Best headlight bulbs for stock Yukon halogen housings

[thefrey]

Starting a new thread since there's a good amount of new bulbs that have come out in the past couple of years.

Just had a bulb go out last night and looking for advice on replacements.

My last set was a Philips H13 VisionPlus... I got them in January and they already have burnt out. Although, I have probably driven 450 hours this year. They did good, and were pretty bright. High beams were okay, but not sure if that's just the stock housing.


What's a good solid bulb for stock housings?

I don't know how I feel about LEDs considering the glare w/ them in stock housings + people using cheap amazon LEDs in halogen housings that blind other people on the road... But if anyone has a solid LED that they found that works with these housings, I could be persuaded. Especially if they have a longer life considering the DRLs are the low beams.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

I've used a few LED headlights, and I have zeroed in on the GTR Ultra 2 LED headlights. They are not cheap, but they are adjustable (an absolute requirement with LEDs), and they have a lifetime warranty. The properly adjusted beam pattern is excellent. I would highly recommend these LEDs. I purchased them through Headlight Revolution, and they are great folks to do business with.

 

[Bigburb3500]

Anything on Temu that’s on sale… have used them in my Land Cruiser and in my Suburban. They work even better in the old school reflector style headlights.

Don’t overspend unless you are getting something like Diode Dynamic but I paid $15 with shipping and have no issues.

 

[thefrey]

I've used a few LED headlights, and I have zeroed in on the GTR Ultra 2 LED headlights. They are not cheap, but they are adjustable (an absolute requirement with LEDs), and they have a lifetime warranty. The properly adjusted beam pattern is excellent. I would highly recommend these LEDs. I purchased them through Headlight Revolution, and they are great folks to do business with.

Seems like they are on sale for about $115. Might have to check them out. Full price on amazon is 1/4 of the Morimotos... and for that price you might as well spend $1000 hahah

I might end up picking your brain at some point about your supercharger kit. If I keep my Yukon, I might slap a turbo on er' in the coming years. Emphasis on might. But it would be a blast.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Seems like they are on sale for about $115. Might have to check them out. Full price on amazon is 1/4 of the Morimotos... and for that price you might as well spend $1000 hahah

I might end up picking your brain at some point about your supercharger kit. If I keep my Yukon, I might slap a turbo on er' in the coming years. Emphasis on might. But it would be a blast.

Make sure that the warranty is honored, if you purchase them through Amazon, and make sure that they are unopened and not used. I have absolutely no idea about these, but some premium products do not honor warranties, if purchased through a non-certified vendor.

I see that Headlight Revolution is selling these same limited number of LEDs (GTR Ultra 2) at $106.00 each, BUT they are open box, and they do NOT come with the lifetime warranty. The new GTR Ultra series is GTR Ultra 3 LEDs, and they sell at the more 'normal' higher price and include the life time warranty.

As always, you get what you pay for, AT BEST.

PM me anytime that you want to discuss any aspects of my supercharger project. I expect to get my 4.10 gears installed within the next 2+ weeks, and it will make even more smiles per mile.

 

[thefrey]

Make sure that the warranty is honored, if you purchase them through Amazon, and make sure that they are unopened and not used. I have absolutely no idea about these, but some premium products do not honor warranties, if purchased through a non-certified vendor.

I see that Headlight Revolution is selling these same limited number of LEDs (GTR Ultra 2) at $106.00 each, BUT they are open box, and they do NOT come with the lifetime warranty. The new GTR Ultra series is GTR Ultra 3 LEDs, and they sell at the more 'normal' higher price and include the life time warranty.

As always, you get what you pay for, AT BEST.

PM me anytime that you want to discuss any aspects of my supercharger project. I expect to get my 4.10 gears installed within the next 2+ weeks, and it will make even more smiles per mile.

Do you think those bulbs have too much glare or do they do a good job at having a cutoff? Videos that I’ve seen in the past show LEDs have a decent cutoff but lots of glare in the housing. But I don’t know about high end LED bulbs and if you have people flashing you or anything.

Also, how’s high beam performance? I feel like the stock high beams with a filament bulb leave a lot of want on the table

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Do you think those bulbs have too much glare or do they do a good job at having a cutoff? Videos that I’ve seen in the past show LEDs have a decent cutoff but lots of glare in the housing. But I don’t know about high end LED bulbs and if you have people flashing you or anything.

Also, how’s high beam performance? I feel like the stock high beams with a filament bulb leave a lot of want on the table

I have my light beam adjusted to be flat on top from within the LED assembly itself, and the top of the flat beam adjusted properly in the light housing itself. I don't have anyone flashing me. The high beam is decent for me, and where I live, there are no road side lines and no road shoulders and no street lights.

 

[Sir_Hiro]

I run the 9008 Philips X-Treme Vision in mine and they are far better than any other Halogen bulbs I've tried besides their Night Guide Platinums which are more money but also burn out quicker.

Sylvania Silverstar and ZXE bulbs are not worth the hype. Horrible for the price point they market them at.

 

[NiamLeeSin]

I've used a few LED headlights, and I have zeroed in on the GTR Ultra 2 LED headlights. They are not cheap, but they are adjustable (an absolute requirement with LEDs), and they have a lifetime warranty. The properly adjusted beam pattern is excellent. I would highly recommend these LEDs. I purchased them through Headlight Revolution, and they are great folks to do business with.

Just bought these based on this recommendation alone.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Just bought these based on this recommendation alone.

Adjust the LEDs for their correct vertical alignment, adjust the headlight housings for the correct vertical setting (same height from ground to the center of the LED stick at 25 feet in front of the truck on a level surface), and you will be good to go. Since I did not had a vertical wall with a 25 foot flat surface leading up to it close by for vertical measurement purposes, I built my own portable headlight vertical measurement tool.

 

[mikez71]

I have my light beam adjusted to be flat on top from within the LED assembly itself, and the top of the flat beam adjusted properly in the light housing itself.

Interesting, I always hear they should be vertical.. But maybe that is a general guideline and depends on reflector design..
With mine vertical, the cutoff is blurry, and the sides don't seem to illuminate any better.. I wonder if I should try adjusting them horizontal...

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Interesting, I always hear they should be vertical.. But maybe that is a general guideline and depends on reflector design..
With mine vertical, the cutoff is blurry, and the sides don't seem to illuminate any better.. I wonder if I should try adjusting them horizontal...

The LED stick holding the LEDs should be vertical, with the LEDs themselves on the stick being at the 3:00 and 9:00 positions.

 

[mikez71]

The LED stick holding the LEDs should be vertical, with the LEDs themselves on the stick being at the 3:00 and 9:00 positions.

Oh OK, I mis-understood. That's how mine are.. All good!

 

[mikez71]

Sylvania Silverstar and ZXE bulbs are not worth the hype. Horrible for the price point they market them at.

I'm still mad about the $70 I spent on Sylvania Silverstar way back in the day.. No brighter at all!
Then the Sylvania dome led's have a gross greenish/blueish tint to them. Never buying Sylvania ever again..

 

[Doubeleive]

my preference for stock housings is HID, but everyone is on the LED bandwagon. The light is not the same.
LED's are flat
HID's are round
incandescent (typical oem) bulbs are round and the housing is designed for it.
so unless your factory bulbs are LED they are not doing you any favors.
the problem however with this generation of yukon is the factory bulb is a dual beam (two bulbs in one)
versus the chevy having a traditional high/low beam housing, the gmc is one housing with technically 3 lights in one. DRL/LOW BEAM/HIGH BEAM
operation is DRL running around 10v (on low beam filament)
low beam switch's on automatically at dusk kicks it up to 12v
high beam on command at any time (switches filament in bulb)
replacing that 3-in-1 operation is not easy to create any gains.

 

[Sir_Hiro]

my preference for stock housings is HID, but everyone is on the LED bandwagon. The light is not the same.
LED's are flat
HID's are round
incandescent (typical oem) bulbs are round and the housing is designed for it.
so unless your factory bulbs are LED they are not doing you any favors.
the problem however with this generation of yukon is the factory bulb is a dual beam (two bulbs in one)
versus the chevy having a traditional high/low beam housing, the gmc is one housing with technically 3 lights in one. DRL/LOW BEAM/HIGH BEAM
operation is DRL running around 10v (on low beam filament)
low beam switch's on automatically at dusk kicks it up to 12v
high beam on command at any time (switches filament in bulb)
replacing that 3-in-1 operation is not easy to create any gains.

The problem with HID and LEDs is that the housing isnt made for those.
HIDs Thrive in Projector Housings and LEDs need a special reflector design to maximize the beam.
You loose a lot of useable light due to glare. Are they brighter? Yeah. But not optimized.

 

[mikez71]

I know @Doubeleive had some vendor with good HID ballasts?
I was thinking about trying some OEM ballasts as well if there are any favorites..

LED's not optimized yes, but brighter still?
Glare is not bad with LEDs (in my tahoe anyway)
Less than new cars I feel...

Don't HID's put the filament exactly where the stock bulb filment is?
Should be no detrimental effects running HID?

 

[Doubeleive]

The problem with HID and LEDs is that the housing isnt made for those.
HIDs Thrive in Projector Housings and LEDs need a special reflector design to maximize the beam.
You loose a lot of useable light due to glare. Are they brighter? Yeah. But not optimized.

true, but there not flat also. at least they are similar. I am also not really a fan of projectors either I do not like the strict cut-off, but it is what it is.....

you see these comparison video's or pictures on all these lighting website's but they are not adjusting the housings to compensate for each bulb
same when people change bulbs they do not adjust the housing and blind the crap out of people.
if you are going to compare bulbs in a housing, the light should be adjusted to the same spot for accurate comparison.
and unless they are specifically comparing them for a gmt900 yukon, then you get what you get.....

 

[Sir_Hiro]

I know @Doubeleive had some vendor with good HID ballasts?
I was thinking about trying some OEM ballasts as well if there are any favorites..

LED's not optimized yes, but brighter still?
Glare is not bad with LEDs (in my tahoe anyway)
Less than new cars I feel...

Don't HID's put the filament exactly where the stock bulb filment is?
Should be no detrimental effects running HID?

Not really since the Yukon would need a BiXenon type HID Bulb to retain Highbeams. Most companies slap that Halogen portion ontop/bottom depending on how the bulb clips in and that can throw off the light spread to the reflector. But again its minor and only really results in more glare while gaining output light.

HIDs and LEDs are brighter than any halogen setup simply because they are limited to the 55/65 watt limit.

 

[mikez71]

Ahh, gotcha.. What Wes was mentioning too with the 3-in-1.. OK..

Glad I have a Tahoe!

I'll get out of the Yukon thread now...