Silverado Off-Road Lighting

There are a variety of auxiliary lights to choose from, including light bars,  spot lights, driving lights, fog lights, etc. Flood lights are available in cubed or round shapes. You also have the choice between full size or mid-size light bars.

Next, you’ll have to choose the light bulb type you want: LED, HID, or halogen. Are you exhausted yet? Fortunately, we’re here to provide you with an overview of different light bulb types before we start getting more detailed.

Fog Lights: Most vehicles on the road today come with stock fog lights. As a Silverado owner, you unfortunately have stock halogen fog lights that offer very little visibility. 

Fog lights are designed to allow you to see further down the road in dense weather conditions, including heavy rain and fog. While light from your headlights are reflected by fog, fog lights are designed to be positioned lower and angled lower toward the ground to illuminate the road ahead of you. This reduces the amount of glare and eyestrain you’ll need to see further down the road. Depending on the bulb type, some fog lights will allow you to see further down the road than others. 

Off-Road Lights: Off-road lights are designed to give you better visibility while navigating down different trails and terrain. Typically, they come in round or square light mounts or lights bars that are mounted to roof racks or the tailgate of your Silverado. Off-road lights are contained in a hard plastic and are easily replaceable. 

Driving Lights: Driving lights represent your typical headlight cluster, although there are driving light add-ons that allow you to see further down the road. 

Flood Lights: Flood lights are considered a form of off-road lighting, and they cannot be used on highways or regular roads. Mainly they are used to illuminate a campground or large area directly in front of your Silverado. 

Spot Lights: These are generally the same as flood lights, but they offer greater lighting distance. They are not allowed for highway use either, but some drivers do use spotlights to help them spot terrain that standard driving lights can’t reach. 

Now we know the different functions of off-road lights and their counterparts, it’s time to choose the right bulb for the job. 

Halogen light bulbs and halogen projectors are the most popular automotive bulb on the market. They are favored by dealerships because they are cheap to install and replace.

Halogen bulbs operate using a heated filament containing halogen gas. As electricity flows through the filament it heats up allowing the halogen gas to recycle evaporated tungsten back onto the filament. This creates a hot temperature cycle where the halogen bulb can keep operating.

Halogen Bulb Pros

• Inexpensive and universal application- minus LED or HID retrofits
• Plug and play replacement
• Up to 1,000 hours or more of use

Halogen Bulb Cons 

• Inefficient use of energy
• Shortest lifespan of all bulb types. 
• Requires time to heat up and become brighter 
• Standard halogen bulbs emit yellow light that's harder to focus than LEDs and HIDs 
• Contact with skin or oil could significantly reduce its lifespan 

LED lights bulbs are a massive upgrade from stock halogen projectors and a very inexpensive upgrade. LED bulbs are now standard in 2018 Silverado headlights and have become standard across most of the industry.

LEDs are essentially small semiconductor diodes that emit light when a small amount of current passes through them. Because they operate at low temperatures and with very little electricity, they last longer than halogen and HID bulbs. 

LED Pros

• Requires the least amount of energy to power
• Longest lifespan 
• Full brightness achieved instantly
• Cheaper than HID lights
• Incredibly durable - resistant to impacts and vibration
• Stylish: Can light up in different colors
• Compact

LED Cons

• More expensive than halogen
• Limited range in the dark
• Sensitive to high temperatures
• Must be manufactured with high temperature heat sinks 

High-intensity discharge lights present the greatest luminosity of all the different bulb classifications. They are often referred to as xenon lights because they are powered by xenon gas instead of a heated filament.

Xenon gas allows electricity to arc across the gas mixture to emit light. They may be the most expensive lights, but they enjoy the longest light range.

Pros:

• Greatest luminosity and light range out of all three bulb categories 
• Guaranteed lifespan of 2,000 hours or more
• Consumes less electricity than halogen bulbs
• Greatest nighttime visibility
• Greater impact and vibration resistance than halogen bulbs 
• Generates white light

HID Cons:

• More expensive than halogen bulbs and comparable LEDs
• Difficult installation- requires multiple power relays and ballast
• Brightness could blind drivers ahead of you if not properly installed and pointed
• Doesn’t immediately achieve full brightness
• Less impact and vibration resistance than LED lights
• Made of hazardous gas
• Replacement is the most expensive

Choosing the right auxiliary lighting depends on a number of factors:

• Application
• Bulb Type
• Budget
• Legal Use
• Mounting Position 

There are typically three mounting styles to choose from:

Full-Size Light Bars: These can be curved or flat, but are typically mounted to the grille or roof of your Silverado. 

Mid-Size Light Bar: These are cheaper than full size bars and offer comparable performance. These are typically mounted to your Silverado’s grille, grille guard, roof, bumper, or tailgate.

Small Off-Road Lights: These will usually be your spot lights, flood lights, or fog lights. These are typically mounted to brush guards, roofs, fenders, bumpers, and could be unattached for handheld use.

Ensure your auxiliary lights are DOT certified and do not compromise the visibility of your standard headlights. Sometimes it's easier to simply install a few halogen fog lights, although you won't get to enjoy the extra convenience of an LED or HID spotlight could provide for camping and off-roading. 

To briefly touch on this point, it’s important to state that properly installing off-road lights is critical to being able to get the most out of them. Improper installation could also be a safety hazard. 

Installing a fog light or auxiliary light on your front bumper or grille will require you to disassemble that part to replace a burnt-out bulb or broken lenses. Beyond this, any auxiliary light you set up will require you to wire it correctly to the fuse box.

Height is also an important point to touch on. It's recommended you install fog lights 10-14” above the ground with a testing angle of 25’ so that you can angle them to see under the fog. Evaluate any light bar or spot light you attach to your truck to see if you can maximize the distance it can illuminate.