Best/brightest headlight bulb swap with no mods???

Upon searching some older posts it seems the Osram Rally bulb is no longer available. Bulb threads are so "all over the place" I get confused. What replacement bulb are you guys using giving maximum light output with no harness mods? Still on my oem but want more output I think the Osram was giving about 1350/2000 lumems? Oh...and no cheesy blue lights either please...lol Thanks

 

I tried the top end Sylvania, the one step down from top Sylvania, the top end Phillips, and some Pep Boys Hella bulbs in stock lights. None were blue at all, varying degrees of white to yellowish.

I really couldn't tell much difference in any of them on actual light output, more so in color. Most of them said Osram on the metal so maybe they're all really the same or close and get rebranded. (Phillips did not say Osram)

The higher I went up the "bright" chart the more often they burned out. I eventually stayed with the Hella because they put out good light and didn't burn out. In fact I used them for 2 years in my truck and kept them after converting to projectors. When my Honda lights went out I stuck those same 2 year old Hella bulbs in there, they've been there 2 years now.

 

I mean, quick search turned up this thread:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/the...not-led-or-hid-1st-gen-tundra-addition.80653/

Somewhere in there was a link to this thread:

linked in another headlight post: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

But really if you just want the tl;dr, @empty_lord tells you everything you need to know right here:

There's a lot of info on the interwebs about which notch to trim inside the 9012 bulbs to make them plug-and-play.

 

Thank you shifty....@Darkness interested in the Hella's. Happen to remember the part #?

 

The harness mod was simple to do and has had the greatest effect on light output for me. You can also run a higher power bulb with the harness mod increasing it even further. My headlights are better than they've ever been with new relay harness and 85/100 bulbs, I believe they are Hellas. I don't blind anyone either since they are in factory housing and aimed correctly.

 

What is involved with the harness swap? Difficulty? Where to buy? Thanks

 

No harness swap, just plug your existing headlight harness into the new one and wire the new relay to the battery and to ground. Then plug the new harness into your headlights. Bought mine on Amazon, look around a bit as some looked a bit chintzy. The bulbs do not look blue at all. Actually wish they were a hair whiter, but look good and have great light output.

Harness

$22 KASLIGHT H4 Relay Harness 1Set 2 H6054 7x6 6054 Polycarbonate Headlight H4 Relay Harness Pickup Headlights H4 Wiring Harness Kit For Toyota 95-97 Tacoma 88-95 Pickup Fix Dual Ground Problem, black

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B9QQMMH?ie=UTF8
Bulbs

$19 HELLA H71070201 Optilux XB Series H4 Xenon White Halogen Bulbs, 12V, 100/80W, 2 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000COBL5W?ie=UTF8

 

I believe the harness mod for higher wattage bulbs has strange side effects on 05/06 but I could be wrong. @empty_lord is that right?

@AWilliams I believe it was these. They have a blue coating but the light output is not blue, it comes out white.
https://www.pepboys.com/hella-h4-9003-60-55w-high-performance-xb-xenon-halogen-bulbs/product/9386835

 

I had LEDs on my 06 for a bit but wound up underwhelmed with their performance. I recently went back to halogens. I did the harness swap, and in the 05-06 you do need to run the resistor listed in that thread. Without the resistor your fogs wont operate. Took me about 30 minutes total with tucking in the wiring loom nice and neat, trimming the fog bulbs, and finding a home for the resistor.

Have hella 90/130w low/high beams and the notched fogs. Color is more towards the yellow end of the spectrum but light output is better. With the LEDs the highbeams were useless, it's been nice having them back again.

 

Did you have to run that harness/ resistor setup with the Hella Halogens or are they plug & play in the stock configuration?
TIA

 

Do you have the 'anytime' fog light mod? I wonder if that would be better/work than installing a resistor.

 

It's a good idea to run the harness with the 90/130w Hellas. Most normal headlight bulbs are 55/60w. The small stock wiring wouldn't be happy long term with high wattage headlights.

 

The resistor is only to trick the body control module into "seeing" a headlight. Realistically any load above a certain resistance and the body module thinks there is a bulb attached. If the body module doesn't see a resistance reading on one or more headlights it assumes the bulb is burned out. It will not allow the fogs to come on and will show a fault light on the dash.

On my truck I run the harness off my driver's side connector and have the resistor on the passenger. The high wattage harness has 2 heavy duty relays on it so it counts for enough load on the driver's side circuit to trick the body module into thinking the headlight bulb is still there.

 

I disconnected my day time running light harness and now my fogs can always be on with my park or headlights on. Not certain what the anytime fog mod is.

See my post above for why a resistor is needed on 05-06 models when using the heavy duty harness.

 

There may be some confusion as to the purpose of the harness and why it makes your headlights brighter.

The harness does nothing to make your existing headlights any brighter. It only allows you to run higher wattage bulbs. Standard bulbs are 55 watt for low beam and 60 watt for high beam. The tiny stock headlight wiring and fuse can handle this load all day, every day, for years.

The heavy duty harness plugs directly into your battery with larger wires and a larger fuse. The harness then plugs into your headlight bulb socket so your standard headlight switch can still control when your lights are on and off. This thicker wire will allow you to run higher wattage bulbs without blowing your stock fuse or melting wires.

At the end of the day you will still need to buy new head light bulbs to have significantly brighter headlights. And if you run the heavy harness on an 05-06 you will need to also plug in a resistor so the body module still thinks everything is all good.

I spent about $100 on my LED setup from SuperbrightLEDS. Wasn't happy so I followed the guide linked above. The LEDs got a nice clean white light but the beam pattern was sub par, actual brightness was piss poor, and high beams were useless. When you're running LED headlights stopped at a red light and the car stopped behind you outshines the brightness of your lights with their normal halogens, time for a change.

Spent about $100 on the harness, resistor, 90/130w hella bulbs, and new fogs and am much happier.

 

In my old 4Runner I was running some 60/67w motorcycle bulbs with the stock wiring and was satisfied at their light output. Amazon shows them as currently unavailable (https://www.amazon.ca/PHILIPS-9003-MVS1-MotoVison-Headlight/dp/B00P8EVKP2) but they might still be found elsewhere. You should be able to run up to 65-70w low beam bulbs safely on stock wiring.

Wattage makes the biggest change in luminosity, correct color temperature improves visibilty.

 

Is that the harness that you went with? I'm pretty interested in doing this, but don't know what the options are and what's recommended or preferred.

 

that’s the one I purchased

 

Where did you get this resistor?

My HID grabs from the driver side and the passenger plug is just dangling with a plastic wrapper on it. I'd like to try a resistor because without the bulb on the passenger side my truck doesn't light the front markers or chirp when I lock it with the fob.

 

It would seem to be a half-fix to do the harness & light upgrade without addressing the headlight assemblies themselves. What's best,
sand & clear the stock assemblies?
Replace headlights with new units & if so, which ones?

 

Good info on this post and I appreciate all the contributions.
I can't speak to LED's / HID's / Projectors, or housing upgrades . . . But I am pretty impressed with the results by sanding and the Spray Max 2K Clear coat process. My current bulbs are the stock 2006 and if I were to 'guess', I'd say there was a 15%-20% improvement in brightness from before and after the sand/coat.
I think my next headlight-mod I will stick with halogen and upgrade one notch in power/brightness and call it good.
My truck's primary use is a city slickin mall-crawler / work truck that drags a boat around to the desert a few times a year.
For me, I don't want to risk reliability, damage, wire-burns etc. modifying a stock light system on a 15 year old truck with my limited electrical skills. (kudos to those who can/do)
If I find the need for more lighting, I think I will 'add' more lighting by way of dedicated 'separate' LED light fixture(s) mounted somewhere in or around the grill.

 

If you're looking to correct for clouded housings, I was super impressed with the Cerakote kit. I posted here (in the wrong forum) if you want to see the end results: https://www.tundras.com/threads/cerakote-headlight-kit…wow.93788/

 

OP, I know this is the opposite of what you asked, but after finally doing HID projectors, I can't imagine driving a vehicle with Halogen lights ever again. I debated for over a year before doing it and it was so much easier than I feared. I've done three now and it's such an easy job.

There are also companies that will do the retrofit for you.

 

Which ones did you use and what's involved with the conversion?

 

This thread was an amazing help! The only thing I did differently was baked at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Came apart really easily.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/how...ofit-w-mini-h1-7-0-bi-xenon-projectors.41187/

 

Could this mod be done to nearly any vehicle to upgrade the headlights? I asked about it in a forum for my 2004 Honda pilot and noone had ever heard of the idea. The only real response I got was "could the stock headlight housing handle that much heat?"

 

Depending on the type of plug used in that vehicle, yes. My headlight housing hasn’t melted yet. Been over a year I think.

 

I upgraded my foggy headlights with some replacement clear ones. I've had bad luck with dark spots with LED and HID head light bulbs in reflector housings. So I read the reviews and the Hella halogens seems to be a nice fit. I am running an LED light bar and LED ditch lights for my brighter lighting needs on super dark vacant roads.

$12 HELLA H4P50TB +50 Performance Bulb, 12V, 60/55W, 2 Count (Pack of 1)

https://www.amazon.com/HELLA-H4P50TB-Performance-Bulbs-Pack/dp/B078SKFMVL?crid=ZH4BLMBQX16K&keywords=hella+h4+headlight&qid=1658938998&s=automotive&sprefix=hella+h4%2Cautomotive%2C500&sr=1-2