Proper headlight upgrade

Spent about 1hr and $15 of material on headlight restoration. I plan on coating with a 3M clear coat to stave off the yellowing process for a bit longer.. My question now is should I dump $50-100 on a LED retro bulb like a Hikari or... The complete housing projector retrofits just came back in stock for $220? I kind of like the keeping the look gen appropriate, the cleaning made the output probably 100% better but I've grown pretty accustomed to the clean crisp lines of projectors from my 3rd gen and previous vehicles.

 

Nice job on the restore. But did you read the thread? Definitely no on the Hikari LEDs in a reflector assembly, you'll end up with garbage performance and lots of glare to oncoming drivers. If you want exceptional performance, follow the original post in the thread and upgrade to an HD wiring harness and high power Osram bulbs. If looking for a plug and play option without the harness, the Philips Racing Vision +200 have been tested to be the best low beam performers, but won't match the performance of the high power Osrams.

 

These two are contradicting each other. Any retro-LED bulb will throw out more garbage light than what you had before lens restoration.

The only way to get "clean crisp lines" is to get HID projector retrofit. It looks out of line in 1st gen Tacoma IMHO, but if you are for the functionality over the looks, that's the best solution. Any good brand name H4 halogen bulb (not China no-names sold for 2 bucks a piece) will give quality cut-off in stock reflectors. Higher wattage bulbs will give more light while still providing decent cut-off. So what @crashnburn80 suggests is the best balance between look and functionality.

 

I'm preparing to install the retrofit kit from Morimoto/Retrofit Source
BI-XENON: MORIMOTO MINI D2S 5.0

But having trouble finding where to plug in the new harness (which Im still waiting for). There is also a "relay harness capacitor link" (see photo) which they said was also necessary and the diagram shows it goes between the wiring from truck to the new Morimoto harness. Looked around the relay box and cant see exactly where its (the relay capacitor) is supposed to plug into on the one end of it. Also what is the red thing with decaying foam around it? Is that a capacitor also? Will this get removed and replaced by the new capacitor and harness? Any help appreciated - thanks!

 

As others have said, that's a big NO on tossing LEDs in your housings.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

Not only because of the reasons in this and the above thread, but because that restoration isn't doing you any favors either. While those restoration kits make the lenses LOOK new, it doesn't improve their light beam pattern to anything that resembles a new housing. The damage from UV light goes al the way through the plastic lenses, and no amount of polishing actually fixes that.

This pic is after I spent hours polishing my old lenses. I even went back after a couple of months and did a second round, and this was the result:

These are the low beams (conventional halogen bulbs), and note how you can see my gutters illuminated, which means there is a massive amount of glare.

Compare that to new housings with the same bulbs as above, but now you can barely even see the security sign on my garage door.

So, long story short, LEDs in halogen housings smear and scatter the light causing glare, and the UV damaged lenses also cause glare even with halogen bulbs.

 

ok, so it turns out that the capacitor link cable isnt needed after all. Someone at Retrofit was mistaken. They apologized. And as for the location where the harness plugs into the car, it only has to plug into one of the H4 plugs rather than both. Odd, none of their copious diagrams or instructions mention this at all. Here is the diagram, only I fixed it so now it makes sense.

 

So let me get this straight. I have a first-gen 99 Tacoma with the original, 22-year old headlamp assemblies and whatever cheap shit made in China bulbs they had at Napa last time I had to replace them. I wheel it hard, but not typically at night, so I'd like headlights that aren't fragile, but I don't need off-trail night time performance (I'd just get a lightbar for this).

If I don't care to dabble in LED, projectors, halos, angel eyes, laser pointers, or whatever the hell kids use these days for headlights, the best option seems to be either:

$28.79 RockAuto TYC CAPA-Certified Right Headlamp Assembly (link)
$29.89 RockAuto TYC CAPA-Certified Left Headlamp Assembly (link)
$120.50 Harness upgrade for ground-switched vehicle (link)
$32 OSRAM Super Bright Premium 9003/H4 bulbs (link)
Total cost: $211.18

Or if I want to upgrade to OEM headlamp assemblies, the total cost becomes $518.14

$182.82 OEM Headlamp Assembly Right (81110-04090) (link)
$182.82 OEM Headlamp Assembly Left (81150-04090) (link)

And some miscellany from this and other threads:

• The harness upgrade allows more voltage to the bulbs than stock wires, which makes for significant output gains.
• Doing Macguires or other spinny-thing-with-goop restorations on my exsiting headlamp assembly doesn't fix 22 years of UV damage to the plastic, and in fact can cause more glare. (link)
  
• CAPA-Certified headlamp assemblies, such as RockAuto's TYR brand, apparently can have weird glare and beam distribution issues (link). I have found no anecdotal evidence of the 6x more expensive OEM headlamp assemblies having weird issues like this. I have also not found any anecdotal evidence of the OEM assemblies NOT having weird issues... but because they are so much more expensive, it could be because nobody has really tested them out as extensively as people here have with the $30 RockAuto ones.
  
• You really, really need to aim or 'align' your headlights when you are done. This is easy to do.

 

That one looks to me like a reflection in the chrome bumper. I might be wrong, but this is the same thing I noticed in other lamps and other vehicles - chrome shrouds or bumpers reflect the light into random directions, and that is visible from very close (like projecting on the garage door just in front of the car). What I did not see in that complaint is the distance test. These "ghosts" visible at close are insignificant in the normal driving conditions.

 

You don't need to test out OEM headlights because you are looking to replace 22 year old headlights. They are older than some of the people on this forum. They just work so long as you have a working bulb. Get a better bulb and a better harness and it's the best of what you have limited yourself to. You don't want an HID/LED projector than this is the best of what's left.

 

Finally got my bulbs to do this. Previous owner put in LEDs that blind everyone I drive past. Problem is he took out the spring that holds the bulbs in... There is a spring right? To hold the bulb into the assembly under the rubber boot? I think I found the spring on toyotapartsdeal but it's discontinued... So I guess I'm going to order new headlight assemblys because mine are pretty cloudy. Which ones are recommended? I think I'm going to get TYC 20607400SET from rock auto. $60 for the pair.

 

Yes there is definitely a spring clip that holds the bulbs in.

 

See post #2541 for an example of 1st gen TYC aftermarket vs OEM. I'd highly recommend OEM. Alternatively you could order the cheapest lights possible, just for the springs and try restoring your OEM units. Note that restoring removes the UV protective layer, so you will need to reapply a UV protectant, which then becomes a maintenance item.

 

Damn. I thought this might be a downgrade from LEDs but worth it for the proper cut offs. Nope. My lights are 1000x better now. Super bright and perfect cut off. Really great high beams. The cheap rock auto headlights work great for me and I would recommend. A+ Mod. Thanks!

 

This is a major performance upgrade over LEDs, it isn't just about cut offs. A performance halogen light source in a halogen assembly will have superior lighting performance.

 

I just did this upgrade to my 97 4runner. Got the ground switched harness fro headlight services, Tyc's from rock auto, and osram 100/90 bulbs. Very nice! Will be doing this to my 2000 tacoma as well

 

Just added a ground-switched harness from Headlight Services LLC in combination with Osram 100/90W to my 01' DC. Huge difference. Most difficult part was following the factory routing by the radiator, but that isn't necessary. I still need to adjust the bulbs now that I can really see where the cutoff point is. I would consider this mod a MUST to any Gen 1. Big thanks to Crash and GoldenTaco!

 

Does it generate a bunch of heat?

 

So, are Osram 100/90 bulbs the prevailing recommended bulbs to go with with the harness upgrade? They won't blind oncoming drivers?

 

I take a temperature reading today and get back with everyone. I just based the purchase off of the original post. Not too concerned with heat and it cools off quite a lot at night out here in Colorado. As far as blinding drivers, that could be an issue

 

I got aftermarket headlights and I'm afriad the heat might melt it.