Aftermarket headlights

[99SC4Runner]

I bought a set of these headlights off eBay and installed them on my 97 4Runner, but the light output on them is up super high and down low in front of the bumper, instead of just having a normal concentrated headlight beam out in front like normal.

I adjusted the headlights down as much as possible, but they are still too high.

Is it just because of the bulb shield/cover dispersing the light output wrong?

Do I keep these headlights and run some different bulbs than the halogen bulbs to get better concentrated light output?

I noticed my factory 97 OEM Toyota headlights just have an open-end circle on the ends of the bulb shields and not a regular looking shield/cover that covers the end of the bulbs like the new headlights have. I don't know if the PO modified the headlight bulb factory shields or not?

Are the best 99-02 style headlights to run on a 3rd gen the OEM Toyota headlights?

 

[Too Stroked]

Unfortunately, aftermarket headlights as a whole are pretty much poorly designed, poorly manufactured, cleverly marketed, good looking junk. Sorry to hear you got burned. The aftermarket has learned that many folks are dazzled by good looking headlights and believe all headlights are created / perform equal. Sadly, this is pretty far from the truth.

I find it interesting that the light output / pattern is both high and low. Most aftermarket lights go for massive amounts of foreground light to trick buyers into believing that actually have better lighting. This of course comes at the expense of distance lighting which is actually more important.

If there's a good point to all of this, it's that you can probably still return them as opposed to waiting until they leak or the lenses prematurely oxidize. I hate to say it, but as bad as some (halogen) T4R OEM headlights are, they're still better than aftermarket.

 

[cblock406]

If you can't get those to perform acceptably you could use the housings for HID retrofits. That's the only way you will get a good modern improvement over the OEM lighting.

 

[99SC4Runner]

If you can't get those to perform acceptably you could use the housings for HID retrofits. That's the only way you will get a good modern improvement over the OEM lighting.

I've thought about this aspect of it as I have a set of new Morimoto Bi-xenon HID projectors, shrouds, etc.

 

[gamefreakgc]

It might be time to return them. Aftermarkets, even the TYC brand I have now, are hit and miss. I had one break a bracket after 1 year but at only $35 a housing, it was an easy replacement.

 

[99SC4Runner]

It seems like any aftermarket replacement for OEM seems to be just junk nowadays.

I think I'm going to look at changing out the bulb shield from my OEM Toyota headlights that are junk anyway, and swap them into the new headlights and see how the light pattern/beam display on them. If that doesn't make things any better, than I will do the HID retrofit conversion on the new headlights.