NIGHT LIGHTS
When the OE bulbs dim or go dark, step up to a brighter light for improved visibility; SilverStar Ultra bulbs a strong replacement choice
by Bruce W. Smith
Headlights dim and eventually burn out over time. It might not be today or tomorrow, or next week.
But at some point in your company pickup’s life, there will come a time when the bulbs need to be replaced.
If you run later model GM pickups, replacing the headlight bulbs is one of those jobs your shop mechanic just loves to tackle.
The headlight assembly has to be removed to get at the back so the bulbs can be swapped. That’s an hour R&R time for each side. Downtime in a shop is money being wasted.
But it’s not wasted money if that time results in the truck having stronger, brighter headlights.This is especially true utility companies, municipalities, fire/rescue services, heavy construction and road builders who run their vehicles a lot at night.
One good upgrade that improves a pickup’s OEM headlights is switching to a higher-perfromance bulb like the Sylvania SilverStar Ultra.
The bulbs are street legal in every state (unlike HIDs), and, according to Sylvania, add 40-50 percent better distance and side-to-side coverage than the worn halogens found on pickups that are just a couple years old.
We upgraded the headlights in Project Bedrock (2011 GMC Sierra 1500 4Ă—4) to take advantage of the improved efficiency and performance of the SIlverStars.
The bulb swap took Warren Spears about two hours to handle the upgrade at Spears Auto Body a few blocks away from Long Beach, MS, office.
