Maybe this is a "generational" thing, but -

[Swarty]

DOT regs

I can sorta understand people blacking out Toyota logos, chrome strips, coloring their wheels, etc. But what is the thing with adding all of the LEDs all over the place?

LED light bars in grills, under bumpers, on rooftops, even swapping and adding more of them in interiors. To me it just doesn't make any sense.

Educate me please - - -

I come from the days when cars and trucks had two sealed beam headlights, two parking lights, one or two rear tail/stop lights and one interior dome light.

The biggest difference for me is that both my regular beams and high beams don't light through tight corners and hills on forest roads and OHV trails. Both of those beams are shaped to not blind others which is great on the road but leaves you with blind spots when you aren't on flat, open ground. The light bars have a much wider spread of light. Of course it is easy to get carried away.

 

[Jhalko]

Didn't mean blizzard. No amount of lights will make a difference. Referring to forest roads, mountain passes and such at night. Used them on my Jeep all the time. Plus avoided some deer few times also. Gold Camp Road is an example

Yeah my issue seems to be I'm seeking the best pow to ski so that means finding a way to get through the storms! I really enjoy the light bar off-road.

Regardless of what the foggies think... :der:

 

[AudiTech]

Drive this 2 way road in the dark and then tell me if extra light is over rated

 

[Antman]

I use my Rigid LED's mounted on my GOBI almost every day.

I work very early/late and travel back roads. They are awesome to light up the night, much more effective than the factory high beams.

I love 'em.

 

[needsmoresalt]

Ditto what Antman said...

 

[m85476585]

I put black tape over the running board lights on mine. When I'm camping I usually want as little light as possible so I can enjoy the stars and take pictures of them.

 

[Steamtrain]

I use my Rigid LED's mounted on my GOBI almost every day.

I work very early/late and travel back roads. They are awesome to light up the night, much more effective than the factory high beams.

I love 'em.

AntMan says "Game Over"
Next thread please

 

[Magnetic4R]

The one time I used it in Oregon driving up to Mt Bachelor in the pitch dark was very helpful but the only downside was that afterward, my HID seems so dimmed. :noidea:

 

[Donovan1]

I can sorta understand people blacking out Toyota logos, chrome strips, coloring their wheels, etc.

I was thinking about this thread today after my initial reply. I had an epiphany, and it pertains to another thread that I started about modding the 5th gen. I have a '94 RX7 as my fun car. That thing has modified turbo, engine management, exhaust, internals.. All kinds of things. I've done some pointless visual mods to it, but I stuck mostly to the mechanicals. The platform is wide open to modification and Mazda has mazdaspeed which used to anyway have lots of aftermarket support and encouraged racing. You can't even order parts from them without proving that you competed with the car.

Today, we have Toyota and the 4Runner. As is evidenced by my other thread, there is damn near zero we can do to increase performance or do anything really other than lift it and slap quazi 4X4 stuff on it. We've gone from hot rodding our cars to really having nothing to do but paint emblems and dip bumpers and hang lights off of it.

I have, and have always had the modding bug. I started when the 4Runner was a day old ordering up stuff and the same with my FJ. However when you run out of stuff pretty quick.... what do you do?

Lights!!!!

 

[wfo9]

Drive this 2 way road in the dark and then tell me if extra light is over rated

Yes, it is overrated if it does not improve visibility. See all those rocks. Super bright focused lumens will just kick that light right back at you and severely limit your visibility at night.

I'm not saying that all aux lights are bad, but many of the ones that I have seen are poorly executed. The stock halogen headlamps on the 2010-2013 trucks are good. I have not directly compared them to the 2014+ projectors... but they are much better than most vehicles. Just not super cool looking LOL. Yet, everyone wants to replace them with a retrofit. I get it, but its really not about functionality.

It really comes down to the terrain and speed... Tight rocky trails vs open dessert are completely different scenarios.

I got caught up in the more is better thing for a while. I finally realized I was crashing because I had too much light. It gave me a false sense of safe distance and speed and then when I needed to focus on a short distance obstacle I was screwed. Turned my brightness down and things got way better. Granted I also slowed down a little, but that is probably the smartest thing anyone can do when operating at night. Nothing beats natural light... shadows from a self generated light can play all types of tricks on your brain.

 

[thecalm_7]

I was thinking about this thread today after my initial reply. I had an epiphany, and it pertains to another thread that I started about modding the 5th gen. I have a '94 RX7 as my fun car. That thing has modified turbo, engine management, exhaust, internals.. All kinds of things. I've done some pointless visual mods to it, but I stuck mostly to the mechanicals. The platform is wide open to modification and Mazda has mazdaspeed which used to anyway have lots of aftermarket support and encouraged racing. You can't even order parts from them without proving that you competed with the car.

Today, we have Toyota and the 4Runner. As is evidenced by my other thread, there is damn near zero we can do to increase performance or do anything really other than lift it and slap quazi 4X4 stuff on it. We've gone from hot rodding our cars to really having nothing to do but paint emblems and dip bumpers and hang lights off of it.

I have, and have always had the modding bug. I started when the 4Runner was a day old ordering up stuff and the same with my FJ. However when you run out of stuff pretty quick.... what do you do?

Lights!!!!

I feel you, coming from a Rally prepped Cosworth built motor WRX, then dropping my daily to a Countryman ALL4 with 4-6 performance mods available. I wish TRD hadn't discontinued the supercharger. But I knew this going in to Toyota, once they started dropping sports cars and adding VVTi motors, their performance mods dried up, even 3rd party companies, a few headers/cat backs, intakes. The TC/FRS/xB had the most tunability since the final year Supra/MR-2 Spyder/Celica. Its not just Toyota though, its nearly everything. Down economy hurt the private tuning houses badly, leaving much to be desired.

 

[KidVermicious]

Yes, it is overrated if it does not improve visibility. See all those rocks. Super bright focused lumens will just kick that light right back at you and severely limit your visibility at night.

I'm not saying that all aux lights are bad, but many of the ones that I have seen are poorly executed. The stock halogen headlamps on the 2010-2013 trucks are good. I have not directly compared them to the 2014+ projectors... but they are much better than most vehicles. Just not super cool looking LOL. Yet, everyone wants to replace them with a retrofit. I get it, but its really not about functionality.

It really comes down to the terrain and speed... Tight rocky trails vs open dessert are completely different scenarios.

I got caught up in the more is better thing for a while. I finally realized I was crashing because I had too much light. It gave me a false sense of safe distance and speed and then when I needed to focus on a short distance obstacle I was screwed. Turned my brightness down and things got way better. Granted I also slowed down a little, but that is probably the smartest thing anyone can do when operating at night. Nothing beats natural light... shadows from a self generated light can play all types of tricks on your brain.

Just to address a couple things here - it's not so much the brightness of the light, as much as the color and where it's focused. Too much light in the foreground is what's bad, kills your night vision and as you noted, prevents you from seeing down the road where you need to be focused. In addition, most of the LEDs on the market are a super white temp, which glares and washes everything out, and they have the wrong focus, even the "spot" patterns, to get any real throw. They're ok for slow speed work, and honestly that's what they're designed for, but look on almost every legit racer's vehicle, and you're going to find HIDs. Better color, much better throw.

So I'd quibble with the assertion that too much light is bad. I'd argue that too much of the wrong light is bad, and I agree that 99.9% of the rigs out there have the wrong light.