Headlight light bulb replacement recommendation?

Hey all,

I have a 2024 TRD ORP. Looking to replace the LED bulbs in my OEM headlights to something much brighter. (Both Lo & Hi) Currently, I can't even tell if my lights are even on most of the time.

New to this area of LED bulbs. Do any of you have a good recommendation?
What good brand and bulb type that will work well with my truck year and model?
Something very bright...but not blinding to on coming traffic.

thanks in advance-

 

for 2024 you are out of luck changing bulbs. If anything fails or need to upgrade you need to replace the entire headlight housing.

 

Which costs a pretty penny

 

The headlights are already known to be dummy bright, please make sure they are adjusted properly and (at the risk of being insulting) that they aren’t just on the DRL/marker light setting.

And also confirm that the unit is lit up when outside and set as you expect just in case the switch is malfunctioning.

 

My OEM led headlights seem pretty bright to me. Night and day difference vs the halogen ones before MY20.

 

Sorry for the newbie question...but this is all new to me.
So this problem is only for the 2024 models? Anything 2023 or lower year is ok to switch bulbs?

 

Around the 2020, 2021MY Toyota switched from the traditional halogen bulb headlights to the much, much brighter and colder (in color temperature) LED ones. Specifics like how the high beam and daytime running lights work varied a little bit but generally they are very bright, to the point of being a potential hazard to other drivers if not aimed properly and have are not expected to fail for a long time.

The caveat is that the lights are generally treated as a replacement item if/when they fail.

The fact you are not noticing a difference with them on tells me there is a malfunction somewhere or that they are not working at all.

Do your fog lights work? They only come on with the low beam headlights by default. (High beam in my post meaning when you press the stalk forward)

 

Due to the high color temp of the OEM LED's in your 2024, it can be difficult to tell that they're on when in the city with lots of ambient light. They do seem brighter when out on a dark highway.

 

Yes what you are saying seems accurate. Kinda hard to see my lights for city driving. My older car though has pretty bright lights and I can see them regardless if city driving or in the sticks. I guess that is what I was comparing my truck lights to.

 

All my lights work including the fog lights....the headlights just seem kinda weak. I turned it on during dusk yesterday...and I could barely make out the lights, but when I stopped behind another vehicle, I could see the lights shine fairly bright on their rear bumper. My other car's headlights can be seen very well during dusk...like super bright.

 

OK, I'll try double-checking their aim then, my quick-and-dirty method is to see if they cut-off just below the rear window of a sedan in front in traffic, but that might be a little lower than the usual proper target. You can turn them up/down with a #2 philips screwdriver.

(but if then again, if they're too low, you'd probably instead feel that they are bright but don't go far enough ahead.)

 

Probably sounds odd, but also make sure your windshield is clean... inside and out.

 

2021 had LED low beams introduced for all trims. 2021 also had Limiteds and Pros with bi-LEDs. 2022 the bi-LEDs made it to all trims and ran that way until the 5G was discontinued in 2024. You could try the new Morimoto Evos if you want brighter lights but as others have stated, most complain the lights are too bright

 

Out of curiosity, what was your other car that you’re comparing the lights to?

I bet that the other car has a halogen reflector bowl with lots of light scatter. When moving to a projector, the lighting may seem not as bright due to the sharp cutoff that these projectors produce.

 

Yeah I'm still occasionally turning mine off and on at dusk lol. Just to make sure they're on. That's the worst time. Can hardly tell they're on. What you're experiencing is likely normal.

 

OP, do yourself a favor. When it's nighttime, find a wall with a good level ground in front of it. Park 25' from it and measure from the ground to the center of the headlight bulb/housing. Then measure (with the lights shining on the wall) 2" below the measurement of the cutoff beam. Cover one of the lights with a coat or towel/blanket so as not to get scattered light from the other.
This is generally considered a good aim for headlight adjustment.
There is also the option of taking it back to the dealer to have it checked out and properly adjusted. Although that is not what most of us do because we work on our own trucks.

Good luck.

Also, please post a pic of lights shining against the wall, thx.

Edit to add. After you measure from the ground to the light housing, transfer that measurement to the wall and mark it with a piece of tape. Then measure 2" down and mark it with another piece of tape. This line is what you're aiming for.

 

In my humble opinion;

Low beams -
2021+ LED low beams + LED fog lights are very good as a factory headlight.
On a level road as long as it gives a good illumination far down the line I wouldn't worry about aiming low. Its just many don't know how to drive at night looking into on coming vehicle headlights like animals do.

High beams -
2021+ bi-LED highbeams are pathetic. It very poor that you hardly notice if highbeam is on or not looking out.
I use auxilary lights to give me better visibility when highbeams needed when there is no vehicles around. I purchased a pigtail wire kit from a member "daveeasa". This wire kit give you a highbeam shutter wire which allowed me to trigger my auxilary lights when I turn on highbeams. I haven't had a chance to make a video how it was done like how the wire kit is installed to existing headlight without removing anything, not even the plastic covering the radiator area -> then how the shutter wire go to a switch -> then how the auxilary lights are triggered off that.

So in short,
I'm happy with factory LED lowbeams and LED fogs, just need highbeam light upgrade with aftermarket solution.

 

We have Morimoto XB's on our 2020. I am not sure what to put on the 2016 that we picked up a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if I will put in Morimotos or OEM leds. I have not seen a comparison between the 2.

 

Switching to brighter is illegal, and not possible for your year.

Lights on a big truck will appear very different than on a car even at the same brightness.

 

Same. I’m not rushing out to replace the XB V2s on our 2017 or the OEM LEDs on our 2021. If there’s an objective comparison and they come out on top, I’d consider it more.

 

Dude I love these headlights. Coming from a '15 Tacoma

 

Thanks. I will give this a try. It may be the lights are angled a little on the higher side causing too much light spread. Maybe angle them closer to the ground for better light brightness.

 

A cheap way to get more "visible" light might be to revert back to halogen fogs and install some selective yellow halogen bulbs. (Or install some yellow diode dynamic LED pods, slightly more expensive).

I think the lower temp lights are better for the eyes of some people, myself included.

 

The new model LED headlights are very bright, they likely just need to be adjusted to the correct height.

When I broke the glass on one I decided to stick with OEM after reviewing specs of most aftermarket options.
OEM performs great compared to everything else in their price range.

-Side note, even after the glass was completely gone the headlight continued working for about a week in the rain. When I replaced the broken headlight it had about 1/2 a gallon of water hidden behind the housing. It surprised me how long it lasted with that much water intrusion. These headlights are solid.

 

Has anyone tried the Diode Dynamics headlight unit?

https://www.diodedynamics.com/2014-2024-toyota-4runner-sequential-led-projector-headlights-pair.html

 

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