Baja Designs Squadron-R SAE Fog Lights

Installed these the other day. Garbage.

Replaced the stock LED fogs on my '21 4Runner with these. Was vacillating between the SAE or the Sport version. Didn't want to blind people on the road since I like driving with my fogs on all the time. Not too many reviews of the new revised "next generation" version of their SAE lights, so I figured I'd give them a try since they have a 30-day return policy. First, install was a PITA for two reasons:

1. The trial-and-error with the stick-on foam pads on the mounting tabs. Baja's instructions lack detail and all the install videos out there say to use the thin foam pad. Nope. I had to use the thicker foam. And the adhesive doesn't really stick all that well and the pads just kept falling off. After trying the thin pad on one side, then another on the other side, then discovering the thick pad on one side did the trick, I finally got that sorted. But kind of annoying with all the back and forth.

2. The thread locker they have pre-applied to the mounting bolts is overkill. Could not get the bolts threaded into the housings. So I had to have a buddy death grip the lights and I used a long ratchet for leverage to pre-thread the bolts on, then remove them to get all the crudded up thread locker off the bolts (basically, chasing the threads). Then I was able to actually thread them in properly. Took about an hour to do this. Baja should provide bare bolts and let the end user apply locking compound.

Then after getting everything buttoned up, time to test at night.

Wow. Awful. They are MORE DIM than the stock fogs. Shorter throw, narrower throw, and not as bright as the OEM lights.

I'm either going Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro or trying the brighter BD Sport version.

 

Returned them and went with Diode Dynamics SS3 Pros. Way better. You can tell DD put a lot of thought into their product, especially with how the mount and the electrical connection compared to Baja. They're also wayyyyyy brighter and easier to aim after mounting compared to Baja.