rbljack
WKR
So early this week, I had one of my low beams out, and the very next day lost a fog beam bulb as well. I have an 04 Chevy avalanche (without body armor) which means its the same front end as the "cat eye" Silverado's. My headlamp lenses are somewhat yellowed and cloudy as well. Knowing I got pulled over a week prior for a license plate bulb out (yes...I really did get pulled over for that, or at least that was what they said was the reason for pulling me over and got a warning) I decided it was time to do an upgrade. So I spent an evening looking thru LED replacement bulbs for High and Low beam headlights, fog lights, interior lights, back up lights, etc.
This may be long, but figured id post it and it may help some people out. Because we all drive out beyond the towns, where lighting may be little to none on dirt back roads, and muddy two track where we hope to find critters, I thought this might be beneficial.
I ordered all the lights I think I need to replace interior and exterior lighting with the exception of the turn signals. I decided against replacing those because I would have to splice in "load resistors" into the circuit, which I feel is just another failure point, and didn't think the mod was worth the effort. Tonight, some of the bulbs arrived at the house, so I got started. I will add to this post as more of the lights get replaced and maybe it will help a few people who are on the fence, or want some help walking through the process.
Lets start at the back of the truck, there are three bulbs in my Avalanche...the turn signals are the bulbs in the middle and I left those as incandesant. All three bulbs were the 3157 type bulbs.
I replaced the Brake light bulb and the back up light bulb tonight. I went with these:
Auxbeam 3157 LED Light Bulbs T25 P27/5W Turn Signal Light Bulb High Power 33-SMD Light Bulb Super Bright Xenon White Led Bulb for Switchback, Reverse Light.
Important note on LED replacements: If you do this, they will only work one way. Put the bulbs in, and if they don't work.....pull them out of the sockets and turn them 180 and reinsert them if the sockets aren't slotted or keyed. It took two sets of the bulbs to do the tail light assemblies at a cost of about 30 bucks (again, not including the turn signal bulbs). You could save $15 and just do the reverse lights. I really didn't see a "wow" difference on the running light/brake light....BUT switching the reverse light to LED was worth it. Why is this important? Well, when backing up, and there are trees and ditches around, or parked cars, shopping carts, etc etc etc....having more lighting is a plus! They also stay on for about 30 seconds after hitting the key fob when exiting and locking the vehicle. The brightness difference was noticeable, and worth the swap IMO. At some point in the future, I may cut holes in the bumper and add some flush mount lights back there on a switch, but for now what I have works fine.
I then moved to the front of the truck and did a quick swap of the Fog lamp bulbs. They are easy to access on this version of vehicle. In doing research, I know from past experience I could put a high beam bulb into the fog lamp socket instead of what Chevy calls for when you look them up. A 9005 type bulb will fit (they did in mine at least....) , so here is what I used for the fog lights:
Auxbeam 9005 Led Headlight Bulbs F-M3 Series 50W 5000lm 6500K ZES LED Chip Single Beam Headlight Conversion kit. These were around 60 bucks for one set on Amazon. Not cheap, but.....
These proved to be a BIG improvement of the stock fog lamps during clear nighttime conditions. I cant speak for how well they will work in fog, rain or snow yet, or will they fail when going thru a creek crossing , or how well they will hold up under miles of washboard road conditions because I just got them....but for now they illuminate the sides of the road and the ditches where critters hide MUCH better than the stock fog/driving lights! I don't have my headlight lenses in yet, so I'm holding off on replacing the Hi/Low beam headlights for now.
Moving to the interior, I replaced the two dome shaped "map lights" for the driver and passenger over to LED tonight. Here are the bulbs I used for this:
Auxbeam 194 LED Bulbs 6000K White Super Bright 5730 Chipsets T10 W5W 168 2825 LED Lights Replacement Bulbs for License Plate Lights, Intrior Car Lights, Map Door Dashboard Reading Lights. A package of 10 is $14 bucks on amazon.
This is another replacement worth doing! Much brighter than the stock lights when you are sitting on the side of a dirt road trying to read a map, find what fell on the floorboard or between the seats, or whatever. This same size light is also used in the door lights (they are the ones that light up on the door panel) so I replaced those. They do give a bit more light on the ground outside the truck with the door open. That consumes 4 of the 10 lights in the pack. I still need to put 2 in the license plate lights, and one in the truck bed light, and I think there are two used in the lens assemblies when I get around to doing that.
That's what I have done for now. I'm still waiting on more parts, so more to come later. I plan to replace the main interior overhead light still, the lights in the mirrors that shine downward for entrance/exit, the license plate lights, High beams, low beams, and Daytime Running lights on the front, and the light in the bed of the truck. Aftermarket light bars are a consideration for me at some point, but I need to get all my stock lights working again first....and figured it was the right time to do the switch to LED.
This may be long, but figured id post it and it may help some people out. Because we all drive out beyond the towns, where lighting may be little to none on dirt back roads, and muddy two track where we hope to find critters, I thought this might be beneficial.
I ordered all the lights I think I need to replace interior and exterior lighting with the exception of the turn signals. I decided against replacing those because I would have to splice in "load resistors" into the circuit, which I feel is just another failure point, and didn't think the mod was worth the effort. Tonight, some of the bulbs arrived at the house, so I got started. I will add to this post as more of the lights get replaced and maybe it will help a few people who are on the fence, or want some help walking through the process.
Lets start at the back of the truck, there are three bulbs in my Avalanche...the turn signals are the bulbs in the middle and I left those as incandesant. All three bulbs were the 3157 type bulbs.
I replaced the Brake light bulb and the back up light bulb tonight. I went with these:
Auxbeam 3157 LED Light Bulbs T25 P27/5W Turn Signal Light Bulb High Power 33-SMD Light Bulb Super Bright Xenon White Led Bulb for Switchback, Reverse Light.
Important note on LED replacements: If you do this, they will only work one way. Put the bulbs in, and if they don't work.....pull them out of the sockets and turn them 180 and reinsert them if the sockets aren't slotted or keyed. It took two sets of the bulbs to do the tail light assemblies at a cost of about 30 bucks (again, not including the turn signal bulbs). You could save $15 and just do the reverse lights. I really didn't see a "wow" difference on the running light/brake light....BUT switching the reverse light to LED was worth it. Why is this important? Well, when backing up, and there are trees and ditches around, or parked cars, shopping carts, etc etc etc....having more lighting is a plus! They also stay on for about 30 seconds after hitting the key fob when exiting and locking the vehicle. The brightness difference was noticeable, and worth the swap IMO. At some point in the future, I may cut holes in the bumper and add some flush mount lights back there on a switch, but for now what I have works fine.
I then moved to the front of the truck and did a quick swap of the Fog lamp bulbs. They are easy to access on this version of vehicle. In doing research, I know from past experience I could put a high beam bulb into the fog lamp socket instead of what Chevy calls for when you look them up. A 9005 type bulb will fit (they did in mine at least....) , so here is what I used for the fog lights:
Auxbeam 9005 Led Headlight Bulbs F-M3 Series 50W 5000lm 6500K ZES LED Chip Single Beam Headlight Conversion kit. These were around 60 bucks for one set on Amazon. Not cheap, but.....
These proved to be a BIG improvement of the stock fog lamps during clear nighttime conditions. I cant speak for how well they will work in fog, rain or snow yet, or will they fail when going thru a creek crossing , or how well they will hold up under miles of washboard road conditions because I just got them....but for now they illuminate the sides of the road and the ditches where critters hide MUCH better than the stock fog/driving lights! I don't have my headlight lenses in yet, so I'm holding off on replacing the Hi/Low beam headlights for now.
Moving to the interior, I replaced the two dome shaped "map lights" for the driver and passenger over to LED tonight. Here are the bulbs I used for this:
Auxbeam 194 LED Bulbs 6000K White Super Bright 5730 Chipsets T10 W5W 168 2825 LED Lights Replacement Bulbs for License Plate Lights, Intrior Car Lights, Map Door Dashboard Reading Lights. A package of 10 is $14 bucks on amazon.
This is another replacement worth doing! Much brighter than the stock lights when you are sitting on the side of a dirt road trying to read a map, find what fell on the floorboard or between the seats, or whatever. This same size light is also used in the door lights (they are the ones that light up on the door panel) so I replaced those. They do give a bit more light on the ground outside the truck with the door open. That consumes 4 of the 10 lights in the pack. I still need to put 2 in the license plate lights, and one in the truck bed light, and I think there are two used in the lens assemblies when I get around to doing that.
That's what I have done for now. I'm still waiting on more parts, so more to come later. I plan to replace the main interior overhead light still, the lights in the mirrors that shine downward for entrance/exit, the license plate lights, High beams, low beams, and Daytime Running lights on the front, and the light in the bed of the truck. Aftermarket light bars are a consideration for me at some point, but I need to get all my stock lights working again first....and figured it was the right time to do the switch to LED.
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