Anyone regret upgrading headlights?

particularly looking for owners who already had LED headlights (MY 2020+ I think?). I like the look of morimoto and other headlights but want to get others opinions on whether they regretted it after replacing OEMs with it.

Nothing is broken in my 2023, and part of me wants to just use the stock lights -- they work good in my mind. But looking at after market options, they do seem to make 4R appear very cool! So the vain person in me wants to consider upgrading...

I am aware of many reporting no real lumen gains with an "upgrade". I am wondering if anyone thought it was so bad, they wish they hadn't.

 

I have pondered the same, but do not want to mess with Toyota reliability. I had a nice set of high quality Volant LED tail lights on my Titan. Multiple diodes burnt out within a couple years and looked bad.

I have modified enough vehicles to become very picky what I modify. I would not sacrifice reliability and money just for looks.

 

i wanted to improve forward lighting on my 2019 which had halogens. i wrestled with the idea of going with morimotos but the price was a real tough pill to swallow. this lead me to retrofitting OEM led headlights which came in much cheaper (used). sure there is zero aesthetic improvement but i have the benefit of good performing lights and OEM quality with a potential of lifetime service.

 

What did that cost?

 

I heard that alpharex headlights are very good quality as well.

 

i picked up pristine 2022 take offs from someone who went with morimotos. all said including the relays i paid a little over $600.

 

Same. I really wish the drls in 4runners were leds in the place of that chrome piece in the headlight. Our Outback is like that and it looks so much better

 

Depo headlights have the LED drls and they are comparable to OEM and cost way less than any other brand.

 

Here is the wife's 2020 with the Morimoto XB in amber DRL. We originally had halogens for OEM.

 

I replaced the head and tails lights with Morimoto's. My '23 ORP came with LED already but I wanted to change up the look of the front end and have it match my Baja Design S8 lightbar. It has amber backlights so it matches the amber DRL on the Morimoto. No regrets. That being said, I kept my factory units in case they shit the bed.

 

Is it possible to just update DRLs and leave head lights as is? I like morimoto DRLs (both white and Amber) a lot, and maybe that’s the compromise for me.

 

No regrets here. 21 OR with LED. Wanted to change it up and have LED DRL’s. Did Morimoto heads, tails and fogs. Kept OE just incase. Perfect cutoff line after second adjustment by installer. DRL’s are extremely bright. Bright enough that I tend to forget to turn on my headlights at times.

 

I have a 2020 which is the last year of the non-LED headlights. I replaced the atrocious awful stock halogen bulbs with the Lasfit 4Runner-specific headlights. They're awesome.

 

Have a link?

 

https://www.lasfit.com/collections/...ner-2014-2020-custom-h11-led-bulbs-pro-t4-h11

They ain't cheap, but got dang they've served me well for the past three years I've had them. I wonder how much longer they'll last. If the ones I got three years ago burn out tomorrow, I might just buy another set despite their price.

 

Same here. No problems,

 

They really are the witch's tits.

 

I looked at aftermarket headlights since I have a 2019 before upgrade to LED. Many look good but there were a lot of stories of rapid flickering on DRLs due to reduce voltage (not an electrical engineer, I think that was the problem?).

I think they look great but ended up too low on the cost/benefit analysis scale. Also why I don't have light bars - I don't do a lot of night driving and I think I'd be just fine in an emergency situation with stock lights and a cheap flashlight

 

I have the morimoto. Main reason I got them is because there was a big sale at the time (I saved almost $400).
I wanted nicer DRL than the OEM. Other than that I really liked the OEM and don’t have a preference. If OEM had DRL instead of the chrome part I wouldn’t have removed them (like what Alpha Rex did)

I still have my OEM in case morimoto’s fail in the future

 

In other threads I have read all the aftermarket headlights ended up performing worse than even the OEM halogen’s. I just did an H9 bulb upgrade but if a set of LED headlights pop up used I will snag them.

 

I clicked the link questioning myself "what headlights they have?". LOL. I too very happy with one of thier LED bulbs on OEM halogen housing. If there's any issues just a matter of replacing just the bulb vs the entire housing.

But I didn't comment before since this post talk about headlight housings. I had that thought of changing housing but not anymore since I have perfect light output even compared to OEM LED housing. After that I upgraded the halogen fog housing to Toyota OEM LED "like" fogs from Amazon (video not published yet) , and I'm all set now.

 

I love the Morimoto look but have heard way too many issues with the DRL burning out. Then it happened to my friend so I can't justify spending $1300+ for headlights that will eventually fail. I'm currently watching a company called Coplus that makes almpst identical headlights. I heard they used to make Morimotos for them but branched out. Their US dealer seems to be Underland Offroad and they are about $200 cheaper than morimotos. Hopefully I hear good things about them so I can jump on a pair

 

The only regret I had with my 2020, was not upgrading to OEM led lights sooner.

 

Haven't hear of any DRL failures. Did they both go out at the same time?

 

i have no regrets with my alpha rex. Such an upgrade from stock halogens. Yeah probably coulda went less expensive with bulbs or some vland housings. But the stock chrome check mark instead of drl was killing me.

 

Just a portion of one headlight went out

 

This right here... I keep finding myself looking at every Lexus or other vehicles on the road with a close to checkmark led so I can try and retro fit it into the stock housings ... someday I may do so, especially if I could find a set of Alpha Rex with that were broken with the checks still functioning.

 

Hey, how long has the H9 worked for you? I did this about 1.5 years ago, and I’m feeling like they are really dim (again). I’m wondering if the halogens need to actually be replaced before they burn out.

 

Thanks, appreciate the response.
I have 2023 so already have LEDs.
I am beginning to think its just vanity (for me) and not really worth it to upgrade.

 

I have a question for those of you with LED headlights. Do they produce enough heat to keep the light assembly thawed out when driving in freezing slushy conditions?

Thanks