Finally a projector upgrade available 2014+

[unie01]

I really like the look of them

 

[GR8ADV]

The big plus of the 2014+ is the projectors. I went with a 55w HID Marimoto HID with Baja Sports fogs. Crazy good light, makes driving at night a real dream.

 

[Xtremluck]

For anyone who is actually going to pick these up. Can you please take before and after comparison shots? I think it will help the community out a ton.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I got this pic from Lightwerkz while I was deciding my retrofit. Caesar (LW owner) said it was a good quality piece of kit, but these are my reasons for choosing HID.

Width: The MLED is highly center-focused (hotspot) with noticeably less width overall. One of my reasons for doing an HID retrofit is greatly improved light spread. My score: HID 1, MLED 0
Color: This HID is 4200K and I'd guess the LED is ~6000K. It's a bright white, which does not appeal to my eyes. My score HID 2 MLED 0
Foreground: You can see the LED has much more foreground light. Technically, this is considered less desirable as it focuses your eyes too close to the car. My score HID 3 MLED 0
Lumens: I have Lumen readings somewhere. From memory, the HID is about 70% more than OEM halogen, and the MLED is 100% more than OEM halogen. Bear in mind, readings taken at hotspot. Some will prefer, some will not, I prefer the better spread. My score HID 4 MLED 0.
Dependability: The LED will outlast an HID bulb, but there's cooling requirements, untested by time. OTOH, there's more componentry required with HID, thus more to fail. My score HID 4 LED 1.
Cost: Not enough difference for me to care. As I've said before, I don't discuss this anymore because armchair critics.

Again, MY opinions. Posting simply as FYI.

View attachment 286682

Thanks for sharing, those hot spots are a definite negative for me. My stock projectors with HID's have a very nice output as did my Morimoto D2S projectors that I had in my 08 retrofit, they had a lot nicer cutoff than those LED ones.

 

[rayofsi]

For anyone who is actually going to pick these up. Can you please take before and after comparison shots? I think it will help the community out a ton.

going to see if i can find some time to install my set. Got a retrofitted set with Mleds last week. Rain. rain. Work. Rain.. Yea.. no time for this

 

[Speeder757]

This company just posted quite a few lighting upgrade videos for the 4Runner


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv0mG3NopUNFWYDsf_t9fqQ

 

[swim.bike.run]

I just watched that video and the before/after comparison is quite a contrast. I’m still unclear as to how this beam pattern is somehow different than factory.

 

[rayofsi]

Better then stock. Nothing more.

 

[Srt4runner]

Better then stock. Nothing more.

Can you elaborate a little more on this statement? How are you liking this kit so far? Do you wish that they had a better light spread or do you find them adequate? Do you think you would have been better off with IS250 projectors?

After getting a few quotes for retrofits I'm leaning towards saving some money and doing it myself. These seem to be a great compromise between an HID kit in the factory housing and a full retrofit done by a company brightness/price-wise.

 

[rayofsi]

Can you elaborate a little more on this statement? How are you liking this kit so far? Do you wish that they had a better light spread or do you find them adequate? Do you think you would have been better off with IS250 projectors?

After getting a few quotes for retrofits I'm leaning towards saving some money and doing it myself. These seem to be a great compromise between an HID kit in the factory housing and a full retrofit done by a company brightness/price-wise.

I previously did hid in oem projector. That gave good light.. but beam pattern sucked, and had obviously glare. i get highbeamed a lot.

This seems to have too low a HOTSPOT below the beam cutoff, causing me to get too much foreground light, and not enough light where i need my low beam to be.

 

[rayofsi]

Holy Christ. Do my eyes deceive me, or can you actually see the square die shape in the hotspot?

That looks terrible IMO

its a super low hot spot in contrast to the cutoff.

 

[rayofsi]

Thats what I mean. It looks like the projectors are actually producing a square hotspot from the shape of the LED die. Which looks bad enough, but that kind of light "spread" is useless.

thats what i told retrofitsource. they say my beam.. is normal

Everything seems completely normal from what we see there.
Please let us know if there is anything else I can help you with!

Thanks again,
Austin @ TRS

 

[philsey]

Can you elaborate a little more on this statement? How are you liking this kit so far? Do you wish that they had a better light spread or do you find them adequate? Do you think you would have been better off with IS250 projectors?

After getting a few quotes for retrofits I'm leaning towards saving some money and doing it myself. These seem to be a great compromise between an HID kit in the factory housing and a full retrofit done by a company brightness/price-wise.

I previously did hid in oem projector. That gave good light.. but beam pattern sucked, and had obviously glare. i get highbeamed a lot.

This seems to have too low a HOTSPOT below the beam cutoff, causing me to get too much foreground light, and not enough light where i need my low beam to be.

Holy Christ. Do my eyes deceive me, or can you actually see the square die shape in the hotspot?

That looks terrible IMO

its a super low hot spot in contrast to the cutoff.

Thats what I mean. It looks like the projectors are actually producing a square hotspot from the shape of the LED die. Which looks bad enough, but that kind of light "spread" is useless.

thats what i told retrofitsource. they say my beam.. is normal

Sheesh. I sure wasted my time posting my analysis of the LEDs vs HIDs, including output pics.

:redbrick:

 

[rayofsi]

i got my first set of lights on 1/19.. returned them to get new high beam reflectors installed. high beam reflectors got clear sprayed.

got my 2nd set of lights back on 2/16.. same day this thread was made, but a few hours before it was made lol.
Finally got around to installing them.

not that i didn't read your post.. it was too late for me.

also i had to ask retrofit source, because they are probably sending out chipflipped leds now, and they wondered when i got mine.. because their new output shots.. are all chipflipped i believe.