New LED Headlight bulbs

So the wife went to get her hair done after work and I had some time to putz around on the Tundra a bit and do a few things I'd been trying to find time for:

1. swap out stock halogens for LED headlight bulbs
2. replace cabin air filter
3. replace windshield wipers

Question 1: should I expect there to be loads of debris every time I replace the air filter? It had a lot of pine needles and leaves in it. Way more than I anticipated.

So, on to the headlight install: fairly straightforward. I had a new panel removal kit I used to pop off the little parts below the headlight and pulled the whole thing out. With maybe a basic knowledge of roughly what I needed to do, it took me about 20 mins total.

I took some "before" pics a couple of nights ago knowing that I'd want to compare the beam pattern and spread to the halogens once I replaced them with the LEDs. On my previous Tundra (2007) I had installed some HIDs with, well, let's just say less than stellar results. I wasn't happy with the light output or the fact the beam pattern was sprayed all over the place.

I'd recently replaced the headlight in my CBR250R with a Beamtech LED bulb from eBay and was more than happy with the results, as the light output was noticeably better and there was no discernable change to the actual output pattern. It seems the newer LED bulbs have finally got it figured out as to how to provide a good plug and play bulb without sacrificing actual usable light for a "cool" look. So I opted for a pair of Beamtech LED bulbs for the Tundra as well.

So, I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I'm going to see how it goes at night and see how frequently (if at all) I get flashed. The output sure appears to line up to stock, although it looks like I may need to lower the actual headlight just a tad. But the light appears to me to be brighter, albeit not ridiculously so. I tried to get the truck in the same place in the driveway to compare, but admittedly I may be a little off, causing the LEDs to appear a tad higher. There doesn't seem to be any weirdly scattered light like I've seen with other options, and standing in front of the truck I have to bend down quite fate until the light from the headlights actually hits my eyes, so it doesn't seem like it would be distracting to oncoming drivers. I'm planning on doing a full retrofit to projectors in the not too distant future, but these seem like a passable switch in the meantime.

Top is the old halogens, bottom is the LEDs.:

 

Now keep in mind that LEDs are designed for more of a wide overall area field of view compared to the output of halogen. If you have any blacktop asphalt roads in your area, it will take a little bit to get used to but I think blacktop even absorbs halogen. As far as flashing.....I use VLeds Micros in my 2013. I have a 3 inch lift and i have my dial set at 3 and a half and have no issues with getting flashed by oncoming drivers.

 

Hmmm...I've never heard that before. What do you mean they're "designed for more of a wide overall area field of view"? Wouldn't the field of view be dictated by the reflector housing and be independent of the type of light you have in there? It's not quite exact, but from the pics above you can see the light pattern with both the halogens and the LEDs appear to be almost identical. I wouldn't expect any real change in width of area that it lights.

 

I gotcha. Probably the better way to explain it is that LEDs are supposed to simulate more of a daylight condition. Either way, looking at the pics, your beam pattern appears to be pretty good. There are some LED's out there that are absolutely horrible.

 

For sure...I think the new design of modern LED headlight bulbs is *finally* getting darn close to mimicking the light output of halogens. The old ones were...as you said, absolutely horrible!

 

Looking great.

Do you have the link to the one you went with?