Headlight Illumination Issues

redwngr · March 16, 2015

see post #555

southern_sierra · March 16, 2015

Checked out my new bulbs and bcm update tonight. They seam atleast 30% brighter to me. The whiter light helps. The high beams could be better but with the design of the projectors I think the deflector is throwing the beam to high. If it could be adjusted I think it would solve the high beam problem. Overall Iam very pleased with the updated bulbs.

Green 1364 · March 16, 2015

Mine was done Friday it's better but the high beams are a disappointment.

T-Town-Z · March 16, 2015

I'm thinking it's great that we got a BCM update and new bulbs out of GM, but I think we're -sol- on the hi-beam situation. Just going to have to adjust the low beams for the best you can get and live with the hi-beams as they are.

southern_sierra · March 16, 2015

I'm thinking it's great that we got a BCM update and new bulbs out of GM, but I think we're -sol- on the hi-beam situation. Just going to have to adjust the low beams for the best you can get and live with the hi-beams as they are.

I agree with you

TJay74 · March 16, 2015

hopefully one mine is done I can play with the adjustment, with a 40% increase output I am hoping for a happy medium in height for the high beams. As it is now I can flash people and they don't even notice, I am guessing there is not much increase when the shutter opens up.

morrislee · March 16, 2015

I'm not one to mess with things, seems hids come with issues, but u r definitely put out better light

Outta curiosity what did ur setup cost?

You now have the update, you probably dont even need a relay to work HIDs either.

My cost... Well, I had a 35w kit, probably just close to what you have now, cost me about $150 CAD. Still not enough so i have upgraded to 55w DDM kit, the spare Mike1220 he had and he sent me, which costed me the shipping, but one ballast failed after a couple of days so it was a $42 dollar ballast from a local shop.

I have also upgraded to the VLED fogs in stock housing, I am sure these alone are brighter than halogens, because my cheap $20 bulbs are just not adding to my 55w at all. They were close to $300 CAD after shipping and exchange rate. But worth it!

I drive in pitch black, so I do use these. I drive where there are no painted lines on the road, where both directions share a tiny road next to big ditchs haha.

If you drive in the city, dont worry about it. But one of my 1000+ km trip, my dad was like, that is your headlights? I was running 35w HIDs and crappy LED fogs.

lrymal · March 16, 2015

I may have missed this since there is so much message traffic (Of course, that is a good thing)... Has anyone compared the location of the high beam and where it lands down the road, with the original factory bulb, vs. with the newer bulb? I'm seeing messages stating the high beam is shooting too high if the low beam is adjusted correctly.

I don't have the newer bulbs in yet, but my dealer did flash the BCM. I did not use the recommended vertical adjustment method from GM. Well, why would I want to change this anyway, since I still have the factory bulbs installed? Because the increased voltage made the lamps brighter and I found my high beams were now too high while out on the road. They were always too high, I just didn't know it, since the lower voltage just didn't allow the bulbs to light up well.

I quickly pulled over, brought them down while looking down the road. I adjusted with the high beam, not the low.

Currently, these factory bulbs are doing pretty good. Now that they are re-aimed, they reach out and touch very well on the extremely dark rural roads. Even if the GM fix did not include the new bulbs, I would have been satisfied.

I would suggest y'all doing the same. Adjust with the high beam--while out on the road, a flat road. Lower your high beams until they are too low, so you'll get an idea how all of this is behaving. Bring them up, just a bit at a time. You will find a hot spot way down the road. Vertically adjust until that hot spot is just disappearing. Keep tweaking and burn up some windshield time until you get it right. And, on my truck, the low beam is not too low in case anyone is wondering.

Edited March 16, 2015 by lrymal

jamin87ss · March 16, 2015

Irmal

With the factory bulbs I found u could only c directly in front of u and it did not reach out very far, on high beams I found u could not c in front of u and only the tree tops, this was especially troublesome in the rolling hills, while going down u would have to run the high beams to see the hill on the other side to see what was ahead, but then u could not see directly in front of you,

Now I find the side to side sight to be better, and while using the high beams its a top to bottom beam,

Best way to describe the old setup is hold a piece if paper over your eyes, on low u could c down, on high u could only see up, now its a general beam across up and down side to side

jamin87ss · March 16, 2015

Sorry if that's hard to follow, I'm on my phone most of the time,

lrymal · March 16, 2015

Sorry if that's hard to follow, I'm on my phone most of the time,

No problem... "I know your pain..."

Basically, I agree, but with the added voltage making the factory bulbs brighter, the dim areas of the factory bulbs, which I couldn't see, are now illuminated. This is why the factory bulbs' aim was discovered to be too high. I too live in a rural hill area. The only time, prior to the module update, that my brights were "good" was when I was doing the hills and the ascent of another hill would suddenly be lit up. Once the truck was level in relation to the road, then my high-beam was a big nothing.

Although the BCM update made the bulbs appear much brighter, I was impressed with the improvement, but when I looked at the tree canopies over my rural road, they were brightly lit up. That's when I started doing the vertical adjustments. When I began lowering the aim, things improved. I went up and down with the aim until I got it right, while on the road.

Light spillage now exists which never existed before, which helps tremendously with the hills. What about switchbacks???? Dunno, we don't have those kind of hills here in East Texas in which such sharp turning is needed.

Now, this is my experience/s using the factory bulbs. Note I'm rural. At best, we only have 2-lane roads, no street lighting. Indeed my road in front of the house is a single lane with ditches on both sides, similar to the above message.

Skeeter McSkeet · March 16, 2015

Well, I have went from a status of "we will get this taken care of". Followed by me sending several follow up emails to check on the status with no reply for 2 weeks.

Today I scheduled my first oil change and asked about the TSB, and now I'm at "we don't see any recalls for your sierra, what is the issue?"

I've sent copies of the original document posted here 2 weeks or so ago. I've sent the updated document and pit numbers last week. Today, in response to the "we don't see any recalls" I sent copies of the original and updated documents.

Should I wait to see what I hear back, or find another dealer? I've provided two different service advisors with this information. It's not a long drive to the next dealership (actually closer to me than the one I'm dealing with), I just don't like the closer one for other reasons and would rather stick with the one I made the purchase at. Or I guess I could contact the next closest one from these 2 that is about an hour and a half drive.

-Skeet

Dropsix · March 16, 2015

Well, I have went from a status of "we will get this taken care of". Followed by me sending several follow up emails to check on the status with no reply for 2 weeks.

Today I scheduled my first oil change and asked about the TSB, and now I'm at "we don't see any recalls for your sierra, what is the issue?"

I've sent copies of the original document posted here 2 weeks or so ago. I've sent the updated document and pit numbers last week. Today, in response to the "we don't see any recalls" I sent copies of the original and updated documents.

Should I wait to see what I hear back, or find another dealer? I've provided two different service advisors with this information. It's not a long drive to the next dealership (actually closer to me than the one I'm dealing with), I just don't like the closer one for other reasons and would rather stick with the one I made the purchase at. Or I guess I could contact the next closest one from these 2 that is about an hour and a half drive.

-Skeet

That sucks!

I'd say call and speak to who you sent the information to!

Skeeter McSkeet · March 16, 2015

Alright, so after telling them I'll go elsewhere since they seem to be one of the only dealerships in North America that can't seem to find the document. Even after being provided a copy of the document itself and the corresponding numbers along with part number, they have now placed an order for bulbs (so they say).

-Skeet

Dropsix · March 16, 2015

Alright, so after telling them I'll go elsewhere since they seem to be one of the only dealerships in North America that can't seem to find the document. Even after being provided a copy of the document itself and the corresponding numbers along with part number, they have now placed an order for bulbs (so they say).

-Skeet

Good job. As unpleasant as it may be and it really should not be necessary, staying on them like that is a must. And if it doesn't work, then escalate it. Everyone has a boss.