How To: Headlight Bulb Conversion (H11 to H9 & 9005 to 9011)
- Thread starter eddiebx
- Start date
I have a 2010 4runner and did this mod the second I saw it. I love the difference it makes! I just got a new truck the other day and want to do this to that.. how did you figure out what bulbs matched up with little modification?
My new truck has 9006 low beams and 899 for fogs. Do you know the equivalent for those?
My new truck has 9006 low beams and 899 for fogs. Do you know the equivalent for those?
NorthwoodsRunner
New member
I have done the H11 to H9 conversions on my 2014 Camry and 2013 Accord . I bought German made Philips H9 light bulbs and this is the best modification you can do for less than $15. Do not perform this H9 conversion to the fog lights as you will melt the fog light housing. This is much simpler upgrade then the HID and you don't have to worry about whether your lights will light up or not. Plus the H9 lights are a bit whiter than H11.
NorthwoodsRunner
New member
H11 to H9 conversion is definitely worth the money and time but 9005 to 9011 conversion is questionable at best. For those doing H11 to H9 conversion, I recommend you leave a set of H11 in your truck so you can replace them when one of H9 goes out. IMHO, this conversion is much better than HID and don't have to worry about blinding on coming traffic.
CNJ Runner
New member
Great mod! I still get high beamed every once and a while, just flash em back and dont worry about it they still arent on par with projectors tho
Bringing this up. I have HID low beams, but went ahead and did the 9011 conversion on the highbeam. Phillips bulbs were cheap (~$26 for the pair), so i figured i'd try them out.
Trimming the tabs was easy, but i did notice the stock 9005s are also 65w. From the quick trial in the garage with teh lights on, i didn't notice any difference. Will try driving this week and see...
Trimming the tabs was easy, but i did notice the stock 9005s are also 65w. From the quick trial in the garage with teh lights on, i didn't notice any difference. Will try driving this week and see...
Keith_PDX
New member
I finally got around to doing this today (H11 to H9 lows). Should have done it before doing my dual battery setup or while I was installing the front hitch as its quite difficult to get to the headlights. I found it easier to just remove the bumper skin and headlights. I took the stock low beam bulbs and threw them in the fogs. Best $15 mod ever. One week of driving and not one flash from oncoming vehicles, I consider this to be a pass in the obnoxious to others test.
Thanks for taking the time to post the original posting.
Thanks for taking the time to post the original posting.
Completed this mod last night on the lows. I now wanted to order some H9s for the highs! Some tips for the conversion:
- Heat up the tip of a flat-head screwdriver or file to melt the tab in the center (make sure you scrape out all the melted bits once cooled with the tip of a knife)
- Use tin-snips, or wire cutter to trim the metal tab on top of the bulb just slightly
- Remove the handle holding the battery down to give yourself more room on the drivers side
- Use on hand to insert the bulb and use a flashlight/day light to look through the headlight to ensure the 3 tabs are lined up with the cutouts before pushing the bulb in any further.
I'm also debating about doing this with some yellow bulbs for the fogs.
- Heat up the tip of a flat-head screwdriver or file to melt the tab in the center (make sure you scrape out all the melted bits once cooled with the tip of a knife)
- Use tin-snips, or wire cutter to trim the metal tab on top of the bulb just slightly
- Remove the handle holding the battery down to give yourself more room on the drivers side
- Use on hand to insert the bulb and use a flashlight/day light to look through the headlight to ensure the 3 tabs are lined up with the cutouts before pushing the bulb in any further.
I'm also debating about doing this with some yellow bulbs for the fogs.
Does anyone have photos of the brights bulb conversion? apparently the OP's post no longer has the photosI've gotten a lot PMs requesting instructions on doing this relatively cheap light bulb mod, so I decided to make a new thread and make life easier for everyone. Just to be clear, there's already a lot of threads floating around on the internet on how to do this, so I am not trying to take credit for anything. I figured everyone loves pictures and I happened to snap a few when I did this a few months ago, so why not share
Before I begin, please note that this is not street legal nor DOT approved, so proceed at your own risk. Obviously, it's going to be pretty hard to tell since everything looks factory (just brighter), so chances of getting ticketed are next to nil. Also, the factory harnesses and fuses should be able to handle these just fine since we're only bumping up the wattage a tiny bit. Lastly, the slight additional heat generated from the new bulbs should fine as well since it's basically just putting a standard high beam bulb in place of a low beam bulb.
To do this mod you will probably need some wire clippers, small files, needle nose pliers and maybe even a Dremel, if you have. The pictures speak for themselves so you decide on how you plan to attack this. Personally, I just used a wire clipper and a needle nose pliers to nip off the excess material; then cleaned it all up with a variety of metal files.
Parts:
-2x Amazon.com: Philips H9 Standard Headlight Bulb, Pack of 1: Automotive
-2x Philips 9011 Standard Headlight Bulb, Pack of 1 : Amazon.com : Automotive
I ordered these bulbs from Amazon because they were the cheapest and still high quality bulbs, but any standard H9 and 9011 will do. So you can just pick them up at you local auto parts store if you don't mind paying a bit more.
The concept of this mod is to replace the factory H11 low beam bulb with a modified H9 bulb, and replace the factory 9005 high beam bulb with a modified 9011 bulb, respectively. As you can see from the pictures below, the only difference between the bulbs are tabs on the base and/or the plug.
H9 Bulb Conversion:
On the base of the bulb you will see a wide metal tab on the base, this tab needs to be trimmed down a bit to make it go into the headlight housing easier. If you don't feel like trimming it, you might be able to shoe horn it in at a slant (you'll see what I'm talking about if you put the base of the H9 bulb up to the headlight housing); but personally, I rather just trim it off so I can put it in and take it out easier. This does not need to be trimmed to exacting standards, just trim off enough so you can get it past the slot on the headlight housing. It does not have to be perfect or neat either because it does nothing as far as securing the bulb to the housing goes.
On the plug end you will see that there is an extra plastic tab towards the top of the plug, this needs to go or else you won't be able to push the factory plug on. You need to get this as flat as possible and as far down as possible into the inner surface of the plug.
Close up view in case you guys can't see exactly what's going on from the pictures above.
And well, that's all folks! Remember to clean off all the left over debris and wipe down the bulb with a soft towel and 91% Isopropyl Alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol leaves more residue) before installing them. Also, don't touch the quartz envelope of the bulb after wiping it down in order to ensure longer bulb life
Since I know someone's going to ask, no I don't have before and after pictures comparing the light output, lol. The color of the light will be a "whiter" light in the sense that it's not as dull/brown looking as the OEM bulb. If you're looking for that cool white HID look, you'll be disappointed. Just picture high beam color output and that's about what you will have.
The pattern is pretty much just like stock but brighter. Glare is controlled just fine because the filament is in the same exact spot as the H11 bulb and you have glare shields built into the headlights in front of the bulbs too.
Please note, this would be a good time to re-aim your headlights and make sure they are not pointed too high because while there isn't any extra glare from the H9 bulbs, the still H9 bulbs are significantly brighter and way more annoying if you're shinning them right into someones eyes vs. the H11 bulbs.
Lastly, this mod works the same exact way if you want to put them in the fog light housings; but I must say that you may or may not want to install them there depending on how you use your fog lights. This is because the tip of the H11 bulbs are dipped with opaque paint to prevent forward glare, and the H9 bulb tips are not. Unfortunately for us, the fog light housings do not have an additional glare shield in front of the bulb, so do this mod at your own discretion.
Happy modding! :cheers:
CZ-4Runner
New member
I'm wonder how this mod works with projectors. I saw one comment saying not much of an upgrade but I think it was against a wall and not on a dark road.
pjbrownva
New member
I have an '08 limited (which has the projectors), and the upgrade made a huge and very noticeable difference.
There is also a metal tab within the projector housing itself, and I bent that tab out of the way some. It cleans up the beam, and gives you a good, clean cut-off on your beam pattern when aimed at a wall. Before this slight mod, if you shine the lights at a wall, you'll see this one stray "bright" spot, up high above the beam pattern. The bending was done slowly with my fingers just by reaching into the headlight enclosure through the opening where the bulb and socket go.
It did it a few years ago based on posts I read, but I don't recall anything more specific than what I described. If I find the post that spoke about it, I'll post back.
Let me know if you want to see photos. I can take some at night of the beam pattern against a wall and post them if you like.
-Phil
4Funnr
New member
FWIW, I kept the high beam swaps but had to revert my low beams back to regular low beams. I kept getting flashed on most roads, especially rural roads, but even in cities.
It got really old and I could tell I was blinding people so I removed them. Didn't want to get shot in Redneck, AZ.
It got really old and I could tell I was blinding people so I removed them. Didn't want to get shot in Redneck, AZ.
CZ-4Runner
New member
Thank you for the feedback. I think I'm going to this toute (XD) for the projectors. Now I'm researching the high beam/DRL mod. I'm between the XD Xtreme LED and the Saber Pro LED. I don't want any flickering when in DRL mode.
XenonDepot
New member
Not an H9 halogen, but you'll find this recent review of our H11 Xtreme LED kit installed (Lexus projectors) interesting --- shows actual LUX testing and different exposures for beam pattern pics:
2017 Lexus CT200h LED Kit review | 2017 Lexus ct200H LED kit before / after
Enjoy,
Steve
2017 Lexus CT200h LED Kit review | 2017 Lexus ct200H LED kit before / after
Enjoy,
Steve
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