boettcher40

Some great upgrades, looking nice! Are you planning on wrapping or painting the bumpers? I wrapped mine and they look awesome, plus no worries with rock chips like the painted bumpers. 3M 2080 gloss black vinyl matches onyx black pretty dang good.

I have the same issue on the running boards I bought second hand last year. Previous owner clearly didn't have mud flaps so they're flaking like crazy. Asked around locally and was quoted anywhere from 300-500 for powder coat or line-x. Keep us updated in the next few months how they hold up, I'll most likely be doing this in the spring when the temps are higher than in the negatives..

I can't stop staring! Figured that was the switch mod you were talking about, almost went that route but opted for some different switches instead. Looks like you have an aftermarket bumper, but if you need some rear pod lights I highly suggest the Diode Dynamics SSC1 pods or Rigid Industries flush mount back up kit.

Hot damn!!!!! That is one good looking rig. Tastefully done sir! Care to explain the "GMC Sierra 2500 switch lightbar mod"?

Looking forward to seeing the output! Don't forget to aim them

Is that a MK4 R32 in the background I see???

Have you thought of behind the grille? There are quite a few threads on here with info and install tips, even if you have active shutters. I installed a 30" curved bar and used a piece of flat bar steel bolted to the radiator support bars for mounting. Edit: First cup of coffee clearly didn't kick in yet, thought I was in the K2 posts.. info might be useless since you're on the new platform but I'll leave it up to kick around the idea. Now if you'll excuse me going to fill my cup...

I got them next day due to being only 2 hours from their headquarters.. Wondering if they stock certain parts (small easy to store items) at their HQ and I got lucky with these LED's I ordered.

Took it apart from the back. The PCB is attached to the back white molded piece, which is held in by small clips. A few small screwdrivers and it's simple to pop them apart. The round knobs for volume and temperature control are held in with clips so I just used a few small flatheads to wiggle them off, which you'll need to remove before you can separate the PCB from button cover piece. This is the only other picture I took, I had a spare HVAC unit that I practiced on before attempting. One helpful tip would be solder some leads on the positive/negative sides of a 3v battery to test your LED's individually before reassembly. This way if a connection isn't making contact you know to reset and resolder each end of the LED. I believe I just took a calipers to find the overall dimensions of the LED and filtered by that on Digikey, then ordered a few different variations depending on forward voltage. Looks like I ordered them in red (I want to say I attempted to switch all white LED's to red but it didn't look very good lol) but below are snips of the part #'s from my invoice. Definitely a starting point for you, because as you found out there are hundreds of thousands of parts on digikey haha. Another way to determine voltage of each LED would be take the HVAC unit apart and plug it in. Use a multimeter to find the forward voltage of those white LED's while the parking lights are on. If my memory is correct it was around 2.8v? Let me know if you have any more questions, my inbox is always open!

Had the same issue quite awhile ago. I have quite a bit of experience with soldering so tackled this on my own. Found some LED's on digikey that were very similar and got them swapped out. Flux, a good soldering station, magnifying glass and steady hands are your best friends!

You are going to be blown away by these. I'm in a facebook group called headlight junkies and Diode is one of the staples in the lighting community. I only have the pro's, and with my old stock projectors and a mid-tier 45w HID kit the fogs were brighter than my low beams. Also you won't be blinding incoming traffic due to their TIR lens technology. They literally light up EVERYTHING in the ditch, and have top notch customer support if you ever need anything. Post some comparison pictures!

There could be a way to tie them into the actual bed light switch in the center console, @pgamboa might be able to help. Works best to shoot him an email at harnessdr.com. I wired in aux reverse lights but did not want them to always be on when the truck is in reverse, so I improvised and put a switch from otrattw in, and tapped into a constant 12v signal in the drivers side fuse panel via an add-a-fuse. Super simple install, below is the write up I made. Not sure if this is what you are going for just throwing out some options!

Definitely the worst part about living in the midwest with a black truck. I try to hand wash at a self serve place once a month, but what a PITA and then it usually snows the next day anyways. I need a shop with a wash bay..

Wish I started this when my Sierra was completely stock to see the progression. The only problem is I tend to get too excited and forget to take pictures throughout the project, hence only posting a few above lol.

Had a few days off this week before I start my new job on Monday, so decided to tear back into the headlights. I can’t ever leave anything alone!!! Removing the old permaseal was a complete b!tch. When I opened them up the first time to install the Klearz, I went the easy way out and just mashed the perma down in the channel and put butyl over top of it. About 4-5 hours to remove everything and multiple times in and out of the oven. On top of that, I put a bead of clear silicone around the edge after the new butyl dried so had to get that off too. Live and learn... Took the chrome bezel out, used Easy Off heavy duty oven cleaner to strip the chrome. About 10 minutes in on the picture below. 30 min process and it results in gloss black. Installation of Diode Dynamics switchback DRL boards was next. Pretty straight forward process. 5 min epoxy to secure the boards. Reassembly of the lenses and bezels. PG9 cable gland on the back of the housing so I could mount the LED switchback drivers on the outside of the headlight. Wired it all up and test ran before sealing everything back up. Everything is good to go so back in the oven and sealed up! 250F for 10 min to soften the Diode butyl. And the final results. Super happy with how everything turned out!