jabberjaw401
Member
Have a 2007 Tahoe, I love it and have been driving it with minimal problems for 5 years, Want to replace the Headlights with a fresh look, any recommendations on after market headlights that look cool and work fairly well.
After Market Headlights
- Thread starter jabberjaw401
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gooffeyguy
Tom
Did you adjust/aim them after installing them? They should have a height adjustment screw (I think it's a torx style) to aim them properly.
I didn’t do that but maybe I should. Thanks for the tip. I figured they were pointing high bc of another problem I was working on where the front of Big Mama was higher than the rear. I fixed that but haven’t driven at night since. Do you know what the procedure is? How far back from wall or how high the light beam should be?
gooffeyguy
Tom
It's something like measure from the ground to the headlight bulb, then mark this distance on a wall or garage door with masking or painters tape. Put vehicle 25' from wall and (now not sure about the exact measurement) adjust lights so cutoff point is either even with tape or 2" above or 2" below. I really can't remember
Make certain they are not blue – white lights. Unless you like getting pulled over by the police and having other drivers flash, there high beams at you stick with the original factory color, and brightness. The best way to make your car look better this to disable the daytime running lights. Then people can see the car, not just Lights.
petethepug
Michael
I installed those on our past 08 YXL Denali. All black Yukes should have some kind of led DRL like those have. They’re hard as hell to see in back up cameras.
I used PIAA (non blue) that are about 15% over wattage but still last a long time. They may have just been bought out by Valeo.
I used PIAA (non blue) that are about 15% over wattage but still last a long time. They may have just been bought out by Valeo.
anything 5k and under are considered white. you're probably fine unless you ordered 7k or higher temp.
for aiming. it's 2in below bulb hight at 20 or so feet. basically you want low beam on the ground in front of you, not up in people's eyes and doing no good on the road in front of you. a slight down angle is all that needed and even then if you have hills it's painful to the on coming drivers at times but everything new is at that point unless you have auto adjust lights of some of the newer German cars.
high beam is about just a ton of light thrown down the road and to the sides of the road. fog is super low, try to keep them level with their bulb height. trying to get light under the fog as much as you can.
for aiming. it's 2in below bulb hight at 20 or so feet. basically you want low beam on the ground in front of you, not up in people's eyes and doing no good on the road in front of you. a slight down angle is all that needed and even then if you have hills it's painful to the on coming drivers at times but everything new is at that point unless you have auto adjust lights of some of the newer German cars.
high beam is about just a ton of light thrown down the road and to the sides of the road. fog is super low, try to keep them level with their bulb height. trying to get light under the fog as much as you can.
RichardCranium
Full Access Member
Back to the OP, which seems to have went array without much feedback.
You definitely have several options at a variety of costs and work. New OEM headlights will be pretty expensive, but I also have been successful with cheap Amazon knockoffs. That in itself is a super easy upgrade to old, faded stockers. The biggest limitation with OEM or OEM style headlights are the absolute lack of a full adjustment. There is one adjustment, and it is more of a gyration than an aim. Pretty terrible.
Here are a list of my suggestions:
1. Buy OEM or aftermarket knockoffs, put better bulbs in
2. Buy OEM or aftermarket knockoffs, put LEDs in. This is typically 100% against the grain for my opinion, as almost all reflector style headlights are not intended for LED use. In fact, most of these setups are blinding to oncoming traffic. However, I ran LEDs in my knockoff Amazon headlights for a couple of years and only was only flashed by an oncoming car maybe 1 time. Much better light than a stock-style bulb.
3. Buy OEM or aftermarket knockoffs, retrofit them with projectors like I did. A lot of work, some I would describe as precision. I documented my own install pretty well, my thread is below. It involves splitting the lens from the light chassis (baking it), and modifying the reflector base inside. Also some cutting on the bulkhead to allow enough room for all of the hardware. I went HID, but there are LED projectors you could go with as well.
Morimoto Bi-Xenon retrofit - Installation thread
Long story short, I had a thread from 2018 for a retrofit that I had adjustment issues with.....so I parted it out and went LED. Since that info was no longer relevant, I wanted to clean the thread up and remove all the old stuff, since I just successfully completed the retrofit on the 2 d...
www.tahoeyukonforum.com
4. You can buy OEM style headlights retrofitted, so they are almost plug/play. You are going to pay the same price you would on my adventure, plus labor for someone else to do that work. It'll add up, but save you time.
5. I think the only decent aftermarket light for us is AlphaRex. There are several options, one other forum member has a nice writeup on his own purchase/install. I also had some AlphaRex units, the lower end. They did ok, but just didn't give me what I was looking for. But from the looks of it, if you spend the money on the best light they offer, they do perform really well. Check out @intheburbs thread below for his choice, and great feedback.
My hefty lighting investment - worth it - Alpharex and Diode Dynamics
Did a bunch of research on headlight and foglight options, and settled on the "buy once, cry once" philosophy. I cried. A lot. o_O Settled on the Alpharex NOVA series LED projector headlights. Click here And went with the Diode Dynamics SS3 Max LED fog lights. Click here I wanted quality...
www.tahoeyukonforum.com
Hope that helps.
Geoffsfas10
Full Access Member
Way to go Richard....... also to the OP... do option 3. I did it, then Richard took the idea and did a much better write up 
I have actually been thinking of completely redoing mine...going with a different light and LED projectors.
I have actually been thinking of completely redoing mine...going with a different light and LED projectors.
RichardCranium
Full Access Member
Thanks to you though! I picked up several ideas from you, and you helped with some feedback/lessons leared too. Best part about forums!Way to go Richard....... also to the OP... do option 3. I did it, then Richard took the idea and did a much better write up
I have actually been thinking of completely redoing mine...going with a different light and LED projectors.
I've also been thinking of doing the same, I am not going to lie. Regards to the LED projectors.....
intheburbs
Full Access Member
FYI - I tacked it onto my original thread quoted above, but here's a place selling the Alpharex for $877. That's substantially less than I paid.Back to the OP, which seems to have went array without much feedback.
You definitely have several options at a variety of costs and work. New OEM headlights will be pretty expensive, but I also have been successful with cheap Amazon knockoffs. That in itself is a super easy upgrade to old, faded stockers. The biggest limitation with OEM or OEM style headlights are the absolute lack of a full adjustment. There is one adjustment, and it is more of a gyration than an aim. Pretty terrible.
Here are a list of my suggestions:
1. Buy OEM or aftermarket knockoffs, put better bulbs in
2. Buy OEM or aftermarket knockoffs, put LEDs in. This is typically 100% against the grain for my opinion, as almost all reflector style headlights are not intended for LED use. In fact, most of these setups are blinding to oncoming traffic. However, I ran LEDs in my knockoff Amazon headlights for a couple of years and only was only flashed by an oncoming car maybe 1 time. Much better light than a stock-style bulb.
3. Buy OEM or aftermarket knockoffs, retrofit them with projectors like I did. A lot of work, some I would describe as precision. I documented my own install pretty well, my thread is below. It involves splitting the lens from the light chassis (baking it), and modifying the reflector base inside. Also some cutting on the bulkhead to allow enough room for all of the hardware. I went HID, but there are LED projectors you could go with as well.
Morimoto Bi-Xenon retrofit - Installation thread
Long story short, I had a thread from 2018 for a retrofit that I had adjustment issues with.....so I parted it out and went LED. Since that info was no longer relevant, I wanted to clean the thread up and remove all the old stuff, since I just successfully completed the retrofit on the 2 d...
4. You can buy OEM style headlights retrofitted, so they are almost plug/play. You are going to pay the same price you would on my adventure, plus labor for someone else to do that work. It'll add up, but save you time.
5. I think the only decent aftermarket light for us is AlphaRex. There are several options, one other forum member has a nice writeup on his own purchase/install. I also had some AlphaRex units, the lower end. They did ok, but just didn't give me what I was looking for. But from the looks of it, if you spend the money on the best light they offer, they do perform really well. Check out @intheburbs thread below for his choice, and great feedback.
My hefty lighting investment - worth it - Alpharex and Diode Dynamics
Did a bunch of research on headlight and foglight options, and settled on the "buy once, cry once" philosophy. I cried. A lot. o_O Settled on the Alpharex NOVA series LED projector headlights. Click here And went with the Diode Dynamics SS3 Max LED fog lights. Click here I wanted quality...
Hope that helps.
AlphaRex 07-13 Chevy Avalanche NOVA LED Proj Headlights Plank Style Matte Black w/Activ Light/DRL
Our NOVA-Series PATENTED Ice Cube 3D projector is the core of our revolutionary technology. Each projector is equipped with an Osram Oslon Black Flat L.E.D. chip to provide maximum light output, both in illumination and projection.This Part Fits: Year Make Model Submodel 2013 Chevrolet Avalanche...
emnotek.com
Buy the OEM lights unless you aren’t keeping the truck. The aftermarket ones are garbage. They last a year at most and then the lenses start fading again. I bought the supposedly good Eagle Eyes brand to do a HID retrofit on my old Yukon so I didn’t risk breaking new OEM ones, and they started peeling on the top at about 10 months. Use plenty of aftermarket ones in the past and on other family member’s cars who didn’t want to spend the money with the same results.
