Mod 5: HID Low Beams

As I previously mentioned, I was fairly unhappy with the stock lighting on the Toyota 4Runners. They didn’t put out a ton of light in normal night-time conditions, and when navigating the trails in the dark, they did not inspire a lot of confidence. Luckily, you can remedy that with some fairly inexpensive parts from TRS, The Retrofit Source.

TRS is one of the name-brands when it comes to HIDs and HID conversion kits. HID stands for High Intensity Discharge, and it is a common bulb type that you will find on high end vehicles from the likes of Audi and Mercedes Benz to name a few. HIDs output a fair bit more light than standard halogen bulbs, but there are a few disadvantages.

First, they require you to have a projector-style housing. HIDs are blinding bright and only a projector-style housing will focus the light and spare the eyes of oncoming motorists. If you have a standard reflector-style housing, you should not be using HIDs.

Second, HIDs work by igniting gas inside the bulb and running a current through it. To do that, they require a ballast to ignite the gas and actually output the light. A ballast is typically a separate unit that is wired directly to the battery, so keep in mind that you might be running a few extra wires if you decide to install a set of these HIDs.

And finally heat. HIDs put out a fair bit of heat. This typically won’t be a problem for any use case, but it is something to keep in mind. If you have modified your headlight in any way, or if you are simply worried about heat ouput in general, HIDs will put out more heat than a standard halogen bulb.

Now for the actual install. It was easy! On the 4Runners, you basically just need to lay everything out and then drill a hole in the stock headlight dust cover with a step bit. I drilled a 7/8” hole and installed the supplied grommet to feed the wires through. I am a huge fan of a factory-looking clean install, so I hid the ballasts using some heavy duty 3M tape under the weather stripping. All in all, TRS makes a great kit and I am super happy with the output on these lights. Next up, some matching fog lights!