Anyhow... this guy knows what he is doing... it’s 145 pages so get your soda and popcorn before you start because you be there awhile

Best is the Halogen ...

3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights | Tacoma World

The OEMs (imho) arent as bad as some people say they are. They worked OK for me around the mountain roads near Yosemite but the H11 upgrade (not H9) worked much better on the really dark no moon/new moon nights. They cost more than the H9s but are plug and play. Same bulb that is recommended in the Tacoma thread. That OP has some pretty good posts!

Nighthawk Xenon 120 (h11s)

I don’t recall seeing any analysis of the headlight wiring on this forum for increased current for this mod. But here’s a quick way to look at it with some estimates.
The OEM lowbeam H11 is rated 55W. If your engine is off, the battery supplies about 12V. 55/12=4.6A.
The H9 is a 65W bulb. 65/12=5.4A. So you’re drawing 0.8A more. Only 17% more than the OEM bulb.
If the headlight power wires are 14AWG stranded, they are rated for 24A (according to some other references I’ve seen 32A).
Of course Toyota derates everything very conservatively for safety so the insulation doesn’t melt, taking into consideration the temperature rise of the wire during operation, the aging of the wire, the ambient temperature under the hood in a bundle of other wires, current of the circuit under the worst cases, etc.
With all those worst cases and with derating for a huge margin of safety, Toyota fused each headlight for 10A.

So don’t worry about another 0.8 A.

I think it’s because if you’ve driven any other modern vehicle... and I’ve driven dozens if not hundreds because I rent 40-50 vehicles a year in addition to the 39 I’ve personally owned... you realize how deficient the stock 4Runner lights have been for at least the past decade.


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Good point. My 2016 4R is my first "modern" vehicle in 36 yrs. so the lights seem good to me! However I do miss the glass lens rectangular headlights on my 84!

As @00Sebby said, it’s a great beginner mod. And the result is very satisfying. You’re not messing with your truck, just a bulb. The Standard Philips H9 is about $14 on Amazon. Do like he did, modify one bulb, shine it on a wall. Take a photo. Then go for a drive at night. See which bulb is brighter and has greater distance.

I have been quite happy with the PIAA night tech bulbs in mine. About 2 years now and no issues. I have them in high and low and have cheap amazon amber LED's in the fogs that seem to work pretty decent.

There are a billion H9 LED bulbs on Amazon... any problems with pattern projection from LED bulbs?

LED drop-in bulbs are going to give you terrible performance in housings designed for halogen bulbs. Your foreground will be bright but your distance will be crap. Some Tacoma guys did lots of research and tested bulbs to show how bad they project and cause glare. As RichinRidgewood said, it’s science.

If you want LED headlights, buy a complete LED headlight package for $$$.

But @mynameistory describes it best here:
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3474295-post42346.html

This.

Hey, I remember the old days looking for Hella and other "upgrade" sealed beams! I also remember getting the Hella E-code square housings that took an H4 halogen bulb for my XJ Cherokees. Those were great. My favorites were the 7" round Lucas Tri-Pods.

But nowadays, even my old beater '08 GTI faded headlights are lightyears ahead of the 4Runner. My '20 Rubicon for the short time I had it, was like lighting up a stadium with the factory LEDs (terrible snow-blind in the snow though and one of the reasons I am not a big LED fan). I do drive a lot at night and good lighting is a must have for me.

My '20 Rubicon had OEM LEDs with projectors. It was still glary in the rain and you couldn't see crap in the snow at night. It lit up the snow flakes so brightly and high (not a great cutoff) in your field of view that you couldn't see 100 feet in front of the vehicle if completely dark. In nice weather they were amazing though. But it made me wary of LEDs in general though I know that is all we will have eventually. You can almost always tell a LED-equipped JL Jeep from a distance. Looks like the same blinding glare you see from the cheap aftermarket LEDs.

To each their own. I'd get auxiliary lights before replacing OEM.

I did not know this about the Jeep LED headlights. I wonder if this poor foul weather performance is a characteristic of all new OEM LED headlights, or just Jeep.

I do know from driving thousands of miles at night in the last three years that as more newer vehicles populate the roads their headlights keep getting worse for oncoming traffic. The glare is at times unbearable, even in a higher vehicle like my 4R. Even on multi-lane highways with lanes separated by wide medians. I always attributed this to owner retrofits of crappy LEDs, misaligned headlights, or bozos driving in clear weather with their fog lights on. But now it seems that even some OEM LED headlights could inherently be crap.

Keep in mind as you get older cataracts can make oncoming headlights a problem, regardless if old or new. 😉