Best Replacement Headlights

Guys, what's the best headlights to replace the ones in my 2006? I have a set of $130 eBay ones and they are JUNK! I'm willing to spend $400 if I can find some high quality ones. OEM? Good aftermarket? Lemme know. Thanks!

 

Are the lenses junk or the bulbs junk?

ive always bought cheap housings, and good bulbs, but for my tundra, i’m real interested in the projector conversions i’ve seen on here a few times.

 

The housings. The bulbs are always breaking and I think it's because the housing doesn't hold them tight and they bounce around. Same bulbs I've used for years, but they're breaking every 3-6 months now. And the beam adjustment doesn't work on the housings.

 

There's been a ton of threads about this on here. Use the 'search' window tool and you'll see what I mean.
Oh, and do me a favor, if you find out what are the best 'replacement bulbs' for a 2006 let me know. I don't speak Chinese and can never figure out heads or tails in any of the posts.
Good Luck, and don't forget to take a flashlight with you down that rabbit hole. LOL

 

I've never heard of housing wearing out, but I guess it can happen. For me, the connector to the bulb destroyed itself when corrosion got into the connector. Corrosion increased its resistance and generated more heat as a result which melted/burned the connector.

 

I bought some clear EBay housings. Then ceramic coated them and put clear silicone around the seal. I’m 4 months in with no issues

 

Its hard to beat the OEM housings. Theyre expensive but they're a better quality than any aftermarket I have seen (I have seen a few).

Our OEM housings don't put out great light, that has lead to many of us going the 100 watt halogen route, or the projector retrofit route for HID or LED upgrades. A DIY retrofit can run from $200-500 depending on what parts you want. The comparable parts I used would run around $390 now. I would do it again no questions asked, the improvement was well worth it to me.

 

Agreed! Spend the money on a good retrofit instead of the housings.

 

I used Morimoto everything. 55 watt ballasts and D2S projectors.

 

Yeah, I think a lot of people replace them after they cloud over, but the OEMs are the best "stock" solution. However, with the right product(s) and a little effort, you can refinish the cloudy housings to almost new. https://www.tundras.com/threads/cerakote-headlight-kit…wow.93788/#post-2368401

Projectors is a good option, but also either $$$ or fairly big DIY project... or both. I'll do it eventually, but have some other more pressing items on my wallet at the moment. I'll go with one of the bi-xenon solutions when the time comes.

 

$400 you say?

https://www.bxbuilt.com/product-page/1st-gen-tundra-sequoia-retrofit-headlights

 

Hasn't everyone been having insane 3-4 month lead time issues with them?
And don't you need to replace the entire housing if the bulb goes out for some reason?

Those were the big deterrents that turned me off.

 

Good things come to those who wait.
Lol. Yes and yes. Lead time sucks, I’m still waiting for my Tacoma lights, ordered mine on May 10th, 2021.
Yes, a huge deterrent that it doesn’t use a H4 lamp. They use a LED intergraded projector and a LED Driver. You won’t be able to get parts at AutoZone. Other than that, I really like mine. They’re really bright and crisp.
If anything happens, BX’s customer service is top notch. They’ll take care of you. If anybody decided to get their lights, I would buy a spare set of housings with H4 lamps because if you have issues with your BX lights, you’ll need to send them to BX. So having spares won’t leave your truck without light.

For those who have issues the yellowing or faded housings. When you buy a new set, do yourself a favor and get them ceramic coated. Ceramic coating has UV protection and will protect your lights.

 

Yeah, this is the deal-killer (for me) I was referencing. I'd absolutely pay $400 for a new set of lights, but I don't buy shit that's not user serviceable, and I don't think it's a good business model to build something that's not user serviceable with something as critical as headlights. I shouldn't need to carry a spare set of headlights around in case the pair I pad $400 for has a light go out.

I don't fault or think less of anyone who buys in on it. The output looks awesome. I just want light fixtures with serviceable bulbs, and I don't think it's a lot to ask if I'm paying more than an OEM plug-and-play pre-loaded pair of housings would cost.

 

Totally agree. They do offer the LED driver for sale and you can keep that as a spare but if the LED projector goes out, you're screwed. 3-4 day turn around with BX.
One of these days, I'm going to attempt to install H4 projectors in my spares. Doesn't seem that hard.

But to the @FlightSimGuy, I buy my lights on Ebay, they're cheap enough to keep buying them but Ceramic Coating is a must.

 

I bought a pair of aftermarket housings from Amazon

$107 AKKON - For [Black] 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Toyota Tundra Regular | Access Cab Headlights w/Corner Lights Pair

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016EBK2Z6?ie=UTF8&th=1
Opened up the housings by baking in the oven at 220 for like 8 minutes.
Removed the bulb cover and other items from the housing/reflector unit.
Inserted a pair of Morimoto Mini H1 Projectors (they fit perfect and just screw down tight to the housing)
Reheated the housings and resealed them while hot
Installed Morimoto H1 5000k HID bulbs on Morimoto 55watt ballasts (all from The Retrofit Source)
I'm in awe of the output, cutoff and super clean look of the truck now.

 

Nice work! I wish I'd gone with higher wattage ballasts.

 

What turned me off. Was they recommend you dont use a drive thru car wash. Or use a pressure washer if you do your own. Something about it destroys the gaskets.
And those are the 2 ways my truck gets washed. And I still want anything I add close to OEM durability and quality.

 

I ordered OEM style headlights (DEPO brand) from Rock Auto. They seem to be high quality and work well with my Hella hi/lo headlights. Would prefer LED/projectors, but didn't want to spend the money.

 

Same here. The brand of mine are TYC... they've been great for several years and still look and perform like new. (plus they were very inexpensive)

 

TYC and DEPO are good.

 

After driving in the latest snow storm here it is apparent that I need to add a light bar to the space in the lower bumper. The LED yellow fogs helped quite a bit for seeing directly in front of my truck, but throwing light further down the road would have been very helpful.

 

How do these, clear plastic lense wise compare to OEM in your opinion? Does the plastic seem close to the same quality? I've got retrofits but the clear part just isn't near the same thickness and isnt as clear after a couple or years. Thinking of redoing it with oems but not sure if I wanna pay the $$$.
My old OE ones have stress cracks or whatever in the plastic otherwise I'd try them

 

I haven't compared thickness of the clear plastic on the OEM vs aftermarkets. The lenses are clear, and the fit seems fine,

 

Personally have never been a fan of aftermarket headlights in any application. There's always something that goes wrong and quality isn't there. DRL's stop working, condensation, premature bulb failures, poor fitment, cracked housing etc etc. You even see these issues in $1000+ headlights from Morimoto and AlphaRex in other vehicles. I'd be more in favor of getting OEM headlights and upgrading to a performance halogen bulb along with upgraded LED fogs such as Baja or Diode. That should definitely improve overall output and throw with the benefit of OEM housings.

 

I know this is beating a dead horse . . . but I'll take a few more blows, LOL.
My 2006 had some pretty fogged over stock headlight assemblies when I bough it.
I researched the crap out of the 'Headlight restoration Kits', which seemed 'OK'. . . but I got the vibe they were only a 'quick fix'.
I ended up doing the 'soap scrub', then wet-sanding from 600 grit, all the way up to 1200 or 1500 (can't remember).
Then I masked EVERYTHING off real good and did the 'Spray Max' 2K High Gloss Clear paint deal.
I think I did, 3-4 coats. it 'floated' on very nicely, zero drips / orange peel etc. .
IMO they came out just as good as factory new, if not better.
After a year they are showing zero signs of wear, fading, chipping, peeling, or yellowing. My truck is parked outside 365.
I did 2 other friends cars with the leftover in the can, and they are money as well.

"NOTE / WARNING" . . . This product is toxic as 'F' . . . it is clearly labeled to use a respirator, in a well ventilated area.
I did use a vapor mask, outside, and I STILL got a small 'hit' and that stuff is NASTY.
The stuff is legitimate automotive paint and the can has a separate reservoir in the bottom that has the 'hardener' inside. You pierce it prior to using, then shake well. The can then has a short shelf life of a day or 2. (that's why I did my friends cars).

I'd highly recommend this technique with the caveat of using all safety precautions.

Here's the stuff I used.

$25 Spray max USC 2k High Gloss Clearcoat Aerosol

https://www.amazon.com/Spray-Refini...c23-43ee-bf87-36e383bf4135&pd_rd_i=B0043B7UQY