Headlight upgrade

MegaCode360 · November 14, 2017

Hi guys.

Read thru the hid fourm best i could (crazy long). Looking for some advice.

I have a 15 Silverado LTZ with the stock halogen projector low beams. I have an upgraded bulb in the lows, its a NAPA LongLite but it still sucks. I was thinking of upgrading the bulb to Sylvania Silverstar Ultras or zXe. I am decently handy and can definitely change out headlight bulbs. Anyone running either of those with the stock projectors?

Then, I got to thinking about doing HID or LED. I could definitely install a plug and play kit of either, but probably wouldnt be comfortable doing a whole retrofit, projectors and all.

My questions are:

Is it even worth putting HIDs in with the stock projectors or should I get a retofit done?

Secondly, if I went the LED route, could i keep the stock projectors? There wasnt a ton of info regarding an LED upgrade with the stock projectors, at least from what I could find. Anyone running LEDs in the stock projectors? What do you think of the results? Any issues with your DRLs?

I guess in summary, are there any good options while keeping the stock 2014-15 projectors?

I know HID is brighter than LED, but either would beat the turd hallogens. Just looking to keep the projectors I have. If it is 100% not an option, i will get them retrofitted.

Thanks in advance!

Spurshot · November 14, 2017

The only halogen bulb improvements that I know of are the GM TSB upgrade bulb or installing the 9011 in place of the factory 9012. The 9011 is about 20% brighter. But it doesn't significantly improve the actual usable light by much.

Stock halogen projector w/HID kit is more than decent. .

mr4wdLTZ · November 14, 2017

I did this kit in my 15 LTZ. light output is fantastic.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems-15/hid-systems-vehicle-specific/2014-silverado-morimoto-elite.html

very simple install.

Spurshot · November 14, 2017

Here's an old pic of the factory halogen projector with a Morimoto HID kit installed. Plenty of distance projection of illumination on low beam. Good beam control and cutoff. I drove many long nights across the western U.S. with this setup. It's a huge improvement over the 2014-15 stock halogen bulb in the halogen projectors .

I've recently installed the 2017 LED headlights which don't have quite the output that HID has, but they're very good as well.

IMO, a good low beam is the most important part of the vehicle lighting. All the light bars and pods in the world aren't doing you any good when you're on a dark highway where there's just enough oncoming traffic to limit you to your low beams. That's most of the time for the driving I do.

lew-e · November 14, 2017

While it may be an option it is not the safest or nicest option. You are going to blind oncoming traffic and piss a lot of people off. I’ve said this in a number of threads, go ahead and retrofit or buy a new setup altogether. It costs more but it’s the right thing to do without a doubt

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Spurshot · November 14, 2017

The Sierra and Silverado projectors do a very good job of controlling glare, bleed, artifacts, and cutoff. Their actual performance on controlling glare, bleed, artifacts, and cutoff is what matters. The posted picture above shows the beam performance. The pictures below is a 2014 Sierra projector next to a disassembled Lexus RX-350 HID projector. The design is very similar except for the bulb socket. The picture of the beam below shows no bleed above the cutoff. The HID kit into the factory halogen projectors (found on the higher trim Sierra/Silverado only) are not the same as putting a HID kit into a reflector housing.

aseibel · November 14, 2017

52 minutes ago, lew-e said:

While it may be an option it is not the safest or nicest option. You are going to blind oncoming traffic and piss a lot of people off. I’ve said this in a number of threads, go ahead and retrofit or buy a new setup altogether. It costs more but it’s the right thing to do without a doubt

what?? nobody cares about blinding the other traffic. They just want to light up the ditches and see 2 miles ahead an an empty country road.

MegaCode360 · November 14, 2017

8 hours ago, mr4wdLTZ said:

I did this kit in my 15 LTZ. light output is fantastic.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems-15/hid-systems-vehicle-specific/2014-silverado-morimoto-elite.html

very simple install.

Thanks for the info. mr4wdLTZ, looks like this uses the factory halogen projectors. I feel like I can do this install after looking at the instructions. Any problems with too much heat for the housing or projector? Did you have any issues with the length of the bulb fitting with the dust cap on? I understand a hole needs drilled for the wiring, but some guy on the website reviews complained the bulb was too long because the plug isnt at a 90 degree angle snd he had to drill a second hole. Any issues for you with that?

Also, have you upgraded your high beams and fogs at all? If so, what did you go with? Correct me if I'm wrong anyone, if you only use your highs for short periods/LED is the way to go correct, since no warm up time? Thanks again!

MegaCode360 · November 15, 2017

Anyone, esp in Texas, have any issues with them failing your inspection due to the HID kit? I have projectors so its not like im putting them in reflector housings, but I dont want to vet jammed up.

Also, any advice on high beams and fogs? LED the way to go?

Spurshot · November 16, 2017

9 hours ago, MegaCode360 said:

Anyone, esp in Texas, have any issues with them failing your inspection due to the HID kit? I have projectors so its not like im putting them in reflector housings, but I dont want to vet jammed up.

Also, any advice on high beams and fogs? LED the way to go?

If you have scheduled vehicle inspections, it’s really easy to install the stock halogen bulbs back and plug them in for the inspection and then reinstall the HID bulbs later. My recommendation is to use a dielectric grease to seal up the relays good. I had moisture intrusion in mine and had a few relays fail before I cured it.

for high beams, I’d just add some pods (I like the Baja Designs S2 Pro) and put covers on them for the vehicle inspection. Wire the pods to the high beam using relays.

mr4wdLTZ · November 17, 2017

On 11/14/2017 at 3:10 PM, MegaCode360 said:

Thanks for the info. mr4wdLTZ, looks like this uses the factory halogen projectors. I feel like I can do this install after looking at the instructions. Any problems with too much heat for the housing or projector? Did you have any issues with the length of the bulb fitting with the dust cap on? I understand a hole needs drilled for the wiring, but some guy on the website reviews complained the bulb was too long because the plug isnt at a 90 degree angle snd he had to drill a second hole. Any issues for you with that?

Also, have you upgraded your high beams and fogs at all? If so, what did you go with? Correct me if I'm wrong anyone, if you only use your highs for short periods/LED is the way to go correct, since no warm up time? Thanks again!

bulb fitment was fine, no issues with heat so far. its been 6 months. trickiest part was getting the dust caps back on. lol

i did not upgrade my high beams for a couple reasons, 1) the HID kit in the projectors does a great job with light output and basically makes my highs useless, and 2) the highs on the LTZs are reflector housings.

LED does not require warmup, but im not convinced LED puts out as uniform/concentrated light (even through a projector, by way of design) as a HID bulb does.

TJay74 · November 17, 2017

On 11/13/2017 at 11:25 PM, Spurshot said:

The only halogen bulb improvements that I know of are the GM TSB upgrade bulb or installing the 9011 in place of the factory 9012. The 9011 is about 20% brighter. But it doesn't significantly improve the actual usable light by much.

Stock halogen projector w/HID kit is more than decent. .

That is a Sierra only TSB update as the Silverado uses different bulbs and housing than the Sierra

8lugCT · November 17, 2017

On 11/13/2017 at 11:11 PM, MegaCode360 said:

Hi guys.

Read thru the hid fourm best i could (crazy long). Looking for some advice.

I have a 15 Silverado LTZ with the stock halogen projector low beams. I have an upgraded bulb in the lows, its a NAPA LongLite but it still sucks. I was thinking of upgrading the bulb to Sylvania Silverstar Ultras or zXe. I am decently handy and can definitely change out headlight bulbs. Anyone running either of those with the stock projectors?

Then, I got to thinking about doing HID or LED. I could definitely install a plug and play kit of either, but probably wouldnt be comfortable doing a whole retrofit, projectors and all.

My questions are:

Is it even worth putting HIDs in with the stock projectors or should I get a retofit done?

Secondly, if I went the LED route, could i keep the stock projectors? There wasnt a ton of info regarding an LED upgrade with the stock projectors, at least from what I could find. Anyone running LEDs in the stock projectors? What do you think of the results? Any issues with your DRLs?

I guess in summary, are there any good options while keeping the stock 2014-15 projectors?

I know HID is brighter than LED, but either would beat the turd hallogens. Just looking to keep the projectors I have. If it is 100% not an option, i will get them retrofitted.

Thanks in advance!

I put a higher wattage halogen bulb in my lows. they're a very good alternative to HID's, and you can get bulbs with blue coatings that will make them whiter than stock. I'd probably kill people with HIDs and my lift.

Edit: here's the thread I posted about it