H9 in H11 headlight sockets?

No advantage or disadvantage at all. You don’t need to do them at the same time.

In fact, I don’t find the 9011 swap to be necessary. I’m sure it’s a nice upgrade, but I’m satisfied with the stock high beams. I don’t like it when my high beam reflections are blinding coming off of road signs. As long as I have good distance viewing, I’m happy.

 

Perfect, thanks. I have the H9 on order, and will assess the lighting need once those are done. I tend to agree with you that the high beams are fine. The oem low beams suck.

 

The H9 is a nice, noticeable upgrade in my Tacoma. I'll do it in the 4Runner soon, as well.
I have a Foredom flex shaft setup in my shop, and that made clean, quick work of the bulb modification.

 

standard. still working great no complaints!

 

Sheesh. I ordered a different part from Ebay, it arrived in 2 days from Dubai, UAR. These 2 bulbs from this Ebay seller will take a week from Indianapolis...first world problems, I guess.

 

Just ordered a set, but does anyone of a picture of what needs to be cut/trimmed? Thanks

 

I did not want to add a link here because I'm not sure of it's allowed, but google "h9 conversion to h11" and change the search result to images, you will see exactly what needs to be done. There are 2 parts you need to trim, one trim in the tab that fits in the housing and another in the power socket. I'm using the modified H9 in my 4R and for the $, it works better than anything else I have tried.

 

Here’s a link:
https://www.4runners.com/threads/9005-to-9011hir-high-beam-mod.11708/#post-168013

 

Also this, post 38 forward.

 

This thread was super helpful, so thought I'd add a tip that might help someone.

Just finished swapping the H9's for H11's on a 2018 TRD OR P. The most difficult part was removing the dust caps. The dust cap's dry o-rings made them very tight. I used these slip-jaw pliers to gain mechanical advantage and use both hands to unscrew the dust caps. (I use the same tactic for removing plastic access hatches on a boat)

Using the micro nippers it was easier than I expected to remove the plastic tab and trim the metal base.

I did the passenger side first since it was easier to work on. For the driver's side, I took a couple minutes and removed the battery to give me room to work....so much easier.

When I re-assembled, using silicone spray on a rag, I applied a very light coating of silicone to each dust cap.

Can't wait for nightfall to try out the H9's!

 

I have the TRD ORP as well 2018. I'm going to do same as the current low beams suck for my old eyes. I'm just trying to get an handle on terms such as HID, reflector vs projector, and what my vehicle came stock with. Didn't want to get into the weeds with this mod but here I go..

 

I put in Phillips h9 I. My 2015 sr5 and the beam seems to face downwards and not project out. How is this possible?

 

Eyeballed and snipped the h9 bulbs, worked great, kind of shocked how much brighter they are!

 

Drivers side went out, so I replaced both sides...week later brand new passenger side is out hmmmm. Annoying!

 

did you wear gloves? Any oil from your fingers on the glass of the bulbs can cause premature failure. Cheers.

 

I didn't, and I knew better. Maybe that's it.

 

I bet that’s it. Good thing the Phillips are fairly cheap at 10 bucks a pop.

 

For now lol. I recommend ordering a few extras at this price point.

 

I clean my bulbs with isopropyl alcohol on a little swab of a cut up t-shirt before install. Can’t hurt.

 

I installed Phillips H9's when I bought the thing new in 2018.

They are still going strong.

 

Gonna check it out after work and see what's up.
Thanks for the advice!

 

I installed mine in summer of 2020 soon after getting my truck, still going about 19k miles later. Though that would be substantially more miles in daylight than at night.

H9s make a BIG difference. I’d say the headlight performance from the stock H11s deserved an F grade. These standard $10 Philips H9s bring it up to a B+/A-. Seriously.

 

Wait, am I reading this correctly?! We are putting in high beam bulbs in place of the Low beams. Is this safe? (Or rather is this safe for the incoming traffic?)

 

Isn't it easier to just turn on your high beams and drive with it (and turn it off as needed).

 

No the high beams are 9011s. The H9s are 65 watts which boost the light output by 50% IIRC.

I had a hunch about my light being out and I was right. I hadn't chipped off enough of the inner tab and the harness wiggled loose. I chipped the rest off, wiped off the bulb and plugged it back in... worked!

 

Just did this mod today and there is a noticeable difference from the H11 bulbs. They seem to give off a whiter light than the factory bulbs. This is good for those not completely sold on LED equivalents, like me, but want a slight upgrade. Glad I did it!

 

Did this mod a month ago and the difference is substantial. I work swing shift and drive home at night through rural farm country with deer, moose, coyotes, raccoons, porcupines, and the occasional elk. I am loving the extra vision when there is traffic and I can't have my hi-beams, light bar, and ditch lights on.

I used a chisel-blade X-acto knife for the plastic tabs and a dremel tool for the metal ones...

 

Which bulb is which?

 

I made an account just so I can quote and thank this guy who allegedly stole this tool idea from someone else.

I own a 2016 Trail and had the same, insanely terrible headlights and I came across many of these threads. I didn't want to spend $1350 for lights when there are so many other things to use that money for so I figured I would try the Phillips people recommend. After an Amazon return because someone got that wrong, I went to modify them to fit. I tried pliers that wouldn't fit, a multi-tool, a dremel that didn't have small enough discs, dog nail clippers... I even tried a possibly dull razor blade and heated it up when it didn't work... no luck. I was an hour in and I barely managed to get the metal tab to work. I remembered this thread and decided to go to harbor freight. I was able to find these cutters and they seemed pretty close to what was recommended. They effortlessly and instantly snapped the plastic rib off and then the worst part became putting the bulbs in without gloves...which wasn't to hard.

Thanks for saving me hours of work on something so simple! Get the cutters and save time people! One thing to note: My 2016 Trail had different sockets so sadly, I wasn't able to remove the plastic insert. If I do like the setup, I might just dremel out the key that prevents the bulbs from going in.