Headlights

[96Z71ECSB]

Depot clear headlights fit my truck the best. They still need a little tweaking to fit the grille opening correctly. I'll do that when I install Mean Green's headlight harness.
Clear side markers but with fluted lenses (I think that's what it's called). You can't see the LED bulbs (4 corner mod) when the lights are off.
LED turn signals. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the turns but they are very nice.

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[Iowa98Gmc]

Thanks a bunch for all the input! This is probably a stupid question but im still learning about lights. What is going to be the best option for brightness. Ive heard about hids, xexon, led and whatever else. Can someone put it in simple terms whats going to be the best bang for the buck and quality? Thanks

 

[someotherguy]

Well, brightest isn't always best, but HID's will be your brightest light output. No need for a 55W kit, you can do 35W and be bright as the damn sun. Stick with the closer-to-stock color temps. 4300K is an OEM style color with a tiny bit of yellow. 5000K is mostly white. Anything higher starts turning blue and gives less usable light.

Here's the problem though; HID's (at least any aftermarket kit you'll get) are meant for projector housings, not reflector housings like our trucks' headlights. They'll glare all over the place which sucks. Headlights with the cap over the low beam (TYC Elegante and some others) help reduce this a lot but it's still not an ideal setup. Really, if you're going to run HID's, you should without question - run headlights with the cap, otherwise you're full-force blinding the crap out of everybody around you.

35W 5000K HID's in a stock housing -

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35W 5000K HID's in a TYC Elegante -

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Richard

 

[great white]

If you want "best and brightest" for your money, go get a set of his projector retrofits.

You'll have to pay a hit Kore then 35 bucks though.

I built my own. Set of 100 eBay lights, 120 bucks on acura tax projectors, and a 35w d2s hid kit.

About 2 weekends of work and I had a set that fit properly and throw enough light to see moose 200 yards into the trees. I don't even use high beams anymore.

Please don't use those "plug and play" things. They look like crap and perform just as bad.....

 

[sewlow]

And then later with TYC Elegante headlights and park lights, switchback signals, HID's, blah blah

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Richard

I've heard that the switchbacks are a bit of a PITA to get to work. Any probs installing your's? Wiring tricks you could pass on? Or were they P&P?

 

[BoxerPitMix]

x2 I'd be interested in learning more.. That's the exact same setup I have. Those lights look awesome! I tried switchbacks in my old truck and didn't have much luck.

 

[someotherguy]

Using the somewhat older style V-LED's switchbacks as pictured (they don't offer that one anymore but I guess other sellers have the same or similar pieces) and an LED in the corner as well, I had problems at first too. They use resistance somehow to determine how to act, kind of like how your flasher is counting on resistance expected with the factory incandescent bulbs in the system. I think in many applications you only have one turn signal bulb up front and that seems to be how they're designed; throw two in there and they don't know how to act.

I have a modified flasher (cut the trace in the factory flasher to kill the bulb-out hyper flash warning function) and it was previously working perfectly with just LED replacements in my stock taillight circuit boards, but once I added the switchbacks up front, they did not do the switchback function properly. Can't remember exactly what they would do wrong as it's been a few years now. Anyway I added my old load resistors back into the turn circuit; I had removed them back when I modded the flasher. Switchbacks work properly now.

Richard

 

[sewlow]

So...an EP29 flasher, with resistors. I'll have to dig up the switchbacks I've got around here somewhere, & try that. I never could get them to work when I tried before, but I was just using the flasher unit OR the resistors. Never together.

 

[Iowa98Gmc]

So im thinking about going with tyc elegantes and doing a 35w 4500k hid kit from ddmtuning. Any comments about ordering from them?

 

[96Z71ECSB]

I run the Philips 9012 (HIR 2) Infrared bulbs for low beams. Supposedly they are one step down from HID.
They are almost a direct replacement. Modify the upper tab a little and they fit perfect.
Very bright.
The stock 9006 bulb puts out 1000 lumens and the 9012 puts out 1870 lumens.
I never use my brights anymore and I've never been flashed by on-coming traffic.
It's a good alternative to the cheap HID kits.