2016 silverado 1500 headlight bulb upgrade

swampa · August 19, 2016

new to this site so dont bite my head off for this , just bought a toungsten metalic 2016 silverado 1500 Z71 double cab in june , even though the low beam headlights are ok ,the high beams are not much better than the low beams and I live in a very dark area with very little street lights and need better lighting . I have looked online and I cant find any info at all on upgrade headlight bulbs for the 2016 silverado 1500 ? I dont want to switch to hid just want upgraded bulbs like the silverstar xenon bulbs I put in my last truck a 2015 chevy colorado Z71 crewcab 3.6 4x4 , they really lit up the road around here well , didn't even need my high beams but when I did use them boy did they really light up the road . Any help finding upgraded headlight bulbs for the 16 silverado 1500 would be greatly appreciated

O_J_Simpson · August 19, 2016

Buy a set of OEM LED headlights.

tmo · August 19, 2016

I thought the 2016s had HID lights standard

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1300c · August 19, 2016

If you have a 16 model that's not a ltz, or high country you have hid. However since they are d5s bulbs they are only 2200 lumens instead of the 34-3600 lumens that a d2s bulb is. Your bulbs have a smaller 25 watt ballast that's actually attached to the rear of the bulb. You could probably easily upgrade to base d2s cbh bulb with a 35 watt ballast and blow the oem led headlights away.

TJay74 · August 19, 2016

new to this site so dont bite my head off for this , just bought a toungsten metalic 2016 silverado 1500 Z71 double cab in june , even though the low beam headlights are ok ,the high beams are not much better than the low beams and I live in a very dark area with very little street lights and need better lighting . I have looked online and I cant find any info at all on upgrade headlight bulbs for the 2016 silverado 1500 ? I dont want to switch to hid just want upgraded bulbs like the silverstar xenon bulbs I put in my last truck a 2015 chevy colorado Z71 crewcab 3.6 4x4 , they really lit up the road around here well , didn't even need my high beams but when I did use them boy did they really light up the road . Any help finding upgraded headlight bulbs for the 16 silverado 1500 would be greatly appreciated

There is no separate low/high beam on the Sierra headlights. There is a plate that flips up and out of the way to allow more light out of the projector when you trigger the high beams.

swampa · August 19, 2016

i was under the assumption that the silverado has projector type headlights just like the 2015 colorado with the exception that the colorado uses a 4 bulb system and the silverado uses a 2 bulb system , all i know is the low beams are barely addaquite and the high beams suck bad on my new silverado and would like to upghrade the lighting without spending a fortune

swampa · August 19, 2016

i dont want to switch to a vertical 4 lamp system like on the 2500 HD silverado ,would like to just upgrade the bulbs if i can , if that indeed will work to improve the forward lighting on my 16 silverado Z71

newdude · August 19, 2016

Wut...you have HID lighting in your truck already. And most likely being a Z71, the LED fog lights as well. 2014-2015 1500 trucks had two headlights. Reflector halogen with a dual bulb system (one high one low) and a projector halogen (low projector and reflector halogen). 2016 Silverado 1500 are single bulb HID projector WT to LT trim levels. LTZ and up are LED projector.

slj2008 · August 19, 2016

What's a good blub for a 2015 w/ projector (midnight edition ) ?? something super bright (night driving) Hid's or Led's . any info will be helpful. Thanks

Silvern Sentry · August 19, 2016

Someone complaining about 2016 lighting? Has the world turned upside down?

OP your lowbeam should be better than a silverstar halogen not just slightly but much better. I would start by adjusting the lights as I find it hard to believe even with the 35W HID bulb you have it is hard to see. Also you cannot or should not change your Highbeam to HID (or LED) in a reflective housing, projector only. You could put a halogen white in the highbeam, personally I recommend Philips bulbs not Silverstar, it is worth the extra clams as they are best in the biz.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Alpine Truck Life

Silvern Sentry · August 19, 2016

There is no separate low/high beam on the Sierra headlights. There is a plate that flips up and out of the way to allow more light out of the projector when you trigger the high beams.

Negatory good buddy. The only time that plate moves is in high end Euro cars where it is self leveling (like in Mercedes)

A dual beam works like this:

The highbeam goes under the level and reflects at an upward angle. A dual bulb looks something like this (I am sure are different brand/styles) and one side is shielded so it only reflects up in the case of a low beam and back down under that leveling plate.

One-set-H4-2-H4L-Hi-Low-Hid-bulb-one-xen

This is why 2 separate light housing is superior and if you look around at cars you will notice most with high end projectors have a separate high beam ie) Landrover, Mercedes, Lexus etc etc.

As someone who started with a single projector and now has a reflector housed high beam in my 2015 Sierra I can vouch that it is night and day difference. Silverado lights > Sierra lights.

*I also would not have been able to swap to this set up, which was basically plug and play if all the sierra did was move the leveling plate for high beam. Instead it has a separate 12v power wire and uses the same ground as rest of lights. If you look at the wireing harness / connection you can even count the wires for each. 1 low, 1 high, 1 marker, 1 blinker & finally 1 ground for a total of 5 pins (LED DRL Strips have 1 power each as well if equipped so 7 total in a 2015 sierra)

Edited August 19, 2016 by Alpine Truck Life

1300c · August 19, 2016

Someone complaining about 2016 lighting? Has the world turned upside down?

OP your lowbeam should be better than a silverstar halogen not just slightly but much better. I would start by adjusting the lights as I find it hard to believe even with the 35W HID bulb you have it is hard to see. Also you cannot or should not change your Highbeam to HID (or LED) in a reflective housing, projector only. You could put a halogen white in the highbeam, personally I recommend Philips bulbs not Silverstar, it is worth the extra clams as they are best in the biz.

The new hid bulbs have 25 watt ballasts now instead of 35.

Silvern Sentry · August 19, 2016

The new hid bulbs have 25 watt ballasts now instead of 35.

Ah thanks for the tip, do not think I ever seen a 25W, Still find it hard to believe it is not much better than any halogen.

Edit "Your bulbs have a smaller 25 watt ballast that's actually attached to the rear of the bulb" , well that splains why I never seen it, nothing to see.

Has anyone tried simply swapping out the ballast & bulb and using stock wiring in a 2016? is it comparable with aftermarket? my own experience with GM and lights makes me think no.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Alpine Truck Life

1300c · August 19, 2016

Ah thanks for the tip, do not think I ever seen a 25W, Still find it hard to believe it is not much better than any halogen.

I think they're a big improvement over halogen. But than again they are only 900 lumens more than an h11 being they are d5s.

swampa · August 19, 2016

Someone complaining about 2016 lighting? Has the world turned upside down?

OP your lowbeam should be better than a silverstar halogen not just slightly but much better. I would start by adjusting the lights as I find it hard to believe even with the 35W HID bulb you have it is hard to see. Also you cannot or should not change your Highbeam to HID (or LED) in a reflective housing, projector only. You could put a halogen white in the highbeam, personally I recommend Philips bulbs not Silverstar, it is worth the extra clams as they are best in the biz.

hate to bust your bubble , but yes the halogen silverstar xenon ZXE's i put in my 2015 colorado Z71 were way brighter than the so called HID headlights i now have in my 2016 Z71 Silverado 1500. no comparison at all like night and day , how can i upgrade the bulbs in the Silverado without breaking the bank ?