Aftermarket 99-02 headlights... SUCK!
 

I just wanted to vent a little about a recent purchase I made... I decided to go the cheaper route and buy some brand new aftermarket 99-02 style headlights for my 4Runner. I got them shipped for $180 off of ebay and they arrived in two days! I was stoked. After I got home from work I went and switched them out with the old headlights... and man, they looked good. I love the new look. Much cleaner looking IMO. Then comes time to check out the "new and improved" beam pattern I was so excited about, and man, was I amazed. The beam pattern totally SUCKED! I was shocked.

A couple days later I went down and re-aimed them, which helped quite a bit, but the beam pattern is horrible. I tried the bulbs from my old headlights, and the beam pattern sucked. I then tried the bulbs that the new lights came with, and they still sucked. I even tried messing around with how the bulb was seated, and even with the little reflector deal that sticks out in front of the bulb. But it improved little, if any.

Anyway, my rig is still driveable at night, and I'm not blinding anyone, but I was really hoping for at least a slight improvement in my lighting! Has anyone had similar experiences with these lights? Any suggestions?

They are made by Eagle Eyes. They seem to be well made, but they beam pattern has almost no cut off, it just sort of fades out and it's all over the place.

sounds to me like you got a cheap knock-off immitation of the original. you should've tried the actual headlights off an 99-o2, as everyone who does this seems really happy with them...

:bump:

how much did you pay? should have gone through jb

Ebay lights suck period, there are way too many "knockoff" brands out there that make a headlight "look" good but perform like crap, as you found out. I used to be huge in the Subaru WRX scene and you should have seen all the people that got sucked into new projector beams that were horrible.
Sorry, but you will probably be a lot better off with your original lens and just new bulbs.

I payed $180 shipped for the lights. I looked into JB and his are $320 before shipping, but they are quality. I actually emailed him before I bought them and he said that they were a steal, but he wasn't sure if they were quality lights or not.

Is it fairly easy to find used OEM lights at junk yards and such? I've looked just a little w/ no success, and ebay doesn't seem to have many OEM used lights up.

I say since you already have the aftermarket housing, go ahead and get some projectors and retrofit some HIDs in there. By the time your done buying OEM headlights, the price will come out about the same, if not less.

I have seen OEM replacements for $270/pair but that's the cheapest I've seen.

Yeah man that's what I was going to say, should've went with Jason, it is more expensive, but his products are better!

Aren't Eagle Eyes the manufacturer of the LED tail light craze happening on this board. Will be interesting to see how they fair this coming winter- that is with the ice, thaw, extreme cold etc.

Dang that sucks that those didn't work out..I think I've been watchin the same pair---I think I 'll save up now. Check out the junk yard or pull-aparts for originals.

Yeah but so far I haven't heard anything negative from the people who already bought and installed the LED tails. Only positive feedback. I got mine this morning, hopefully I can get them installed in a day or two.

The build quality seems to be good, so I don't see them falling apart... and I imagine that the tail lights are great, because all they need to do is reflect light everywhere.

Headlights, on the other hand...

So, after a little research I've decided that I am really glad that I bought these headlights... why? I've decided to retrofit projectors and HIDs into them!!! Hell yeah! I'm way excited. I bought some Porsche projectors today and hopefully they'll be here this week.

Now I have a nice little project to keep me occupied over christmas break :)

awesome man, just post pics and keep us updated, as everyone around here can get pic hungry...lol!

let me know if i can answer any questions you might have since your headlight is very similar to the ones i used for my TL retro.
great choice on the Porsche's they are a great projector

That's awesome, keep us informed!

And if you feel like making another set put me down for them :-)
I have tried eighty gazillion bulbs and none worked for me, of course the new 4Runner has projectors already