Replacement Headlights

Everything you need to know right here.

 

Yea, already seen and read that from Lifetime before I even asked here but of course it is their product and I really won't get anything concrete as far a pro's and con's about them.

It's just that now I want to hear from individuals that have installed and experienced them.
Hear their comments, suggestions, opinions and reviews on them.

Are they satisfied? Very satisfied? Extremely satisfied? or just plain Disappointed?

Your thoughts?

 

That was my thread not Lifetime's. All the opinions are in there (good and bad)

 

Well yesterday after work I replaced the old headlights with the new headlights that I received last week as well as new bulbs for them and the fog lights (didn't need to replace the fog light housings) and the front of the vehicle looks fantastic and (at least to me) has that brand new look.

It looks a whole hell of a lot better than the originals that it had. Let me just add though, I won't be doing this shit again, or at least I hope I don't have to! I know and understand that for some here it's as easy as pie to remove and re-install but as for myself well it was a bit more challenging than what I first thought it would be! Though not complicated.

But over all I got the job done and it looks good. It took me a bit over 4 hours believe it or not to do the job and I am glad that I left myself plenty of time to do it as well. To save myself plenty of time, aggreviation and fustration I should have removed the bumper as well but didn't. It would have made the job far more easier. But it's over and done with now, whew!!!
I also should have purchased new black plastic pins since the old ones when removed were, well not as good to reinstall as it would have with new ones. I went ahead and purchased new ones today so I'll replace them too as well.

As for the internal headlight bulbs, well after much thought I just decided to go ahead and replace the bulbs that the new headlight housing's came with, with PIAA XTreme White Plus H4 bulbs and for the fog lights, replaced the bulbs with PIAA XTreme White Plus H10 bulbs.

Now the lights on my 2008 Tacoma look sharp!

 

If you replaced the entire headlight housing you didn't need to replace the bolt that is extremely hard to get to on the inside of the bumper. Most people (including myself) leave that bolt out once you get it off. It doesn't really do much of anything for stabilizing the light.

 

Pics??

 

As for those two left and right "hard to get to screws" that are difficult to get to well it's too late for leaving them out. During the re-installation job I screwed them back on, hey to me it doesn't matter now whether it makes a difference or not it's already done. But really the most difficult and harder part was removing the old entire headlight housing and re-installing the new entire headlight housing believe it or not. That is why it is recommended and highly suggested to remove the front bumper but I don't have a high impact drill for removing and replacing it. I went the route of just trying to get the job done without having to remove as few parts as possible and boy did I ever find that route and pay for it! LOL!

The reason I say this is because of the design of the headlight housing it has to be removed in specific ways and angles in order to remove it and the same way goes for re-installing them. That is "IF" the bumper is not removed. If removed then the job becomes much easier.

As a guide for removal and replacement of the headlights, I referenced and used the "Installation video" by CARiD. Click on the link below, scroll down below and click on "Installation": http://www.carid.com/2008-toyota-tac...-12130758.html
The video is a good reference to follow and it makes the job look simple but in reality they leave out the small difficult and fustrating parts of the actual removal and installation process, IMO. Also they should at least mention in the video that one should buy a new box of those black plastic pins, same size when removing the old ones (remember we are talking about a 2008 Tacoma) they start to break off and fall apart. At this point they basically are useless to re-use. So I highly recommend that before you start buy a box. I will post a picture of the box and part number of the exact type used. By the way those headlights shown on the link were the headlights that I was seriously considering on purchasing and installing but then decided against it since it involved splicing into wires, etc., really didn't want to go that route. Just wanted an easier method of plug n use.

As for pictures well as I started I attempted to start taking pictures of before and after, as I progressed, etc. then after a couple of pictures my iphone came up with a message telling me that storage was full and that I no longer could take pictures and that I needed to re-set my settings! WTF! I quickly deleted a few pictures but that damn message still kept popping up not letting me take pictures! Fuck!
At this point I was so into the project that I just didn't have time to stop everything and deal with trying to figure out the settings for pictures on my iphone. I'll deal with that much later, so as soon as I can get that done, then I'll post some before and after pictures but too late for the progess of the installation. I'm passed that.

 

Finally, before and after pictures. The last two pictures are of the box of the black plastic pins that I purchased to replace the old ones that were either cracked, damaged or useless.

 

How is the light pattern? Hopefully it's just as good as the OEM. They look great on the truck!

 

The new lights look great, even if they are chrome.

 

The light pattern is very good, even better at low and high beam than OEM. As I mentioned previously, I noticed right away the light pattern was a huge improvement as of course the front view of the Tacoma with its new headlights. But in all truthfulness just about anything would have improved the light beam from the headlights if replaced with newer ones. The PIAA XTreme are great and no complaints on my part. The headlights fit real good too. But like I said the job was a bit more of a challenge than what I had first thought.
Thanks fella's for the compliments!

 

DEPO headlights.

 

Good job man!

 

Just a few more pictures and that's it....

 

Looks good.

 

@Tex-Tac - Man that looks good. I'm about to pull the trigger and do the same on my 2008. How has this held up since you did it? I've read through lots of the forums and all the arguments about OEM vs aftermarket, but not too many posts on how they have done after 5 years. Just curious.

 

So far they have held up and still have that nice clean look. Since then I did replace the original front grill with one that I kinda of sort of customized to my own personal preference.

 

@Tex-Tac - Man that's awesome! Thanks for the response, looks like it's time to get my new ones ordered.