HIRs installed - not so easy but WOW!

[scottm]

A Dremel made quick work of cutting down the one tab on each bulb to match the bulbs I took out. I had a real problem with the barrel of the base fitting into the low-beam reflectors, it jambed tight and wouldn't go in far enough. I ended up grinding down the plastic that was forward of the O-ring, to match the plastic of the bulbs that came out. First I carved with the Dremel, then hand filed, all very carefully. The bulb in the middle is modified, the left is unmodified, the right is the stock bulb. Sorry for the cellphone pics, but you get the idea. The high-beams bulbs are made the same, but they fit without a problem.

The low beams are Chinese-made Toshiba HIR2 from John Deere, $28.50 each. The high-beams are Japanese-made Toshiba HIR1 from CandlePower.

The results are spectacular, these reflectors really take advantage of the extra output. The low-beam cutoff previously seemed vague and indefinite, but it appears much sharper with the extra output. That might be an illusion, but that's one of my pet-peeves with DOT lights, I'm not easily impressed. The brighter lights could be a negative in the snow storms I see a lot of on my commute to O'Hare, but the sharpish cutoff should help quite a bit.

The high-beams blow me away. I like bright headlights, my Audi had four 100-Watt high bulbs. These are really, really bright high-beams.

I've hit five deer, I really need good headlights, and the stock lights weren't impressing me. They are now. I have a set of dual driving/fog aux lights that were going to go on this truck, I don't think I'll need them now.

 

[T4Rhino]

lets see some pictures of the light output. Personally I'm on the fence on spending $50 on bulbs when I can get a HID Kit for $100 which will probably last longer. Although I would rather just plug bulbs in over installing a hid kit.

 

[Supra725]

Honestly, if you do go with an hid. Go with an hid retrofit, I used to run an stock hid pnp kit on my 4runner and the out put were horrible...

But I purchased an hid retrofit from an member of the board and boy is day and night...

 

[scottm]

I really didn't do much research on HIDs, but $100 seems awfully cheap. How many lumens do they put out? How involved is installation?

 

[Mike07SE]

Honestly, if you do go with an hid. Go with an hid retrofit, I used to run an stock hid pnp kit on my 4runner and the out put were horrible...

But I purchased an hid retrofit from an member of the board and boy is day and night...

Now I'm assuming you might be talking about output on a 3rd Gen. The light in those housings will be all over the place. PnP kit in a '06+ 4th Gen are ok.

 

[Tempsho]

Here is some good info on trimming the tabs

HIR 9011 and 9012 bulbs are exactly identical in all dimensions to 9005 and 9006 bulbs, except for two areas, the second of wh

I would like to see some beam comparisons if possible. I might give these a try.

These bulbs, in combination with the Lightforce Striker 170's that I just ordered should be a nice lighting upgrade!

 

[scottm]

Here is some good info on trimming the tabs

HIR 9011 and 9012 bulbs are exactly identical in all dimensions to 9005 and 9006 bulbs, except for two areas, the second of wh

I would like to see some beam comparisons if possible. I might give these a try.

These bulbs, in combination with the Lightforce Striker 170's that I just ordered should be a nice lighting upgrade!

I put these bulbs in my older Land Cruiser, I'm not sure why the holes in my low-beam reflectors are so tight. I actually rubbed chrome off the plastic onto the bulb base, that's how I knew it was too tight.

I didn't take before and after shots, but I never can tell from those how much of an improvement it really is. 1700 lumens to 2530 lumens each on the lows, possibly more on the highs, is a lot of extra light. In a well-made reflector that can be huge, and these seem to be well made. I've tried numerous expensive aux lights, never really been happy with the beams. I've tried some higher frequency bulbs, didn't like the glare and scattering and loss of low frequencies. The whole "ghostly" blue landscape, and getting flashed by traffic, wasn't good.

 

[Tempsho]

I just talked to my local John Deere dealership here in Manitoba Canada and they want $38 per bulb for the 9012(H1R2)!! There has got to be a cheaper source for these. Nothing on eBay either (that I could find)

 

[scottm]

Apparently Toshiba is no longer making these bulbs. Candlepower says they're getting a limited amount of Phillips HIR2 soon, didn't mention price, but I'd check there. They have the HIR1, it'd be nice to get them from the same place.

 

[chaz]

for what its worth, from what ive read, the phillips & ge hir bulbs are not as good. JD keeps raiseing the prices cause so many are buying them, a year ago they were like 12 bux. heres a place u might try, but shipping to u will cost, you can also adapt a 9005 for use in the 9006 light with this. Bulbzilla Headlight and Foglight Brightness Conversion Kits - TruckCustomizers.com HIR Headlights 9011 9012 bulbs

 

[caboose]

www.finemotoring.com

Look near bottom of page for ordering. $28.95 per bulb plus $8 shipping for entire order. I've personally ordered from that site before and had good experience.

After checking the FAQ page looks like low beam price is $36.95 and highs are $22.95. Home page say $28.95. Not sure which is correct.

 

[chaz]

:iagree: yep thats the same link i posted above- hir 9012, just doesnt say fine motoring.com

 

[Supra725]

Mike07se,

I used to have the pnp kit but now, I have retrofit and it blows the other one out of the water by far...

with the orignal headlights, it was going Everywhere... but with the projectors... is day and night..

 

[Tempsho]

www.finemotoring.com

Look near bottom of page for ordering. $28.95 per bulb plus $8 shipping for entire order. I've personally ordered from that site before and had good experience.

After checking the FAQ page looks like low beam price is $36.95 and highs are $22.95. Home page say $28.95. Not sure which is correct.

I just got an email from him yesterday, and each bulb (9011 and 9012) are $28.95 each.

I might order them up. I am waiting to see how bright my Lightforce Striker 170's are going to be first.

 

[JBgotM]

for what its worth, from what ive read, the phillips & ge hir bulbs are not as good. JD keeps raiseing the prices cause so many are buying them, a year ago they were like 12 bux. heres a place u might try, but shipping to u will cost, you can also adapt a 9005 for use in the 9006 light with this. Bulbzilla Headlight and Foglight Brightness Conversion Kits - TruckCustomizers.com HIR Headlights 9011 9012 bulbs

Yeah, it looks after Deere caught on that these were selling like hotcakes to people other than farmers, they raised their prices. For the fun of it, I looked up the internal pricing on these. I work at Deere, and no I will not provide internal or OEM prices.

 

[chaz]

i just replaced the silverstar ultras i had in my high beams with the HIR 9011, wow! what a difference, you cant even compare the two. well worth the bux.

 

[scottm]

i just replaced the silverstar ultras i had in my high beams with the HIR 9011, wow! what a difference, you cant even compare the two. well worth the bux.

Amazing, isn't it? I'm just as impressed with the low-beams, since that's what I run with most of the time. I can see reflectors and signs lighting up far in the distance, I'm surprised I don't get flashed a lot.

 

[HedgehogOutdoors]

iThe low beams are Chinese-made Toshiba HIR2 from John Deere, $28.50 each. The high-beams are Japanese-made Toshiba HIR1 from CandlePower.

I think all users should post up where the stuff they put in their vehicles is manufactured, I have a bad addiction of spending a lot of money on American made stuff over the Chinese stuff. Japanese and German are good. Anything but African, Latin, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and most Asian countries lol. I'm picky, I won't buy something if I have the option to buy an American counterpart.

 

[Aviationtech]

Ive been wondering about these HIR's. Can anyone tell me how the color compares to the oem lights? Im trying to decide between these and the hid's. I want "white color" light but last time i looked at the hir's on candlepower website the color was listed at 3600k or something like that. Could you guys tell a difference from the color of the stock light and these hir's? If not im prob going to have to try something like the 5000k hid's i guess...

 

[AKmoney]

I bought the Philips 9012 HIRs off eBay about a month ago. Compared to stock I don't think it was a tremendous difference. If you're expecting HID-level performance then I think you'll be disappointed. It's a little better..just not a lot.

BTW, I originally did a low-beam HID swap but they only lasted about two days before I took them out and put them in the fog lights instead. HIDs in the '03-'05 stock reflector housing simply create too much glare and will blind oncoming drivers. I decided to remove them before I either got a ticket or caused a nighttime accident.