04 Tundra Headlight Replacement

[blueranger501]

I have hit a wall. After countless post wash polish jobs, 3+ headlight restoration kits (including the Sylvania lifetime), it’s time for new headlights.

Any experience with aftermarket? Oem will break the bank but I remember a post where a member replaced with cheap aftermarket and was not happy with the reflection quality.

Wish rickashay was still doing retrofits I would jump all over that. Any other good options? I love good light but not at the expense of blinding other drivers. Will have my light bar and fogs for dark roads with no traffic so this is a daily driver thing. Also not keen to draw attention to myself with law enforcement.

Anxious to hear what others have tried and their feedback.

Thanks!

 

[Watt maker]

That could've been my post. About 4 years ago I replaced my faded, pitted OEM headlights with some ebay headlights. They look just like the OEM housings but painted black, when new they looked great. The projector isn't the same quality as the OEM projector and the light pattern is a little scattered but still produces more light than the faded OEM lights. I sealed both ebay housings with clear RTV to help keep moisture out, which worked great until last week when unfortunately, somehow moisture made it inside them. Also, after 4 years of SW sun, the black paint inside has bubbled inside and looks terrible. That being said, I may take another gamble on another set of ebay lights and if I get another 4 good years out of them, I'll be happy.

 

[Watt maker]

That could've been my post. About 4 years ago I replaced my faded, pitted OEM headlights with some ebay headlights. They look just like the OEM housings but painted black, when new they looked great. The projector isn't the same quality as the OEM projector and the light pattern is a little scattered but still produces more light than the faded OEM lights. I sealed both ebay housings with clear RTV to help keep moisture out, which worked great until last week when unfortunately, somehow moisture made it inside them. Also, after 4 years of SW sun, the black paint inside has bubbled inside and looks terrible. That being said, I may take another gamble on another set of ebay lights and if I get another 4 good years out of them, I'll be happy.

 

[SC T100]

I picked up a full set (headlights and corner lights with bulbs) off Amazon for about $200 about 6 months ago. The fit isn't perfect (the corner lights sit a little proud of the headlight face), but you don;t notice it when looking. Overall I've been very happy with them, and they definitely are brighter than the hazed originals I replaced. I tried polishing mine but they were too far gone and two of the housings were broken so they weren't mounted securely.

Edit: I think the brand was Angel Eyes or similar, and they came from Taiwan. Overall I think it's a great replacement option.

 

[bkg]

OEM lasted 15 years... will a less expensive lamp last as long? Worth doing the math, I suspect

 

[smokeysevin]

I just got done swapping to a pair of the black housing lights. I also did a morimoto bi-led prjector retrofit. My previous aftermarket housings had really bad light output.

After the retrofit was done I wrapped the lenses in clear laminx to hopefully keep the wear/pitting/haze at bay. There is not a kit (that I could find) but I got 2 sheets of 12*36 or 48 and it was more than enough to do all the lights probably twice. The corners were really hard to do, the amber reflector on mine looks pretty bad but I figure id rather have it covered than broken again.

Just a fyi, the bi-led projectors require 9006-h4 adapters and also require modifying the headlight circuit to keep the low beams on while the high beams are on. Additionally the high beam shroud sticks from time to time, cycling the light off then resets this for some reason, as does hitting a bump.

The shrounds (panamera 1.0) required breaking the tabs off and using plastic epoxy to fit and also required trimming. On the rear of the housing I stretched the stock bulb seal over the retrofit mount to seal.

I used one roll of retrorubber to seal the housing after splitting them and once reassembled I sealed the edge with clear silicone.

Sean

 

[GTV]

OEM lasted 15 years... will a less expensive lamp last as long? Worth doing the math, I suspect

Agreed. I put new OE Toyota headlights in my 00 Tundra and it was some of the best money I spent on my truck.

 

[blueranger501]

I think I’ll go the retrofit route thanks!

 

[karlmagnum]

I recommend The Retrofit Source for the kit.

 

[smokeysevin]

I recommend The Retrofit Source for the kit.

Same, they were good about shipping quickly. I ordered the kit around Christmas and got a 20 or 30% discount.

Sean

 

[4xdog]

I put aftermarket Chinese lamps on my 2001 Tacoma when the original started to get a little too cloudy and crazed circa 2010. The headlamps looked almost exactly like OEM, but I could never get them focused without hot and cold spots in the beam. When the UV coating on the polycarbonate started to come off after a couple of years (seriously -- 2 to 2 1/2 years and the coating was peeling) I bit the bullet and bought OEM. Perfect alignment with a flat, uniform field of illumination, and no sign of weathering after six years or so. When I traded the starting-to-rust 2001 for a Colorado-rust-free 2003, I moved the headlights with me.

I'm fussy about light quality, so no question in my mind -- OEM is best and worth the money.

That's on a Gen 1.5 Tacoma, that is. On my 2008 Lexus RX350 when those speed-and-turn sensing HID lamps started to craze and haze, I didn't even want to think about [gasp] OEM pricing. I restored them using the headlight restoration kit from Griot's Garage, which includes a 3200-grit MicroMesh sanding pad and a small rattlecan of a UV-cured coating. It was easy to do and nine months later the coating is holding up perfectly. As one who's spent his professional career around polymer science, the UV coating is the key. Unprotected polycarbonate will weather quickly when it's exposed to moisture. There are aftermarket UV coatings from other brands that have not given results as good in other applications, but so far the Griot's kit is doing great. When the weather gets sunny enough to cure the UV, I'm going to restore those old takeoffs from my 2001 Tacoma to see how they turn out.

Here are a few images of the RX350:

Right side, not yet restored as an experimental control.

Left side during. It looked the same as the right before wet sanding. Here are views of the lamp after wet sanding was completed and immediately after UV topcoating.

Left side done. This was within a week or two of refinishing. 9 months or so later it looks the same.

 

[bkg]

I’m obviously not all that smart... so can someone explain to me how retrofitting in any way solves the OP’s complaint? Still has to deal with the hazy lense....

 

[4xdog]

I’m obviously not all that smart... so can someone explain to me how retrofitting in any way solves the OP’s complaint? Still has to deal with the hazy lense....

I read it (possibly in error, admittedly) that the op would be retrofitting new reflectors and lenses.

 

[smokeysevin]

I only mentioned retrofitting since the aftermarket housings have garbage light output compared to OEM.

If you cheap out on the housings be prepared to spend to get the output back.

Sean

 

[blueranger501]

Retrofit with cheap housings will solve my hazing issues and hopefilly provide better light output than a straight OEM swap. Going to try that route and report back.