Lifetime LED Install and Review In Progress

Right so. Here's the problem(s) I've been having. Like some other people in this thread and others, it's basically as if I have no High beams. There is a minor change, but you can barely tell the difference. And also, my Highs have a lot of scatter going on. So I took some pictures when I installed them, and again a few days later when I finally drove it a bit.

Sorry about the shitty setting, but I don't have a garage or plain wall I can do this on.

1. Here's the regular halogens on Low:


2. And the regular halogens on High:



Kind of what you expect right?


1. Here's the LED Low Beams:


2. And the LED High Beams:


Not much difference here, unless you count the scatter on the roof (which I just noticed a last night)

3. And here's a better picture of the scatter that for some reason the high beams have.



Obviously these pictures aren't the best quality or professionally done but I hope you can see why I'm not happy with these lights. If someone knows of a fix, I'd love to try it out. I like the way they look for some of you guys.

 

Roof scatter is a little alarming, hahaha

 

Yea not just there either, you can see some on the tree and at the top of the bottom window too.

I tried adjusting them as well, but I turned the adjustment screws way too many turns and they never moved in any direction.

 

Honestly I didn't think they looked that bad but like you say there was a lot of stuff going on in your pictures. Try to find a empty stretch of road and take a picture like I did at first and see if that makes any difference. Quite honestly I don't know why some would be good and some not. Literately mine were drop in, plug and play with no adjustment at all. You've seen the pictures and video so I'm at a loss of why some are not working the same.

 

It is "possible" but the mounting plate comes off the bulb with a quarter turn. You mount that piece just like a regular bulb then I just used a little bit of grease on the rubber boot and slipped it over the housing. Then just installed the bulb into the housing and quarter turn and that was it. No movement at all once seated. Not saying you can't bend or install them incorrectly but it would be hard. Honestly installing regular bulbs are harder with the exception of having to move the battery and washer tank out of the way.

 

Valid point.

 

Wrong thread. I think you're looking for the "Tacoma Redesign" thread.

 

Canada and New Zealand

 

I have taken them down the road, they shine great light right in front of the truck and as low beams they absolutely out-perform the Halogens. But high beams might as well have not even been there. I thought that was pretty clear in picture 3&4, the cut off line barely moves at all with the LEDs whereas the Halogens in 1&2 had clear difference from High to Low, despite being roughly the same distance away.

Again, it's possible. But I didn't feel anything give while I was installing them. And if that's the case, then it's an easy fix and I'm a happy camper. I'd like to trim back the boot a few mm, but if I hate to do something permanent for a mod I may not keep.

I definitely did some wrestling with mine. Didn't really think about lube at the time. And it wasn't so hard as to where I thought I was gonna break anything, so I just powered through it. Nothing gave any indication of breaking or bending at the time. And I made sure they were the full quarter turn to lock them in afterwards.

I didn't do it that way at all. And that may have been my problem. I'm going to take them off either tomorrow or this weekend if see if my idiot self bent the adapter plate. And if I did, see if bending it back fixes it.

 

ok so they are installed and the light on the low beams is great:



the high beam is a little dissapointing but not as bad as I was expecting:



drove around a bit tonight and so far so good, I did not get flashed. I'm gonna play with the boot fitment tomorrow a bit but otherwise i think I'm happy...

 

I think possibly the problem some of you guys might be having is that your head lights may have not been adjusted properly before you installed the LED lights. Did you guys properly adjust the headlights after you lifted your truck? I know after I lifted my truck i had to turn my adjusting screws A LOT in order to get them back down to where they were supposed to be. You really have to adjust them in front of a garage door or wall etc with the exact measurements. It's the only thing I can think of why you guys are having problems with the high beams. My high beams are obvious.
Unless you really tried to force something I dont think the mounting base is bent. Hope this helps.

 

I don't think it is an adjustment issue as much as it seems these work better in the 2012+ housings than in the 05-11 housings. I did not have same results as the pics from trucks with 2012-14 housings did. My lenses have no clouding at all. And yes I did try adjusting them, you have to because lifted or not, different bulbs will require some adjustment same as changing the suspension will. The light from different pairs of halogens will not hit same place either. It has been my experience that adjustment has always been necessary whether swapping to HID, LED or just different brands of halogens....and not just on these trucks. Same thing has played out changing lighting on different cars. In the end it will boil down to a preference thing. I did not prefer them to what I already had and chose to sell them and cut my losses. For me, the cost wasn't worth what I was getting from them and decided to move on. Also haven't really been impressed with how many have had issues and had to use the warranty already. Others will have different perceptions, opinions and results.

 

That doesn't make any sense. If we were happy with the Highs on the halogens before, and these are a direct replacement, why wouldn't we be happy with these? And even if they weren't adjusted properly (the were btw), it still wouldn't explain the extremely small change from Low to High.

 

I was wishful that I wouldn't hear much for bad stories with this conversion, but that doesn't seem to be the case. My 08' is getting to be due for new headlights. I currently have an unknown brand of aftermarket headlights with DDM 55w H4 HID's and I've never really been super pleased with the overall performance. The photo metrics with this combination has been maximized via aiming, but high beams still suck, and I have noticeable hot spots on low beam. I never get flashed due to decent aiming but there is a lot of room for improvement. Even the stock units with the factory halogens were poop in my opinion.

I was looking to pick up a set of Depot units and a set of these LED retros but it looks as if the only way I'm going to be happy is to bite the bullet and do a projector retrofit. I didn't want to commit to that much of an expense, and my personal time to do this is very limited.

Compromises sometimes really suck.

 

It doesn't seem like it, but they move with adjustment. Try draping a towel over one light, and adjusting the other. Memorize, or mark, where the spot is on the wall, and you'll see it move.

Unlikely. The boot doesn't take that much effort to put on, and the adapter plate is stout enough to resist bending.

Your high beams are WAY better than mine.

For some, the high beam issue comes from the lights being adjusted too high. After I adjusted mine down a bit, the high beams worked much better, BUT, the fact remains that these lights are not powerful enough to throw a strong high beam.

We should also take into consideration, that nobody has reported how these perform on a rainy night. Based on what I've seen from mine so far, I feel like they would be dangerous in those conditions.

 

I felt the same about the H4 HIDs...OK lows but didn't like the high beams.

 

Although I haven't had the issues you experienced I certainly understand where you are coming from and what you said makes perfect sense. I feel like I took a gamble on these lights and (for me) it payed off. For others it didn't. But you summed it up well.

I think you may have hit on something with the 12+ head light housings though. They work perfect in my 13 but they might not work so well in a 11 on back.

 

The only part I disagree with your post. I wish I could tell you why your not getting good throw with your high beams because mine are great. And since you have the same year model truck as mine you would think it would be the same result. I wish I could offer some help.

But damn... when my high beams throw like this it's really hard to complain.

I know... shitty phone picture


Low Beam





High Beam



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I am very interested in this also but the way I look at it is the light temp is close to HID lighting so it hopefully shouldn't be bad. It's supposed to rain here this weekend so I'll try to get some pictures and video.

 

The amount and intensity of light that you're getting is double what I have. Are you sure that your LED light bar isn't on? lol

 

Haha no.... I'll go out tonight and take one with the bar on and it will be holy fuck bright.