Have you ever been driving at night in the snow and felt like you were blind? There’s no worse feeling and as an off road vehicle owner, you don’t ever have to feel that way again.
Should you upgrade your Toyota 4Runner headlights? If you are looking for a fairly affordable upgrade that can greatly impact your night time driving, upgraded headlights are definitely the way to go.
I am going to dive into the types of upgrades — bulb upgrades, full housing upgrades, retrofit upgrades and the differences between them. I’ll also touch on cost and how to save some money by installing them on your own.
Table of Contents
Bulb Upgrades
This is by far the cheapest way to go. You can get a really good set of LED or HID bulbs in the $100 range and be perfectly happy. For many years I ran a set of Xenon Depot HIDs in my factory housing. They put out a good amount of light and gave it the nice white/blue look everyone likes to see out of a headlight. If you drive a pre 2021 4Runner like I do then you know how bad the stock headlights are. This should probably be the first upgrade anyone does to their truck.
I can’t personally speak to the output on the new factory LED headlights. I would suggest looking at Xenon Depot, The Retrofit Source, or Headlight Revolution to find a good set of drop in bulbs. Obviously these aren’t the only place you can find upgraded bulbs, but these guys are trusted in the industry.
Installing these bulb upgrades is easy. It is as simple as taking the dust cap off the back of the housing and switching bulbs. If you choose to go HID (which will put out better and more even light than an LED) then you may need to wire up the ballasts too. A lot of the time a ballast will just plug into the factory headlight wiring, but there are those rare vehicles that need a lite boost from the battery. In that case you will run a power and ground wire fro the ballast to the battery. Not hard at all to do.
Full Housing Upgrades
This is where the price can start to go up dramatically. Full housing upgrades are like the Morrimoto XB LED headlights. With different housing you start to get things like a blacked out look, sequential turn signals, and probably a better optic in the projector lens. There are a few brands out there now for the 5th gen 4Runner. Morrimoto, Alpharex, and Anzo just to name a few. All have some pretty cool features, but the look may not be for everyone. These can start in the $400 range and reach to about $1200. You will likely be able to order any of these options and have them at your door within a week or so. Then it is as simple as just dropping the new housing in the truck and plugging them in.
Retrofit Upgrades
For those of you out there that like to have a project this one is for you. I myself love a good project, but I personally did not tackle this one. This one involves opening up your stock headlights by baking them in the oven at a low temp (think 200 degree range), and replacing the internals with something like an LED projector. You will get better light output in the factory housing that we all know fits the best in the truck. This modification can get you a real custom look if you are willing to put in the time.
While you have everything apart you can do things like paint your inner housing any color you want. You could also install daytime running strips, and or sequential turn signals. Getting a LED or HID projector are not that expensive, but you will be putting in the elbow grease. The Retrofit Source sells a “Retro Quick” kit on their site for $431. While not as cheap as drop in bulbs, you will get the factory look with far better light output.
I suggest hitting up the Retrofit Source for all parts needed to tackle this one. One word of advice if you are choosing to tackle this project, plan ahead and do everything you can think of while you are in there. The last thing you want to do is tear the headlights apart again because you did’t do something the first time.
My Set Up
With my setup I went a little further. I have a complete housing swap, but I went with a company called Kustom54 Lighting. They give you the option to go from mild to wild on upgrades. All 100% customizable. You literally tell them exactly what you want them to look like and they build them for you.
I personally went with the AB6 with all the bells and whistles. They have a white running light that turns into a sequential turn signal. I had the whole inner housing painted flat black. I had them install LED hi and low beam projector. They have color changing lights inside the projector so at night they glow. I also had the projector lens etched with the TRD logo. In hind sight I should have gotten more creative with the etching, but I’m happy with it.
When I ordered these lights they took a while for them to get built. I believe from day of order to my door took in the ballpark of 12 weeks. If you are like me and don’t wear your patient pants very well then these may not be for you. If you can forget about them for a couple months, you will be handsomely rewarded when they show up. When these get to you install will be just like a drop in housing with easy wiring. These will cost you about $1800 for the full meal deal. Trust me when I tell you they turn some heads.
Cost Comparison
| Headlight | Cost | Installation | Notes |
| Drop in Bulbs | $40-$100 or more | Easy to install | Great improvement on your output |
| Retrofit | Varies, in between drop in bulbs and housing swaps | Need to install on your own | Can go really custom and deck them out which is the route I went — but the price will also go up |
| Housing Swaps | $400-$1000 | Fast and easy to swap out | Changes the look of the 4Runner. Stealth black is my favorite and gives off a more aggressive look |
Installation
Doing a headlight housing swap is not hard at all. The headlights themselves are held in with 4 10mm bolts. The time consuming part is taking the front bumper off to get to those 4 bolts. You will need to undo 3 bolts in each fender well, and 4 bolts underneath the truck. After that you will have to get under the hood and take the plastic shroud off in front of the engine bay. There will be a few plastic pop rivets that you need to remove under the shroud and another 10mm bolt. Once all that is loose you can go to a fender and start pulling it away. It is just clipped in at this point. Don’t forget to unplug your fog lights either.
Final Thoughts
Headlight upgrades are probably the best upgrade you can do to a 4Runner. You use your headlights daily, and let’s be honest the stock ones are dismal at best. This is also one of the cheapest upgrades you can do if you choose to go the bulb swap route. Changing out the housing out can really give the front end of your truck a more aggressive look. Below are a few links of places you can shop for various different headlight options.
https://www.theretrofitsource.com