My 60k original mile truck has the weakest headlights I've ever seen on a car. In my parking garage, it looks like they aren't even on as I'm driving. It seems ok at night, and if you look at the truck head-on they look ok. My wife even commented on it, and she never notices stuff like that. No electrical problems thus far w the truck. I'm guessing that they are original to the truck. Should i just replace them? Do they just get dim as they get older? Any suggestions for replacements? Gracias, Hub P.S. And don't get me started about the horn.....eee....eee....eee....I can barely hear it at highway speed..
The reflector inside of the sealed beam can corrode away, one of mine did it , most of the light from the lamp inside was shining back into the engine compartment!, I just picked up a standard halogen replacement at walmart, they arent very bright anyway, the dipped beam is 35W as standard.
I'm guessing that they are just worn out. I have driven them around town at night, and visibility isn't a problem. But I have been driving a 2006 xB until I got this truck (my wife got the xB) and the headlights on it are sure brighter. I asked the guy at the Toyota dealer if I should buy toyota lights, and he said, "No, just go to Autozone". Any suggestions on a horn replacement?
Get silverstars, they are like 25 each at autozone but work good. Don't waste your time with any of that hid crap. I have silverstars in my truck and they work well. When I save up some coin im going to get truck-lite led's (about $400 for the pair). as far as the horn you could try putting a horn from another truck. The newer 4runners had two trumpets (our truck has one) and may plug in with no mods (don't hold me to that I haven't been under the hood of one of those in a while.
Well around where im at, people love to put them in all sorts of stuff to make their rides "cool", yet not a single one ever takes the time to aim their lights. And most of the time its in a car or truck that was never designed for hids. I was doing alot of driving at night and I hated having some moron ride my ass blinding me with their "cool hids". Its a safety and being considerate of the other drivers thing. I understand wanting to see better, but the cars that come with them stock aren't that bright or blue and are aimed.
oooooooo i c. so its more of a be courteous ******* driving behind me kinda deal. well, i took a look at that trucklite website, its looks FriGGiN awesome!! wouldnt mind getting a set of those. its something different. seems would be more reliable n less prone to problems (bulbs, temp, balasts going bad).
im still on the fence. i want the brightness of hid but dont really care to spend $100 on lights. n im not about to spend on some cheepee sleezbay special. those silverstars r looking pretty decent about now. i want the "white" /clear/clean looking lights, not the faded piss yellows that mines are looking like now. will the silverstars produce this kinda light output?
If you'd like my 2 cents, Silverstars are great. I've run them for 4 years now. That being said, you'd be better off going with an HID conversion, and here's why I say that. Silverstars are still Halogens. To get a Halogen lamp to 4000K (color temp) you have to run them extremely hot. Much hotter than their 3200K normal Halogen counterpart. This results in a much shorter life span. To put it into context, I've replaced my Silverstars about once a year since I started using them, in my truck and in my wife's Mark VI Jetta. HID conversion will cost around $125 for the sealed beams and Hi/Low beam HID set, about $90 for non Hi beam set. IF you get a reasonable color temp, (4300K) the light output for just the 35 watt low beams is almost 3 times the Lumens of a normal Halogen and at least twice that of the Silverstars. As you go higher with the color temp., you sacrifice Lumens to "gain" the cool blue colors. Anything over 8000K and you might as well stay with the factory Halogens. I am finally biting the bullet and making the switch to HID's. I've ordered the sealed beam H4 conversions and need to order the HID's. I'm just going with the 35 watt 4300K set from DDM tuning.
HID's help you see a lot better than stock headlights. as long as you adjust your headlights so they don't beam into the sky its worth the money. but it all depends on the look that your going for... i have 35W 5000K
I've used the Silverstars in my Explorer and love them, but I admit, I want to switch to Hids, especially for the Toyota. Thanks for the info, Litneon! One of the things I wanted to avoid was the blue and purple headlights that scream: "I'm a Teenager/douchebag and think that the combo of Axe grooming products and wing on my truck will increase my ability to mate... With females, even!" If you want the power of a hid but want to be considerate of oncoming drivers, how about a hid conversion and a set of headlight shields like these: Mr Gasket Covers Headlight Half Shields Chrome 4" x 6" Small Rectangular Pair 084041096529 | eBay Theres probably some cheaper than this too, I just did a quick search for them. They could also help with the police as you won't be blinding them so they probably won't bother to stop you to make sure your lights are legal. I'm eventually going to buy a pair for the Toyota when I make the switch to Hid. Another question thats related: What does anyone thing of the "Off Road" bulbs that are sold on ebay and JC Whitney and such. The ones that are still halogen, but are 100 watt low beam and 150 watt high beam. Would they be worth it for him to check into? Like a poor-mans Hid system? Just a thought.
Well, not sure about the overpowered halogens. You'd have to see if the extra amperage they pull equates to extra lumens. And I imagine the color is still going to be yellower than even the silverstars. Since the light reflects out of the sealed beam lamps from all angles, I think the eyebrows probably won't act as much of a cutoff, but more as a general dimmer, just blocking some of the light output. In a sealed beam that isn't a projector, the lens is formed into the glass and it is the glass/lens combo itself that shapes the beam, not the reflector. Covering the upper part of the lens just blocks light, not necessarily in a cutoff fashion.
i switched the regular bulbs out for some LED conversion ones... they look way better than stock and i've switched out different colors a few times. iThink i had while ones in this pic.
