HID kits?

So I wanna get into HID headlight bulbs for my 01. My buddy has the whole setup on his 1st gen 4runner and I think spent around $70ish on a kit, brand name Innovited. I bought a kit and harness (sold separately) but the two were not compatible with each other for some reason, I think I got the wrong bulbs (kit) so now I'm on the search for the right one. I just want a quality kit that's gonna make my lights brighter and have nice color. (I don't have enough money to blow on $600 custom projector headlights). Is anyone else into these things? What did you do? What do you have???

 

I just bought the bi-xenon kit from Opticon (think that's the name); haven't had time to install yet. Will try and get some more info today.

 

I know nothing really about HID's, but the previous owner installed some in my truck, I'll look later to see what brand they are

 

Ddm tuning makes a decent kit for pretty cheap. Morimoto makes the best ones but they are about $160. Make sure you adjust your headlights after you put them in so you aren't blinding people.

 

Please do research on here before you put HIDs in stock housing. Every driver on the road will hate you because LEDs and HIDs are not designed to work with our stock headlight housings. If you want HIDs you need to dod the full retrofit. I wish it wasn't the case because I can't afford to retro mine yet and I love lights lol

Here is a link regarding the LEDs https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

save the money and do the retrofit. for under $300 you will have the proper setup. eBay crap is just that, crap, that's why it's so cheap (as you found out with mismatch)

 

I will do a full-custom set of headlights (CCFL or Plasma halos & projectors) with new housings when I have the time. I do custom plastics casting, and have made a ton of clear marker/parking lenses for the California crowd, and I am familiar with how to properly disassemble headlight assemblies, so it will be a fun project.

Right now, I bought the $60 HID kit to get BRIGHT brights for the MILLIONS of damn deer here in Michigan! Just saw the figures for last year: 30,000 car/deer collisions in 2016 in Michigan!

 

I'm going to be the a*&$#@e here cause I have to deal with morons who buy these

Michigan law:

257.700 Multiple-beam road lighting equipment; oncoming traffic; intensity. Sec. 700.
(a) Whenever a motor vehicle is being operated on a highway or shoulder adjacent thereto during the times specified in section 684, the driver shall use a distribution of light, or composite beam, directed high enough and of sufficient intensity to reveal persons and vehicles at a safe distance in advance of the vehicle, subject to the following requirements and limitations:
(b) Whenever the driver of a vehicle approaches an oncoming vehicle within 500 feet, such driver shall use a distribution of light or composite beam so aimed that the glaring rays are not projected into the eyes of the oncoming driver. The lowermost distribution of light, specified in section 699 paragraph
(c), shall be deemed to avoid glare at all times regardless of road contour and loading.

now we just need LEO to enforce more but seeing as more intense crime takes precedence I don't foresee this being top priority.

basically, don't become those GM/FORD/DODGE jackasses that think HIDs make things better.

good read:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

also:

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

 

it won't help you. I had a 'plug n play' HID kit in my truck when I was a young'n, and the beam width was worse than stock. That means less warning for deer jumping out onto the road from the shoulder. Sure, they look brighter, but you lose beam width. I put in a pair of super shitty projectors, back when bolt on projectors just started coming to the market, and it was 100x better than my plug n play HID kit. Save your money, because you'll be worse off getting a PnP HID kit to see deer. Only thing it may help you with is lighting up their eyes better.

If you are really on that much of a budget, you can buy knockoff Morimoto Mini H1 projectors on Amazon/Ebay for like $35.

 

I had a bunch of different cheap Chinese HID kits back when I had my first gen Tacoma. They are a nice cheap solution, but atleast one component would die about every year. Problem with many of these kits is they don't always sell components individually. I have morimotos in my second gen and the support and warranty for them is two years. Cool thing is if something does go out...well you can replace the individual piece from anywhere from $10-$40 tops. Completely modular system and folks like The retrofit source are great to deal with as a distributor if you want to look into them. Normally I don't buy from a straight distributor, but TRS sells everything at the most competitive prices, and have hooked me up every time that I got something from them besides being a TW guy.

I have retros on my truck as well which I use Morimoto projectors. IMO lights are worth the investment if you are going to do it right, if not then be prepared for a bulb out anytime after 8 months depending on your driving.

 

My thoughts about deer lights. If you are driving in a traffic you have to use low beam with proper cut off. No questions about that. If you are blinding the guy on the opposite lane, guess what - he may become a deer and jump lanes not knowing where he/she is going. Or he will put on his high beams just to see anything while you are blinding him and now you are both driving blind - you will not see a freight train, not mention a deer. The good thing is that when driving in a traffic with low beams on you can use the other guy headlights to see more road in front of you.

On empty country road you can use high beam. Not necessary a "pink color HID" but a light with good wide pattern. On my 4Runner I installed led bar just for that purpose. Of course switch if off as soon as you see opposite traffic in a distance.

The problem with Tacoma is that High beam and Low beam are in the same reflector housing and the same bulb. If you boost up high beams (by LED or HID) you will screw up low beams. So in my opinion better get a grill mounted light bar or ditch lights which you can turn on together with high beam and turn off when switching to low beam.

Also you can add additional LED lights with good cut off (dedicated FOG lights with low cut-off for example). Cut-off type fog lights can be used together with low beams as they don't blind other drivers, but they have wider spread (into sides) so easier to see wild life on a shoulder. But it may be to late already as these f*** dears are waiting for you to come and then jump on your grille.

 

I am not the creator of this thread, but I didn't post for driving advice. Additionally, BI-xenon lights are made specifically for vehicles with a single bulb headlight system. They have a conventional halogen filament for low beams, & xenon for high. Many new production cars have the same type of bulbs in them. Ya just have to make certain you set them up correctly.

I'm not on a budget, so I bought em to try out. If I don't like em, I'm out less than my last bar tab.

And HIDs will indeed help see those friggin deer that are standing in the middle of the road all the time.

 

I'll take at look at those today. Thanks for the input

 

I am confused about deer stuff. From what I read there are two types of deer: standing and running. Standing deer is quite easy to spot when you drive according to the visibility (you can see far enough to account to reaction time and stopping distance at given speed and road condition).

Running one is the biggest problem. You need to see far enough to the side of the road to see what is coming at you, but from my experience no headlight will give you that at high speed. It's just not enough time. The only option is to slow down. Even having 50 inch curved LED bar will not protect you from suicidal animals if you drive 60mph through woods. They seem to jump you from behind.

In any case driving blinding low beam is not wise, safe nor legal. I think the best solution for our truck is Proper Headlight Upgrade - better than any HID or LED setup.

 

At the end of the day, they are all made in China. But they work, I had DDM HID's and they perform and look exactelt the same as those $150 kits. Just stay away from those plastic ballasts, they get hot & might burn up your wires. But DDM Tuning FTW! I'm waiting for my H11 bulbs to come in so I can install them on my 2017 SR.

 

to the people who put hids in stock housings. scew you.

 

Damn straight!