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Your Silverado’s Lighting System and How to Improve It

Your Silverado’s Lighting System and How to Improve It

The Silverado is your run of the mill full-sized truck. This means these trucks will have a wide variety of potential life styles ahead of them; most of which means that there will need to be an extensive amount of upgrades made to the base platform. One area most people are going to want to make upgrades is to the truck’s lighting. The Silverado isn’t a vehicle that’s known for having insufficient lighting for everyday use but this doesn’t change the fact that personal preference and specific applications won’t need to be upgraded to meet the demands. Also, with all of the super bright lighting options other drivers have on their cars, it can make it hard to see on the roadways as they drive past. Poor vision is a major danger for any automobile operators, and this is exactly why it’s necessary to make these upgrades.

Shop Silverado Lighting Options

Your Silverado's stock lights aren't going to cut it in extreme settings. If you have plans to venture through the great outdoors at night, you'll want to make sure your visibility is as clear as possible. Most aftermarket lights are also more efficient, providing less strain on your truck's battery.

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Factory Silverado Lighting

For all intents and purposes, we won’t be discussing the addition of auxiliary lighting in this passage. Instead, we will be talking about upgrading the factory equipment. This is because upgrading the factory lighting can save a ton of money. 

Additional auxiliary lighting can be used for those looking to dramatically improve visibility but many simply want to enhance the capabilities of their factory equipment. Below is a list of lighting to consider upgrading on your factory Silverado along with some reasons to consider them. 

Headlights: Upgrades to the headlights will improve driver’s visibility both directly ahead of them and off to the side of the road. 

Tail Lights: Brighter tail lights make it easier for other drivers to see when you are ahead of them. In the instances where brakes need to be applied this will reduce the chance of someone rear-ending you.

Fog Lights: Headlights improve visibility in clear conditions but in the fog or other inclement conditions they can make it harder to see. Brighter fog lights will be needed to see well in these sorts of conditions. 

Cargo Lights: The cargo lights of a Silverado are a wonderful feature for those who are looking through their luggage in the bed of their truck at night. Upgrading these lights will simply make it easier to see in these situations.

Bulb Industry Numbers

It’s one thing to say you’re going to upgrade your bulbs but buying the right bulbs is another. Light bulbs in vehicles are matched with industry numbers. These numbers indicate the bulb type and are the best point of reference for fitment.

Most part stores will have bulb fitment guides next to their light bulb section. Luckily for you, we’ve given a list below of factory Silverado industry bulb numbers so you don’t have to wait for the guy in front of you to look up everything he needs. 

Headlights

  • 1999-2007 High Beam: 9006
  • 1999-2007 Low Beam: 9005
  • 2008-2017 High Beam: H11
  • 2008-2017 Low Beam: 9005
  • 2018-Current LED

Tail Lights

  • 1999-2007: 3157
  • 2008-2013: 3047
  • 2014-current LED

Fog Lights

  • 1999-2002: 880
  • 2003-2007: 9145
  • 2008-2017: 5202
  • 2018-current LED

Cargo Lights

  • 1999-2007: 912
  • 2008-current: 921

Aftermarket Silverado Bulb Options

The next thing to pay attention to when shopping for bulbs is the type of bulb being used. The type of bulb will tell you how bright a bulb is or can be. 

They are also subjected to local laws and regulations. Each area is different so you will need to look at your local laws to ensure what bulb types you can or cannot use on the roadways. Either way, we will go through each of the bulb types to help you choose what’s best for you. 

Halogen: Halogen bulbs are the traditional bulb types used in Silverados. These are the least bright in terms of lighting when compared to the rest of the aftermarket options available. They are also the least likely to be outlawed and can be purchased in brighter configurations for those looking to slightly brighten their Silverado. 

LED: As time rolls on LED bulbs are becoming the standard for automobiles. This is because they provide maximum brightness while drawing much less energy than halogen bulbs will to operate. Upgrading to LED bulbs will reduce the load on the alternator because less power is required to light them. You will need to check with local laws before you drive down the road with this type of bulb in your car. 

HID: High intensity discharge bulbs have the potential to be extremely bright and this puts them in the realm of stepping outside of the bonds of the law. These bulbs can come in a variety of colors though and are the go-to choice for those looking to dress their truck up with a particular scheme. 

CCFL: CCFL lighting is technically a bulb type but it isn’t the type that can be fitted in place of a factory bulb. CCFL, Cold cathode fluorescent lights, will require the entire housing to be replaced. These bulbs work on the same principles as traditional fluorescent light. A hollow tube is used and is traditionally in a ring shape for hallow headlights.

Fitment includes: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, LS, LT, WT, SS, Hybrid, Z71, LTZ, XFE, Custom, HighCountry, RST, TrailBoss