• Welcome to Tacoma3G.com, a free resource for 2016-2023 Toyota Tacoma owners!

    Tacoma3G is a beginner-friendly 3rd Generation Toyota Tacoma Forum (2016-2023 model-years). We are a community of people who are focused on good information and good vibes.

halogen bulb upgrade?

TacomaGhost

TacomaGhost

3️⃣ Silver
Tacoma3G O.G.
I am looking for an upgrade for my low beams and maybe the fogs. I believe they are both H11 bulb if I am not mostaken. I can't stand the stock yellowish light the low beam gives out. I do not want LED or HID. I want a plug and play bulb (no harness or extra wires) that projects white light to match closely to the DRL lights.

I have heard and seen the Phillip/silverstar/PIAA/HELLA bulbs, just wondering if anyone has experience with these and any recommendations.

Also if did upgrade the bulb, how long was the lifespan of the bulb.

Thanks.
 
If you want plug n play go with LED although light dispersion and beam width/length are not as great as with HID’s.
LED will also give you a longer lifespan.

I went with a morimoto 55w HID kit and installation only took less than an hour cables routed and hidden with harness and relay mounted. Light is incredibly bright, wide, and far projecting.

I’m just a huge fan of HID as I feel LED isn’t quite there yet, but tried to give you both sides with a little bias ?
 
PROTACO17 said:
If you want plug n play go with LED although light dispersion and beam width/length are not as great as with HID’s.
LED will also give you a longer lifespan.

I went with a morimoto 55w HID kit and installation only took less than an hour cables routed and hidden with harness and relay mounted. Light is incredibly bright, wide, and far projecting.

I’m just a huge fan of HID as I feel LED isn’t quite there yet, but tried to give you both sides with a little bias ?
Click to expand...
Correct a lot of led bulbs and kit lack distance even against standard OEM bulb. I currently use morimotos and love it, and they hold up on the bumps . but if you want simple bulb upgrade "piaa extreme white plus " I use them for every car I had before my Tacoma great lights,output and they last though they are pricey.
 
Last edited:
We recommend PIAA or Philips if you're wanting a Halogen upgrade. As for the fogs, we have a group buy going on for full LED housings that are a direct swap and plug-n-play. They also have the option for Yellow Laminex film that makes them SUPER yellow.
 
Last edited:
I went the cheap way and bought LED fogs. They look cool when they’re staring youin the face, but they don’t put out much light where it’s needed. I’ll probably go with yellow fogs and call it a day. Love me some HIDs someday.
 
I think I've done it all now (hologen, HID, and LED), but I'd have to agree with @RetroworksLighting about PIAA being a good halogen replacement. It is going to be super simple to replace, will make things a little brighter, and the color temp will be a little closer to white, but I'd be surprised if they last more than a year because they have a really short lifespan.



HID are definitely brighter than both the stock or the PIAA, plus they are the perfect color temp to match the 6k white DRLs. They are still fairly easy to install (because it is plug-n-play), but you do have to secure the external components inside the engine bay. The bulbs will have a short lifespan (a couple years), but you only have to buy replacement bulbs and not all of the components again. The only thing I disliked about the HIDs is the warm-up time. Granted, I had cheaper HIDs, but they took 20-30 seconds to get to full brightness...which is a no-go for the high beams (I need instant on so that I can quickly flash my HBs at someone).

LEDs have come a long way in this past year alone. If it wasn't new to the market in 2017, I wouldn't buy it. Obviously they can easily match the DRL, they also turn on instantly, and are plug n play without extra components to secture. They also have a much longer rated lifespan. Most importantly, they are as bright as the HIDs now too...this includes a far throw in many cases.

Now, there are still cheap LEDs that may look bright, but their throw sucks so you end up not seeing as far down the road as you could with HIDs. This why people are still hesitant to recommend LEDs. But some of the newer (and more expensive) LEDs do really well in our low beams with the projector style housing.

A lot of us in the TW fourm have been really impressed with the new Hikari LED bulbs as a middle-of-the-road option. It has way better throw, color, lifespan over the hologens bulbs, and it was super easy to install on my lunch break. Plus was hard to tell if it has less throw than HIDs I had prior to putting in these LEDs:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077BT6M6Z/?tag=tacoma3g-20



It's fun having options, isn't it? :)
 
Back
Top