Led headlights in stock housing: Legal?

Hi everyone, I want to upgrade my stock headlights, they are worthless... I know I want to go with LED vs. any other kind. I was all set to buy some when I saw that the item description said something along the lines of "Please do not buy this if you do not have projector style housings, it is illegal."

Could someone clear this up for me please? I have never heard of this law if it really exists. (I would buy projector style but they are really hard to find for a '96.. I found one pair on tacomabeast but they were over $600... not worth it at all.

 

There are currently no drop in LED headlight bulbs on the market that are DOT legal for road use. The law you are reffering to does not prohibit drop in after market LED bulbs it just reflector housings, they are illegal in projectors as well. That being said the likelyhood of being pulled over with LED equipped projectors is much lower because the beam pattern will be similar to a factory LED equipped vehicle.

Additionally, LED bulbs in a halogen reflector housing will yeild disappointing results. You will have less usable light due to the improper location of LED bulbs vs halogen within the headlight housing.

 

Thank you thank you! I wanted to get some new lights one because my stocks are way too dim, and two, they are all different shades, you can tell that one was replaced after the other and the running lights are all different shades of the old yellow. I would like to have something with a "newer" look but mainly just to increase the light output. Any advice?

 

I'm not very familiar with the '96 4Runner headlights but I know they use a 9003 bulb. You could do some research and see if there is a higher wattage bulb than stock on the 9003. I would stay under 100w however for fear of melting wires/headlight housing.

Alternatively, I know there are companies that make "clear" aftermarket headlights which may help because the '96 uses those opaque headlight lenses.

If you wanted to shell out a bit more money, having someone retrofit your headlights with projectors and HID's would make a world of difference.

 

Thanks for the advice! Im gonna look at the higher watt bulbs first and see what my options are there.

 

Cool lemme know what you find. I've run the full gambit of Halogen, HID's and LED's so I may be able to save you from some headaches from mistakes I've made.

 

This might be the perfect question then, out of the three options, which was your favorite?

 

As far as aftermarket options go, HID no question. In the proper projector housing an HID bulb has more throw than an LED, and brighter, longer life than a Halogen. If a projector housing wasn't available, a high quality higher wattage halogen would be my next choice. I had 85w halogens in my 2011 Tacoma that were bright as hell, and because the Tacoma headlights were made for a halogen bulb, the beam pattern was perfect. In a reflector style housing I wouldn't even consider HID or LED an option. My last choice would be LED. They have a short light throw distance and require large heat sinks/fans or other nonsense attached to the bulb, limiting their installation applications.

Again that's all aftermarket. If we're talking OEM I'd pick LED. My wife's BRZ has factory LED headlights that are amazing.

 

I think eventually I will try to retrofit some projectors myself. I don't like throwing too much money into this old rig, it has well over 300k on it.