Off road Lights for a 2015 4Runner

[4runner43]

I had a run-in with a deer on a very dark road a few weeks ago (all okay, except the front of the 4R and the deer) and it is all being fixed by insurance. I am thinking I might want to add some off-road lights to the front of the vehicle (I know, I know, hind sight is 20-20). I am new to this, so I am hoping to get some relevant advice from folks here.
I am thinking maybe four lights - two "pencil" beams and two "floodlights". Not sure if this is the right set up, but I am thinking that I need two capabilities - the first to see very far ahead of current lights and the second to watch the sides of the roads far better than my current fog lights do.
I don't want to spend a ton of money on it, so I am looking for some advice from people's experience here. Any advice, insight or experience that anyone would care to share would be gratefully appreciated.

I am also interested in what is street legal where I live in Alberta (and BC) and under what conditions, e.g., can I only run these in true off-road conditions like night time on the TransAlta road, or are they legal at night under any conditions?

4Runner43

 

[engeeoh01]

did you upgrade your stock H11? if not, that would be a good mod to start with.


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[arehman11]

I had issues at night and upgraded to the XD 4300k Phillips HID kit and then swapped my fog lights for the Rigid industry DOT lights. Those things are bright and I have no issues with nighttime visibility now.

 

[Jono.ful]

I had a run-in with a deer on a very dark road a few weeks ago (all okay, except the front of the 4R and the deer) and it is all being fixed by insurance. I am thinking I might want to add some off-road lights to the front of the vehicle (I know, I know, hind sight is 20-20). I am new to this, so I am hoping to get some relevant advice from folks here.
I am thinking maybe four lights - two "pencil" beams and two "floodlights". Not sure if this is the right set up, but I am thinking that I need two capabilities - the first to see very far ahead of current lights and the second to watch the sides of the roads far better than my current fog lights do.
I don't want to spend a ton of money on it, so I am looking for some advice from people's experience here. Any advice, insight or experience that anyone would care to share would be gratefully appreciated.

I am also interested in what is street legal where I live in Alberta (and BC) and under what conditions, e.g., can I only run these in true off-road conditions like night time on the TransAlta road, or are they legal at night under any conditions?

4Runner43

Can get away with a lot more in AB than you can in BC. I've had aftermarket lights on in one iteration or another more or less since new without any hassle in and around Edmonton, but you hear stories about guys in BC getting pulled over for not having opaque covers on accessory lighting.
We're rural, so lots of wildlife out and about at dusk and dawn especially. In your situation, I'd be looking at ditch lights or a behind the grille light bar, and a combo lens is just as useful as a mix of spot and flood lights. If you want to go big, I really like my Lightforce 240's. They have exchangeable lenses that change the beam pattern, and are also able to be focused between a light pencil, or a larger flood.

 

[4runner43]

Off roads lights for a 2015 4Runner

did you upgrade your stock H11? if not, that would be a good mod to start with.


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Thanks, seems logical.

 

[4runner43]

I had issues at night and upgraded to the XD 4300k Phillips HID kit and then swapped my fog lights for the Rigid industry DOT lights. Those things are bright and I have no issues with nighttime visibility now.

Thanks. I have checked out the Phillips kit already - looks good. Do you have a reference number, if available, for the Rigid lights?

 

[4runner43]

Thanks jono.ful. You are right, as I am finding out - everything that isn't "street legal" in BC has to be covered on the "street". Those Lightforce lights look pretty spectacular. I will definitely check them out as I have already run across the Lightforce HTX in my preliminary research.

 

[e60ral]

i don't know anything about the law there, but what is your goal? are you on empty roads and want to see as far in front of you as you can? just improve the headlights a bit and see the roadside a bit better?

i would upgrade the low beams regardless

if i want to see as far as possible i would get some HID driving light like the lightforce lights posted above, if i just want to see a bit better i would do HID low beams and then improve the flood lights or add ditch lights

 

[4runner43]

i don't know anything about the law there, but what is your goal? are you on empty roads and want to see as far in front of you as you can? just improve the headlights a bit and see the roadside a bit better?

i would upgrade the low beams regardless

if i want to see as far as possible i would get some HID driving light like the Lightforce lights posted above, if i just want to see a bit better i would do HID low beams and then improve the flood lights or add ditch lights

Thanks for asking the questions as it got me thinking more about what I need. Right now, I am thinking that I want to see as far as possible in front of me and the immediate roadside.

I am thinking to start with the XD 4300K Phillips kit and maybe add some ditch lights. The other one that I like, so far, is the Lightforce HTX which combines a pencil bean with a ditch light, but I am still looking. A friend of mine has recommended the Baja Designs OnX6 10" or 20" Hi-Power LED light bars, but they are a bit more than I want to pay at this time, but you never know. I could go with the Phillips kit upgrade and the Lightforce HTX as a combo.

 

[TRUSTYAXE]

Saber Pro led high beams, I think they have a 50w version now. I have the 40w and Phillips led fogs. Keeps the stock look but lots of light when you need it.

 

[CF_Machete]

Before you spend a grand on a rigid light bar, get a $40 to $60 dollar light bar off amazon or eBay. Most of these are plenty bright, and if you need something brighter, you can always upgrade. just pop off the side caps and add an extra bead of silicon before install as cheap light bars are sometimes poorly sealed.

I have a no name 40" on my gobi, $60, and probably could have gotten it cheaper. Its plenty bright for road applications, and is a spot/ flood combo. I have it wired with my high beams so its activated by the pillar switch when the light bar switch is active.

The only issue is that road signs usually reflect straight back and bleach out when its on. But drives up to VT during the ski season are a lot safer, even though its most certainly illegal.

If you want to keep it legal, upgrade you halogen headlights with HIDs and your high beams and fogs with LEDs.

 

[wcjeep]

Road legality will vary for aftermarket lights. While I have aftermarket lights on two of my vehicles they are not legal to use on regulated roads (usually pavement). I take care not to use around other vehicles. Have you considered the in grill light bar?

 

[2flyfishin]

Animals in the road is one of the major reasons I installed my behind the grill light bar. Is it legal? NO, at least not in NV but when you're out in the sticks and you very rarely have on coming traffic, it's nice to have. In my last jeep I had some close run-ins with mustangs and deer and realized how much I missed the off road lights I had on my previous truck ( hella rallye 4000s) which look a lot like the light force ones. I would think you would be able to get away with not covering your off road lights if they are behind the grill. I personally went with a Black Oak 30" 5 watt bar and I think it puts out quite a bit of light with a real nice beam pattern for about half of what the Rigid bars cost but as mentioned above there are a lot of cheaper bars out there that may be worth a look. Just make sure if you install any aftermarket lights to turn them off as soon as you see on coming traffic. Even the high powered head light conversions can be quite blinding when you're on the other end of them.

 

[e60ral]

Thanks for asking the questions as it got me thinking more about what I need. Right now, I am thinking that I want to see as far as possible in front of me and the immediate roadside.

I am thinking to start with the XD 4300K Phillips kit and maybe add some ditch lights. The other one that I like, so far, is the Lightforce HTX which combines a pencil bean with a ditch light, but I am still looking. A friend of mine has recommended the Baja Designs OnX6 10" or 20" Hi-Power LED light bars, but they are a bit more than I want to pay at this time, but you never know. I could go with the Phillips kit upgrade and the Lightforce HTX as a combo.

If your goal is to see far away you don't want a light bar, you want HID driving lights

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[4runner43]

If your goal is to see far away you don't want a light bar, you want HID driving lights

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e60ral, I am thinking that driving lights like the Phillips 4300K - H11 Xenon Conversion | XenonDepot Xtreme H11 HID Kit for the low beams. For the fog lamps, I am looking at these - H11 Philips LED bulb | H16 Philips LED bulb | H8 Philips LED Fog bulb. I am not sure what to do about the hi-beams as the stock ones are a combined daytime light and high beam together, but someone suggested that these may work - 9005 HID kits | XenonDepot Xtreme 9005 HID conversion kit - don't know until I check with the Toyota folks, or someone a lot more knowledgeable than I am that can tell me what I should be looking at for the hi-beams.

As far as light bars go, there are combos available today like the Baja Designs series - https://www.bajadesigns.com/onx6/OnX6-Hi-Power-LED-Light-Bar.asp - that seem to indicate that they cover far away and the up close as well. A chap that I know just installed the 20" light, so I will get in touch with him and see why he did it and how he likes it.

 

[XenonDepot]

e60ral, I am thinking that driving lights like the Phillips 4300K - H11 Xenon Conversion | XenonDepot Xtreme H11 HID Kit for the low beams. For the fog lamps, I am looking at these - H11 Philips LED bulb | H16 Philips LED bulb | H8 Philips LED Fog bulb. I am not sure what to do about the hi-beams as the stock ones are a combined daytime light and high beam together, but someone suggested that these may work - 9005 HID kits | XenonDepot Xtreme 9005 HID conversion kit - don't know until I check with the Toyota folks, or someone a lot more knowledgeable than I am that can tell me what I should be looking at for the hi-beams.

As far as light bars go, there are combos available today like the Baja Designs series - https://www.bajadesigns.com/onx6/OnX6-Hi-Power-LED-Light-Bar.asp - that seem to indicate that they cover far away and the up close as well. A chap that I know just installed the 20" light, so I will get in touch with him and see why he did it and how he likes it.

While you could install that 9005 HID Kit in your High Beams, we wouldn't really recommend it for that application.

All HID lighting has a bit of a warm-up period when first turned on, so if you're the kind of driver that, like most of us, just uses the High Beams for a quick flash of light, then the moment will have passed before they finish warming up.

If you want to upgrade your High Beams we would recommend LEDs, since they are instant-on. You can check out our 9005 Xtreme LED PRO kit with the CANBUS' option so you'll get a pair of our PWM anti-flicker modules. They will regulate the flow of power through the other components and let the High Beams function properly. That being said, however, the LEDs will not be able to dim and provide a different level of brightness in DRL mode, so your lights will be on at full power pretty much all the time.

If you need a 9005 High Beam upgrade that can maintain the lower brightness for DRL mode, you are looking at performance halogen bulbs. The 9005 Philips Crystal Vision Ultras are a good choice for that purpose.

Hope this helps, but let us know if we can answer any more questions for you.

~Robert

 

[e60ral]

if your goal is to see as far as you can, you don't want to flood the area in front of the vehicle with really bright light like you will get with a light bar. you need HID spot/driving lights that give a nice tight beam far away. if you have a ton of light in the foreground your eyes will adjust to that light which will make it tougher to see far away.

I'm a huge fan of my XD Phillips 4300k headlights, i recommend them regardless of what other steps you take. Honestly the high beams aren't that bad (this is confirmed by the same review that showed how terrible the low beams are). Upgrade the high beams if you want, but i would put that money towards driving lights first.

 

[CF_Machete]

I am not sure what to do about the hi-beams as the stock ones are a combined daytime light and high beam together

You can easily kill the drl function by bending a pin in the resistor (can be reverse). That way you can use led high beams and not burn them out or blind someone accidentally.

Besides, the DRLs are pretty useless as white light gets bleached out durring the day. Your side ambers are easy enough to see and will remain unaffected.

 

[Jono.ful]

if your goal is to see as far as you can, you don't want to flood the area in front of the vehicle with really bright light like you will get with a light bar. you need HID spot/driving lights that give a nice tight beam far away. if you have a ton of light in the foreground your eyes will adjust to that light which will make it tougher to see far away.

Completely disagree with your characterization of led light bars. I have a Seaward Offroad 40" combo bar on my roof rack (see photo on page one), I run 4300k Phillips ds2 in projectors driven by 50 watt ballasts, stock hi beams, and of course the big Lightforce 240s with 55 watt HIDs. My headlights are bright. As anyone would expect, even with the hi beams on, the 240s cast so much light that it basically makes the regular headlights irrelevant, and they literally light up the road with usable light for over a mile. My light bar does not cast nearly as much light down the road as the 240's, but the difference between it and the headlights/hi beams is basically like night and day for easily a hundred yards down the road. Not only that, but the beam pattern is wide enough to illuminate the ditches, which is where wildlife is going to come from. I would also suggest that it is impossible to out-drive the light provided by the LEDs.
I'll get some output shots tomorrow morning on the way to work for everyone to see.

 

[2flyfishin]

if your goal is to see as far as you can, you don't want to flood the area in front of the vehicle with really bright light like you will get with a light bar. you need HID spot/driving lights that give a nice tight beam far away. if you have a ton of light in the foreground your eyes will adjust to that light which will make it tougher to see far away.

I'm a huge fan of my XD Phillips 4300k headlights, i recommend them regardless of what other steps you take. Honestly the high beams aren't that bad (this is confirmed by the same review that showed how terrible the low beams are). Upgrade the high beams if you want, but i would put that money towards driving lights first.

Lmao!

Completely disagree with your characterization of led light bars. I have a Seaward Offroad 40" combo bar on my roof rack (see photo on page one), I run 4300k Phillips ds2 in projectors driven by 50 watt ballasts, stock hi beams, and of course the big Lightforce 240s with 55 watt HIDs. My headlights are bright. As anyone would expect, even with the hi beams on, the 240s cast so much light that it basically makes the regular headlights irrelevant, and they literally light up the road with usable light for over a mile. My light bar does not cast nearly as much light down the road as the 240's, but the difference between it and the headlights/hi beams is basically like night and day for easily a hundred yards down the road. Not only that, but the beam pattern is wide enough to illuminate the ditches, which is where wildlife is going to come from. I would also suggest that it is impossible to out-drive the light provided by the LEDs.
I'll get some output shots tomorrow morning on the way to work for everyone to see.

I agree with this. With my combo led bar on, my head lights might as well not even be on. The bar lights up hundreds of yards down the road and you can see well off onto the sides of the road even at a distance.