2016 silverado 1500 headlight bulb upgrade

[SirenRed16]

This is the most trolled/uninformed thread on gm-trucks.com. OP had a legit question about his headlights.

 

Half the people posting here have '14 or '15 silverados and don't even know the '16 HID headlights.

 

I'm in the same boat as OP and I've learned almost NOTHING after reading all 3 pages of posts.

 

If you have '14 or '15 silverados please stop posting in this thread. Go do something useful.

 

The 25w D5s are not enough light in dark areas especially on the sides. Kinda tunnel vision. Hopefully someone can find a good solution and post it here.

 

Cheers,

Danny G

Is your truck at stock height? I noticed my '16 lights shined down pretty low when it had the stock height but when I put lowering shackles the beam seemed to be aimed up higher and visibility is better. The LED fogs definitely do help.

 

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[bndawgs]

would this kit work to upgrade the 16 HIDs? Having to order the H11B

 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/vehicle-specific/trucks/2014-silverado-morimoto-elite.html?preselect=51812%2C50563%2C47309%2C48753%2C48136

 

My 16 HIDs are decent, but the high beams are lousy. I think a light bar would probably be the way to go if you didn't want to mess with trying to upgrade the factory HID bulb

[djxn40]

I came from a 96 z71 that I drove for 300,000 miles. I rolled it and it was stuck upside down. A buddy hooked a chain to it we flipped it over and I drove it home. It's in my barn and still runs great. I bought this 2016 z71 silverado. Idk what lights are in it but it's bright to me. I think originally it wasn't that great but after the level ( no adjustment to the lights) it's a lot better. I live in deer country as well and last week I did the mod to have my fog lights on with my high beams. They serve me well down my dark highway.

 

Not discounting your problem... just saying maybe try adjusting your lamps up. Also it's easy and pretty cheap to upgrade fog lights. That with a 2 min mod will give you high & low beams with upgraded fogs. After raising my front end I guarantee you my lights shine wider and brighter

 

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[ajrich80]

I answered your question earlier. Either get the GM morimoto kit for your projectors, or spend more and get them with potted denso ballasts. Your d5s bulb can be changed to a d2s bulb. You'll have to mount the ballast externally since your d5s bulb has a 25w ballast mounted to the rear of the bulb assembly.

The focal point of d5s is 18.0 compared to 27.1 for other HID bulbs so the light output wouldn't be correct for the projector.

 

 

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[1990dtgl98]

I know the D5s is only 25w...does anyone have a comparison to the led upgrade? I'm looking at a 2017 Sierra and now am wondering if I should focus on mainly the led option?

 

Im figuring the D5s at about 2200 lumen and the led around 3200?

 

Im just not sure if I've seen any photographs to see how that translates.

[Brian S.]

Have to say I like the HIDs in my 2017 better than the halogens in the 2104/2015s I had. Seem much brighter and light up the edge of the road better.

[trp3383]

morimoto just came out with 35w ds5 bulbs

[x219c]

morimoto just came out with 35w ds5 bulbs

Nice! But damn, they're a little spendy.

 

 

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[Spurshot]

There always seems to be misunderstandings of these evolving light systems on the K2. I believe one commenter repeatedly provided a suggestion to bump the low HID system from 25w to 35w. That would be a 40-50% increase in low beam output. The Morimoto 35w bulb/ballast looks like a clean way to go. It may be enough. If not, I really think supplemental LED lights are the way to go. Or if cheap is important, you can buy 35w D5S sets on eBay for about $40.

 

I'm not a fan of big light bars. I like multiple, small, hidden lights that I can select the beam pattern and aim separately. I installed 4 2200 lumen Baja Design S2 lights behind the grill (2 wide beam and 2 long range) and 2 1500 lumen Rigid SAE fog lights in the original fog locations, in addition to installing a 3000 lumen 35w TRS HID kit in the OEM projectors. They all are wired via relays to come on with the flip of my high beam lever. 18000 lumens instantly on allows me to shutdown or turn on enough light to see anything I need to see.

 

I currently have 2 of the 2200 lumen wide beams and the 2 Rigid 1500 lumen wide fog lights, wired to the OEM fog light switch. With the "fog lights on with high beam" diode mod I came up with, all lights come on when I flip the high beam lever and return to low beam only when the lever is flipped back. This wiring scheme allows instant dimming for oncoming traffic without taking my hands off the wheel and reaching all over the cab in multiple places to dim lights.

 

I've never needed or wanted more light than my setup has. But I have wanted less. I'm planning to take the one set of 2200 lumen lights off the fog circuit and put them on the circuit with the other set on high beams only. This will leave the 2 wide flat 1500 lumen SAE fog lights on the fog light switch.

 

No it wasn't cheap. I think I paid $175 a piece for the 4 Baja Design S2 lights and a couple hundred for the Rigid fog lights, plus whatever the TRS HID kit cost. Wiring and relays added up. Good lighting costs good money. I really like my system and I haven't seen other systems people have done that I liked better.

[Lgetz]

Agree 100% with Spurshot that good lights are worth the money spent. Stock headlights on my truck were poor to say the least. Morimoto GMC spec HID kit was a dramatic improvement. Now with Morimoto XB LED fog lights formerly darkened areas are illuminated, oncoming drivers aren't blinded by glare from them and they match the HID color way better than the halogen fogs. If I feel the need for more lighting will also go the S2 route behind the grille.

[Thomcat]

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 ?

x2 Threw the zXe's into the stock halogen projectors in my '17 Impala and I agree....easily match the stock HID projectors in the '16 Silverado.

[Thomcat]

i dont see much of a difference at all using the led fog lights , they only help a little bit , but still not nearly enough for me to be comfortable , i looked online for days and cant find anything at all ,i even called all the parts stores in my area and they dont even have a listing for the 2016 silverado 1500 headlights yet . the whole purpose of me posting this was to get help finding upgraded bulbs without having to change the whole headlight assembly in the process any help or tips would be greatly appreciated

X2 on the LED fog lights........three stinking Luxeon LEDs per lens with a crappy reflector?.......they're just called fog lights so they can hit us with a charge for the option. The 14+ Impalas do not have fog lights but LED drl's on the LTZ version (like the Silvy's drls) having 6 of those LEDs. but they are no good as fogs because they dim when the main headlamps are turned on. Solution was to hook the six LED drls directly to a ignition powered circuit so that they are always at full brightness - And the six LEDs per side provide twice the brightness and do make a difference and the curved arrangement provides a bit of side lighting in a turn.

[Stttt]

After calling around for a solution to the D5S problem, after market people are seeing a slew of people who hate the 25 D5S 25W HID.  I had a new 2014 Silverado with wonderful headlights.  Bought a new 2018 Silverado with HID and they are horrible.  The aftermarket says they are a fairly new bulb.  Give it some some and there should be some good after market solutions to the dim lighting.

[Stttt]

On 7/5/2017 at 10:52 AM, bndawgs said:

would this kit work to upgrade the 16 HIDs? Having to order the H11B

 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/vehicle-specific/trucks/2014-silverado-morimoto-elite.html?preselect=51812%2C50563%2C47309%2C48753%2C48136

 

My 16 HIDs are decent, but the high beams are lousy. I think a light bar would probably be the way to go if you didn't want to mess with trying to upgrade the factory HID bulb

Called them.  Won't work.

[AtlasFBG2]

On ‎5‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 8:27 PM, Stttt said:

After calling around for a solution to the D5S problem, after market people are seeing a slew of people who hate the 25 D5S 25W HID.  I had a new 2014 Silverado with wonderful headlights.  Bought a new 2018 Silverado with HID and they are horrible.  The aftermarket says they are a fairly new bulb.  Give it some some and there should be some good after market solutions to the dim lighting.

If you want plug and play 35w d5s hid for your 2018 there is 3 choices.

Morimoto for about $320-350 depending on where you buy.

Hylux and ddm tuning for $199

 

https://hidkitpros.com/shop/hylux-d5s-oe-headlight-xenon-hid-bulbs/

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Ultrakit35WD5S

http://www.fastheadlights.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=buy_35watt_d5s_HID

 

I have the Morimoto 35w d5s and while they are brighter distance is still about the same as the stock 25w d5s bulbs.