The low beam headlights on our 4Runner are a bit weak. The high beams are fine, but they are reflectors as opposed to the projectors in the low beams. I'm not sure if this part of the problem.

Anyway, I am looking to upgrade the low beams with minimal modification or greatly reduced service life. I've looked at some of the 4Runner forums but most of the options involve significant mods. or bulbs that would need more frequent replacement. I may be looking a solution that doesn't exist.

Any suggestions?

Have you looked at the LEDs on Amazon?

I am not familiar with the set up on the 4runner

I put LEDs in my daughters 2013 Sorento and after she got it wrecked I put them in her CX5. Both work great and both needed adjusting as not to blind on coming traffic

See link.

https://www.sylvania-automotiv...k/9006LEDSP.BX2.html

They have gotten more compact. If you have a couple of inches clearance behind headlight assembly, these should work

LEDs for sure will make a huge improvement. Having projectors should help with the typical glare that comes from putting LEDs in halogen reflector housings.
Sometimes you need a Canbus adapter for LED bulbs as they can have a flicker.

HIDs would be another option, but not usually a plug & play solution. But, it's been years since I've looked into any HID systems.

Short of that, Sylvania Silverstar Ultra
Drop-in replacements & should give a bump in brightness with the least hassle.

There's a lot of discussion at 4runners.com regarding Morimoto replacement headlights. Some seem to like them a lot.

Here is a thread comparing Alpharex vs Morimoto.

This thread on the Morimoto XB Evo headlights might interest you, too.

Be aware, I carry a 9 inch 1 million candlepower spotlight in my car for just one reason. That is those ASSHOLES who think then need the brightest LED lights made and don't give a damn about car drivers who are approaching them who cannot see a damned thing. The last straw for me was some asshole in a jeep with 6 led spots on the roof and a 14 inch circle of LED's in the middle of the grill. I had to pull over to the curb and wait 5 minutes for my vision to clear enough so that I could safely resume driving. If I had my 870 in my car the rear of that jeep might have ended up with two rounds of 12 gauge #9 shot thru the back window if I could manage to see well enough to shoot. Yeah, I was beyond Pissed. Two year later I am still pissed. Next time that spotlight will come out and I will stand on the curb and blind any bastard with over bright lights.

My advice is that you leave the lights in your truck as they are. Because they are within the Legal Limits for headlamps. If you can't see at night I would suggest you see an Eye Doctor about that issue, because it's likely all you need is a supplemental vitamin. It's also possible that due to an eye condition you may need treatment for that and prevent you from going blind. Finally it does get dark at night, if you want daylight conditions when you are driving then do not drive in the dark.

If you must pass an inspection be sure to review the headlight requirements. One huge improvement I made was installing led bulbs. Game changer. But the major brand shop said the 2013 truck must have dot approved bulbs and led were not so approved. He wanted hundreds of dollars to remove the bulbs and put back the OEM type to pass inspection. I found another inspector.

I replaced my headlight bulbs with LED on my 4RUNNER. They are bright, and I didn't want to be one of those "ASSHOLES" that Scooter mentioned. I lowered my headlight assembly so they wouldn't shine into oncoming traffic. Two years later and still haven't been flashed.

I did the $30 LEDs from Amazon in my daughter's Subaru which had halogen bulbs. They worked okay. Until winter came. During a storm, ice froze up over the headlight assembly and her visibility got bad.

I replaced them with Morimoto 2stroke LEDs (yes, they aren't cheap) but it's designed to work with the reflectors and it vents heat back into the assembly which solved our icing issue. They've been running strong for 4 years now. I reaimed them correctly so she's never been flashed.

My last BMW had factory LED headlights and they were aimed correctly but I would constantly get flashed. I ended up just coding the DRLs to 100% brightness and used those and the led fog lights to drive around at night in the city.

For those who have gone with the LEDs- has an adaptor been needed to avoid flickering, or have any other modifications been necessary?

No modifications, when I did the Sorento it was a bulb and some sort of ballast? hanging of of it that you had to secure somewhere. The Sorento light was inside a large light assembly. The CX5 was more the style in the Sylvania link I posted and it was more of an outside the assembly setup

They both worked great, no flickering


These are the ones I bought for the CX5

https://www.amazon.com/9005-HB...TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Theses are what you’re looking for:

https://teqcustoms.com/

I have a set of their custom led headlights in my 4th gen 4Runner. They’re better than the factory lights in our GX460. They are made to order, not an led off Amazon to stick in the factory assembly. Not cheap but they are awesome.

Mine came with LED’s from the factory and they are great. My wife’s 2019 does not have them and there is a stark difference in the LED’s - they light up the night.

quote:

Originally posted by NOCkid:
The low beam headlights on our 4Runner are a bit weak. The high beams are fine, but they are reflectors as opposed to the projectors in the low beams. I'm not sure if this part of the problem.

Anyway, I am looking to upgrade the low beams with minimal modification or greatly reduced service life. I've looked at some of the 4Runner forums but most of the options involve significant mods. or bulbs that would need more frequent replacement. I may be looking a solution that doesn't exist.

Any suggestions?

I upgraded my 2020 halogen headlights for 2022 LEDs. They do require a change in the wiring harness but it’s 1000% worth it!

I have agree that properly adjust OEM low beams should be enough. I’m satisfied with those in my 4Runner. If you can’t see far enough ahead maybe you are driving too fast for conditions.

The main problem is the housing not being made for LEDs. I'm in the same boat as you since I have a 4R. You're options are either stick with what you have, modify h9 or h11 bulbs (whichever one it doesn't take) for more output (this can heat up the wiring too much), replace the housing with Toyotas led headlights (most expensive but best option), or can go for just led bulbs (I use the ones from lasfit).

That last option is far from perfect, but does seem a bit better than the stock headlights. I've had no issues with ice in the winter. You only need a canbus to stop flickering if you do the high beams as well (your daytime running lights are using the high beams).

I've also changed the fog lights to diode ss3 and they are basically my high beams.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
There's a lot of discussion at 4runners.com regarding Morimoto replacement headlights. Some seem to like them a lot.

Here is a thread comparing Alpharex vs Morimoto.

This thread on the Morimoto XB Evo headlights might interest you, too.

Morimoto seems to one of the top manufactures of aftermarket headlights. Toyota, Ram and Ford forums all speak highly of them.

If you just want to try out a set of LED bulbs GTR is another big name. https://www.headlightrevolutio...1EAAYASABEgJaYvD_BwE