Making the high beams brighter?

I just purchased a new 2023 4 Runner little less than a month ago. As I am an older guy driving at night has its limits. Anyway I can make the high beams brighter such as a mod or drop in? I traded in a Highlander and the broghts on that were good.

Thanks

Kevin

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Morimoto makes replacement bulb as well as complete head and tail light replacements:

https://www.morimotohid.com/buyer-guide-by-vehicle/2023+Toyota+4Runner

I put those in my 2019 and the results are fantastic.

Mike

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome from Arizona!

 

Welcome.

 

Welcome

 

I think the issue with the brights is there focal point more than brightness. I did aftermarket add on Pod/ditch lights if i need more light for low or high beams.

Maybe replace your fog lights with better ones so you won't have to use your brights to see at all? I did this and rarely if ever need my brights.

 

The newer bi-led 4Runner hi-beams are pathetic imo. I just installed additional lights to be used on rural roads / off pavement needs when no ones is around. Here's some videos adding more light. Another video will publish soon (2024) showing I add 2 more spot lights.

2nd set of "highbeams" -
https://youtu.be/vesGHtosIHk

Adding light bars -
https://youtu.be/NZTH8pdBtVU

 

Welcome! Take advantage of some Black Friday deals and order some brighter white Fogs and/or behind the grill lightbars!

 

Thanks Mike, a few bucks there!

 

What would you replace Fogs with?

Kevin

 

what lights are these?

Kevin

 

I think these are the lights: https://www.diodedynamics.com/stage-series-6-sae-dot-white-light-bar-pair.html

 

I was surprised to see that question from OP. Wasn't sure if I didn't explain clearly on the video or people not bothered to watch them.

 

light bar(s) are the best thing i can think of..

 

The diode dynamics SS3 Pro fog lights are fantastic. They really work wonders in tandem with the low beams. They’re plug and play. No wire tapping involved.

 

Would this be enough light for you?



If so, this is what I added. Two Diode Dynamics SS5 Pro spot beams wired through a relay to come on with the high beams. I left the stock high beam bulbs pretty much untouched.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong;
Part 1 -
All 2023s have bi-led headlights (am I correct?), if so you can't find highbeam wire.
If I could find that easily without removing the bumper and housing I would definitely love to have a highbeam trigger wire.

Part 2-
For the 4runners having DRL and Highbeam on the same 9005 bulb having a relay to highbeam wire, wouldn't it have problems in DRL mode with the 12v pulse sending to the relay?

 

I think you are correct about #1. I know the turn signals are an old school bulb though. After watching your video I went to Diode's site and bought LED turn signal (switch back style) lights. I also bought brighter LED fog lights. I know my 4Runner came with LED fog lights, but I wanted brighter ones.

I was able to escape that site after ONLY spending $150.

 

Back of my head gives me the same thought. Wow just 150? For now I will not look at the site, cause its not easy to control the spending..

 

Don't do it bro. I only went there because of your video. I told myself "I'll just look at the LED spot lights. That's all. I'm just looking." Then I went down the rabbit hole and found one thing I liked, then another, then another. Before I knew it, I had two things in my shopping cart and I was clicking "Buy now and ship." WHAT THE FUCK!

 

These won't fit your 2023 my friend. This will only work if you have halogen fog light housing.



Edit -

For the turn signals I see they have a resistor kit. I have a feeling without this resistor you will have hyper flashing. I don't think it would be a easy job fitting a resistor in that tiny space you have to work on. If you want LED turn signals better but ones with built in resistor. I haven't tested any so can't really recommend any. Having LED in front and regular on rear might not be easy on hyperflashing too. Something to check. Even having both LED some may hyperflash if it was a long wait at the traffic light. Check that too.

 

I replaced mine with Baja SAE, but there are many companies that make good replacements fog's like Diode Dynamics. It's the first thing i would try.

 

Great catch. Thanks. I'll call them and have them delete that from order. It hasn't shipped yet so I'm sure they can fix it for me.

 

Part 1: Mine is a 2021 with LED low beams and halogen high beams. That said, finding a trigger wire was a piece of cake. As for removing the front bumper cover, it's actually quite easy. I had mine off several times experimenting with different lighting combinations.



Part 2: You are correct in that the DRL feature uses Pulse Width Modulation to somewhat dim the halogen high beams. Popping an LED bulb into the high beams can lead to problems with the bulbs rapidly pulsating in the DRL mode. When you activate the high beams, PWM is no longer used and thus not a problem. Just to make sure I wasn't buzzing the relay in DRL mode, I turned the DRL feature off through the infotainment screen. I now use the backlight feature in the SS5's as my DRL's.

 

I find the LED lights (hi and low beam) on my 2021 to be great. You may want to check the alignment on yours as they tend to come aimed too high from the factory, this would make them less effective at lighting the pavement. Just something to check before investing in modifications.

 

That’s not how that works… you still have separate positive wires for high and low. The only shared wire is the ground/negative. Very easy to find a trigger.

Use a relay triggered off the low beam to allow the high beam signal through to another relay running your auxiliary high beams.

 

Diode Dynamics SS3 are the best option. Yellow, if you want to use them as fog lights.

 

What kind of bulbs are the high beams now? I figured they would have switched those to LED also.