Aftermarket light reflector "drooping"

spongerx

spongerx

Member
I got some 99-02 headlights from ebay a few weeks ago and the drivers side light reflector is drooping (pointing down, not straight). I wrote the selling and she was happy to send another one. I got it last night and it's doing the exact same thing. For aftermarket lights the light pattern is quite good. Just as good as stock, I would say. But it looks silly cause one reflector is pointing straight and the other is pointing down. Has anyone else experienced this sort of an issue? :ybrick: :ybrick: :ybrick:

I'm thinking about just keeping them because I would like to do a retro fit. Thing is, I won't have the money till the end of summer. This sucks. :(
 
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Passenger - pointing straight
IMG_7466.jpg~original


Driver - pointing down
IMG_7467.jpg~original
 
The problem isn't the headlight itself but the bulb shield. You can either try to gix it by sticking your finger in the headlight hole and straighting it or baking the headlight and taking the glass lens off to straighten it out.
Also the bulb shield is wrong on the passanger headlight as well. The square in the middle of the shield should be "sitting" flat, like in this ebay headlight:
1999-2002 TOYOTA 4RUNNER GLASS HEAD LIGHT LAMP R NEW - eBay (item 230572364663 end time Jan-16-11 17:32:38 PST)
 
thats weird man! I would think its the little reflector in there too? Its crazy that the new one was like that too though?

Sorta on and off topic question for ya on those headlights. Are all these aftermarket housings the same? glass lens etc. i noticed different prices on all of them.
 
Yeah. The housings are built really well, it's just the bulb thingy that is not. They are glass lenses. And the light output is really good. I've seen photos of others' aftermarket lights that give off a scattered beam but these are pretty good. I think I'm gonna return them and try another seller down the road. Here is some pix of the output.
Oh... and I don't think all aftermarket housing are the same. But I'm really not sure. I'll always try to get the glass lenses, not plastic.

IMG_7394.jpg~original


IMG_7395.jpg~original
 
GottaBeTRD said:
thats weird man! I would think its the little reflector in there too? Its crazy that the new one was like that too though?

Sorta on and off topic question for ya on those headlights. Are all these aftermarket housings the same? glass lens etc. i noticed different prices on all of them.
Click to expand...

I think its a hit or miss on the ebay aftermarket headlights.
I bought these:
99-02 4 RUNNER OEM STYLE HEADLIGHTS HEADLAMP SET NEW - eBay (item 150543567399 end time Feb-03-11 12:27:40 PST)

They are built great and have a glass lens, asked the seller, but they were eagle eyes brand I believe, but the output sucked bad. They were worse then the stock 97 fresnel lens headlights. Had no cutoff and had to point them all the way up to even see anything.
They work great for retrofitting though.
 
wow those are really cheap!!

I needed a new set of lights before I did my retrofit, I wonder how well they'd hold up with offroad abuse and baking, etc.
 
spongerx said:
I got some 99-02 headlights from ebay a few weeks ago and the drivers side light reflector is drooping (pointing down, not straight). I wrote the selling and she was happy to send another one. I got it last night and it's doing the exact same thing. For aftermarket lights the light pattern is quite good. Just as good as stock, I would say. But it looks silly cause one reflector is pointing straight and the other is pointing down. Has anyone else experienced this sort of an issue? :ybrick: :ybrick: :ybrick:

I'm thinking about just keeping them because I would like to do a retro fit. Thing is, I won't have the money till the end of summer. This sucks. :(
Click to expand...

If you're doing a retro then just keep them. You will not be able to fix what you're talking about because the part is casted incorrectly. As someone else pointed out, the passenger side is incorrectly positioned too. The square shapes stamped onto the focusing cup should be level, not at an angle like in the pic. If you were to take it apart. you would find that the brackets for the focusing cup are also too long. Both of these issues cause the beam pattern to be more like a starburst instead of having an actual cutoff. The Depo brand is the only aftermarket I'm aware of that is actually a perfect match to factory headlights. Eagle Eyes are good for retros only; they make a horrible replacement because you can't properly aim the headlights with a starburst pattern.
 
spongerx said:
Thankfully the seller was really cool and is going to refund my money as soon as I can send the lights back.
Click to expand...

Make sure to get delivery confirmation or a way to track the package as insurance so they can't say they didn't receive them, just to be safe.
 
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