Upgraded Headlight recommendation for 2016 Tacoma

Two part question:

My stock headlights on my 2016 Tacoma are so dim. It's driving me crazy and is dangerous. Noticed it a lot recently at night on mountain passes. Do you guys have any recommendations for a good upgrade for new LED lights and the housing? Something under 1k.

Or, would you recommend just upgrading the bulbs I put in the headlights? Is this possible?

 

Oem 2020+

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2020-tacoma-oem-led-headlight-megathread.592039/

 

I’d have to agree OEM LED

 

I went with Morimoto xb gen2. No regrets

 

OEM LED's or the H9 Mod.

 

The stock H11 bulbs are what are known as Long Life bulbs. They last longer than high performance bulbs but at the expense of being less bright, and all halogen bulbs get dimmer as they age, so that is something to consider. The least expensive upgrade is to put H9 bulbs in. They won't last as long but they will provide the best legal solution for your OEM lights. As important, and maybe even more so is to make sure the headlight alignment is done right. Properly aligned lights make all the difference. Daniel Stern's site has good info regarding that. As others have mentioned, the best solution to better lighting is to upgrade to the 2020 LED lights. I would suggest trying the H9 bulbs and alignment first for around $20 as the OEM LED upgrade is going to be close to $1500. The LEDs are more than worth it in my first hand opinion but your pocketbook might not agree.

 

+1.. it seems like every Tacoma has oem leds in my area. I prefer to stand out

 

Are the OEM LED's plug and play?

 

Yes that’s the best part. Although a harness may be needed

 

No, they are not plug and play. They are a direct bolt in - figure about three hours to replace both sides - but they will require a special harness to make them it all work. I believe the user name Daveesa here on TW is the person who makes and sells the harness. When I bought mine three years ago he was charging $85. All in all this was the best money spent on my truck. Not one regret.

 

/thread.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ctor-headlights.589465/page-294#post-27887371

 

^ Amen.

OP if you don't have the funds yet for it. You can do the H9 bulb conversion for now. That’s the route I went (until I can purchase OEM LED’s)

here are some pics for ya

 

Projector retrofit hands down. For the price to retro vs new assemblies, it can’t be best.

PLUS - no one has ever posted pics of the aftermarket morimoto/2020+ cutoffs. They just post pictures of the headlights on and on the truck

here’s some photos from my old phone. The stock pic just had aftermarket shitty bulbs

 

That’s because they’re the best looking headlight available and they make the truck as a whole look better. But they are expensive.

Believe me, the Morimoto cutoffs are cleaner than your ole lady.

 

I’ll believe it when I see it. No one has posted them up, not even morimoto.

to what looks good is subjective. expensive? yes totally agree lol

I’ll gladly put up my retros over stock (for my year), for a 1/3 of the price of morimotos or 2020+

and you do realize the top photo is stock 2017 lights right?
Bottom is the retro, that’s not even shown against a wall

Edit: found Meso’s post
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/morimoto-led-xb-headlight-review.602544/

I’ll still keep my Rx350s.

 

I live at 7000' and drive above 12,000' in the high rocky mountains of Colorado and use German H9 low beam bulbs with no problems. Best stock headlights I have ever used and that is a big statement since all of my other vehicles use German Hella E-Code H4 glass headlights in place of DOT sealed beams, with 80w/100w Hella bulbs, with a dual relay harness.

 

Unfortunately a sharp cutoff alone means nothing. It says nothing about the distribution of light in the foreground or where the hot spot is, and of course, neither of these photos show that either. The factory 2020 LED's have a rather soft cutoff and yet they are some of the best lights you can buy, are extremely smooth and wide in their light distribution, have no over lit foreground and have seamless integration of the high beam and low beam patterns.

 

Welp. This is the only one I got from when I first did it. Foreground and width looks great to me and I can see perfectly. To each their own