Best CCFL Halos w/ HIDs

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum but bought my 2010 Tacoma new 4 years ago. I'm excited to be a part of community and can say that this question was a big deciding factor in becoming a member since I just cannot find good information anywhere on it. My frustration has grown exponentially as a new CCFL Halo w/ HID kit is something I really want!

Quality CCFL Halos w/ HIDs (preferably pre installed) have been eluding me for over a year now as I have just haven't been able to commit to a purchase for the life of me. Reasons mainly being confidence in seller and quality of product. I'm not a car guru or anything but am pretty good with my hands and following directions.

After doing wayyy too much research on this crap I have decided that I would like black, CCFL halo headlights. I'm leaning toward 8000k HIDs although I've heard that 4300k perform the best; I like the color of the 8000k. Not wanting to have to cut the rubber backing of the housing to accomodate the HIDs, I've had some luck finding retailers who sell "pre-installed" HIDs with the halo headlights. However, can I trust that they do a good job? It seems that all of them encourage doing additional sealing which I'm not too confident I would know where to start with.

A few weeks ago I committed to a purchase of black Spyder CCFL headlights with 8000k HIDs at Dash Z Racing (see link below):

http://www.dashzracing.com/05-10-to...tor-headlights-black-pro-yd-tt05-ccfl-bk.html

The reason i like this deal is I was able to find a 10% off coupon, but most of all they were selling the HIDs in a bundle with the headlights themselves. This is nice because it offers some kind of guarantee that the HIDs will fit the housing and hopefully won't melt any of the hardware. However, the HIDs were not "pre-installed," which I didn't know was available until today. 4 business days later, I was contacted by the retailer saying they were actually out of these and I would be refunded. They have no idea when they will get more.

Today I found an even better deal, price wise, slightly more attractive model, as well as the "pre-installed" case which caught my eyes quickly. I reached for the credit card quickly on this but when I tried finding a coupon code for this retailer as well, I was unpleasantly surprised how many claims there were by people getting ripped off by this retailer. Mainly paying for their product, but never receiving anything. Or paying, getting their product, finding a part that was faulty, and never being able to reach anyone to get a replacement. I've heard ballasts fail often and having the ability to easily replace them is critical. I tried calling these guys personally to ask a question and after 10 calls I gave up with no answers. This raised a red flag for me given the rest of the claims I read. Below is this set from ProTuningLab and I like the look of this set more; I also really like the "pre-installed" HID claim as well. I'm not sure if this generation headlight is newer than the Spyder one and which one, if either, is better quality.

http://www.protuninglab.com/hidxe05totap1.html

Has anyone had a good experience with a retailer? Were you able to find a pre-installed HID kit in a similar headlight? I could really use some feedback/guidance/recommendations for product, seller, and anything else you can think of. I've become VERY annoyed trying to find such a product that I will be satisfied with and it's starting to make me angry. Please advise!

My greatest appreciation for any helpful responses...

 

Here's a better deal
http://www.carid.com/2007-toyota-ta...cfl-halo-led-projector-headlights-263779.html

I bought them here almost 3 years ago, great headlights

 

I'm not sure that those are HID. But these are decent quality replacement lights. Also from CARiD.com

 

OP, first link is known as gen 3 halos, 2nd link is known as gen 2 halos & the ones zeropilot posted are known as gen 1 halos. That only addresses the styles. Gen 1 used to need to have wiring done, not sure if that is still the case. I had gen 2 but were not HID, my fogs are so I didn't care. Gen 3 are just next version of ccfl and were plugnplay also like gen 2. Just a personal choice of housing styles mostly. Can't speak to the dealers you mentioned. I went back to oem blacked out housings due to halo fail and just bored with the "flair" if you will, of those blingy type headlights. Also I will bring up the option of LED bulbs in oem housings vs. HID. If you are set of some of these projector HIDs I would suggest either 5000k or 6000k on color. They will be slightly colored but still bright, 8000k is too blue and dim which kinda defeats the purpose of doing anything to improve lighting IMO - show pony application at best. People will give you shit on here about these scattering light all over the place vs. their "proper" $500 retro fitting of acceptable shrouds and projectors into oem housings for use with HIDs but whatever on that. All of that aside, I would suggest using credit card to back paypal acct and get whichever ones you like most. That way if transaction doesn't go as it should, you have 3 levels of protection.....ebay dispute, paypal dispute and lastly, your credit card dispute. You may be out time but money should not be lost. Also have a seperate acct for online purchases apart from your main acct. Hope all this gibberish helps in some way. I personally am staying with LEDs in oem housings with 3000k HID Hella 500s on light bar and 5000k HIDs in my factory fogs.

 

Ebay Best place to find these, cheaper prices and alot of times you can find Combo deals with lights and HIDs. The set I have on my 05 Tacoma I got for about $165 and came with HIDs+modules.

Like this..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2005-2011-T...2005|Model:Tacoma&hash=item51b99f9732&vxp=mtr

Or back and front like this..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/05-08-TOYOT...2005|Model:Tacoma&hash=item5661f41206&vxp=mtr


Dig around Ebay a bit and I bet you'll find what you want. I just Ebay Searched "05 Tacoma Black Headlights" and got a bunch of listings.

 

Some good responses..

tacomonazul: Those are identical to the ones from Dash Z Racing in my first link, except are chrome not black (gen 3s). I looked at the black ones offered on that carID site and they have both the gen 2s and gen 3s. However, no mention of HIDs or HID pairings/pre-installations. This again makes me hesitant to buy HIDs elsewhere since I want to make sure they fit with some reliability on the seller.

zeropilot & UssMoGn: unfortunately those are all gen 1s as tacoprenrunner mentioned. that is probably why the price is so much lower. also like mentioned, I'm pretty sure that those gen 1s do have quite a bit more wiring to deal with which is something I wanted to avoid. I also don't like the look of those as much; sorry to be picky. Also as far as ebay goes, I've tried looking on there and definitely have found some headlight/HID combos but the HIDs are never clearly defined. Usually the temp/color is never stated and sometimes no matter how many times I read it, I can't be sure that everything comes with the deal haha. Their descriptions usually suck.

tacoprerunner: some real good info on purchase disputes! some of which never really crossed my mind. you've got me convinced on the 6k which i was on the fence about previously anyway. do primary LED headlights connect to the OEM plug? How does their function/quality compare to Halogen and HID? unfortunately, I don't think HID fogs is a step I wanted to take hehe.


Additional notes:

I also wanted to pose the question of moisture buildup and prevention as well as clear coat from headlights coming off; both issues I've read elsewhere.

Do certain gen models last longer? Do certain models perform better with moisture? Anyone have any recommendations for doing personal weather stripping or silicone sealing?

 

you wont see the road well with that 8000k crap. just saying

 

By the way here are some gen 3s paired with HIDs that I found on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/05-11-TOYOT...yota|Model:Tacoma&hash=item2c7c85095d&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2005-2011-T...yota|Model:Tacoma&hash=item43c1e0e9fa&vxp=mtr

First one with 6k HIDs and second with 8k HIDs. Unfortunately both are LED halo design and not CCFL halo design. I know that if you're going to get the halo set up, you have to go with CCFL otherwise it's not worth it. Maybe all the CCFL halo/HID pairings are sold out. Maybe you can see how this adds to my frustration.

 

From my experience with hid lights, hid works better with an hid projector. Vs having a regular halogen bulb and replacing it with an hid buld. Also with the colors of hid, 4300 to 6k would be ideal for driving. Anything above that would be more towards looks vs function.
As far as sealing the headlights, just get some water sealant and run a bead along the edge where the clear lens and the back housing meet.

 

Ya I was already made aware of that and said I would stick to 6k for my searches in my previous response.

 

www.theretrofitsource.com. Do it once, do it right and they'll out-shine anything you'll find on Ebay.

 

It's best to buy them by separate, I bought headlights from carid and HIDs from DDMtunning (Carid supplier)

 

Here is the thread about the LED headlights. They just replace the bulbs in the oem housings and connect to the oem plug in the wiring harness. There are pics in the thread comparing them to halogens............

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/304598-lifetime-led-headlights.html


I look at having HIDs this way...in my fogs or Hella 500ff's they are basically optional lighting where the mandatory lighting is the headlights. That is where I have concerns about light scattering and people being blinded or pissed & maybe cops hassling you. The fogs and light bar lighting I only use if inclimate weather where people seeing me better is an issue. The Hellas are 3000k which is basically yellow and they work fabulous in fog/rain. The HID fogs work great with the halogen headlights but do scatter some but are down lower than headlights so I'm not really concerned based on everyone driving around with equal or brighter oem HIDs flickering their stupid cutoffs in my rr view where it looks like they are toggling brights/dims. My scatter is less annoying than their cutoffs bouncing all around when they hit bumps or the vehicle goes from pointing up going over overpasses then back down on flat surfaces. I just got the LED headlights because of the lifetime warranty and the comparison shots in that thread where it seems they are a compromise between having dimmer halogens and scattery HIDs in a non-HID housing. I haven't installed them yet but am looking forward to them even tho I have some pretty good Philips Xtremevision H4s right now.

 

You do realize that all of the EXTRA wiring comes down to a ground and a common hot lead that both tap into the side marker wires and take all of five minutes to do. If that's the only reason to avoid these. Don't sweat it! I didn't go for bling..I went for replacing my melted originals and paying less money. Yes. These are NOT HID. They're actually not very bright at all...I'd say a little less than stock. I'd only recommend them as a stock replacement. I was pointing out that these are projectors. Not HID. If you buy these looking for a light output upgrade, you'll be sorry.

 

It was brought up in FYI fashion, wasn't implying it was difficult to tap a parking light wire and ground a wire to the body..............

 

Any idea how primary LED headlights may work with projector headlights. You should definitely let me know how the LEDs work for you. I watched that video on the thread but it would be good to get another opinion.

 

Yes. There are a few wires to connect. I thought that this might scare some less mechanically inclined owners from buying these. I wanted to point out that it was no biggy.

 

When you bought yours separate, how far into the projector housing did the HID bulb go? Were your HIDs the typical longer kind, or were they possibly the short variation? I know that some people have bought separately and not had them fit. If you're saying that the typical long HID bulb fit your gen 3 headlight projector housing, then that gives me some confidence.

 

Carid told which ones to buy on DDMtuning.com

 

X2. I've already gone this route on a previous truck. Light output on these suck. They (at least mine) look like projectors but really aren't as the bowl is actually plastic molded to the back of the housing. The ones I had were made by 'sonar' and are pretty common on ebay, etc... You end up with poor light output. I then changed to real HID projectors from Andrew @ theretrofitsource.com. The real projectors have a metal bowl that is of the correct shape to reflect the light where you need it and not in the eyes of other drivers. Absolute night and day difference in brightness and even cast of light. The only downside with a retrofit that you really need to know is that most have a very sharp cut off unless they are retrofitting a stock takeoff type lens. What that means is it's damn dark above the cut off resulting in almost no illumination of signs.