New OEM headlights

Finally bit the bullet and bought some factory headlights from the Huntington Beach Toyota online department. They had a 20% sale so it lessened the bite. I went OEM route because numerous tries with 3rd party lights were less than impressed because of weird shadowing issues.

However these "OEM" also had minor issues. The two side bolts were shorter than the original and was barely enough to get the nut on. I had to drill out the whole to reattach the side marker light and the spring holding the bulb in was overly long and had to cut. Since these parts are so old now is Toyota just outsourcing these parts? The headlights did come with bulbs which I thought was odd. 3rd parties do that but Toyota will charge for every part.

Also after a test drive I noticed that the outer lenses got very hot, like 140-150 degrees with an ambient temp of 90. Is that normal? Also should I coat them with some clear coat and what would be best?

 

I’m interested about coating new lenses too!

 

Unscrupulous people will buy OEM from a dealer, then switch out the OEM with a cheap aftermarket part & return it to the dealer.
Seen it happen many times & the parts people usually never know the difference. My guess this may have happened. Look the part over carefully & compare any markings/plastic stamps etc, to your original OEM. I would return them & have the dealer order you another set.

 

I’m pretty sure Toyota always charges a restocking fee, especially on opened products.

I vote for after market.

 

Of course OEM lights are superior vs aftermarket parts BUT IMO if you are not restoring the truck to full on OEM OG stuff then why pay so much for headlights.
Ive used aftermarket headlights mulitple times with no issues. Ive even done retro fitting projects on them and last a good while. You just gotta maintain the lenses so the sun dont damage them.
Or you can also find some good OEM ones on ebay clean them up and slap them on for 1/2 the cost of new ones.

 

I bought aftermarket housings for my wife's 4runner. I did a high output H4 upgrade with an Auxbeam negative switched jumper harness to the battery.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

I added Baja Designs SAE fogs and they are a really good solution to the spotty output of the housings. I don't know how much better OEM housings will be than the aftermarket at this point - plastics manufacturing in China has improved in my experience of buying cheap housings (I bought the cheapest ones I could find on ebay for my 2nd gen and they work way better than the $80 pair I bought 8 years ago, even when those old ones were new).

The BD fogs can be wired to come on with the headlights automatically or on a separate switch - there's a spare H4 connector on the passenger side once you do a jumper harness that I could make a harness going to the BD's so it's all removeable without any wire splices on the OEM harness.

 

I noticed the ones I bought before, TYC and Depo, that the inside of the shroud was painted black which might have lead to some weird shadowing. The OEM's are not painted. I probably should have bought a cheap pair and used the oven to just swap out the outer lens. And yes some dealers charge a 30% restocking fee. I think these are legit are very good counterfeits. Even the rubber boot that goes around the plug has the part number stamped on it.