multiple things to make the stock headlights to work as efficiently as possible but ultimately went with an LED retrofit. upgrade.

You can buy brighter bulbs and or upgrade relay wiring harness but a halogen bulb in a reflector housing at the end of the day will be just that. Also, in general the brighter a Halogen bulb the more it will cost and the longevity decreases.

If you want the best headlight upgrade at a reasonable cost for what you get go to www.bxbuilt.com purchase an LED retrofit ~$500 with no fancy halo's. It is a complete plug and play product. If you can remove the stock headlights then you can install their product.

Light output and clarity is insane. I purchased a set earlier this year and love them. No I do not blind oncoming traffic. Blinding oncoming traffic comes from improperly aimed headlights and people who rigged up HID/LED lights in reflector headlight housings.

 

Seems to be what I need

$10 iJDMTOY 3-Pin CF14 EP35 Electronic LED Flasher Relay As LED Related Turn Signal Bulbs Hyper Flash Fix

https://www.amazon.com/iJDMTOY-Elec...---------&vehicleName=2003+Toyota+Tacoma&th=1

 

Look for can bus compatible bulbs. They are designed with the correct resistance to not trigger bulb warnings in cars that monitor those circuits.

 

https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/led-vehicle-replacement-bulbs/

This is the website I've seen advertised and mentioned several places. Haven't bought anything yet but I've done some browsing, and they have can-bus bulbs...not sure if that is necessary on the 01-04, not much in the way of brains in these trucks

 

Can somebody elaborate on the Hella E-codes and 5x7 lights as they keep getting mentioned... @RysiuM @crashnburn80 @se7enine

It does not look like those fit 01-04 front clips unless I'm missing something? My '03s headlights are the aero ones that are molded to flow with the grill as someone else mentioned. Which I guess also brings me to my next question OP what year is your truck?

 

That's for the OP truck which has the 5x7 sealed beam headlights 95.5-97. For your 03 headlights you just need to upgrade the current H4 bulbs.

 

You are correct.
Those will not fit the later trucks unless you swap the grill and everything.

 

They only fit trucks prior to 1998 that used sealed beams. Best update for your 03 if needing replacement is new OEM assemblies, which is what I did on my 03.

 

With the later headlights you can also get new housings with clear lenses and pop them open to install an LED projector retrofit kit.
Depending on which projectors you go with that will still end up costing $200-300 in the end.

I will probably end up going this route when the time comes

 

I see, that is what I thought. Just wanted to make sure.

 

They do not exist, as it would be a pointless (and technically challenging). Resistor = heat. Load resistor for turn signal is usually 6-8 ohm, that is about 15-20W of electrical energy turning into a heat. On the other hand LED chip hates heat. LED performance deteriorated in higher temperatures (hence all this heat sinks and fans in LED "headlight" bulbs). So if you must have a resistor it should be as far away from LED bulb as practical. But only IF YOU MUST for whatever reason you came up with. For hyper blinking the correct solution is to replace the flasher that is LED compatible (by the way the flasher is cheaper than a set of resistors)

As for LED headlights the deception they create by being "white", giving impression to human eye of being bright. However for the night driving the visibility just sucks with LED including projectors (I have already mentioned my bad experience with factory Toyota LED in projectors in 2019 Corolla). The other "proof" for myself came from using 28" 180W LED bar in my 4Runner. It supposed to have 14000 lm output, but the truth is that stock high beam in my 2012 4Runner (four bulbs are on with high beam) gives much better visibility than that light bar alone. That light bar is a great addition as a wildlife finder, as dears are more visible in 6K white from LED bar than 2.7K from halogen bulbs. But I would never trade 2.7K halogen bulbs for 6K LED. LED just don't cut it for me.

 

I ordered the below from Superbrightleds. This will be for the side marker lights, and front turn signals.