The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

Sit rep, I first went ahead and gave the headlights the cerakote headlight treatment(it’s amazing!!!) and then installed the bulbs. I realized my headlights were misaligned and did the 25’ measurement, measure from center of headlights to ground and marked the wall and subtracted about 3” (due to lift) I was able to set the proper pattern height with the well defined beam. Love the lighting output. Aside from being brighter it’s just that now you’re properly using the light available to you in comparison with the old LED illumination which were impressively bright but scattered all over the place. Will continue my voyage with halogens from now on.

 

This thread is super long, and I haven’t looked at it in a while, but I will leave this here. Whatever you do, stay away from Peak brand bulbs. I ended up with a pair of them because I couldn’t get the Osram bulbs I was looking for. I’ve had multiple failures of the Peaks in less than six months. Today both low beams went out simultaneously. No wonder they sent me five pairs of bulbs when I had a premature failure and contacted them. Free isn’t worth the hot garbage they’re importing from China.

 

Never heard of Peak. Several other reputable bulb options in the original post though if the Osrams are unavailable, no need to buy off brand bulbs.

 

Peak Automotive is hardly "off brand". Part of Old World Industries and more known for their various auto fluids, often made for "house brands" for big retailers (as well as other brands such as SplitFire spark plugs, Herculiner truck beds). I've never used any of their other products, and likely never will after experiencing their garbage bulbs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_(automotive_products)

 

In terms of bulbs, it is an off brand. They don’t manufacture bulbs, it will be a white box relabel of someone else’s manufacturing. Hella does the same, but Hella has some good stuff out of Korea and then there is cheap stuff out of China.

 

@crashnburn80 not Toyota related but what do you recommend for a VW Golf with halogen headlights

 

Need a year, bulb type and housing type to make a recommendation. Reflector, projector?

 

2015 headlight for the high beam looks like a h15 bulb, low bean is h7 and h11s in the fog lights

 

I've eyed this thread for years but never pulled the trigger. Last year I decided to order a set of retro fits and that has been an utter disaster.

I've thrown my OEM Pro headlights back in and ordered the bulbs from powerbupbs and the harness from the headlight services link. I should have just done this all along to achieve a better output with my stock headlights.

Thanks for compiling all of this info @crashnburn80!

 

I'm a believer in the KISS engineering principle, pretty sure you will be too after getting the components installed.

 

@crashnburn80 just a regular reflector housing

 

Has there been an updated list of ranked bulbs recently?
228 pages is alot to read...

 

All on the first page by the output graph. Original post is kept up to date. Osram 100/90w for high wattage, Philips Racing Vision +200 for stock wattage best low beam (w/ reduced high beam), GE/Tungsram platinums or xenon +120 for best stock wattage low beam without reducing high beam performance.

 

@CrashN'Burn - would any of the three bulbs listed above in bold, along with the recommended Headlight Services harness be the best bang-for-your-buck headlight upgrade? My oem headlights are pathetic. The lenses are pretty clear, just lousy light output.

 

You do a harness or you don’t. Harness is best. But not cheap.

for stock wattage (no harness) you go with ge or Philips based on your intended use of high beams, if minimal then maximize low, if you use high beams regularly then you care about their output.

Osrams are the way to go with the harness since better options are NLA.

Harness price is nonzero and takes some minimal time and care to properly install. Well worth it. But if the situation prevents you from doing a harness, the stock wattage bulbs are still not bad since the reflectors are so awesome.

 

This is the route I took, and I refuse to use anything but this now. Osram Super Bright Premium 100/90w + a harness (ceramic bulb sockets are a requirement) - aim and go.

 

Silly question, but are you sure your housings are actually OEM?

 

Wrong Crash.

Best bang for the buck in performance is the Philips IMO, especially considering the 400 hour life, but you do have reduced output high beams. The harness is well worth it, then you can have even higher output on both high and low from the Osrams. Most that go that route never look back. Over all cost is relatively minor vs non-halogen options.

 

Where are you finding these at?

 

99%.