Let's talk about headlights...

we can speculate about the reason all we want (you are most likely correct), Im just glad you were able to snag some of those dangerous LED headlights in the proper and less dangerous Toyota housings to use in your non led 4runner

 

LEDs are a wonderful source of lighting technology... When they are implemented in optics and housings originally designed for them.

Mashing them into halogen housings that aren't designed for them is a terrible implementation.

We're not arguing that an arrow is superior to a rifle cartridge. We're arguing that you'll look silly trying to fire a rifle cartridge from a bow.

 

I have a buddy with a 22 and next chance I get I'll take some pictures of our trucks at night, next to each other, the oncoming views, etc. (science the shit outta it). From everything I've seen and compared thus far (obviously my subjective experience) ...its pretty hard to spot the difference, driving or being passed head on, between the Toyota LED and the "improper Toyota LED". If they are aimed correctly its almost impossible to tell the difference... for the average person that is (I include myself here)...some LED drop in experts may be able to smell the lasfit bulbs from a quarter mile or so....

 

At stock headlight height and aiming specs, your hotspots should hit the ground about 525 feet away (max reach), or just over 5 seconds of reaction time at 70 mph. So you won't need a quarter mile to evaluate, a tenth of a mile should do.

 

They're not sticking LED bulbs into the same exact housing. The shell is the same, but the guts are redesigned, like @4runningMan mentioned.

 

I hated the projector lights, just didn't provide enough illumination at night or bad conditions. Swapped them for modded H9's and they are perfect now with my Baja SAE fogs.

 

I'm not excited about the LASFit LED's. The drivers side cut off is muddled and has zero focused beam. Pulled out, repositioned, same result. Passenger side is better, cleaner focus and cut off. What I dont like about them from a practical standpoint? I am outdriving the headlights at 60mph where there is zero other lighting around me. Try living in West Texas where the cruising speed is 85 on every hwy around. Time to change out the entire unit.

 

So an eye for an eye is ok, but other peoples choices arent? Alrighty then.

 

I think there's a lot of conflation going on here in regards to brightness vs pattern of headlights. Headlights are very specifically designed to be used on the road with other drivers, so the criteria for a controlled pattern is just as important as how bright it is. A horizontal cutoff on a properly aimed headlight allows the driver to see the road ahead while being courteous to oncoming traffic- regardless of whether the light source is a halogen reflector or a modern LED projector unit.

Reflectors will put light down the road more efficiently, but usually have a fuzzier cutoff. This is why adding drop-in LED units has a tendency to produce more annoying glare with reflectors, as the focal point of the optic has been changed from a proper halogen source. Conversely, a projector headlight has a lot of light blocked by cutoff shields in the assembly, making them less efficient. This means that glare is very tightly controlled, even when inferior LED replacements are exchanged in.



Optics are HUGELY important for lighting and how you intend to use it. I have a set of SS3 max fog lights that I can comfortably and legally use on the road, even though they are fairly high in brightness and intensity. But just by swapping out the lens, I could use the same lights in a lower intensity (but much more glaring and illegal) flood pattern. This would be much more harmful to myself and other drivers on the road.

These are all the exact same light, just with different optical patterns.

 

I would remove those goofball LED bulbs and replace them with proper halogen bulbs. Either higher performing H11 bulbs or standard H9 bulbs (which have the same filament size and placement, but with nearly twice the light output of factory H11). This option is both higher performing and cheaper than those silly computer fan ensembles.

Alternatively, you can replace your entire headlight assemblies with newer (proper) factory LED units from the 21+ 4Runners. These are much higher performing than the halogen units and swap right in with a simple adapter from FBC Wiring here: 4Runner headlight adapters. They can be had for pretty cheap from people swapping their factory lights out for flashy Chinese replacements that look cool but perform terribly. I got a set for a few hundred bucks shipped, and they are excellent.

 

I don't recall any 4Runners having HID's? Just projectors till they went LED?

 

2010 to 2013 had large halogen reflectors.



2014 to 2020 had halogen projectors (the glass ball looking optic)



2021+ have LED projectors that look very similar to the earlier units, but the assembly is entirely different.

 

The facts of the science.....yes, Halogen housings are made for fluorescent light to bounce around the housing and out the projector. All due to the reflector panels and how they are set up. But the sideways construction of the stock housings won't amplify the cheap ass Amazon low power led bulbs enough to burn granny's retinas. Unless you're an absolute dickhead and aim them too high. It will be brighter than stock halogens, yes.

But the electrical engineer in me will say that professionally, spend the money and buy full units designed with reflectors and projectors to work with led/hids. But for back road and off road you'll thank yourself. There's a purpose behind the concentration points all cut offs.

This thread is already loaded with the science.

 

Thank you. So yeah, never had HID's. Wish they did, loved my Acura HID's.

 

This reminded me an incident where I used 35W HIDs for a short period and 2 times one of the HID bulbs did not light up. When I turn off and on it light up with no problem. I guess the igniter for that bulb has gone bad. I changed to GTR Ultra2 and they gave me identical wider beam pattern. (Oops I know many hate drop in LEDs and think they are not good. )

 

Surprised they worked at all without a ballast.

 

It had all the typical HID wiring mess. Igniter & Ballast.

 

HID bulbs are quite different from the LED blade style replacements. The "pill" or "capsule" with the xenon gas can actually replicate the size of the halogen filament quite well. So proper optics are retained while increasing intensity as desired.

Most of the problems (as it sounds like you've also found) occur because the bulbs aren't made by reputable companies. They're assembled from xenon bulbs with halogen bases, and often paired with unreliable igniters/ballasts. So when they fail, you have to contact the import houses and order another set instead of going to your local auto parts store (or closest one if you're on a trip during the failure).

Other points of failure include dulling the reflector bowls (halogen reflectors aren't made to withstand the huge amount of ultraviolet light that HIDs produce). The reflective coating starts getting cooked and grays or flakes off.

One more is that because you're increasing intensity by 3-4x over the factory halogen bulbs, the glare will also be increased. Headlights are designed to have a small amount of "leaked" light above the cutoff that gently illuminates reflective street signs. This leaked light becomes less gentle with aftermarket HID bulbs. Many folks will find other drivers flashing them, even with properly aimed headlights.

Food for thought.

 

I have HIDs and do not get flashed.

 

And I've gotten flashed with my stock halogen headlights. It's an anecdote, not a data point.

 

Lol

 

I got flashed when I got my 4R lifted even with stock halogen candles. I adjusted the level low and life was good. Ever since regardless the light I put whether its high power halogen, HID, drop in LED never got flash on level ground.

I get flashed if I wait at a traffic light up hill even with my stock headlights from the people who don't understand that there is nothing you can do on a up hill on a 4runner.