Best suburban grill for light bar

[Jnull]

With the size of our family increasing we traded my wife’s 18 Sierra 1500 x terrain in on a 16 suburban LT. She has a list of demands to make it cooler and one of them is a light bar behind the grill along with headlight upgrades because the factory ones are terrible.

Are there any grills other then the lower trim honey comb ones that will maximize light bar output from behind it? This is the new ride and the current grill won’t allow much light out from behind it. I’m not against factoryish looking aftermarket units either, I plan to color match it either way.

 

[gat0r]

looks like you have an LTZ grille now

you would be surprised how much light a light bar puts out. id think you'd be ok w/ that one.

Z71 or LS/LT(mesh) may work out better
the Z71 grille has 1 bar on top & 2 on bottom (vs the LTZ - 2 bar on top & 3 on bottom)
(think LT had a 1 bar on top & 2 on bottom... as well as mesh option)

RST would prolly block the most


aftermarket wire mesh would block the least

 

[Jnull]

looks like you have an LTZ grille now

you would be surprised how much light a light bar puts out. id think you'd be ok w/ that one.

Z71 or LS/LT(mesh) may work out better
the Z71 grille has 1 bar on top & 2 on bottom (vs the LTZ - 2 bar on top & 3 on bottom)
(think LT had a 1 bar on top & 2 on bottom... as well as mesh option)

RST would prolly block the most


aftermarket wire mesh would block the least

I definitely wouldn’t be surprised how much light a bar puts out. I’m pretty into lighting since my drive to work is a minimum 1.25 hours through desolate deer and elk infested back highways with no cell service for miles. I have a 40” baja designs hi power on the bumper at 44,600 lumens and baja designs XL80s on the pillars with S1s pointing off the sides of them. One XL80 is brighter then any 50” Amazon China light bar. It doesn’t matter how much light any given bar puts out if it’s almost completely blocked. My truck.



I do like the black mesh inserts a and looked into them but most of what I’m finding for that kind of stuff goes overtop of whatever’s on the factory grill. I found some complete replacement aftermarket grills that look good but the mesh and grill shell are all one piece and that would be difficult to paint and look “clean” without just painting the entire thing mesh and all one color. Where would be the best place to find a Z71 grill at?

 

[gat0r]

thats a helluva a bumper. i remember when those came out. i wanted one so bad, but couldnt justify the price.


there are replacement grilles that have chrome outer ring & the mesh is 1 piece & all black. it would look good on the above burb

there are also 1 piece grilles that have light bars built in

 

[Jnull]

thats a helluva a bumper. i remember when those came out. i wanted one so bad, but couldnt justify the price.


there are replacement grilles that have chrome outer ring & the mesh is 1 piece & all black. it would look good on the above burb

there are also 1 piece grilles that have light bars built in

It’s a salty bumper but cheaper then deductibles every other week from hitting a deer lol. I got mine half price used, even shipped from texas to PA.

I’ve seen the light bar grills but they’re not my style, I prefer a factoryish look. Also most grills I see like you said are chrome and I’d like a paintable one. That’s another one of my wife’s demands get rid of all the chrome.

 

[gat0r]

yeah, some of the built in ones are odd, but at least its an option.


cant blame her. im in process of dechroming mine.



have you peaked @ carid? they are a vendor here.
there were 2 i saw. T rex & SpecD

1 was metal/powder coated & other was ABS plastic. should be able to paint both of them
the ABS one is significantly cheaper price wise

 

[Jnull]

yeah, some of the built in ones are odd, but at least its an option.


cant blame her. im in process of dechroming mine.



have you peaked @ carid? they are a vendor here.
there were 2 i saw. T rex & SpecD

1 was metal/powder coated & other was ABS plastic. should be able to paint both of them
the ABS one is significantly cheaper price wise

I did but I’ll have to look again and see if I can find the ones you’re talking about. I didn’t know they were a vendor, brand new here. Appreciate the help man.

Yea I’m not into chrome either, I dechromed my truck as well. I did find pre cut black vinyl kits for the window trim on the suburban, I’ll have to figure something out for the headlight trim.

 

[gat0r]

vinyl wrapping the grille surround & headlight brows is what i am getting done.

 

[Jnull]

vinyl wrapping the grille surround & headlight brows is what i am getting done.

what colors your rig and what color wrap if you don’t mind me asking? Ours is white diamond tri coat and I’m not sure if black wrap on the headlight trim will look right on a lighter colored vehicle.

 

[gat0r]

black burb
i wanted black chrome vinyl but 3m stopped it due to QC related issues.
so decided to do black brushed aluminum for something different