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65K views 209 replies 61 participants last post by  Rav4-lim 
#1 ·
Before:




After:




First attempt to insert pictures in this forum -- by all means, let me know if I could have done it better!


thoots
 

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#3 ·
Sylvania ZEVO H16 LED bulbs:


https://www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-ZEVO-Light-Bulbs-Contains/dp/B01M34ZQ1F


You can spend MUCH less on Amazon, but I did this very same conversion on my previous 2015 Corolla, and they looked and lasted just fine. A LOT of the cheaper ones on Amazon had plenty of good reviews, but also a good number of reviews like "weren't any brighter than the OEM bulbs," "didn't last more than a month," and so on. So, I figured I'd pay more and get something that I had some personal good experience with.


Oh, and my local shop charged me around 35 bucks to do the install, which took about half an hour. Well worth saving the aggravation of trying to get under the car and do it myself.
 
#9 ·
Just installed my Toyota LED fog lights
(PT 413-42191) very easy install quick plug and play appearance looks great waiting for sun to go down to get the full effect will post pictures soon.

If any one is interested I’m selling the original halogen fog lights. Message me
 

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#16 ·
No before and after pictures, but I can tell you that the lighting difference with my ZEVO LED lights was MASSIVE. I have referred to the H16 halogens as having the brightness of "your bathroom nightlight." The LED's absolutely light up the bottom half of your field of vision immensely. I did the same switch with my trade-in, a 2015 Corolla, and if anything, the difference with the RAV4 is even bigger. The fog bulbs are quite a bit higher off the ground in the RAV4, and, again, they just really light up the lower half of your field of vision remarkably. I could not recommend the switch more highly.
 
#20 ·
Well, here are a few thoughts from my perspective:


Mainly, it's the Wild Wild West out there. Search for "H16 LED Fog Lights" on Amazon, and you'll find dozens of options, with prices starting around $15. Yep -- fifteen bucks. Good luck with that. And while plenty don't have any "lumens" specifications, you can find others that range from soup to nuts. 8,000 lumens for thirty bucks? Yeah, good luck with that. If you're willing to get under your vehicle and plug in whatever you might buy several times, why not go ahead and try some of the cheap things and see what happens?


However, while a lot of these have generally good reviews, most have plenty of bad reviews, too. What really got me was how many of them had reviews saying "these just aren't brighter than the original halogen bulbs." Well, we don't want anything like that, do we?


So, first of all, I wasn't even aware that were such things as "OEM LED fog lights." And I went ahead with the Sylvania ZEVO bulbs because I had personal (and very positive) experience with the ZEVO bulbs. I got mine for $129.99 on Amazon, and I figured it was worth a hundred bucks or so extra to get something I knew was good and bright, rather than taking a chance on whatever I might find on the cheap side on Amazon.


My previous experience with the ZEVO bulbs was on my trade-in, a 2015 Corolla, which had a setup similar to the RAV4: LED headlights with yellow, halogen H16 fog lights. Previously, I had a 2008 Camry, in which the fog bulbs were the same as the headlight low beams -- those were quite good. I had been using aftermarket "white" bulbs for years, and I had replaced all of the OEM bulbs with whatever I was using back then. But I sure wasn't satisfied with the H16 bulbs in the Corolla. I just found the ZEVO bulbs at a local auto supply store, and they turned out to be very good, if a bit on the spendy side.


So, that's my story, for what it's worth. The cheapo bulbs on Amazon might be just fine, or maybe some are good and some are not so good, but it sure looked like it would be difficult to figure out if any bulbs were either brighter or more reliable than any of the others. I expect that all of these bulbs are "more than just bulbs" -- again, the ZEVO bulbs have "ballasts" or something -- I presume they are not actual "ballasts" as such, but something has to convert the car's electric output to LED specifications, so the bulbs are attached to wires that are attached to little rectangular boxes that have some electronics in them, which are attached to wires that you actually plug into the car. They are "plug and play" in that you don't have to do any kind of "wiring" on your car to get them to work, but you do have to think in terms of what to do with those "little rectangular boxes," as opposed to just letting them bounce around as you drive along. As I mentioned, my installer fastened them to the car snugly with some zip ties. I rather expect that stories about "these only lasted a month" or "I have to replace these every year" might have plenty to do with the "little rectangular boxes" not getting fastened in place somehow.


The Amazon listing for the ZEVO bulbs doesn't have a good picture of this, but check out this listing for the Philips X-treme Ultinon bulbs:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07581DB7N/ref=psdc_15730151_t3_B01M34ZQ1F


That's basically what I'm talking about. This listing has a picture that shows right off the bat the "little rectangular boxes," which I suppose you could say are roughly the same size as the actual bulbs, that you have to deal with. I expect that any LED bulbs you might buy would look somewhat like the pictures on this listing.


The only reservation I might have with the OEM LED bulbs would be if Toyota might be really conservative with the brightness -- "we don't want to blind anyone here." But, with either no lumens specifications or wild claims for the lumens brightness, I don't know how you could know for sure how bright any given set of bulbs might be, short of installing them and seeing what happens. But, for what it's worth, I hope this helps!
 
#21 ·
Hehehe. Alexdva's message made it in while I was typing away on mine, above. I tend to think "you get what you pay for" -- it would be interesting to see the difference in light quality, brightness, and so on between his bulbs and mine. Given the nearly $40,000 I'll be paying over the next several years for my RAV4, I have no problem at all with paying around $150 for the quality ZEVO bulbs and installation by my favorite shop.
 
#23 ·
Thoots, I am pretty sure the LED's you bought are top notch, but myself working in Electronic quality manufacturing for over 15 years, it's a hard pill to swallow LED bulbs for over $100 knowing how cheap you can get them now days. Anyhow, I have bought similar Cree LED's before and they worked for around 5 years before selling the car. Per spec by the seller, they are 1800 lumens. I have attached a pic so you guys can compare. I am just putting it out as another option, by no means I am stating these will last longer or be brighter.

Best regards


Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
 
#24 ·
Oh, no worries -- whatever works, and experience is certainly what makes me the most comfortable. I would mainly be worried about reliability in terms of the rest of my wiring -- would the ultra-cheap bulbs wind up frying the car's wiring, and so on. So, do your bulbs have the kind of "ballasts" or whatever the additional boxes are in addition to just the bulbs, as I have mentioned previously, or are these "just bulbs?"
 
#25 ·
These are just the bulbs, the ballast is engineered and integrated in them. Just like when you replaced an incandescent light in your house and screw new LED bulbs instead. So in my case, I did not have to fasten anything to the body. On frying my wiring, I doubt that would happen for two main reasons; First.. we got fuses than protect us from such scenarios and second... LED's actual draw less current than Halogens, so there's actually less heat and less power comsumption. That's one of many reasons why car manufactures are going towards leds more than ever. The good thing is that we have many options to choose from and that you are happy with your choice.

Best regards,

Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
 
#28 ·
Thank you! FYI, googling leads me to understand that the main difference is wattage. H16 is 19W, H11 is 55W, and H8 35W (might have the latter two switched - can't remember). Another difference is that H16 and H11 can plug into the same socket while H8 is slightly different.


I think since your ZEVO's are 13W, they're ideal.


PSA: I know LEDs typically have lower wattage ratings that their halogen counterparts but I'd recommend NOT exceeding 19W. For my Highlander, I replaced my stock H/L bulbs, which are probably rated at 60W-80W with 100W aftermarket ones. I ended up melting one of the low beam plugs which I had to replace. It also left a burnt plastic smell in my car for months.


Thanks again!
 
#32 ·
Ill add an even pricier choice:
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/t...Toyota+Tundra&preselect=&preselect_restrict=1


I have these (when they were selling for 100 a long while ago) in 2015 for my Fusion. Its a sealed direct replacement. Is something I preferred versus putting something of one type in the reflector of something of another type. Its a little more white than my 4300K HIDs.


When you get those thin filament "white" bulbs they just burn out fast. LEDs work well if the LEDs are placed correctly to take advantage of the housing they are placed in.
 
#34 ·
Looks great. Now, finish the job by painting your Fog Light Lenses yellow. For my 1991 Toyota pickup (aftermarkets) I employed Krylon YELLOW Stained Glass Paint rattle can. My Fog Light Lenses are: GLASS. I love how they look now-- so much better YELLOW than the clear glass. After all, true "fog lamps" are YELLOW!
 
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#39 ·
I see on Toyota Canada's website that the LED fogs are now available as a dealer option when building/pricing the car online ($586.25CAD installed). But there are two versions: chrome (left photo) or black (right photo). I'm not really sure what the two colour choices are referring to. The housing or the light itself?
 

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