Aftermarket halogen headlights.

I'm going to be doing a HID retrofit. I purchased the kit this last weekend. I want to get a pair of OE aftermarket headlights for the retrofit. Do any of you recommend a set? I would like to retain the headlight adjusters if possible.

 

I thought retrofits use stock headlight housings. So you need stock headlights that fit your truck.

 

Don’t buy aftermarket for your retrofit, the lenses will haze, and they usually don’t have adjusters. Get OEM. You should be able to find a pair for $50-$100, and they’ll fit your truck like an OEM headlight should.

 

I got a couple sets of free Chinese headlights for my Tundra to play with. My stock headlights had the chrome (or polished aluminum) peeling ff so I didn't want to use them. Of the two sets neither was a perfect fit but both were useable. One of the two sets didn't have the holes for the bulbs correctly cut and if using the stock bulbs the plug for the high and low beams would prevent the lights from being aimed correctly. Switching to the aftermarket LED bulbs that work in the halogen sockets did work.

It allowed me to play around with removing the lens without being up ***** creek if something went wrong (since I could leave the original lights on the truck. I learned a few things. First I never did the HID conversion. Instead I installed a projector LED unit that has a shield that partially drops down to block the light when in low beam mode. Getting the lens off the aftermarket lights was easier than the stock ones. The stock ones use a different type of butyl sealant. Be prepared to put the lights back into the oven as they cool down. The black plastic part of the light also gets flexible when heated making it hard to not distort it while removing the lens. Over all it just takes patience.

I will say this. The LED projector bulbs are unbelievably bright. Since ding it I doubt I would even think about going HID. In fact I'm now thinking of switching the high beams over to projectors so both the low and high beams will be on all the time since both will have the 'hood' to block the light from being too high. I'm sure the clear plastic lens will not last as long as the OEM lights but when it does go bad I'll just switch to the other set.