Spurshot

The Baja Designs SII lights came today. One of the bennies of living less than 100 miles from the maker. This little light is really tiny. But incredibly bright. 2160 lumens. I fired one up with some jury rigging. Amazingly bright for such a little package. These are the "wide cornering" lights with the Fresnel lens with a wide pattern like a true fog light should have.

I think the inner fender liners are pretty floppy and can rub on one truck and not on another. Also, wheel offset gets more critical as they get larger.

I had 33 x 12.50s on a stock truck without any level/lift. They didn't rub. Still had at least an inch clearance.

I was trying to find light output data on those. Nothing out there. 9 watts would lead me to believe they're in the 1000 lumen range (ea). That's about twice the stock fogs. Probably a good setup for the guy wanting to run them on the street (legally). To determine if they'll fit, you need to lay on your back under your bumper and see if there's room for the mounting bracket and adjuster. I think there is...I was looking for another reason lastnight.

It's made out of 304 and should polish up very nicely.

I stumbled on a local California outfit named Baja Designs. Their lights are made in house and warrantied for life. Seems like a real deal kind of American company. They had a video explaining offroad driving light patterns needed. Off course they were talking mainly about racing, but they did mention the need for side lighting to see when turning and sliding. They showed a race truck with a set of lights mounted pointing sharply outward like 45 degrees. They make all kinds of configurations, and types from LED to HID, including bars. They make a small two LED light that's 2100 lumens each and about 2" x 3" that I think will work for my needs. I plan to run 4 of them. But just ordered 2 for now, just to try them. If they are what I want, I'll order another set. I plan to have a set pointing outward and a set pointing straight ahead. The first set I bought are wide beams. The second set may be tight beams. I want the independent lights so I can adjust them as needed. Straight ahead lighting is going to be covered mainly by the headlights while off road. I drive fairly slowly off road, but winding trails can be hard to see to the side. The Jeep guys are putting lights on the mirrors pointing out about 20-30 degrees. That's probably the ideal location, but I don't want to get into wiring and mounting in the mirrors. http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDetail?ItemNumber=480003 Here's their approach to lighting needs.

Thanks for taking the time to work with GM and to share the information on the issue.

We use them on airplanes as well. Be sure to clean them out periodically. Maybe once a year. A friend had his plug up on an airplane. We found grease like build-up in it.

I've been thinking about the kind of lighting I want/need for driving the highways and trails on my hunting trips. On the highways, big broad and long range beams are nice for when no other vehicles are around. But I want nicely controlled low beams with good width and distance as well. On trails, I'm going slower and don't need long range lights, but need to see left and right very close in to turn on tight trails and also to see when coming up a ridge. I like the idea of that row in the grill where some have installed the single row LED bars. So I'm thinking of maybe a set of floods that are pretty low power, maybe 2 or 3 LEDs each, pointed pretty sharply outward and down, and a set of floods slightly more powerful pointed straight ahead. I plan to have HIDs in the main headlights eventually and have already have a HID kit for the fogs that I haven't installed. Comments on your idea of a setup for my type of use?

I think Baxter was referring to peace of mind knowing that the parts have OEM quality and durability. Aftermarket products can range from way better than OEM to completely worthless. Many aftermarket mechanical products don't have the reliability of OEM.

My English Pointer, clearly pointing to the truck of choice...GM.

Judging from all the posts about dealers avoiding this issue, I'd guess that there's no fix and none on the horizon. I'd change the POS out except I have no idea if it's even possible, since the radio, GPS, and other stuff is so integrated.

In my state, I believe strobes are illegal. Can you use them in other states? What is the use for strobes?

Here you go. Looks like mine. I went with the 305/60-18 and used my stock wheels, mainly because Fuel didn't have the "Full Blown" wheels in stock and it was a couple month wait. I've thought about just keeping my stock wheels.

I bitched it on my customer satisfaction survey from GMC.

The last line of the OP opened the conversation to rubbing issues.

Just spend the $ and get a Morimoto kit. Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for.

Just slightly OT, but I think it goes to the main subject here. I drove my wife's 2013 Flex Limited with HIDs last night for the first time in months. It really has great projectors and HIDs. They are a single bulb, shutter type hi/lo. Excellent side lighting. However, it does have some lighting that goes very high when the high beams are selected. So, there's hope out there. A good replacement projector and HIDs. I was starting to doubt the projector type lights could work as well as the reflector types. They can.

You can find them at about any auto parts store. Read the features. Some only read codes. Some read codes and clear codes.

If you don't have a code reader that clears codes, get one. It'll save you a lot of BS in the long run and maybe some $ along the way.

Use a code reader to clear the codes.

If you look at the boards along their length you can see a slight bow to them. Mine are are very near to being even but do have some bow.

Got AMP power steps installed today. Bushwacker flares showed up on the porch today. Morimoto HID fog kit showed up yesterday. Weathertech liners showed up a few days ago.

The AMP power steps look great and my wife should be happy. Also, both out elderly mothers had difficulty getting in my truck without steps. These are low enough for a first step for them. Wife came home and I showed her the steps. She thinks they're the coolest thing about the truck.

I just received a call from my AMP dealer. They are finished with the installation of the power steps on my truck. I'll pick it up after work.