Drop in LED Low Beam Replacement for 2015 Tahoe LT (no flicker/errors)

Matt Gallion · February 21, 2020

Hey Guys,

After going through several sets over the last 3 years, I've found a simple drop in replacement headlight to upgrade from the stock halogens in my 2015 Tahoe LT. I know there are many schools of thought about headlights and what's best, but I'll explain my experience for what it's worth.

Morimoto XB 35 HID
My first HID kit on this car. Holy crap there are a lot of parts. The drivers side headlight area is easier than the passenger's side, but even still there's only so many places to ziptie to. I didn't want to drill any holes for mounting but I did my best. This kit required a relay and that was a hassle to install too. I also noticed loud buzzing from the Morimoto ballasts. Even had them replace one of them but ended up having it fail again so I gave up and got the Vanquish one.

Vanquish Auto HID
Fewer parts than the Morimoto and didn't require a relay. This kit did pretty well for 2 years until one of the connectors between parts started getting corroded. My mounting point probably wasn't great, but these headlight connectors aren't amazing either. I was able to tighten the connection every now and then to keep it working, but I gave up on that too because it's unreliable.

Hikari Ultra LED (Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077BT6M6Z/)
This weekend I got tired of the Vanquish HID problem and got these. Decided to go with LED because no ballasts or igniters means it can all live inside the housing. These fit in well and only have a small driver inline on the cable that tucked into the headlight housing fine. I was installing in the evening and just manually turned them on when I was done to test them. They worked fine, so I was done right? WRONG. I forgot that the DRLs in these lower trims work a little differently and do a PWM on the headlight signal. In the morning when I drove to work I realized my headlights were out. Turned them on and off a few times and they flickered and eventually died. The car was cutting them off for some reason. Hikari recommends a CAN-BUS decoder (aka capacitor) or load resistors, but I DON'T WANT THAT MANY PARTS. It should just work dammit.

Beamtech H11 (Link:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XHDYTGL/)
Okay, the spelling on their manual is questionable and they don't look as cool as the Hikari, BUT they work! Unlike the Hikari, there's no driver module on the cable, it's just a plain old wired connector. They work in the DRL mode and normal On operation without any flcker and I didn't have to use a resistor, capacitor, etc. I'm surprised I haven't seen these mentioned anywhere else. The light quality may be just a little worse than my HID experience, but definitely worth the sacrifice for ease of installation and cost.

TL;DR: If you want decent LED low beams without any cancellers, capacitors, resistors, can-bus decoders, headaches, etc. these will do the trick! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XHDYTGL/

BlaineBug · February 22, 2020

"KISS" comes to mind here, I remember installing aftermarket steering linkage on my first vehicle, a 1995 Jeep Cherokee, that worked questionably and definitely not as good as the stock steering setup. With as many issues you are having with HID and LED, just go back to the factory lights! They are pretty good. Save money and headaches too. Something I've learned over the years is that original parts are the best at times.

Edited February 22, 2020 by BlaineBug

Matt Gallion · February 22, 2020

I have to somewhat disagree with you there. After having better lights for years, the factory ones are garbage. That being said, these drop in LEDs I found do just work, so I’m keeping it simple and using them!

BlaineBug · February 22, 2020

5 minutes ago, Matt Gallion said:

I have to somewhat disagree with you there. After having better lights for years, the factory ones are garbage. That being said, these drop in LEDs I found do just work, so I’m keeping it simple and using them!

For how long will they work? That is unknown at this point. If you've had problems with all of the top tier products, my bet is that the Amazon lights will fail.

Edited February 22, 2020 by BlaineBug

Matt Gallion · February 22, 2020

For how long will they work? That is unknown at this point. If you've had problems with all of the top tier products, my bet is that the Amazon lights will fail.

I’m going to just trust the reviews on that one. Really, my post is targeting people who have decided they definitely don’t want stock. We’ll see how it goes.

BlaineBug · February 22, 2020

2 minutes ago, Matt Gallion said:

I’m going to just trust the reviews on that one. Really, my post is targeting people who have decided they definitely don’t want stock. We’ll see how it goes.

I wish you luck and hope that they work.

newdude · February 22, 2020

None of those.

VLEDs. Used on my own vehicles and installed on others with zero issues so far. Hardly any larger than the factory bulbs that come out, and fit inside every single housing behind the dust covers on my Colorado, a 2012 Impala, 2015 Silverado HD, and 2018 Malibu. Those are vehicles that I've installed them on so far.

Low Beam: https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-low-beam/h11-h8-h9/micro-extreme-h11-h16-h8-h9.html

or https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-low-beam/h11-h8-h9/micro-evo-h11-h16-h8-h9.html

High Beam: https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-high-beam/9005-hb3/micro-evo-9005.html

or https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-high-beam/9005-hb3/micro-extreme-9005.html

Some things aren't worth being cheap about.........

Edited February 22, 2020 by newdude

Matt Gallion · February 22, 2020

None of those.
VLEDs. Used on my own vehicles and installed on others with zero issues so far. Hardly any larger than the factory bulbs that come out, and fit inside every single housing behind the dust covers on my Colorado, a 2012 Impala, 2015 Silverado HD, and 2018 Malibu. Those are vehicles that I've installed them on so far.

Low Beam:  https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-low-beam/h11-h8-h9/micro-extreme-h11-h16-h8-h9.html

or https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-low-beam/h11-h8-h9/micro-evo-h11-h16-h8-h9.html

High Beam:  https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-high-beam/9005-hb3/micro-evo-9005.html

or https://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-high-beam/9005-hb3/micro-extreme-9005.html

Some things aren't worth being cheap about.........

Did you need cancellers or anything on the Silverado?

The reason I went with Amazon in the moment was speed, I had no working headlights.

newdude · February 22, 2020

29 minutes ago, Matt Gallion said:

Did you need cancellers or anything on the Silverado?

The reason I went with Amazon in the moment was speed, I had no working headlights.

I've done it both ways no issues so far on GM vehicles. No flickering.

I tried Xenon Depot on my 2015 HD and those would shut down if the Stabilitrak kicked on but I didn't have cancellers on them.