5th Gen 4Runner Headlights & Fog Lights: Beginners Guide

Headlights and Fog Lights: Low Beam (H11), High Beam (9005), and Fog Light (H16)

This is a general overview of LED bulbs, HID Bulbs, Projector Retrofits, and brands that offer all these products. We cover fog lights, but if you want to get deeper into quality fog light options, check out the top fog light options for the 4Runner and the top amber/yellow fog lights as well.

Headlight Education:

• LED Bulbs – Install (Low & High Beams)
• LED Bulbs – Overview
• HID Bulbs – Overview
• How to Retrofit Headlights
• How to fix Moisture in Headlights
• How To aim Low Beam Headlights

Bulbs: 

• Xenon Depot H11
• GTR Ultra 2 H11
• Morimoto 2stroke 2.0 H11
• Morimoto 2stroke 3.0 H11 / H16
• VLEDs Micro Extreme H11
• LASfit Pro H11
• Xenon Depot 9005
• Supernova V.4 9005
• DDM Tuning 9005

Housings:

• Morimoto XB LED Headlights
• USR DEPO Projector Retrofit Headlights
• Alpharex Pro Headlights
• Top 5 Headlight Housings

Fog Lights: 

• Xenon Depot Yellow H16 LED
• Philips White H16 LED
• Top 8 Fog Lights
• Top 5 Amber/Yellow Fog Lights

Light Bulb Number Reference

If you want to do an LED swap, here are the common bulb numbers.

• High Beam: 9005: Check Price
• Low Beam: H11 – Check Price
• Fog Light Bulb Front: H16 – Check Price
• Daytime Running Bulb (Same as High Beam): 9005
• Front Side Marker Bulb: 194
• Parking Bulb: 7443
• License Plate Bulb: 168
• Side Marker Bulb Front: 168
• Turn Signal Bulb Rear: 7440A
• Turn Signal Bulb Front: 7444NA
• Daytime Running Bulb (Same as High Beams): 9005
• Reverse Bulb: 921

LED Bulbs Vs. HID Bulbs Vs. Projector Retrofits

Morimoto Projector Retrofit: Open your headlight housing and swap these in exchange for the halogen projectors

There is a big difference between an LED bulb, HID bulb, and a projector retrofit.

Projector retrofits are a bit more advanced in terms the install. Projector retrofits typically cost more and take longer to install but they produce correct, better, higher quality light output compared to an aftermarket LED bulb or an HID bulb inside a halogen projector (which is what our 4Runner has – a halogen projector).

With a projector retrofit, you convert the halogen projector housing to a LED or HID projector housing. You can always throw an HID/LED bulb into our factory halogen projector housing but it will never be a “true” HID headlight. Read more on HIDs here.

LED bulbs are great because they are affordable, easy to install, and give you a solid solution to the factory halogen bulbs. LED bulbs will produce less light than an HID retrofit or an HID bulb, but they allow you to run brighter low beams than stock while not getting flashed by other cars on the road.

HID Bulbs

Xenon Depot HID Bulbs

A Common Misconception (HID is better?): There is a common misconception that the HID bulb is better. Well, that might be the case because they are in most cases “brighter”, but they are not always the best for your specific 4Runner needs. There are some guys out there that want the HID bulb because they go off-road often and want the brightest light possible into dusk and night. If this is your goal, the HID headlight bulb and or retrofit kit will likely give you the brightest output from your headlights.

While the HID bulb or retrofit kit might be brighter off-road, it might be too bright on-road. And, as we mentioned above, you may get flashed by oncoming traffic with your low beams on. This is no fun, and you really don’t want to be that guy on the road that is causing others visibility problems. If you are that guy, there is a solution.

A simple fix for HIDs: With the HID bulbs in your factory projector, there is much brighter and “wider” light, meaning the beam pattern of your HIDs is going to be greater and wider than your stock halogens or an LED kit for that matter. If you want the brightest light possible and you still want to use your HIDs on the road without getting flashed by oncoming drivers, you should simply angle your low beams down.

LED Bulbs

Cheap Bulbs from Amazon

LED Bulbs from China (Amazon and eBay?): While most LED bulbs are a good replacement for the stock halogens, some are just terrible. With all LED bulbs, you have a “diode” that is located somewhere on top of the center of the bulb housing. Some brands of bulbs will have diodes scatted across the entire light.

Most of the Amazon and eBay brands are a universal fit and are more than likely made in China. But, it’s not that it’s made in China that is the problem because everything is made in China. Your iPhone was made in China and we all love our iPhones. The point is most shoddy brands are manufactured in shoddy facilities that have sub-par production and quality control.

What this means for you is that the one size fits all actually might not fit all. Some diodes manufactured in China with low prices on Amazon or eBay might not be your best long-term or even short-term solution for lighting. Lower quality diodes tend to burn out fast or emit incorrect lighting. This creates problems with correct light output and correct beam pattern on your halogen housing.

Choosing the right LED light bulb: What you want to find is an LED bulb with a diode that mimics the same diode location as your stock halogen bulbs all while being produced in a quality facility. This is more than likely a private party supplier who has high standards and who is never able to compete with an Amazon or eBay seller because of their cheap prices and wholesale imported products from China.

When you are choosing an LED bulb, you have options. You can buy a cheap set from Amazon which may or may not work out. Or, you can buy a much more expensive set from a company like Xenon Depot which is made of higher quality and produced with higher production standards.

Retrofits

Morimoto M-LED Bi-LED Projector Retrofit Kit

When the term “retrofitting” comes out, some people might stray away from this, however, it’s simple in theory. All you do is swap in a new projector housing.

Some lights need to be wired, but most of them are plug-and-play set-ups with upgraded ballast systems. Yes, you will have to be somewhat handy but anyone with basic shop tools should be able to get the job done. The more difficult route is modifying your own housing from a halogen projector housing into an HID housing.

What does it mean to retrofit a projector housing?

Retrofitting is the process of installing a xenon or bi-xenon projector into a reflector based halogen headlight. It is the best HID headlight upgrade possible since the projector will control the light into a properly dispersed, non-glaring beam pattern.” – The Retrofit Source.

Light Bulb Brands

USR Blacked out Projector Retrofits: Pre-built Projector Retrofit Headlights

There are hundreds of options when looking at low beams, high beams, and fog lights. You can opt for lights from XenonDepot, The Retrofit Source, brands from eBay, and multiple highly-reviewed brands from Amazon.

Xenon Depot is probably the most trusted and well-respected brand of bulbs for the 4Runner. Yes, there are other similar companies (VLEDs, Morimoto, LASfit, USR, Etc.), however, Xenon Depot just has a good history with 4Runner owners.

Xenon Depot Bulbs

• High Beam (9005)
• Low Beam (H11)
• Yellow Fog Light Bulb Front (H16/H11)

The Retrofit Source is also another commonly used resource for HID kits and LED bulbs. Morimoto is a very popular brand as well in the Toyota community. They make all of our major bulbs, including high beam and low beam kits for the 5th Gen 4Runner. You can research Morimoto in the forums and you will find that people have nothing but good things to say about Morimoto. But, the one thing that you will find is that they have fans – not fins which means they will make noise because of the spinning fans. If that doesn’t bother you, then the Morimoto’s might be a good deal.

The Retrofit Source and Morimoto

• High Beam (9005)
• Low Beam (H11)

VLEDs

• Fog Lights (H16/H11)
• Low Beam (H11)
• LP Reverse Light

Fog Light Brands

Xenon Depot Xtreme LED Pro Yellow H16/H11 Fog Lights

For fogs, you can go with brands like XenonDepot, The Retrofit Source, Philips, and also brands from Amazon and eBay. What makes your fogs different is there are companies that specifically make kits that are built for off-road use.

The main companies for off-road fogs are Rigid Industries, Baja Designs, KC Lights, Heretic, and Diode Dynamics, but there are many other companies as well.

If you are just looking for a simple LED swap, check out this set of H16 LED bulbs we installed in the 2016 4Runner. These bulbs are a good, affordable solution to upgrading your fog lights.

There are a handful of other popular options for fogs linked at the top of this post, but KC Lights and Baja make some of the best trail products out there. If you want to stay with something DOT (Department of Transportation) street legal (you won’t blind anyone), stay with lights bulbs from The Retrofit Source or XenonDepot or the SAE KC Flex Lights, SAE Baja Squadrons, or the SAE Diode Dynamics.

XenonDepot

XenonDepot carries a huge variety of bulb numbers. All of the XenonDepot lights are OEM quality and carry products from manufacturers like Philips, Osram, and their own brand; Xtreme LED. There are many other options for low beams, high beams, and fog lights out there. Also, some of these brands carry the same bulb brands as XenonDepot.

Some other brands to consider:

• Philips
• CougarMotor
• Diode Dynamics
• BEAMTECH
• HIKARI
• Lightning Dark
• JDM ASTAR
• OPT7
• Kensun

The Retrofit Source

The Retrofit Source is a quality website for your lighting needs. For the 5th Gen, they carry many brands including their in-house brands; Morimoto, GTR Lighting, and Headlight Revolution. These are incredibly well-designed and well-made products that are damn near on-spec to OEM quality fit but pack many more lumens than your stock low beams, high beams, and fog lights.

If you want to put HID in your factory halogen projector then you would need high-quality HID bulbs or true retrofits. This is where Morimoto shines. They offer a wide variety of true retrofit housings for the 5th Gen 4Runner.

Retrofit Source Relays and Capacitor Link?

For your 4Runner you will want to order the H11B bulbs and you will not need the capacitor link. You will want the HD Relay as well to make everything plug and play, the canbus relays are for German cars.

Retrofit Source Ballast Options

• 35w (XB35 – Longer Life/ Medium Intensity) – Recommend
• 50w (XB55 – Shorter Lift/ High Intensity)

You have your choice of 35w (XB35) and 50w (XB55). All OEM HID systems are 35w, so this is the tried and true option. It comes with a five-year warranty and produces approximately three times the light of your stock setup. The optional 50w (XB55) ballasts are going to give you about 25% more light over the 35w system but at a shorter lifespan. Because of the shorter lifespan, the warranty is also reduced to three years instead of five.

Bulb Color (Kelvin) Options

Pictured: Combination of 3000k and 5000k light colors

• 3000k – Yellow/Amber
• 3800k – Mild Yellow
• 4500k – Yellow to Soft White
• 5500k – Recommend Color (Bright White)
• 6000k – Recommend Color (Bright White/ Blue)
• 6500k – Very Blue

OEM Toyota 4Runner halogen bulb (2010-2020 models) color is in the 4300K-4500K range. For the newer models (2021+), we see LED lighting with a 5000k range. Looking at most aftermarket bulb options on the market, you’ll see most lights ranging from 5000k-6000k.

We don’t usually see 6500K since anything beyond that sacrifices more light in exchange for more color. We’re more focused on performance vs looks here. As you move up the K range, you’re getting more color but less intensity from the bulb.

5500K sacrifices a tiny bit of intensity but gives you a pure white light to enhance contrast. 6500K is still mostly white, but with a slight tinge of blue to it.

Alternately, 3000K bulbs are very yellow. We recommend 3000k-3500k for use in fog light setups and with lightbars as they cut through extreme weather very well; fog, rain, snow, etc.

Final Thoughts

Lights are pretty important, to say the least. You drive with them every day, so you should grab a pair of headlights that are in a mid-high price range as these are a pretty important driving factor and you will depend on them for a long period of time.

With Xenon Depot being the most popular choice among 4Runner and Tacoma owners, you should consider checking them out. Xenon Depot has incredible customer service and backs its products 100%. There is a reason why a large number of 4Runner owners out there choose Xenon Depot for their headlights.

Also, some of the other brands on Amazon can be a good find, but it really depends. As of late, there are more and more light bulb companies popping up trying to take advantage of our growing industry. Just do your research and only buy products you know are going to be a solid option. There is a big difference between $100+ bulbs vs. $30 bulbs. If you do have any problems with Amazon products, though, you know you can return the product at almost any time.

Some of the more quality brand names would include anything from The Retrofit Source, Headlight Revolution, VLEDs, Xenon Depot, AlphaRex, Morimoto, BX Built Retrofits and GTR Lighting.

If you are looking for something quick and dirty, grab a set off Amazon. If you want to do it the right way the first time, buy something from a big brand name.