Gen 4 2024+ Tacoma Side Rock Lights

Gen 4 Tacoma has LED headlights that are bright and focused to throw light down the road. On a recent trip in the mountains on paved roads, discovered how focused they were when you couldn’t see where you were on blind narrow tight hairpin turns.

Fog lights helped some but only work with low beams and light up the front.

Ditch lights would help but have the same problem as fog lights or lights on the front bumper, they don’t light up the sides of the road or trail. Another option is to install rock lights in the fender wells but can’t seem them lasting lon. Also don’t like the look of ditch lights mounted on the hood.

A cheap alternative is to temporally put magnetic lights on the side of the vehicle. Don’t think they would stay long and like most things with batteries, when you need them, the batteries are dead.

Installing rock lights to light up the sides of the road or trail. Wiring these took a lot of time and everything is rated to 105°C and resistant to automotive fluids. Believe me, last thing you want to deal with is faulty wiring in the middle of nowhere.

Not happy with the relay mounts. May have to make brackets to mount them on but they are tucked mostly out of the way. There’s no screw mounts on the inside of the fenders to attach the relays to.

Additional wiring and switch is for a future project.

Everything is available from amazon or local automotive shops.


Gen 4 Tacoma climbed up the mountains with no loss of performance and no overheating when going from 4000 feet to over 8000 feet or 1219 to 2438 meters altitude in 2 miles or 3.2 km, after driving 900 miles or 1448 km that day. The low RPM engine torque made the pickup very responsive on the steep and twisting road. Oil, water, and transmission temperatures stayed in the same range as driving on a highway.

Have confirmed that on fairly flat ground with gentle rolling hills and virtually no wind, got over 25 MPG or 10.6 kmL at 75 MPH or 120.7 KPH over a 240 mile or 386 km leg of the trip. On hilly ground with 25-35 MPH or 40 to 56 km head wind and at 75-80 MPH or 121-129 KMH, got 19 MPG or 8.9 kmL over a 600 mile or 966 km leg of the trip. Climbing in the mountains, got 21 MPG or 8 kmL over about 10 miles or 16 km. Had over 800 pounds or 363 kilograms of people and gear in the pickup and reset the fuel economy at each fill up. Overall did 2000 miles 3219 kilometers total with up to 10 hours of driving a day and the pickup was comfortable to drive or ride in.