Headlight and Fog light bulb upgrade?

Did quite a bit of reading and just want to make sure I have my facts straight.

The GE+130 is the bulb I’m going with for the headlights.

Does this require any rewiring, trimming or harness, or is it strictly plug and play?

Also, as far as fog light upgrades go, I’ve been shopping the Baja/Rigid light game for awhile but am considering just doing a bulb upgrade to that as well. Preferably yellow or amber.

What do you guys recommend for that?

Thanks doods

 

Here you go:

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

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...rade-h11-not-led-or-hid.435419/#post-12592662

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...light-foglight-upgrade-not-led-or-hid.475064/

 

The GE +130's are a good upgrade. I went with Osram Nightbreaker +150 (https://www.osram.com/ecat/NIGHT BR...01_3043435/PP_EUROPE_Europe_eCat/ZMP_4057700/) and I'm happy with them.

For your fog lights, it's not recommended you replace with LED bulbs. They don't preform well in projector housings. You could put in a H9. This will require a bit of trimming on the bulb or an adapter. Not expensive. The Baja fogs are a good option. I went with KC which are LED and a bit less expensive than the Baja's. Also there's Morimoto which a lot of people like although they are not as bright as the Bajas or KC.

 

Thanks!

Maybe I missed it but us the harness and relay still required for the GE+130? I noticed he used it with the flosser bulbs but didn’t specify if it was needed with the other.

I’m a novice electrical guy that could barely pass circuits 1, so I’m sorry if I seem ignorant.

 

The GE+130 is a direct swap for either headlights or fog lights.

 

Does anyone have pictures of the upgrade?

 

The flosser bulbs required a harness for best performance because they are significantly higher wattage than stock. All H11 bulbs fit in our low beam and in TRD OR fog light housing without modifications.

H9’s fit in the low beam and fog light with trimming, and if you don’t want to trim the connector on the bulb you can optionally buy a connector harness and modify that. H9’s are not recommended in the fog housing because they lack a glare shield in the housing and a glare cap on the bulb.

 

If you buy the bulb type specific to your vehicle it will be simply a matter of swapping out old with new. No modifications necessary. Higher wattage bulbs do produce more heat both in the headlamp and at the electrical plug.

 

Also keep in mind the higher performance halogen bulbs have a significantly shorter life span than OEMs.

 

Yeah thanks for letting me know. I planned to purchase the GE+130 and backed out last minute because I wasn’t too enthused about the shorter life span.

I’ll probably keep the stock bulbs in the headlights and upgrade the fog lights to a set of Baja SAE’s if I can find a good used set

 

What are your goals?
If it's seeing at distance, I would do the opposite. Upgrade low beams first - the stocks are terrible and much more of a weak link than the fogs.
If you are trying to improve near view in inclement weather, perhaps the fogs are your priority.

I have been confused in the past about the longevity concern - it's not like they burn out in weeks. It's a wear item, and easily replaced.

I'd rather be able to see.

S

 

The H9 low beam using standard bulbs was a big upgrade for me. I used to need high beams to get down the road to our house. Low beams are way better and good enough now.

I tried Silverstars a long time ago. More $$ for a 6mo life span just didn't make sense.

 

I've used Nokya and Optilux yellow bulbs on my Tacoma. The Optilux bulbs are noticeably more yellow than the Nokyas. I've also installed yellow GP Thunder foglight bulbs in a Camry. I would pick Optilux and GP Thunder bulbs over Nokya bulbs.

 

Everyone should just put light bars on their trucks

 

To clarify, the GE Xenon +120 have slightly better output than the GE Megalight +130, but both are excellent choices. You can see the comparison outputs in post #2 of the 3rd Gen headlight thread. Their life is shorter at 150 hours, I would anticipate 9 months of use based on my usage. I get 1 year out of 200 hour bulbs. These are plug and play. The GE +130s are a bit cheaper, I personally do not consider changing bulbs a big deal. If you didn't mind trimming the bulb base or using an adapter the Philips H9s last longer and are even higher output.

If you have a TRD truck the same H11 bulbs can be used in the fogs. If your truck is not a TRD then it takes weak H16s. The high powered fog upgrade linked earlier does an excellent job at providing a very wide high output pattern, but the OEM fogs do a poor job of glare control. I would recommend replacing the stock fogs entirely and going with an SAE LED unit from the thread below, which will have better glare control and more focused output. Current best units are the KC G4 in white, and the Rigid Selective Yellow pods. Best budget unit is the OEM Toyota LED fogs. Rigid is launching a new round 360 series fog that will fit in the OEM location and will be much higher output than the existing fog pods. I should have them for testing within the next couple weeks.

SAE J583 fogs:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

As to the longevity of the high output halogen's, I guess you need to pay close attention to how long you actually have them on. If you do a lot of night driving, best to keep a couple of spares. Me, April through mid October I do very little driving that requires lights. Once it starts getting dark later I do a bit more but I should get about 12-15 months minimum on the Osram +150's I put in. I've got the OEM bulbs on board should they fail at a critical time, but I plan on replacing them, burnt out or not, after 12 months and them stuff the take-offs on board for an emergency replacement. PITA for sure, but the light output is such an improvement over OEM it's worth the effort for me.

 

Just an FYI - I upgraded to Silverstars in my Jeep Wrangler and they were still going strong 7 years later when I sold the Jeep.

 

Wow. Did you use them?

I thought my short life was a fluke. Then it happened with a second set and the interwebs backed it up.

 

There was a huge debate about them on JK-Forum. I used them "normally". Frankly, I was quite surprised that they lasted as long as they did considering all of the debate. But truthfully, I just plain forgot about them after installing them. They worked flawlessly. I wouldn't hesitate buying them again.