Been wanting to possibly upgrade my headlights to LED's, but read on some some sights that they are not recommended for the runner and Tacoma. I'm guessing heat displacement issues, but wondering if anyone is running LED headlights? Was also going to look at upgrading the fogs as well. If the manufacturer disclaimer is true, then I guess I'll look at running HID's again, tho those damn ballasts are known to flicker and give me headaches.
Anyone running LED's on their 3rd gen?
- Thread starter ccurrans
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Jason B
Official Vendor
I've sold many of the Piaa LED's to forum members on here with no returns to date. These work very well in the stock housings. Here's a quote from another thread on these lights with some good before and afters. These do not flicker, are Japan made (Piaa worked on these for over 2 years before they released them) and come with a good warranty.
PIAA H4 LED's at Burtman Industries
Below are unedited photos taken on my iPhone 7.
OEM Koito Halogen bulb- The sky is not as dark and it is raining:
PIAA LED in favorable weather:
Side by side comparison PIAA LED on the passenger side and Koito halogen on the driver’s side:
From inside the 4Runner:
I hope this gives you some insight on how the PIAA LED compares to stock Koito bulbs. The LEDs are much brighter than stock and soon to be verified. I believe that the Koito bulbs are 17-year old originals and were used as DRL.
PIAA H4 LED's at Burtman Industries
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BrianSD_42
New member
If you do take the advice to do a search be sure to use the link in my signature. The word LED is not searchable using the default forum search tool because it has 3 char and only 4+ char words work. But the Google method re my signature will return lots of led pages. If course let's assume it will also return every comment with led in the signature which might muddy the results somewhat.
BamaDrewski
New member
After looking at the sky-high prices for two replacement halogen bulbs, I said "why not?" and got a pair of LED bulbs from Ebay.
PROS: The LED's do put out a brighter, whiter light. I have not encountered anyone thinking my high beams were on. They are less expensive and longer lasting (with much less heat) than halogen bulbs.
CONS: The "high beam" feature on the bulbs I have is not really effective. However, I can see further on low beams with LED than I could with halogens.
If I had to do it all over again, I would buy LED's. I have not encountered any real issues such as "blinding" oncoming cars and these LED's are in the stock headlight assembly.
Rock_Rat
Senior Member
I ran LED bulbs for a very short time and quickly changed back to my PIAA 4000 halogen bulbs. I purchased these on Amazon for about $35 if I recall.
No mistaking, they’re bright and definitely put out the light you would expect from an LED bulb, however here are the reasons I removed them and will not promote them on this board.
So for now, IF I ever decide to make any changes, I’ll go the projector route.
Here's a picture of the LED's I wasted my money on. Just sitting here on my bench collecting dust.
BTW: No hate for those that do run them. To each his own and I'm sure you're respectful about using them or dimming them as required.
No mistaking, they’re bright and definitely put out the light you would expect from an LED bulb, however here are the reasons I removed them and will not promote them on this board.
- Too many people were flashing me. Obviously they’re blinding other drivers and personally I hate it when people drive like they own the road with their brights on. You see this more with the monster 4x4 truck group with lightbars anywhere they can fit them.
- Second reason I removed them was because I couldn’t put the rubber boot on due to the heat sink. This leaves my light assembly completely exposed to the elements.
- Third reason was because of the lack of heat. Living in the PNW I need the heat to melt the ice away on the light assembly.
- The tipping point, (which should have been reason #1) was, despite the fact they’re “plug-n-play”, they’re illegal if you use them in the factory halogen based reflector. One accident and they look at your lights, and you’re at fault. LED's are not designed to be used in our factory reflectors.
So for now, IF I ever decide to make any changes, I’ll go the projector route.
Here's a picture of the LED's I wasted my money on. Just sitting here on my bench collecting dust.
BTW: No hate for those that do run them. To each his own and I'm sure you're respectful about using them or dimming them as required.
Attachments
Scramble
New member
"Headlights" LOL
Tyler James Inc
Senior Member
As far as what I have seen with my own eyes- LED headlights suck. They light everything- like, EVERYTHING- up very bright white, but the light doesn't actually get thrown very far in reflector housings. Objects the light is shined on will light up well, but the actual light on the road is very lackluster- again, only talking from personal experience.
Pictures are deceiving, as my factory '01 headlights looked AWESOME in pictures.
Unless you're doing an HID projector retrofit, I would recommend sticking to a halogen lamp with an upgraded relay harness.
I've seen great results with Osram Nightbreaker lamps.
On the other hand, retrofits aren't too difficult, and can provide AMAZING light.
Morimoto D2S 4.0 Projectors
Hylux 45w ballasts
NHK 5500k lamps
Morimoto MotoControl harness
As you can clearly see in the last picture, the light is not scattered into oncoming traffic whatsoever.
Pictures are deceiving, as my factory '01 headlights looked AWESOME in pictures.
Unless you're doing an HID projector retrofit, I would recommend sticking to a halogen lamp with an upgraded relay harness.
I've seen great results with Osram Nightbreaker lamps.
On the other hand, retrofits aren't too difficult, and can provide AMAZING light.
Morimoto D2S 4.0 Projectors
Hylux 45w ballasts
NHK 5500k lamps
Morimoto MotoControl harness
As you can clearly see in the last picture, the light is not scattered into oncoming traffic whatsoever.
T4R2014
Elite Member
We're in a brave new world where we don't need to shove some LED bulbs into a halogen reflector housing.
Bi-LED: Morimoto M LED - LED Projectors from Morimoto
Bi-LED: Morimoto M LED - LED Projectors from Morimoto
Rallysport
New member
If you're going to upgrade your lights you really need to retrofit projectors, regardless of bulb type. There's a reason reflectors are all but totally phased out from modern cars.
Xntrik7
New member
Nice!
These look very interesting and might be the answer. Props to Morimoto for pushing the envelope.
These look very interesting and might be the answer. Props to Morimoto for pushing the envelope.
T4R2014
Elite Member
Tell that to Audi, Ford, etc. HIDs are kinda dated now. LEDs can be used for headlights. The issue is when you stick an LED bulb into a housing made for halogen bulbs.
cblock406
Member
Okay I suppose I was not specific enough, don’t run them in a halogen housing. Better?
jgue467
Senior Member
Max 5 H4 LEDs
Why Not? They fit and are Made for them, silliness, next you'll tell me self-driving cars wlll never arrive!
BTW peeps, if you really want to try LEDs, try these on amazon, best i've found for the money, longevity tests are underway now. Decent light spread (left to right), very nice upper cutoff, of course no one flashes thinking brights are on.
What I liked about them most, was the Ez ability to turn the bulb housing While ON (from behind of course) allowing you to center the spread of light to the Maximum for your housing. Others I've tried don't have this feature.
Now let's hope they last at least 2 years. They will flicker in DRL mode but I keep em' full On all the time to avoid any harm to them.
I don't bother to cut/replace the rubber OEM backing, all LED units are waterproof, unless of course you submarine your runner then all bets are Off!!
For those that want an inexpensive alternative to Morimoto DS2s and the over baking needed to install them, this is a Very good alternative to consider.
Go with prime and you have 30 days to try them out....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PX22V7Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Why Not? They fit and are Made for them, silliness, next you'll tell me self-driving cars wlll never arrive!
BTW peeps, if you really want to try LEDs, try these on amazon, best i've found for the money, longevity tests are underway now. Decent light spread (left to right), very nice upper cutoff, of course no one flashes thinking brights are on.
What I liked about them most, was the Ez ability to turn the bulb housing While ON (from behind of course) allowing you to center the spread of light to the Maximum for your housing. Others I've tried don't have this feature.
Now let's hope they last at least 2 years. They will flicker in DRL mode but I keep em' full On all the time to avoid any harm to them.
I don't bother to cut/replace the rubber OEM backing, all LED units are waterproof, unless of course you submarine your runner then all bets are Off!!
For those that want an inexpensive alternative to Morimoto DS2s and the over baking needed to install them, this is a Very good alternative to consider.
Go with prime and you have 30 days to try them out....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PX22V7Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Jason B
Official Vendor
I've sold many of these to guys on here:
PIAA H4 LED's at Burtman Industries
Go back to first page of this thread for more pics. These are Japan made and nice. I'll work a deal for anyone else wanting for a few people.
PIAA H4 LED's at Burtman Industries
Go back to first page of this thread for more pics. These are Japan made and nice. I'll work a deal for anyone else wanting for a few people.
HiluxSurf SSR-G
Senior Member
Hi,
Has anyone in used the Morimoto Bi-LED in the link below?
Any feedback? Are the LED bulbs replaceable?
Thanks.
Has anyone in used the Morimoto Bi-LED in the link below?
Any feedback? Are the LED bulbs replaceable?
Thanks.
Ed_C
Senior Member
There's no replaceable bulbs in those projectors. Beam pattern is somewhat narrow compared to a good (and cheaper) aftermarket hid projector. They released a 2.0 version that's been getting good reviews, and it's on sale at the moment Bi-LED: Morimoto M LED 2.0 - LED Projectors - Components
