PSA: Your Amazon Hi-beam LED headlights are garbage.

[Weston4Runner]

OK this one hit a nerve for me. I realize the title is about high beams, let me take it further.

Guys around here are running ultra bright lights in their fog pockets, light bars on all the time behind their grills, under their chin spoilers, or on their roof racks, searing bright aftermarket LOW beams... it's lame as hell. It's blinding people constantly.
Your low beams should not be searing bright in peoples faces!
Even you guys that think you did it right, aimed it right, bought the right bulbs... 90% of you are still blinding people, it's just that most are too polite to lay the brights on you. I'm not, I'll bright the hell out of you, and in retaliation you'll flip me the bird or turn on your light bar or nail me with your high beams that are searing bright.
None of your junk is DOT legal, but you don't care, it's your safety and driving comfort that matters, and you gotta have that sweet headlight mod the day after you buy your vehicle, and as long as your local grease and go joint doesn't fail your inspection due to your lame aftermarket bulbs then screw everybody else. "I don't give a $#%@ if it's DOT legal it's MY RIG!"
Don't get me started on all the above coupled with the sweet "levelling kits", or heaven forbid the squat reverse rake trucks and suvs.
I group you searing bright not DOT legal light guys in with the squat truck guys. Lame.
Your sweet mods are not so sweet, in fact they can be downright dangerous to other drivers.
Just remember, for every 1 vehicle that flashes you because your lights suck, there are 10+ others that wanted to but didn't. I'll bright you for sure.
Damn, I'm usually 99% nice and pleasant too, this has been bugging me bad though.

So, I have been researching for 2 months on how to upgrade my 2019 ORP lighting because I honestly think its so bad its dangerous for me and my 2 year old kid to be driving down the road with such terrible lighting. I constantly have to use the high beams (when safe) to see anything more than 10 feet in front of me. WHAT WOULD YOU PROPOSE I do to have adequate lighting for my family and be safe for those in the oncoming lane??

 

[97BlackAckCL]

So, I have been researching for 2 months on how to upgrade my 2019 ORP lighting because I honestly think its so bad its dangerous for me and my 2 year old kid to be driving down the road with such terrible lighting. I constantly have to use the high beams (when safe) to see anything more than 10 feet in front of me. WHAT WOULD YOU PROPOSE I do to have adequate lighting for my family and be safe for those in the oncoming lane??

I have this kit, it's fantastic and works great in the stock projectors

H11 Morimoto Elite HID Systems | H11 HID Headlights

 

[ElectroBoy]

So, I have been researching for 2 months on how to upgrade my 2019 ORP lighting because I honestly think its so bad its dangerous for me and my 2 year old kid to be driving down the road with such terrible lighting. I constantly have to use the high beams (when safe) to see anything more than 10 feet in front of me. WHAT WOULD YOU PROPOSE I do to have adequate lighting for my family and be safe for those in the oncoming lane??

Easy halogen headlight conversion. Lots of us have done this. Highly recommended.
H11 to H9.
9005 to 9011.

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3387028-post40591.html

 

[Matze]

So, I have been researching for 2 months on how to upgrade my 2019 ORP lighting because I honestly think its so bad its dangerous for me and my 2 year old kid to be driving down the road with such terrible lighting. I constantly have to use the high beams (when safe) to see anything more than 10 feet in front of me. WHAT WOULD YOU PROPOSE I do to have adequate lighting for my family and be safe for those in the oncoming lane??

A correct aiming of the head lights should do the trick!

I did not change anything on mine and I rarely use high beam, we live in the boondocks so there is no city lights guiding me, nether am I suicedal, love the kick of driving blind or driving slow.

 

[headpaneer]

Easy halogen headlight conversion. Lots of us have done this. Highly recommended.
H11 to H9.
9005 to 9011.

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3387028-post40591.html

I second this. The lamp filaments are much closer in design and hence work better with the OEM optics. The H9s may not produce as many lumens as an HID lamp, but the light will be better controlled by the reflector housings.

 

[tristero]

Even you guys that think you did it right, aimed it right, bought the right bulbs... 90% of you are still blinding people, it's just that most are too polite to lay the brights on you. I'm not, I'll bright the hell out of you, and in retaliation you'll flip me the bird or turn on your light bar or nail me with your high beams that are searing bright.

OK this one hit a nerve for me. The stock projectors on the 2014+ are f#&ing terrible. They get a Poor rating for visibility. Yet at the same time are somehow able to put out too much glare. So you as the driver cannot see a bat making sex to an opossum in the middle of a curvy road on a dark romantic evening, but man, they sure see you coming.

The 2010-2013 reflector housing was way better. Unfortunately, I did a horrible downgrade that I then spent hundreds of dollars as well as hours of time trying to fix. I try to not be a dick, shining lights in other's mirrors and or faces, it just doesn't always work out for everyone. I understand your plight, however, as if I ever see a vehicle that I feel is too bright, they're blinding everyone else.

Last, even if you aim properly, it doesn't account for inclinations for oncoming traffic. If you aim too low you have no visibility on a dark night at highway speed. I used to aim my headlights further down for fall/winter so I wouldn't discomfort others during evening commute. I'd then readjust when we would leave on a trip. It got to the point of being a major chore and I usually don't have time for it.

I have this kit, it's fantastic and works great in the stock projectors

H11 Morimoto Elite HID Systems | H11 HID Headlights

So, I have been researching for 2 months on how to upgrade my 2019 ORP lighting because I honestly think its so bad its dangerous for me and my 2 year old kid to be driving down the road with such terrible lighting. I constantly have to use the high beams (when safe) to see anything more than 10 feet in front of me. WHAT WOULD YOU PROPOSE I do to have adequate lighting for my family and be safe for those in the oncoming lane??

+1 for Morimoto Kit from TRS. I finally purchased for our GX and it's great.

 

[jmf_tracy]

i'll just leave this here...

 

[jp.vegas]

There's one thing I miss from the Tundra and that was the ability to raise or lower headlights from a dashboard switch. Obviously done to be able to restore proper visibility when the rear was loaded with something or towing, it was nice to be able to lower the lights below the rear view of any particularly small cars when stopped at a light.

The new 4R has auto high-beam, so keeping the low beams aimed properly doesn't hamper anything. When the coast is clear, the high beams come on and you can seeeeee clearly now.

 

[Atomiklan]

I agree they are bright and can be dangerous as driving lights, but I particularly like my GTRs which mimic the filament placement of a traditional bulb using the optics of the stock housing as intended and they are far brighter than the POS bulbs that came new with my truck so I'm not sure I entirely agree with your statement. My lights have a crisp clear line which is low enough to stay out of peoples rear view mirrors. Now yeah, the cheapo "Lets place an LED everywhere" type bulbs, I entirely agree.

 

[Jetboy]

This has been covered ad naseum here. But it's worth repeating. Projectors are never in any OEM application designed to eliminate light above the cutoff. Never. They are designed to shine some light above the cutoff to illuminate street signs. The amount of light reflected above the cutoff is fixed percentage of the light emitting from the properly located bulb. So, if they have the proper amount of light above the cutoff with the OEM bulbs and you triple the brightness with HID bulbs, you also are going to triple the light in other driver's eyes if you had the perfect HID replacement bulb and correctly aimed the lights.

The HID projector is not poorly designed. It's optimally designed for the bulb Toyota chose. It's just a shitty choice of bulb to design a projector around. The projector its self is quite well designed and uses premium parts. The lens is very good quality.

The proper solution is a full retrofit, but it's $$ and a fair amount of work to do. In the alternative someone could develop a simple adjustment to the cutoff - it needs to be moved slightly to adjust the light scatter above it. It just requires someone to either take very precise measurements and calculate it, or just pull apart a housing and test it. I'd guess it's in the range of a few thousands of an inch or less and you'd modify the cutoff pattern to reduce the light above it.

IMO - and it's been mentioned before, the best place for a longer range light is in the fog light position. For a well aimed HID light that will throw light the furthest down the road without blinding other drivers, you would want the aim of the light to be a slight downward slope. The slope necessary from the headlights in a 4Runner is a steep slope. So there's no possible way to aim them properly and also have the low beams shine a long distance down a road. The basic geometry prevents it.

A set of mini bixenon bulbs in the fogs would be the best setup IMO. Then re-purpose the high beams and low beams in the upper set for off road lighting. The ultra-bright LEDs along with HIDs in the OEM projector housings gives more than enough light for offroad driving. No light bars needed.

 

[Angelo]

Agree with everything [MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION] said, and we've both said it before in other threads. I think if people knew the ACTUAL results of cheap lighting mods (i.e. drop-in bulbs) they'd wait and do a proper retrofit. But again, as discussed in other threads, the starting position (high) of the OEM housings makes using great light downrange difficult.

With regards to the fog light position, I just picked up a set of Rigid SAE Fogs in the original "white / blue" LED color based on the review / writeup from TW here. They were used, so I decided to give them a try at a reduced price despite not being a fan of the cool standard LED color, especially mixed with the yellow OEM halogens. Anyone who is familiar with my lighting thread knows that I am fairly sensitive to lighting upgrades, and I can say that I am pretty impressed with the output and cutoff of the Rigids. I am not being flashed, and the near-to-mid field lighting when driving is vastly improved. Based on this experience I would love to figure out a driving light improvement for the fog light spot.

 

[jhguth]

Agree with everything [MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION]
With regards to the fog light position, I just picked up a set of Rigid SAE Fogs in the original "white / blue" LED color based on the review / writeup from TW here. They were used, so I decided to give them a try at a reduced price despite not being a fan of the cool standard LED color, especially mixed with the yellow OEM halogens. Anyone who is familiar with my lighting thread knows that I am fairly sensitive to lighting upgrades, and I can say that I am pretty impressed with the output and cutoff of the Rigids. I am not being flashed, and the near-to-mid field lighting when driving is vastly improved. Based on this experience I would love to figure out a driving light improvement for the fog light spot.

but those aren't a driving light, they're not projecting down the road
(and fog lights can limit your visibility down the road if they're bright enough)

i wonder if any of their other lights fits in their same OEM mount, the hella micro DE xenon lights were my top choice but maybe one of the LED kits would be good enough if they have lights that fit with an appropriate pattern

i've considered a front bumper with LED lightbar cutout and finding a light bar with a pattern i want, but my state has specific laws about using light bars so i'd be opening myself up to tickets

 

[BigSkyBeck]

X1000 couldn’t agree more

 

[Friggin Idiot]

Don't forget that lift and bigger tires have an effect.... that is unless you do that Carolina Squat thing which signals aliens your a$$ is available for probing!

 

[Jetboy]

but those aren't a driving light, they're not projecting down the road
(and fog lights can limit your visibility down the road if they're bright enough)

i wonder if any of their other lights fits in their same OEM mount, the hella micro DE xenon lights were my top choice but maybe one of the LED kits would be good enough if they have lights that fit with an appropriate pattern

i've considered a front bumper with LED lightbar cutout and finding a light bar with a pattern i want, but my state has specific laws about using light bars so i'd be opening myself up to tickets

You would need to put a projector inside the fog light housing or a projector light where the fog light is located. The fog light is just the spot where they would physically be located, but I would not use the fog light reflector for anything other than a place to locate it.

Ideally you want your headlights aimed so that there's a slight downward angle dropping a around 1" every 10 feet. The problem is that you also want to keep the bright part of the light pattern below the eyes of drivers in other cars. Typical driver eye height in others cars is often around 36-40" off the road. So if you start with a headlight that's already 40" off the road - now it's a big problem because you can't both aim at a 1" per 10' slope and also not shine into the eyes of oncoming cars. You have to aim them down at a steeper angle. And the result is that you also have a shorter distance of illuminated road. The best option is to start with a headlight height that's more like 24" off the road. And that happens to be about where the fog lights are. Especially on lifted 4Runners. That way you can aim them closer to flat and shine out further without blinding other drivers.

The reason I haven't done it yet on mine is simply lack of time. It'll require re-wiring a few things to make the lights all work correctly as you want them to. In order to look visually correct I'd want to illuminate the upper headlights with a similar color light when the headlights are on, but not make it very bright. Something like the DRL, but color matched to projectors living down below. It wouldn't be terribly complex to do. But it would take some time.

 

[jhguth]

You would need to put a projector inside the fog light housing or a projector light where the fog light is located. The fog light is just the spot where they would physically be located, but I would not use the fog light reflector for anything other than a place to locate it.

[...]

The reason I haven't done it yet on mine is simply lack of time. It'll require re-wiring a few things to make the lights all work correctly as you want them to. In order to look visually correct I'd want to illuminate the upper headlights with a similar color light when the headlights are on, but not make it very bright. Something like the DRL, but color matched to projectors living down below. It wouldn't be terribly complex to do. But it would take some time.

huh? i never said anything about using a fog light reflector. i'd be buying a light with all optics included, not sourcing my own projector separately.

I am wondering if they have have a driving lot (which they call a spot light on their website) that fits in the same mount as their SAE kit to easily mount in the fog light location. xenon is my preference, but i would consider LED if it had a decent pattern and had an easy off the shelf solution

the hella micro DE xenon lights also have nothing to do with any fog reflectors, they come as a turn-key light with projector and everything i would just have to design a mount

i'll probably leave the factory headlights as-is and just install the original halogen bulbs, but use either a LED or the hella xenon driving lights in the fog light spot (which i understand is illegal in some places having more than 2 driving lights, but here the additional lights are just considered auxiliary lights)

 

[Jetboy]

huh? i never said anything about using a fog light reflector. i'd be buying a light with all optics included, not sourcing my own projector separately.

I am wondering if they have have a driving lot (which they call a spot light on their website) that fits in the same mount as their SAE kit to easily mount in the fog light location. xenon is my preference, but i would consider LED if it had a decent pattern and had an easy off the shelf solution

the hella micro DE xenon lights also have nothing to do with any fog reflectors, they come as a turn-key light with projector and everything i would just have to design a mount

i'll probably leave the factory headlights as-is and just install the original halogen bulbs, but use either a LED or the hella xenon driving lights in the fog light spot (which i understand is illegal in some places having more than 2 driving lights, but here the additional lights are just considered auxiliary lights)

I think I totally misunderstood what you were looking for. I have not found any source for a pre-made driving light that would be a plug and play fit for the fog light mounts. My intention was to retrofit a HID projector into the OEM fog housing at some point because I don't think there are any pre-made solutions.

 

[jhguth]

this should fit, you just need a bracket and faceplate:
My Hella Lights :: Micro DE Xenon

 

[Jetboy]

I think they would look like a cobbled together solution if they weren't either in an OEM housing or something pretty similar. I think a retrofit HID kit in the OEM housing would visually be much more appealing. Functionally I'm sure those would work great.

I would probably only do something like this: RetroFit OEM Fog Lights to house TRS Projector Beams | PriusChat

 

[jhguth]

my plan is to just make a black plate to fill in the small gap between the opening and the hella lens housing, that's what these OEM style LED kits do and they look okay