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5346 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  bigoilbob, 
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I noticed the headlights aren't very bright, is there anything that can be done?
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Duken4evr
The simple/easy and cheap thing I did was drop in some brighter halogens. You trade off service life for brightness I suppose, but mine are 3 years old now and still going fine. The headlights went from notably "how the Hell are these sucky stock headlights DOT legal dim" to "functional". When I drive at night now, I am not blown away by how bright my lights are, but not struggling to see either. The simply work acceptably like they should have from the factory.

There is a whole host of other more involved/expensive options too of course. These are the bulbs I am using to good effect:

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mwswarrior
WHen I bought mine about a year ago, I quickly replaced the bulbs with LEDs. I've used "Beamtech" and "Alla" brand lights from Amazon for years and have never had to replace them on any of my vehicles.
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bigoilbob
mwswarrior said:
WHen I bought mine about a year ago, I quickly replaced the bulbs with LEDs. I've used "Beamtech" and "Alla" brand lights from Amazon for years and have never had to replace them on any of my vehicles.
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The way to go. Just make sure you check dimensions, I had to buy another pair of hemispheric backs, cut rings off of 2 of them and glue the rings to the other 2 to make room for the lights. Don't be like bigoilbob.

But EVERYONE MUST DO THIS. Stock is not safe, to the point of GM criminal culpability.
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Duken4evr
Good to know the Twins' Canbus system plays nice with LEDs. That is not always the case in all vehicles, and we know how twitchy our system can be with it's God forsaken Stabilitrak errors.

Bulb errors can occur when the system checks to see if a bulb is working or not by measuring the resistance on the circuit. Some vehicles measure the total circuit resistance, others check individual bulbs, and when the system does so, it is checking for the characteristics of a normal halogen bulb. I do think it is prudent to go with LEDs that others on the board have successfully used to be safe and avoid a potential hassle.

I plan to put LEDs in my street motorcycle, as it's headlights are as dim as our truck's. The bike is a no brainer "dumb" system. Dumb is good sometimes :sneaky:
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KeithM said:
I noticed the headlights aren't very bright, is there anything that can be done?
KeithM said:
I noticed the headlights aren't very bright, is there anything that can be done?
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Sorry, didn’t get to complete reply. The headlight ratings for 2016 Colorado according the IIHS are poor. I tried various LED drop in replacements and found that the slightest difference in LED placement and angle, made a big difference in performance and light coverage. There may be others that perform well, but I think these are great and drastically improve performance and visibility:
Long story short, get the H11 and the 9005 for low and high beams respectively with these:
LIGHTENING DARK 10000 Lumens H11 LED Headlight Bulb, CREE Chips H8 H9 Conversion Kit,6000K Cool White - 360°Adjustable Beam Pattern Amazon.com: LIGHTENING DARK 10000 Lumens H11 LED Headlight Bulb, CREE Chips H8 H9 Conversion Kit,6000K Cool White - 360°Adjustable Beam Pattern: Automotive
There may
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T
When putting in LED's do some checking. There are some that work better in reflector headlights while others have a better beam pattern with projector. My suggestion is do some research and get what works best in your headlight. I found bulb facts to be helpful with their recommendations, BulbFacts | Best Recommended LED Headlight Kits

I have Katana's in 3 vehicles including my Colorado Z71 and love them, like $50/pair on Amazon. I have found that there really is no reason to change the high beams to LED's with projector headlights as the focused low beam LED does such a good job. I swapped the hi-beams for LED's on the Colorado and I actually find it very annoying on the highway. The high-beams are so bright in a reflector housing that the light scatters all over the place and the high-way signs above reflect back and are extremely bright at night. With the LED's in the low-beam projector housing of the Colorado I only use the high beams on local roads cause I just don't need them on the highway.
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Shawn
Duken4evr said:
The simple/easy and cheap thing I did was drop in some brighter halogens. You trade off service life for brightness I suppose, but mine are 3 years old now and still going fine. The headlights went from notably "how the Hell are these sucky stock headlights DOT legal dim" to "functional". When I drive at night now, I am not blown away by how bright my lights are, but not struggling to see either. The simply work acceptably like they should have from the factory.

There is a whole host of other more involved/expensive options too of course. These are the bulbs I am using to good effect:

Click to expand...
i actually ordered these bulbs using the link you provided. The male pins on the new bulbs did not match. Amazon indicated it would fit my 2017 Colorado.
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E
Can you post a pic. I have a 2016 Colorado and they fit perfectly, even with dust cover on. Here is my bulb.

8898
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Shawn
I purchased the halogen philips unit that was linked. I returned them the pins did not line up.
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Duken4evr
Shawn said:
I purchased the halogen philips unit that was linked. I returned them the pins did not line up.
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Were they H11? Perhaps the Amazon partner sent H7s or something. Bulbs are still working fine 3 years later in my '17 by the way.

I hope they sort it for ya soon.
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oak1971
Going with diode dynamics for the next set. Goober before me buggered up something that works, but he chucked the lamp covers and used silicone to glue a bigger cover on that looks like a big PVC pipe cap. Dammit.
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oak1971 said:
Going with diode dynamics for the next set. Goober before me buggered up something that works, but he chucked the lamp covers and used silicone to glue a bigger cover on that looks like a big PVC pipe cap. Dammit.
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I'll never understand some people! When I replaced the high beams with LED I could not stuff everything in the housing like with the low beams. I ended up making a small slot in the high beam housing so the ballast (or whatever that it is) can set outside and the wire can go thru the dust cap. You have to be able to find those dust caps in a bone yard.
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oak1971
turbodiverart said:
I'll never understand some people! When I replaced the high beams with LED I could not stuff everything in the housing like with the low beams. I ended up making a small slot in the high beam housing so the ballast (or whatever that it is) can set outside and the wire can go thru the dust cap. You have to be able to find those dust caps in a bone yard.
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I'll pick some up when I do the swap. I just don't understand why somebody would bastardize a perfectly good truck.
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bigoilbob
oak1971 said:
I'll pick some up when I do the swap. I just don't understand why somebody would bastardize a perfectly good truck.
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I bought 2 more rear hemispheres, cut rings off of them, and glued them to my old ones. The resulting bullets accommodated everything.
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