2014 Seirra Denali Poor Night Driving Lighting

67chevyman · August 13, 2014

Two points on this, first I would like to see a poll from the complainers on their previous light set up. If a bunch of people who are complaining had either upgraded headlights on their previous truck/suv/car (changed the bulbs to a brighter set up or HID) or they currently have a car/truck/suv with a HID set up then no doubt this is a step back and seems a lot worse than it really is. It would be like eating a good mid grade steak for a while and really enjoying it and thinking it is pretty damn good then going to a high end steak house and having a $200 steak. Of course it will spoil you and you realize how good it is but that doesn't make the previous steak any worse when it was pretty good before. Just curious what the numbers on that would be.

Second, as many have stated their GMT900 had great headlights, a clear lens halogen set up. Everyone today is so caught up in how something looks or appear (very materialistic) they have to have what looks cool or looks fancy/highend (hence the luxury truck). Halogens worked great were cheap, win win. But they don't look as cool as a projector lens and they had to have that which as many have noticed throw a nice narrow beam but don't do so well at scattering a wide beam. To balance costs with out going to a full HID set up they added these for the look. You got the look of an HID housing without the cost or light output. My GTO had a similar set up, when combined with the fog lights worked fine. I would rather have a halogen setup on most anything. I have driven these new trucks at night with the projector set up, they aren't bad at all. For sure not a "safety issue", I think that term is just thrown around to try and get some traction to get them redesigned. If they are that bad, how did people drive at night with sealed beam headlights?

If it were me designing these trucks, I would throw in an HID kit on the SLT, LTZ, Denali and High Country and pass the costs on to them, no need to make the working truck versions more expensive in-spite of a few. Do away with projector setups and keep the halogens; problem solved.

Tyler

Tyler, just read your condescending TROLL post, looks like that's your game/ habit.

Let's get one thing REAL clear. I don't give a damn about "looks" and sure as hell not going to spend 50k just for "cool looking headlights". I buy a truck for utility not to be pretty, trendy or to show off.

Secondly, ya for the owners that own this truck with the projector headlights that live, drive in the city, the headlights I would guess are adequate. For us that live in the country and mountains they are far from adequate, and are a safety issue. Just last night I damn near plowed into a herd of deer. Had to "lock up" the brakes and finally stopped just as the truck knocked a buck off his feet. They were about 100 feet away before the lights finally illuminated them. That is a safety issue.

Third I have never had to upgrade the bulbs on any truck or car I've owned. So I am not compairing the lack of illumination on the new Sierra's projector beams to anything other than stock halogen or sealed beam headlights. The fact is that GM, SHOULD HAVE left well enough alone and put in separate low and high beam reflector headlights or put in HID HEADLIGHTS. Instead they went half way. They put in a more expensive shutter based light with a cheap halogen bulb. If GM would have gone the correct way by putting in a HID bulb into the existing shutter based system it would not have cost anything more.

johne · August 13, 2014

You guys must have different lights than what I have on mine. That is actually one things I like most about my truck is how bright the lights are at night. My brother's girlfirend actually thought I had my high beams on when I pulled up behind her last weekend and some jerk on 95 ran his brights on me when I passed him since he must have thought I had my high beams on. I think the fog lights are decent as well. I could hardly even see in front of me driving in the mountains in my dodge at night with the high beams on, so maybe I am just used to poor lighting and these only seem great to me in comparison.

EaZ8 · August 13, 2014

ive been waiting to comment in this thread untill i took my sierra up to the cottage where there are no lights on the roads and just forest on each side.

are the lights amazing? no. are they bad? no.

heres my personal opinion.

yes, GM SHOULD have gone with a HID headlight in them, it would have really helped out a lot but at 1 to 2 am it was pitch black out and i found the headlights to have just enough lighting for the country roads.

the aim of the low beams is good, no complaints with where it is putting the light but a brighter bulb would have been better, personally i like 6000k HID's for the bluish tint they put out, i find it makes the white lines glow better in the rain.

lows with fogs on - i hit a couple fog patches that were fairly thick, the fog lights did their job in that they lit up the 2 feet in front of the truck and 3 feet out to the sides however ive always used fog lights more than i use high beams on country roads and for lighting up the actual road they seem fairly useless. ill be doing a HID or LED projector type bulb eventually.

the high beams, no real complaints, they throw the light far and bright enough, again yes HID's would do a much better job.

i know someone put out a high beam with fog mod, ill be doing that soon as well, but i wish someone would just make/find a new relay that could be plugged in to accomplish the same thing.

amxguy1970 · August 13, 2014

Tyler, just read your condescending TROLL post, looks like that's your game/ habit.

Let's get one thing REAL clear. I don't give a damn about "looks" and sure as hell not going to spend 50k just for "cool looking headlights". I buy a truck for utility not to be pretty, trendy or to show off.

Secondly, ya for the owners that own this truck with the projector headlights that live, drive in the city, the headlights I would guess are adequate. For us that live in the country and mountains they are far from adequate, and are a safety issue. Just last night I damn near plowed into a herd of deer. Had to "lock up" the brakes and finally stopped just as the truck knocked a buck off his feet. They were about 100 feet away before the lights finally illuminated them. That is a safety issue.

Third I have never had to upgrade the bulbs on any truck or car I've owned. So I am not compairing the lack of illumination on the new Sierra's projector beams to anything other than stock halogen or sealed beam headlights. The fact is that GM, SHOULD HAVE left well enough alone and put in separate low and high beam reflector headlights or put in HID HEADLIGHTS. Instead they went half way. They put in a more expensive shutter based light with a cheap halogen bulb. If GM would have gone the correct way by putting in a HID bulb into the existing shutter based system it would not have cost anything more.

Wow, touch a nerve with someone did I? That last sentence just shows how incorrect you are. Have you not seen how much a HID bulb and Ballast is? It is almost $200 for a single ballast on an escalade. Troll, yup. Been a mostly sole GM purchaser my entire life (minus our AMC's or E-type's) and on here mostly browsing for about a decade and some guy with 6 posts on the forum for 7 days wants to call me a troll after what I can only guess buys his first new truck? Pot meet kettle.

There is that "safety" word again... Does your new truck not have ABS? How did you lock your brakes up? Damn near plowed but still hit a deer, which one is it? You may not care about the headlight looks but just the fact you got so mad about it makes me think otherwise and I hit the nail on the head about you in my post. Ah well, to each their own. I do agree they should have used a separate halogen set up for their brights or GM should have filled it with an HID. Maybe a LED light bar would help your night driving endeavors in mountain terrain? Would also help keep your insurance down and not have any more accidents.

Cheers!

Wait, did you like your own post???

To calm this down, can we get some info on your 67 Chevy? Please be some type of SS with pics!

Tyler

GMC-AT · August 13, 2014

Will Obama see this petition ?

haider320 · August 14, 2014

You guys must have different lights than what I have on mine. That is actually one things I like most about my truck is how bright the lights are at night. My brother's girlfirend actually thought I had my high beams on when I pulled up behind her last weekend and some jerk on 95 ran his brights on me when I passed him since he must have thought I had my high beams on. I think the fog lights are decent as well. I could hardly even see in front of me driving in the mountains in my dodge at night with the high beams on, so maybe I am just used to poor lighting and these only seem great to me in comparison.

My lights are awesome too. Read my previous post. I have no problems at night seeing anything.

sirbOOm · August 14, 2014

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That's why bulb changes, aftermarket lights and HID conversions are the number 1 modification on this forum for the 2014 SLT and Denali.

What lights are in the grill on that pup, friend? Me likey.

Spurshot · August 14, 2014

What lights are in the grill on that pup, friend? Me likey.

They're Baja Designs SII lights. I posted the mod here...

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/155567-led-front-light-bars-pods/page-17

http://www.bajadesigns.com/products/led-lights

2160 lumens each. Beam choices: Long Range spot, driving, flood, wide cornering. I installed 2 spots and 2 wide cornering

kykurnell · August 14, 2014

I am in agreement on the lighting, but will GM make it right on the current 14 models or will they jus t update the 16's it would be nice for them to step up on this issue.

fiziksgeek · August 14, 2014

Have had my Silverado LT for about 7 weeks now. The lights are fine. I think they are middle of the road performance wise. No different than the F150 I rented a few months back... That being said, GM should offer an HID option (maybe standard on the Denali/High Country models). People would pay extra for it.....I would have assuming they didn't package it together with $1000 of other stuff I didn't want!

Spurshot · August 15, 2014

The Silverado had not received the negative comments that the Sierra projector headlights have.

johne · August 15, 2014

The Silverado had not received the negative comments that the Sierra projector headlights have.

Yeah, the headlights are totally different. The headlights on my silverado z71 are great.

fiziksgeek · August 15, 2014

Interesting, I assumed the lights were effectively the same. Meaning, I would have thought that the projectors used on the Silverado were the same as the projectors used on the Sierra. I just have an LT, no projects at all.

Anyway, I still think they should have at least offered a HID option (Ford does). At the price point for these higher end trucks, a few more dollars doesn't matter much...GM could make a few dollars more profit...

Spurshot · August 15, 2014

...

Anyway, I still think they should have at least offered a HID option (Ford does). At the price point for these higher end trucks, a few more dollars doesn't matter much...GM could make a few dollars more profit...

It doesn't work that way. It's no where near that simple.

GTD · August 15, 2014

I felt that 6.2s should have come with duals or at least a catback standard. Now various Borla built catbacks are available with GM part numbers as acessories on the "Landing Page"

This has nothing to do with lighting but a quality specialty company could come up with a HID lighting package for the Sierra's and carry a GM part number. Just a thought.