Light Bar VS. Retrofit

[Erkelbot]

Hey folks,

I'm fully prepped for a flame war here for even asking the question...

I've got an Xenon Depot 4300K Philips HID kit currently in the truck, which I have been pretty happy with. Recently I've let the retrofitters get the best of my thoughts, and have been tempted to do a retro. If I go with a retro-quik through TRS it's a $300ish investment (assuming I went balls out on the bulbs and got the CBIs), and the process isn't supposed to be that smooth for someone with only one set of lights on the truck...I've read about fitment issues, and I'm not keen on swearing up a storm on a weekend messing with ill-fitting lenses. Alternatively, I've had thoughts about a LED bar.

My question for you is pros vs. cons of each. Are there good bars to for cheap? How hard is that install -- and which would you choose?

Retros vs. LED bar... Go. Suggestions on inexpensive bars also welcome.

 

[Krayziekid]

Hey folks,

I'm fully prepped for a flame war here for even asking the question...

I've got an Xenon Depot 4300K Philips HID kit currently in the truck, which I have been pretty happy with. Recently I've let the retrofitters get the best of my thoughts, and have been tempted to do a retro. If I go with a retro-quik through TRS it's a $300ish investment (assuming I went balls out on the bulbs and got the CBIs), and the process isn't supposed to be that smooth for someone with only one set of lights on the truck...I've read about fitment issues, and I'm not keen on swearing up a storm on a weekend messing with ill-fitting lenses. Alternatively, I've had thoughts about a LED bar.

My question for you is pros vs. cons of each. Are there good bars to for cheap? How hard is that install -- and which would you choose?

Retros vs. LED bar... Go. Suggestions on inexpensive bars also welcome.

Well they are meant to have two different purposes. HID retrofits are meant to be "legal" ways of increasing the amount of light you can put out on the road safely, without blinding other drivers or causing accidents. Keep in mind that a crappy retrofit and poorly aimed headlights WILL blind other drivers though.

An LED bar is meant to be an auxiliary light to your headlights. In essence, it is meant to provide supplemental lighting to your HIDs (if you hypothetically did both). Most LED bars put out way to much uncontrolled light to be anywhere near legal on the road, and I can guarantee you are going to piss off a bunch of other drivers if you do your everyday driving with a light bar. Not only will you piss them off, you'll likely blind them, potentially cause accidents, and probably get pulled over and ticketed eventually. LED bars are meant for off-road night driving, NOT on-road every day use.

 

[KidVermicious]

What's the application? If you're talking for street use, do the retrofit and do it now. The plug and play kit you've got puts out less usable light than stock, so you'll see a huge upgrade. And as a bonus, you won't be blinding the driver of the car heading towards you at a relative 80-100 MPH like you're doing now.

Again assuming that this is for street use, forget the idea of a light bar. Don't even think it. That's not what they're for.

 

[SAR_Runner]

I would do both eventually. I run a 30" bar for those dark roads that you want to have the general area and the road lit up. They are not for distance in most cases unless you go for a single row bar. The other option is to go for a 20" bar and add two driving lights and have them on separate switches.

The LEDs tend to be more of a close up type light, if you run some hellas with HID conversions you can reach out a lot further with your light and make it so you dont over drive the illumination.

Here is a picture of my 30" bar in the lower grill/bumper. Only minor cutting to squeeze it in there.

 

[Erkelbot]

Sorry, I should have added application. I'm not thinking of on-road light bar. It'd be for early morning drives heading out hunting on log trails and camping.

The HID 'kit' I have in my truck is properly aligned to not blind drivers. I get the legality issue, but at present it's not a nuisance to other drivers.

Has anyone recently done the PNP retro-quik kit from TRS? Are there still lens alignment issues in the stock housing? This is the thread that spooked me -- it's old, but pertains to the PNP RQ kit.

 

[KidVermicious]

Sorry, I should have added application. I'm not thinking of on-road light bar. It'd be for early morning drives heading out hunting on log trails and camping.

The HID 'kit' I have in my truck is properly aligned to not blind drivers. I get the legality issue, but at present it's not a nuisance to other drivers.

If you've got your headlights pointed at the ground in front of your truck, it's putting out even less usable light than it would be if they were straight. And there's still enough scatter to impede oncoming driver's vision. Trust me.

But that's beside the point, you're talking aux lighting for off-pavement. An LED bar will give you more short range flood lighting than headlights, but it's too white to be easy on your eyes and it'll wash out your distance vision. A HID conversion on high beam will give you much better throw than an LED bar, but won't light up the sides of the road as much. If you're looking for bang for your buck, you can't beat a decent combo of spot/flood HID offroad lights. Spend $100 on four Hella 500s, two spot and two flood, and a couple more bucks on HID bulbs, and light up the damned night with more usable light than fifty LED bars.

 

[WI_4Runner]

What's the application? If you're talking for street use, do the retrofit and do it now. The plug and play kit you've got puts out less usable light than stock, so you'll see a huge upgrade. And as a bonus, you won't be blinding the driver of the car heading towards you at a relative 80-100 MPH like you're doing now.

Again assuming that this is for street use, forget the idea of a light bar. Don't even think it. That's not what they're for.

No scientific way to back it up, but the plug and play HID kit I threw in increased light significantly over stock halogen bulbs. I RARELY if every have to use High beams anymore.

LED bar - agreed - you are asking for trouble driving with those on. Only time mine gets use is off the beaten path and occasionally when I'm on such a rural backroad that I don't have to worry about other vehicles.

 

[wadle5]

Keep in mind that a crappy retrofit and poorly aimed headlights WILL blind other drivers though.

This is what drives me up a wall with a majority of retro fits and lifted vehicles. IF you do either of these people should know to have their headlights re-aimed instead of blinding oncoming and while driving behind me! end rant

:redbrick:

 

[Erkelbot]

If you've got your headlights pointed at the ground in front of your truck, it's putting out even less usable light than it would be if they were straight. And there's still enough scatter to impede oncoming driver's vision. Trust me.

But that's beside the point, you're talking aux lighting for off-pavement. An LED bar will give you more short range flood lighting than headlights, but it's too white to be easy on your eyes and it'll wash out your distance vision. A HID conversion on high beam will give you much better throw than an LED bar, but won't light up the sides of the road as much. If you're looking for bang for your buck, you can't beat a decent combo of spot/flood HID offroad lights. Spend $100 on four Hella 500s, two spot and two flood, and a couple more bucks on HID bulbs, and light up the damned night with more usable light than fifty LED bars.

My lights aren't pointed at the ground, and there's minimal scatter. I've messed with them at nauseum, and they're kosher for all vehicles in front of me. They're not retro awesome, but they're far superior to stock halogen for sure.

Does anyone have recent experience with TRS RQs for a 4Runner? It sounds kind of hit or miss with fitment, and I don't have the luxury of having a second set of headlights to work on if the job goes awry.