3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

High quality precision made bulbs should have the same bulb life, so it is actually less surprising when both fail at nearly the same time. If both fail at significantly different times, that implies that the manufacturing process might not be very consistent/precise, aka have a lot of product variance. So I wouldn’t consider it weird they both fail at nearly the same time, I’d consider that a well made product.

 

This thread is a wealth of info, so thanks OP for taking the time to do all this. I ordered 4 H9s using your link and they are all made in Germany. Put the two spares in my center console. It was pretty simple to modify the base with some cutters and a sharp knife.

 

If I run the H9’s in a 5th gen 4runner, am I gonna get flashed for being too bright?

They are projectors, but weird ass side bulb entry housings. Totally different than Tacoma. The bulbs literally sit sideways compared to the Tacoma.

I’m not so worried about increased brightness as I am additional light thrown to the sides (into oncoming traffic) due to no glare cap on the H9 and how that interplays with the sideways orientation of the bulb.

 

Not an issue. See post #4790. The halogen units are quite strange with the side entry projectors, best upgrade is OEM LED covered later in the thread.

 

Funny story, I'm on the GXOR Facebook page. Someone posted some GX460 AlphaRex garbage. I commented, calling them junk and directed everyone to this thread and said do your own research. They must have banned me from that post. Because I can't see it anymore.

 

Interesting article. World first: Canada mandates automatic headlights, blacked out dash displays when not in use

https://www.drive.com.au/news/world...hts-blacked-out-dash-display-when-not-in-use/

From the article.
data out of the US shows driving at night is “three times as risky as driving during the day.”

 

The idea is sound for traditional instruments/gauges because you can see your instruments in the daylight. But I'm curious how it would be executed when so many vehicles now have screen based instruments, and with screens you need to make them brighter to see in the daylight, when your headlights are off.

 

My Canadian 2021 TRD OR has blacked out instruments unless headlights are on. It is awful in low or flat ambient light. I thought the bigger issue was on some vehicles with headlights used as DRL's and drivers not realizing their tail lights weren't on.

 

My old 2000 Grand Am was like this. As long as the car was in drive, either the DRLs were on, or the headlamps, decided by a photo sensor. The dash wouldn't light up unless the headlamps were on. Only way to change the behavior was to re-wire things.

I think better driving test requirements could solve more issues though.

 

Living in Canada in the winter where the sun (seemingly) goes down at 5 PM, there are a ton of phantom vehicles driving around in the dark and it's downright scary sometimes on dark, rural roads.

And while I agree with this, there needs to be a big advertising campaign reminding people to use their headlights because many vehicles don't/won't have automatic headlights. I'd like to see them remind drivers to also use headlights in any inclement weather as well.

Now if we could get rear fog lights, we'd really be making headway on safety. I have no idea if they're actually safer, but they look cool and I installed them on my old VW for fun.

Edit: Also, what a nicely written article that actually talked about the change and what brought it about. So many "journalists" would write a 2 paragraph article and call it a day.

 

Reviewing for Halogen upgrade.

hmmm, I want the OEM LEDs (non-TRD PRO) with harness.

E
****

 

What an amazing post. Thanks for all the research!

Was trying to find a recommendation for the brightest non-LED headlights for my 3rd gen. I made the mistake of putting LEDs in a year ago and it has been terrible.

Thank you!

 

Sorry if I've missed this somewhere, but did you ever get to test the LEDs in the 5th gen T4R? Would love to know the best lighting upgrade for my wifes 2019 SR5!
Also, love your work on all the lights for the Tacos!

 

Deliberately no. The arrangement of the side entry T4R headlights will not allow you to seal the headlight chamber with an LED installed. You must leave the headlight internals exposed to the elements due to the LED fans/heat sinks at the LED base which are not present on a halogen, these prevent closing the headlights. AKA, if you run LEDs you are exposing your projector bowl to being open to rain and the grime environments of the engine bay. Headlights are sealed for a reason, it is to keep the optics absolutely pristine in terms of cleanliness. As soon as you start dumping watery grime from the engine bay into your precision engineered mirror optics, they are not going to work. And you cannot practically clean them, the headlights are effectively destroyed. So replacement LEDs are specifically not recommended for this platform due to incompatibility of the assembly. Hence there are no posts recommending replacement LED options.

Without question the best upgrade of the 4runner is the OEM LED headlights. They are nearly double the output of the best halogen bulb upgrades and superior to even the outstanding Tacoma OEM LED headlights. See post #5035. These come in full LED or LED low with halogen high. If you get the hybrid units with halogen high beams you can run some outstanding HIR high beam upgrades, covered in post #5241.

The 4runner lights are exceptionally poor, event the best bulb upgrades are not that effective. The 3rd Gen Tacoma headlights respond reasonably well to bulb upgrades, and there is a great value proposition to getting big gains for a small price before jumping to OEM LED. The same isn't true for 4runner, you get some gains but the side entry projectors are so poor the gains are relatively small. Replacement LEDs would be even worse, before they destroyed your headlight assemblies. I'd strongly recommend OEM LED for the 4runner, I wouldn't even waste money on bulb upgrades on that platform as the OEM halogen assemblies are that poor. I haven't tested the full LED high beam version or the T4R LEDs, but I'd be very skeptical it could out perform the hybrid version with the HIR upgrades mentioned.

 

anyone run a HID for high beams?

 

No one should

 

Not a good idea due to slow start up unless you use a bi-HID projector retrofit.

 

that would be a really bad idea in the OEM housing

if retrofit a projector that does high beam on a bi-level shutter, then ok

 

@crashnburn80

have you ever tested the “Morimoto Mled 2.0 bi-led projectors” for someone that might want to retrofit their headlights