Just got a 2015 Silverado Z71 Midnight Edition

goblue4016 · September 22, 2015

I don't know where you read that the Z71 can't have a leveling kit but that's incorrect. Z71 suspension truck is the same as any other GM pickup, it's nothing special. Z71 is a suspension code, just like Z85, Z83. You can use a leveling kit of your choice.

The Rough Country kit is popular, cheap and easy to install.

If you buy a good set of projector LED bulbs for your reverse lights, that really helps. I have them in place of my OEM bulbs and they have been great.

I also just installed 35W HID's in my low beams, huge difference and well worth the $40.00 or so.

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What projector LED bulbs did you get for your reverse lights? what size? i have been looking at doing this to mine as well

TxTruckMan · September 22, 2015

Nice truck.

I bought the Vair 88P. Great little pump for only $60. It's fast, quiet, and comes with a long enough cord/hose to reach all four tires. Tires on 20" wheels don't take as long to fill up.

http://smile.amazon.com/Viair-00088-88P-Portable-Compressor/dp/B005ASY23I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1442937176&sr=8-2&keywords=vair

I also recommend some Coyote tire deflators if you air down frequently.

http://smile.amazon.com/Coyote-Automatic-Tire-Deflators-Pack/dp/B00JJND26I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442937367&sr=8-1&keywords=coyote+deflators

seaneboy · September 22, 2015

Thanks guys! This is basically exactly what I was looking for in terms of a wealth of information. It's hard to look for on the forums, when you don't exactly know what to look for (keywords, common issues, etc)....

TunaHunter! I'm an absolute tuna addict, got a couple loins of 100lb yellow in the back of my truck now! Haha.. We should link up! I'm in Southampton, and usually fish out of Shinny. Would this be the mounts you're referring to? These look awesome: http://www.carid.com/images/t-rex/grilles/pdf/6399381-installation-instructions.pdf

I'm checking into what you had mentioned before... Thanks again to everyone for the compliments.. I've been busting my faulkin' arse for about 10 years now, it's about time I treat myself to something. I actually drove by, saw it on the lot...the worst kind of buyer, lol.

Here's some immediate gripes that I have to figure out...

I cannot tell if it's the driver alert system, doing 1 single vibration maneuver, or something, but it makes me feel like the seat is loose. I'd almost rather the thing just continue the arse vibration that I've grown to love so much now.

It has so many vibrating/rotating dohickeys.. yet, NO BLIND SPOT SENSOR?! I mean, it's not that big of a deal as it's nearly nonexistent in a pickup.. but, you have all these sensors in the front, back, why not sides? It's not like you don't have the infrastructure, let alone already using it....

It's a bit difficult trying to see out the rear window at night with all the flashing lights... I know I can turn this down of course, but, I never think to until it's too late anyway. Obviously the solution here is to simply install some rotisserie-rear lights that I can also turn a chicken in front of, should I have the urge....

WTF is with the radio!?! Where the HELL is the SCAN button on satellite?! Am I stupid? Probably.. but anyway.

Does anyone have issues trying to get bluetooth to connect and work wirelessly? I cannot get Pandora to work unless hardwired in.

And, my biggest complaint of them all... You can only fit (3) growlers from my favorite local homebrew in the...center console... LOL! Thing is huge! I love it, I'm only being sarcastic.

Glava2876 · September 22, 2015

I love this thing.. It's my first pickup, not my first truck, but wow, I am really liking it.

There's a few things I'd like to do to it... One is put some LED's in the rear for backing up, as well as in the front for when it gets nasty out here. I am thinking in the grille might be the best option, but I do not see any grill-insert LEDs just yet..? I was probably going to go with the $150 special on the LEDs off Amazon I think, unless someone has a better suggestion. I'm not really looking to spend a few months payments on the LEDs...

I also really want to put a compressor in the truck box to fill my tires.. however I have a feeling that in order to fill the tires in less than 20 minutes, I'd probably need some serious CFMs... I deflate down to 15 psi, we honestly might have the deepest beach sand in the world here on the South fork of Long Island... I have been looking at the Vair that everyone likes ( I think it was a 450c or something?) But I don't think it's ~1 CFM cuts it..? I cannot find any sort of 'timing' chart on the fill, is there some sort of calculation I could do without calling in a mathematician?

Where are at on the leveling kits? The quick reading I did said something to the idea of "Z71 = no good on leveling kit" - could that even be true? What am I looking at for cost, if possible?

Thanks for any input, and potential pointers you guys might have for a new owner!

BTW: Here's a pic of the truck!

That is a great look -I am sort of partial to that color scheme!

seaneboy · September 22, 2015

I'm loving these Power Tanks, but they look expensive... Plus, how do you refill? It's got to be CO2, so $20 a trip? I don't want them for emergency, I was hoping to use my own air to beat the line to refill after a nice Sunday here... They have compressors there for everyone to use, but it gets pretty intense when there's a dozen people waiting. I'd love to just bust out a gangster compressor and get the job done for some friends. But, I really don't need some diesel generator/welder setup hanging off this thing when I'm not in that line of work, either.... ;c)

I really liked the Coyote deflators, I was going to pull the trigger, but didn't for some reason, now I will, thanks.

2SS/RSD · September 22, 2015

Sharp truck!

BlackZ71Silverado · September 23, 2015

What projector LED bulbs did you get for your reverse lights? what size? i have been looking at doing this to mine as well

My 2010 had 921 bulbs so I got 50W 921 projector LED's, the brand I use is Genssi. My 2008 had 3057's, same brand LED's just different size.

You just need to see what size bulbs you have and get the correct size projector bulbs.

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dan.hill · September 23, 2015

Nice truck. I have the same one. I put a Rough Country leveling kit on it. Makes a big difference, you won't regret it I'm sure.

seaneboy · September 23, 2015

Nice truck. I have the same one. I put a Rough Country leveling kit on it. Makes a big difference, you won't regret it I'm sure.

Thanks man! Is this the one you're talking about..? http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/381344629989?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82 What's a price I should pay on it? Also, is this something I can do myself or what?

slj2008 · September 23, 2015

check out there web site www.roughcounty.com

dan.hill · September 23, 2015

Thanks man! Is this the one you're talking about..? http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/381344629989?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82 What's a price I should pay on it? Also, is this something I can do myself or what?

This is the kit I bought. http://www.roughcountry.com/gm-leveling-lift-kit-1307-8.htmlThe front sits about 1/4" lower than the rear now instead of 2.5" lower. I may add the rear blocks at some point, but I do like how it sits with just the front spacers. I bought directly from Rough Country, so the price on their website is what I paid. Altho I'm in Canada and it shipped UPS so I got screwed by the "brokerage fees". But that is UPS, not Rough Countrys fault. $75 bucks for a shop to install, and $70 for an alignment afterwards. Probably could have done the install myself, but for $75 it was worth it to me to just have a shop do it.

One other thing, RC has 2 kits. One for steel control arms and 1 for aluminum. Not sure what the difference is, but I guess it matters. My truck has aluminum. I'd assume yours has the same.

seaneboy · September 23, 2015

I don't know where you read that the Z71 can't have a leveling kit but that's incorrect. Z71 suspension truck is the same as any other GM pickup, it's nothing special. Z71 is a suspension code, just like Z85, Z83. You can use a leveling kit of your choice.

The Rough Country kit is popular, cheap and easy to install.

If you buy a good set of projector LED bulbs for your reverse lights, that really helps. I have them in place of my OEM bulbs and they have been great.

I also just installed 35W HID's in my low beams, huge difference and well worth the $40.00 or so.

Sent from my crappy iPhone 6

using Tapatalk

I kind of thought the same.. but was unsure.. I guess it was an old post or something. Thanks very much for clarifying!

TheTunaHunter · September 24, 2015

Thanks guys! This is basically exactly what I was looking for in terms of a wealth of information. It's hard to look for on the forums, when you don't exactly know what to look for (keywords, common issues, etc)....

TunaHunter! I'm an absolute tuna addict, got a couple loins of 100lb yellow in the back of my truck now! Haha.. We should link up! I'm in Southampton, and usually fish out of Shinny. Would this be the mounts you're referring to? These look awesome: http://www.carid.com/images/t-rex/grilles/pdf/6399381-installation-instructions.pdf

I'm checking into what you had mentioned before... Thanks again to everyone for the compliments.. I've been busting my faulkin' arse for about 10 years now, it's about time I treat myself to something. I actually drove by, saw it on the lot...the worst kind of buyer, lol.

Haha- Grew up working the counters at Candy Kitchen in Bridge and spent my HS summers working at Rotations in South. I'm from the city, but very much would love to live there year round. Congrats on the yellow! Was out at The Tails last thurs (out of MTK) into friday and popped off what had to have been a 300lb+ bigeye after 7hrs (of course it hit the only 30wide we'd put out-never again) - I'll save the tuna talk for PM

These are the mounts: they've gone up in price since I bought them- LINK

T-Rex Part #6293081-BK

Regarding the PowerTank - I've aired up/down more times than I can count this past summer. I only have about a 3min drive to get onto the beach so I always just air back up in my garage. The noise of my 3.5 gallon , 150psi Porter Cable compressor honestly drives me nuts. From all the reviews I've read, it seems the 10lb tank will refil approx 16 tires from 15-35...thats 4 air up/downs for $20. I'd gladly pay that for the convenience, portability, utilitiy the power tank offers.....plus- Im sure there is some offshore use I'm not thinking of.

Not sure if BuzzChew is mod friendly, put you could install the leveling kit yourself and have them do the alignment-doubt they'd give a problem (and if i'm out there would totally help for a couple of ice cold Bud Lights - ((bottles not cans haha))

ShotgunZ71 · September 24, 2015

Sharp truck!

BlackZ71Silverado · September 26, 2015

OP, DO NOT pay that crazy amount of money you mentioned in your original post for reverse LED light bulbs.

I got all of my interior truck LED's and reverse light LED's through ebay pretty darn cheap compared to what most stores sell them for.

The price you listed from Amazon should be able to get you an entire low beam LED conversion kit, ballasts, bulbs, not just a set of bulbs.

To give you a little more specific information of what I did, my reverse lights are :

For the 921 bulbs in my 2010, I bought a set of "Genssi" 50W CREE high power projector LED's, 6000K ($19.95 shipped). They do a great job, much nicer and brighter than the OEM bulbs.

Not sure which bulb size would be in your truck, you're going to have to check but it's easy to tell the sizes apart.

I have two GMT-900's and they both used a different reverse light bulb for some reason.

For my 2008 with OEM "3047" bulbs, I bought an unknown brand name 3157 80W projector LED 6000K ($18.00 shipped for the set of 2). These bulbs are noticeably brighter than the 921's but they are much larger also.

If replacement bulbs don't get you the amount of light you are looking for and still want more, you can always buy a set of LED light pods and mount them in/below/under your rear bumper.