3rd Gen Headlight Upgrade?

Maybe a dumb question here! I just want to change the bulbs for halogen I light more crisp white and of course want a bit brighter.... but not ready to switch to LED just yet! Wondering if I have to upgrade the harness for this! Have seen some 80W H11s but wasn't sure if that would go well with keeping everything stock. I assume that is a good recipe for melting things! Any input is appreciated! I'm new to all this!!

 

Buy the same phillips H9 bulbs as go in your high beams. Use either a pairnof needlenose pliers tonyank the small green center divider out of the H11 low beam plug, or a small pair of sidecutters to trim the tab on the inside of the plug-base of the H9 bulb. You may need to use sidecutters to trim the largest of the three collar tabs on the H9 bulb, to the same size as those of an H11 to fit it into the headlamps socket, although some say this is not necessary.

The h9 is a 65w (nominal) bulb that produces nearly double the output of an H11, although the filament is in the same position. It is a significant performance upgrade over a standard H11.

 

As @Toy_Runner mentioned, swap Philips H9s into your low beam. The bulbs at 65w nominal, but pull 75w actual, which is within the legal tolerance. High wattage H11s likely will have thicker filaments which reduce focus and output intensity, despite their higher rated power (if it is even accurate). Heat is a non-issue with the Philips H9s.

Lots of info in the 3rd Gen headlight thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

See post #2. TLDR, Philips H9s are the best performing bulb tested in the 3rd Gen low beam, including being better than PnP LEDs.

 

Thanks guys! Will look into it some more! Wasn’t sure if heat was much of a factor at all but country/mountain roads might also make me get a light bar sooner than later as well!

 

At the top of this subforum there are two threads stickied you should look through. There is the SAEJ581 and SAE J583 threads, for driving lights and fog (mostly) lamps respectively. The driving light thread has lots of good reference data for different lamps and bulb types.