Headlight Lens Upgrade - 2010 TE

[Bill Z]

1. Is there a aftermarket headlight lens upgrade for the 2010 - 2014 4Runnners?

or

2. Is it possible to fit a 2014+ headlight lens on a 2010?

I've seen may posts about upgrading the headlights to HID or LED (which will be part of the upgrade) but nothing about the lens itself

A bit of background...
I've had my 2010 TE for eight years and 115,000 miles - It's been absolutely bullet proof. I originally intended on building it out into a overland truck, but life and kids delayed my plans.
My intention is to keep my truck until it dies but I'd like to "refresh" things a bit so I'm finally getting around to the build out.

 

[meder24]

Are you referring to replacing the clear plastic portion of the head light assembly only? If that is the case, the amount of work involved to swap just the lens itself, if you can even find it by itself, is not going to be worth it. You would be better off purchasing brand new replacement headlight assemblies instead.

The headlight assemblies on the 2014+ face lifted 4runners are different than the early 5th gens, so you would not be able to interchange those without changing bumper pieces also.

 

[Bill Z]

Are you referring to replacing the clear plastic portion of the head light assembly only? If that is the case, the amount of work involved to swap just the lens itself, if you can even find it by itself, is not going to be worth it. You would be better off purchasing brand new replacement headlight assemblies instead.

The headlight assemblies on the 2014+ face lifted 4runners are different than the early 5th gens, so you would not be able to interchange those without changing bumper pieces also.

Thanks! - Yes, I was referring to the entire plastic assembly.
On my 2010 TE there was an issue with the plastic used in the early model which made it fade and turn white. There was a technical service bulletin on it but it expired before I knew about it. Mine are really faded and the plastic is yellowing. I figured if I need to replace the light assembly I would try to go with an upgraded look.

 

[llDemonll]

New headlights are ~$150 a piece. Super cheap.

If you want light output, you're looking at projector retrofits which are in the $800-1200 range to have a reputable company do it

 

[Bill Z]

New headlights are ~$150 a piece. Super cheap.

If you want light output, you're looking at projector retrofits which are in the $800-1200 range to have a reputable company do it

Thanks! I may do a less expensive LED conversion to the lights. I'll be installing a light bar on my Gobi for additional capacity and For day-to-day driving the stock lights have been ok although a bit of a bump would be nice.

Before I order stock headlights I was just wondering if there were any any styling upgrades in an aftermarket light housing.

 

[meder24]

Thanks! I may do a less expensive LED conversion to the lights. I'll be installing a light bar on my Gobi for additional capacity and For day-to-day driving the stock lights have been ok although a bit of a bump would be nice.

Before I order stock headlights I was just wondering if there were any any styling upgrades in an aftermarket light housing.

You are going to get the best performance out of the OEM replacement headlights. Most aftermarket assemblies, even though they look to be identical, usually use inferior parts and the internals are not quite up to par with OEM.

 

[delloro]

You are going to get the best performance out of the OEM replacement headlights. Most aftermarket assemblies, even though they look to be identical, usually use inferior parts and the internals are not quite up to par with OEM.

And the plastic used does not stay clear and new for very long.

I would find used factory assemblies, and do an HID retrofit myself. But I like doing stuff like that.

 

[00Sebby]

Thanks! I may do a less expensive LED conversion to the lights. I'll be installing a light bar on my Gobi for additional capacity and For day-to-day driving the stock lights have been ok although a bit of a bump would be nice.

Before I order stock headlights I was just wondering if there were any any styling upgrades in an aftermarket light housing.

If you do LEDs in the '10 headlight assemblies you will blind everyone no matter how you aim the lights due to the halogen reflectors (not projectors). Your LED light scatter will put you into the "bro-dozer eBay HID/any cheap LED is cool/LED light bars on the street" category of annoying drivers.

 

[llDemonll]

Thanks! I may do a less expensive LED conversion to the lights. I'll be installing a light bar on my Gobi for additional capacity and For day-to-day driving the stock lights have been ok although a bit of a bump would be nice.

Before I order stock headlights I was just wondering if there were any any styling upgrades in an aftermarket light housing.

You can't run anything other than halogens in the 10-13 lights. You'll throw light all over oncoming traffic. It'll be like driving with your high beams on all the time.

 

[Levi.Mowrey]

Retrofit suggestions

Bill Z. It'd be best to do a retrofit. I posted on the OG Facebook page about a budget build for a basic retrofit. An led projector, new housings, and painted blacked out housing. A custom look, better output then any plug and play led. I guarantee once you drive any vehicle behind a proper led or hid projector, you won't ever want to go back to anything.

 

[rayofsi]

its possible to change to 2014+ headlights. but you will need to change out your bumper. Theres a thread on the facelift on the forums somewhere
Nice write up on this guys site too
5th Gen 4Runner Bumper Conversion, 2014+ Bumper Swap Install

 

[sandcrawler]

its possible to change to 2014+ headlights. but you will need to change out your bumper. Theres a thread on the facelift on the forums somewhere
Nice write up on this guys site too
5th Gen 4Runner Bumper Conversion, 2014+ Bumper Swap Install

swapping a 10-13 TE front end to the facelifted maw is absolute heresy. and while the facelift housings do include OE halogen projectors they’re not particularly good components and unsuitable for HID (let alone LED) anyway.

just buy new TE headlight housings, send to Lightwerkz for an HID projector retrofit, and continue to enjoy your hard-to-find OG Trail Edition.

 

[Bill Z]

swapping a 10-13 TE front end to the facelifted maw is absolute heresy. and while the facelift housings do include OE halogen projectors they’re not particularly good components and unsuitable for HID (let alone LED) anyway.

just buy new TE headlight housings, send to Lightwerkz for an HID projector retrofit, and continue to enjoy your hard-to-find OG Trail Edition.

Thanks - good advise and thanks all!

Based on the recommendations in this post my plan is to replace the the original stock headlight housings with the OEM plus upgrade to HID. At `$700 it's lower on the list - I'm doing a bunch of other mods (suspension, sliders, wheels,bumper and light bar for the Gobi) - but will probably look into the upgrade in the spring.

 

[drewsro]

Check this out: Login • Instagram

 

[TrkyMfns]

Wow. These look promising. I have been planning a retrofit to freshen up the frontend, but if these are decent, I may go this route.

 

[drewsro]

Wow. These look promising. I have been planning a retrofit to freshen up the frontend, but if these are decent, I may go this route.

The thing that worries me is that these are all show, and no go. On their website, it says they're halogen and any install of HID/LED will void their warranty. If I'm going to upgrade headlights, then I need them to actually work better than the crappy halogen we have in our trucks now.

 

[1000MPH]

I thought most people were happy with the 10-13 reflectors. Do the halogen upgrade if you want a little bump in output.
Headlight High Output Halogen Conversion.
Replacing the factory H11 low beam bulb with a modified H9 bulb.
Replacing the factory 9005 high beam bulb with a modified 9011 bulb.
How To: Headlight Bulb Conversion (H11 to H9 & 9005 to 9011)

And for the record, my TSB replacement headlight assemblies aren’t looking so good either.

 

[drewsro]

The pricing for the Spyder headlights are $225 plus shipping and tax for a set. This is what a rep said in regards to them being halogen "These come with halogen bulbs, we don’t recommend HID bulbs because sometimes you will have to modify the housing and that will void the warranty."

This is what they said on a reply to me on Instagram about that too, "correct, the platinum and apex series will be led, you can wait for those as they will be available at a later date"

 

[sandcrawler]

ugh. please don’t bother with any of these dime-a-dozen, cheap-ass, China-sourced “turnkey” headlight replacements. if you want to be happy, just have a fresh set of OE headlights retrofitted by a professional with your choice of HID or LED components.

 

[drewsro]

ugh. please don’t bother with any of these dime-a-dozen, cheap-ass, China-sourced “turnkey” headlight replacements. if you want to be happy, just have a fresh set of OE headlights retrofitted by a professional with your choice of HID or LED components.

For $225 I'm going to give them a shot. Worse case is I don't like them and I put the originals back in. I can always sell them and get some money back too if I don't like them.