Best Upgrade for Headlights

I'm sure it's been asked and answered and I've gone through some of the previous posts, but I'm not sure I've seen the answer yet...

Basically, the halogen lights SUCK on my 2019 4Runner Limited and I want to upgrade. Trying to watch my costs in obtaining both the high and low beam and POSSIBLY the fog lights.

What would you suggest I get? Led? HID? ... and where would you suggest obtaining them?

As I said, I'm not looking to break the bank, but I also don't want to have to drill holes or screw anything up with the dust casing...

(I'm NOT a car guy, but looking to see what I can do)..

 

-HID is the only good option for significantly brighter output and it is not possible without drilling the dust covers.

-LED will mainly only give you a more pleasing color. You’ll need to buy a $120+ LED Set to barely match the light output of the halogen. The 4Runner low beam housing is not designed for LED, so the light output of otherwise good LEDs bulbs will be mediocre. Finally very few good LEDs will even fit into the low beam housing due to the strange sideways bulb input that will block the heat sinks and fans of powerful LEDs. https://www.4runners.com/threads/xt...ormance-even-after-upgrade.12026/#post-124153

- I would highly recommend leaving the stock high beams. They are more than sufficient, and it’s not as if you’ll be driving with them on all the time. If you want LED high beams, it will cost $180+ total due to LED DRL drivers that are needed to prevent the highs from being activated 100% of the time.

-As for the fogs, you’ll need to replace the housing with the OEM led fogs for good improvement over the stock fogs without blinding everyone on the road and attracting police attention by putting LED bulbs into the stock fog reflector housings. However, the limited model requires more work to remove parts of the front bumper and chrome trim to gain access to the fogs. https://www.4runners.com/threads/limited-edition-fog-light-removal.9858/

Basically you have no good options without significant time, work, and $$$.

 

Best option is 10 bucks with H9s.
See this thread, the Phillips XV2 looks like it should be good but has bright and dark spots. Gtr color hurts people's eyes. The 1100 buck morimoto suck. After all that time and money I'm with the 10 buck H9. https://www.4runners.com/threads/headlight-comparison-before-and-after.11875/

 

I did this on my Tacoma, it made a world of difference

 

I replaced my low beams with Osram Nightbreaker Laser H11's and am more than satisfied. I replaced the high beams with Nightbreaker Unlimited HB3's and am happy with them as well.

They're drop in replacements with better color and output than the original bulbs. They are significantly brighter, but they're not HID's. That said, my Chevy work truck has HID's (I think) and I prefer the lights on the 4runner.

 

I put some HID’s from DDM tuning In. They ARE NOT plug and play. I had to splice wires and solder them to fit it inside the dust cover. That being said - If you don’t have time or equipment fork over the money for a plug and play kit. HID universe (I think it’s called) is a good source. Or xenondepot.


As far as light output - it’s AMAZING. I can’t even tell you how much of a difference it is. I really wanted LED’s because I thought they were brighter (they aren’t and have horrid cutoff and spread points) eventually my aesthetics minded flesh will get the best of me and I’ll get the morimotos.

 

H9 halogen bulbs cost $7 each and nearly double your output. They require a small modification to the connector using tin snips. You also may need to trim a small piece off of the mounting tabs.

The high beams can be replaced with 9011 halogen bulbs for about $15 each. These also require a small tab trim.

It's my advice that you should use halogen bulbs in housings that are designed for them. Anything else is a compromise. This is true for the fog lights as well.

More reading here (this is a 3rd gen Tacoma forum, but the results are comparative):

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

And exhaustive research about fog light replacements:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

I went with Headlight Revolution for my highs, lows, and fogs.

Highs $209: https://headlightrevolution.com/2014-2019-toyota-4runner-sv-4-led-high-beam/
Lows $169: https://headlightrevolution.com/2014-2019-toyota-4runner-sv-4-led-low-beam/
Fogs $170:https://headlightrevolution.com/toyota-oval-xb-led-fog-lights/

 

Are you happy with the quality, ease of install and upgraded light output? I'm shopping around and planning to upgrade the low beams soon since the OEM bulbs pretty lame.

 

I am happy with the quality so far. Getting the bulbs in the low beam opening proved to be a challenge; I drove around for several weeks with one that I later found had been turned the wrong way! After adjusting it the cutoff and hotspot was pretty accurate and comparable to the video HLR has listed.

They are not quite as bright as a quality HID, but get the job done. If you replace the high beam with one, keep in mind that unmodified, your DRLs will be running at the same brightness as your high beams. I don't use my DRLs and hadn't prior to getting these bulbs, so it does not really affect me as much.

Really only two complaints.
1. The color of the fogs are not quite the same kelvin temperature as the low or high beams; most people probably don't pay attention. It is not drastic, but I can notice a difference when driving and looking at the truck head on.
2. The OEM projectors are not as refined as an aftermarket projector or even those found in the Lexus vehicles. There is a bit of cloudiness that I did not experience when I had a custom retrofit on my '12 Taco before I got the T4R.


If I could have justified the expense both to myself and my wife, I would have liked getting the entire Morimoto headlight set, but getting the OEM Audio+ Reference speaker system was higher up on my priority list. Cuz you know, Audio>Safety, right????

 

Has anyone heard of this company???

https://www.carlightingdistrict.com...teps=47024-45821-45835&wizardId=5#gv-Low beam

Any thoughts???

 

THX for the review. I placed my order for LB kit. I'll do a quick update when I get them installed.

 

Can you please do before and after pictures? Find a dark road and park in the same spot. Place the camera/ phone front and center resting on the steering wheel. Just trying to collect pictures in this thread, thanks
https://www.4runners.com/threads/headlight-comparison-before-and-after.11875/

 

Don't bother. Drop-in LED bulbs do not work well when they're shoehorned into halogen housings. They may be a brighter source of light, but they cannot shrink the chip location enough to properly emulate a halogen filament. This is why LED bulbs lack focus and throw.

Use H9 halogen bulbs. They cost $7 each and they're far better than ANY drop-in LED bulb.

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-12361B1-Standard-Replacement-Headlight/dp/B003YMPN3A

 

I went with Headlight Revolution SV-4 Hi and Lows. I’m saving up for the Baja Amber Squadrons for the Fogs. In the mean time I went with the amber lamin-x film on the Fogs.

 

Would not recommend Baja Designs squadrons. All but the SAE model are not road legal, and the SAE model has been significantly downgraded in output with their new retrofit optics.



Not to mention, their off-road lights are useless in actual fog because it's the wrong pattern.

SS3 pods by Diode Dynamics are far better with much more light output, and they are actually street legal fogs instead of off-road use only.

 

HIDs hands down the best option. Awesome performance I never get flashed by oncoming traffic.

 

I have HID's in my work truck and I'm not impressed. As far as can tell, the only thing they excel at is being blue. I'm sure some of them are nice, but I prefer white light.

 

I put these in last week. Big improvement over the stock h11.

 

I hear a lot of people say leds are not better than stock. I think my leds are better than stock halogens but they don't blow the stock ones out of the water.

 

Hids perform better than halogen and leds by far

 

That probably depends on the housing.

 

If you don’t like the blue, try going to a lower kelvin rating. My guess is that you’ve either got the 5500K or 6000k. Try the 4300k. Closer to white.

 

I hadn't really looked into that. I understand color temperature, but I guess I assumed that all HID's would be 5-6000K or more. I just don't care for it. Like you mentioned, 4000-4500K would be ideal. Most halogens seems to be lower (yellower).

 

LED bulbs are almost always brighter. However, their construction makes them impossible to fit into the tiny focal point of a halogen light housing. This means that your focus and projection suck and you can't project your headlights as far as before. So what you gain in near-field brightness, you lose in actual distance projection. Everything appears brighter up close, but good luck seeing into the distance at freeway speed.

 

I run 4500 HIDs in my 4runner, perfection

 

I have this carrover 60 watt led bulbs on my 2010 H11 4runner low beams
and on my 2005 gen 4 4runner.
They cost only $32 at Amazon.
Very bright lights .
My 05 4runner lights are not that good compared to the 2010 but after I replace I am surprise how bright they are what happens next I ordered one for my 2010 .
LED lights are better than HID in my opinion.
But you have to get the right ones.

 

Can you aim your 4runner at a garage or building and take a picture of the cutoff? Based on the picture it looks like you might be blinding oncoming drivers. Could just be a glare, but that's generally the problem with putting LED's in housings not designed for them.

 

He may be taking the picture from below the cutoff.

Typically, projector optics are pretty good at controlling glare above the beam pattern. This is because the cutoff is physically present in the projector housing itself, limiting light above this line. The problem, again, is that LED bulbs cannot focus and project the light well. They appear bright but distance projection is lost.

Edit: never mind, a 2010 4Runner has reflector headlights. Glare is very hard to control here.

 

Ugh no good