98 4runner headlight

Hey! I installed these in an 86 pickup with excellent results.

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ZaXXoN

Reply to
ZaXXoN
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interested in upgrading the original headlight bulbs. Any suggestions on what might be best.

Thanks

Reply to
Myizronu2

Try a relay upgrade with new lamps to start with. Thats the cheapest way for a decent result, if you want better either driving lights or maybe a HID upgrade. Thats getting a lot dearer though of course.

I changed mine to direct relays, 90/135 lamps (tilt them down a bit) and added a good set of Hella Driving lights. Ive a 91 4Runner SR5 V6 and thats plenty of light for me.

Reply to
Scotty

Holy Deadly Headlights, Batman!

I changed my '84 Pickup over to the Hella "165mm square" (IIRC) Euro Headlight kit (glass lenses), and the 55/100W H4 "motorcycle" lamps combined with proper optics were more than enough light for no-moon, no other traffic rural driving at the speed limit. (Stock US Toyota car headlamps are 55/60W)

90/135W lamps are meant for off-road motorcycles with one headlight, running two on a vehicle on the street is insane. The cops can't help but notice the difference (since they will be seeing blue spots for a half hour...) and you will get busted for illegal lighting eventually.

That, or you'll melt the stock plastic headlight housings...

Don't give the cops a Probable Cause reason to start snooping around the car for any other stuff you may be doing wrong. If they're looking to fill their ticket quota at the end of the month (*) they can always find a broken tail-light lens - even if they have to break it first.

(* - Quote I've heard from an LAPD Command Officer "There are no ticket quotas, they are illegal - but there are 'Performance Guidelines' that are tracked and all officers are supposed to meet, and two of the guidelines are issuing a number of traffic tickets and making a number of arrests during each Deployment Period...")

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

Well Bruce they have been in situ for around 4 years now and Ive replaced one lamp and thats it. As I said I dipped the beams a little but due to decent lenses the glare is at a minimum. I got the wife to run up the road and back at me at night while i was in the work truck, they do look noticably brighter but you dont look at it and think "That guys got his high beams on".

Reply to
Scotty

I like Sylvania SilverStar head lamps.

Your truck requires a model number (9007, for example) and you must keep that model number as a replacement part. But, for any given model of lamp, there are several options ranging in price, where the lower price selection makes a yello light that does not shine very far, and the higher priced selections will produce a whiter light that shines a much greater distance. Personally, I avoid the selections where the color of the light (blue, for example) is offered. I prefer the light in front of my car to be white, as white as I can get it.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Also be sure these lights aren't the Japanese version. My Surf (Jap

4Runner) had H4 lights but the beam pattern was opposite since they drive on the left hand side over there.

Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

Left- or Rigbht-hand drive headlamps are driven by the lens, not by the bulb. An H4 bulb will perform the same, regardless of the lens it is mounted in.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

I think hes refering to the fact that his car was Ex Japan so his lenses are incorrect for the US roads.

Reply to
Scotty

I understand that, but the OP asked a question about the bulbs, and H4 bulbs would not care what kind of lenses they were mounted into. H4 is not the reason the pattern was opposite.

I suggested 9007 in my "for example" because I know there IS a number called

9007, and I did not think about which bulb the OP actually needs. It doesn't matter to my example which bulb (9006, 9007, H4, etc.) he needs, and that will be determined by the bulb he removes or by the catalog in the store. My point was that there are several grades (for lack of a better word) of bulbs for each of these model numbers. I'd guess that all 4Runners of the body style made in 1998 would take the same kind of bulb, and since somebody said his took H4s, I'll take that as a good place to start. If they use H4 in Japan (right hand drive), I see no reason they do not use H4 in USA trucks (left hand drive). The difference in left- or right-hand drive is not the H4s or 9007s, it's the lens.
Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Oooooooo Kaaay.

Reply to
Scotty

Reply to
Frank

I'll go with that. The Ultra is the latest in SilverStar bulbs. I really like my SilverStars, and I would not hesitate to move up to the Ultra if the opportunity presents itself.

This is a no-muss-no-fuss upgrade that makes use of the stuff you already have in your car or truck. You can jump into the muss & fuss pool by adding additional relays if you are concerned that there is current loss in the circuit the factory built, but I would suggest that bu7bls be installed first, and compare the improvement before you begin splicing into the wires.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

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