I'm in the process of doing away with the ugly chrome on my headlights and my eyes are bleeding from all the led/hid bulb replacement threads. My hope is to start a thread that people can come to for information on doing mods on their headlights. DYI preferably, but info on bought not built is good also. So I ask all to contribute, just leave the light bulbs for the thousands of other threads.

So right now I'm playing with Vvivid Air release tint
VViViD+ plus Dark Smoke Blackout headlight / tail light film – The VViViD Shop

I have successfully done my fogs and bling on the side mirrors, but after 2 tries on the headlights still no luck. I'm getting close, but have never seen it done before. So I'm now thinking removing them is the way to go. As my TuRD is a daily I would need a spare set. OEM can be found for 217ish per side, aftermarket for half that.

Kustom 54 has a DYI kit for around 400 (without add ons) it's aftermarket TYC housings. They will install projectors for an extra 400.
DIY 14-19 Toyota 4Runner Retrofit

I will post what I find from my searches. Some questions I have:

- What projectors will fit in the stock housings?
MORIMOTO • High Quality HID Projectors, Ballasts, and Bulbs

- Will aftermarket or OEM have any issues being heated in the oven to remove lenses?

- What needs to be done to modify the stock wiring harness to add more like "demon eyes " and such.

- Headlight removal. I know it's another bumper cover pull, but will post the info when I find it.

Due to the design of the headlight housings, there unfortunately is not a lot of depth to house most aftermarket projectors.

With some modification, you can install Lexus IS250/350 OEM projectors. You can also get some better use out of them with a proper clear lens swap and better bulbs. Due to the projector being a side mounted bulb design, it lacks width/depth compared to many projectors.

I was in the middle of retrofitting the Profile bi-LED 2.0 projectors into aftermarket Depo brand headlights, but suffered an unrelated injury. TRS sells retro-quick brackets that will hold the Profile projectors nicely in place.

Hope to get back to tackling the retrofit in a few months. Best of luck on your project.

@Angelo created a thread here: Consolidated Lighting Info Thread

Could probably use a few updates, but man it's 22 pages and answers most of the questions you posted

Looks like more light bulb changing. I will look it over when I can stomach more "What led/ hid bulb..." Questions.

@Charlievee @tristero So I started the Consolidated Lighting thread with the best of intentions, and TBH I've felt like I kept it up decently. To be quite honest, I've found that the vast majority of people are merely looking for more light downrange and not necessarily willing to crack their housings to retrofit / de-chrome / mod to get it.

The Consolidated thread does need a little TLC lately with the introduction of purchasable retrofit work from outfits like HIDRetrofit and Kustom54, as well as the upcoming (?) tri-LED from Xenon Depot and the bi-LED from Morimoto / TRS (the one you linked, I believe). I have yet to see anyone pull the trigger AND write up their install on the latter, by the way. I'd have probably done it myself but I'm not interested in the (my opinion) annoying Acura blue-tinged 6000k LED look, not to mention that it's frankly less useful light in inclement weather. If they come out with a 4500-5000k version, I'm in. That I am aware of it's the only bolt-in, no-dremeling-necessary projector for our housings... and unfortunately that I can see if it fails it would require cracking the housing AGAIN to replace it, it doesn't have a replaceable bulb, which honestly is a deal breaker to me as well. I could be wrong about that but I don't think so. I've spoken with people at TRS and XD about the projector issue multiple times... our side-mount housings are just crazy tight.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd love to add other types of headlight mods to the Consolidated thread, but most of what I've seen is there. I haven't seen a writeup specifically on de-chroming the interior of the housings other than that which was done by those who did their own retrofits. All of those DIY retrofits are linked in the Consolidated thread. I'll add the stuff I mentioned above, and I'm definitely always open to further suggestions. Thanks for the mention and prompting.

These are good to reference for IS / GS retro:

2014-2017 HID Projector Retrofit DIY - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum

2015 T4R IS350 build

Champ's Build & Adventure Thread - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum

There was good stuff in this thread by @iLuXoR817 , but it's all wiped now: 2014 HID Retrofit - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum

Also not in the @Angelo thread posted, but the few people that posted here with the Morimoto Bi-Led M LED projector (RETRO-QUICK) were not very pleased. The guy I talked to at TRS wasn't thrilled with them either. HID and Lexus projectors really seems to be the only other option. That is unless you can figure out how Kustom54 fit those Acura MDX LEDs in the 2014+ T4R housing.

Well said.

Just FYI, I had zero idea what I was doing at all and was able to get plenty of info to get started from your thread.

I'm working on an LED projector retrofit and blackhousing into a new set of headlights, I will post updates as I have them

What LED are you going to use? Why LED and not HID?

I have enough product to wrap to try and wrap my headlights 3 more times. If I can't get it to work, my next step is to build or buy a custom set. Getting the tint to work would be ideal as the only issue I have with them is the ugly chrome.

I tried the vVivid twice last weekend, the light tint. No luck over that hump. It looked great on the front though, before the hump, which it would rip before conforming. Bummer. I did use it on my Baja 20” upper grill bar and two sets of S2 lights, challenging but turned out great. The upper grill light is pretty much invisible

I’m pretty sure the newer years use permaseal which is a pain to open up, aftermarket housings from tyc or Depot still use butyl which is easier to bake open

I tried this film. Its good film but I didn’t like the final color. While it does darken the chrome I saw a pinkish hue that I couldn’t live with so I junked it.

If you don’t like the chrome just bake them open, disassemble, spray the chrome with oven cleaner, clean, degrease, and hit it with a primer, topcoat, and clear. Reassemble and you have a cheap blackout headlamp.