2009 Yukon Needs New Headlights. What to Get?

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drseth

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Hi,

My headlight lenses are pretty bad, despite multiple attempts to polish out. I would like to try LED bulbs. I would like to keep something stock as far as housing, but are any brands any better than others? Any LED bulbs superior to others?
 

Geotrash

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Hi,

My headlight lenses are pretty bad, despite multiple attempts to polish out. I would like to try LED bulbs. I would like to keep something stock as far as housing, but are any brands any better than others? Any LED bulbs superior to others?
:popcorn:
This is like asking which oil is best. I went down this road a few years ago and it didn't go well. I bought a pricey set of LED bulbs from "Headlight Experts" for my 2007 XL Denali and despite trying every orientation in the housing, could never get rid of a V-shaped pattern of dark lines in the high beams, but the low beams were fine. They lasted all of 18 months and one of them went dim. The "lifetime replacement" warranty required me to send them back and wait a month while they repair them, or I could order their latest model at a discount. Um... no.

I put in the cheapest Sylvania halogen bulbs you can get, and they're still working great 20K miles later.

That said, do a search on here. There are lots of guys still experimenting and finding some success.
 

91RS

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Are you wanting new headlight assemblies or just recommendations for bulbs?

As far as assemblies go, the OEM will be the best. People will argue like they always do but they lasted this long, didn’t they? I bought the Eagle Eyes ones for my old Yukon, which everyone says are the best, because I wanted to do an HID projector retrofit, which I’ve never done before, and I didn’t want to risk OEM lights on the first try. They weren’t on the truck for a year before they started peeling at the top. Total garbage. I was going to get OEM ones and swap over the projectors but I sold the truck and got a Escalade Platinum and fixed that problem.

As far as LED bulbs go, nothing will really be that good. They’re all cheaply made China stuff that have no R&D to make sure the light source is in the exact same location as the halogen bulb so the light reflects properly from the reflector. In short, that means you’ll be blinding oncoming traffic and probably have poor output where you need it. I say either do a projector retrofit or just leave the halogens. Just get better halogens like Silverstars.

The wildcard would be the Morimoto LED headlight assemblies. All the experiences I’ve had with Morimoto stuff have been good so I’d hope the headlights are good quality but I think only a few people on here have them. Most people who own these trucks now can’t fathom spending $1000 for good light output that doesn’t blind oncoming traffic. I think they’re kinda ugly and don’t match the styling of the truck but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It isn’t like the Yukon is the best looking of the triplets anyway.
 

Joseph Garcia

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TollKeeper

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You dont list where in this world you live..

If you live in a climate with snow/ice.. Go with HID or stay with Halogen. LED dont produce heat, and can/will reduce your visibility in the cold weather events.

I went HID, and have not looked back. Great light output. Good heat to the lens for winter driving.

Why not try new headlight housings? They are reasonably priced, from 100 up to 300, and come in a lot of different combinations for DRL, look, strips, and other stuff..


OEM styled

Aftermarket
 

repairman54

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HID in my '11 low beams since '14. Just cheap 55w Chinese stuff. Had a couple ballasts go bad over 120k miles but I mounted them for under hood access. At $50 a set have spares is not an issue. I do a lot of winter driving as I snowmobile and ice melting heat in the headlights is critical. Plus HID's have a 360 deg. light output like halogen so no playing around to get a proper beam pattern.
 

swathdiver

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Hi,

My headlight lenses are pretty bad, despite multiple attempts to polish out. I would like to try LED bulbs. I would like to keep something stock as far as housing, but are any brands any better than others? Any LED bulbs superior to others?
GM Original Equipment, the bulbs that come with them are plenty bright and the housings will go another 10+ years depending on where you live and where you park it.
 

Onlyone

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Any cheap LED will be better than the halogen crap that was in it. Now, they may not last as long either. I’ll take the chance. I replaced my factory housings recently and the LED bulbs on chinazon were an amazing difference vs the factory crap. I even changed the fogs over which made a huge difference. Just have to make sure the bulbs are clocked correctly.
 

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