Starr HID headlights for '04 Toyota Tacoma

Hi all,

I've got a 2004 Toyota Tacoma and need to replace my OE headlights this next year due to age and UV damage. I've been considering the Starr HID projectors as a replacement option. I know that fellow poster Hamilton Felix has used them on his Crown Vic and had an issue with a shutter if I remember correctly on an older thread. What I'm looking for is pros and cons to doing this headlight type and style change. I live in the greater Seattle area, so UV outside of summer isn't a great concern.

Thanks for all of your feed back.

LD

Same as always with those: they're made by Giant-Light in Taiwan. Performance is fine if you get a pair that works and they keep working. Materials and build quality aren't up to OEM standards; the lenses will deteriorate faster than OE items and you may well have a break/dislodge/stick/fail problem with the internals. The vendor (Starr) seems to stand behind the product OK.

If they're anything like the factory lenses from Toyota, you may want to think about getting some UV blocking X-Pel film to keep them looking nice.

"Fuhgeddaboutit" as Tony Soprano said. X-Pel (or any other brand of adhesive film) is definitely not UV-stable, and it is not optically transparent. You lose at least 20% of your light through brand new film, and it degrades fast and badly.

I did not know it was that bad. I have never used it personally. All of my cars have glass headlights, which is hard to find on modern vehicles.

A friend of mine has had his Toyota headlights refinished twice so far and they just keep turning yellow every couple of years. I figured X-Pel would help.

Erik1213 said:

A friend of mine has had his Toyota headlights refinished twice so far and they just keep turning yellow every couple of years.

Click to expand...

Yeah, "polishing" and "refinishing" headlamps doesn't work. The original hardcoat is applied in a cleanroom and actively cured. "Polishing a headlamp" is really removing the coating. The headlamp looks nice and shiny, but with the coating gone the polycarbonate material itself degrades quickly and severely. There is no replacement coating or other material that can be applied in the driveway/garage/detail shop that even comes close to the protective ability of the factory coating. When the lenses are clouded up (the first time) it is time to install new headlamps.