Picking up my new to me Denali today!

[Jonah52]

Looks great man. So what's the first mod gonna be?

This is a fantastic question! This vehicle is the one I have been most content with in stock form but there are a few things I am wanting to address. What do you think was most beneficial mod you have made?

My top three would be:

1. Tint- the rear windows don't seem like they are 20% like they were on my 05 and they are super light, and I find that annoying. I realize it will cost a lot but I want to tint the whole thing. 20% 2nd and third row, 5% hatch, 15% front windows and 15% sun strip.

2. Intake- Would like to see how this effects sound, throttle response, and anything else.

3. Headlights- I had HID's in my Silverado and these stock headlights are really dim compared to that. I was really disappointed my 05 had projectors and my new 07 Denali does not. I would like to d a retrofit, but don't know if stock housings use butyl for a seal or a cement type.

So what do you guys suggest for a first mod?



*Not sure how I feel about the taillights. Don't want red g5's but don't want completely smoked. If I could find some that are gray like OEM but LeD that would be perfect.

 

[felixgun]

Yea that would look good. It's all your personal preference . I've done both. I tinted my 07 esky 5% up front and 15% all the way around and it was way too dark for me. Ended up going with ceramic tint matched up front on my denali and normal tint matched up front on the yukon. It looks good outside and it's not too dark inside.

Airaid's 200-996 modular intake tube makes a good bit of noise (in a good way) and you can feel the pick up. My one gripe is that there is a known issue of them slipping off on one side and throwing a CEL. It never did it on my 08 tahoe and CONSTANTLY did it on my 07 esky. There's a thread on here somewhere about a lot of others having this same issue.

The head light housing that is OEM is very hard to take off. The eagle eye replica housing on eBay that is like less then 200 for a set easily comes off to put in the shroud/projectors if you decide to tackle the project yourself. You can go with AWS on eBay for 700 a set, or the vendor on here BFC for ~$1k for the standard set.

If you don't want the red g5's you should get the smoked ones. They're pretty much gray and look SICK on your black vehicle. Google a 2012 escalade premium in black and check it out. Or look at FiatDale's ride on here.

 

[Jonah52]

Yea that would look good. It's all your personal preference . I've done both. I tinted my 07 esky 5% up front and 15% all the way around and it was way too dark for me. Ended up going with ceramic tint matched up front on my denali and normal tint matched up front on the yukon. It looks good outside and it's not too dark inside.

Airaid's 200-996 modular intake tube makes a good bit of noise (in a good way) and you can feel the pick up. My one gripe is that there is a known issue of them slipping off on one side and throwing a CEL. It never did it on my 08 tahoe and CONSTANTLY did it on my 07 esky. There's a thread on here somewhere about a lot of others having this same issue.

The head light housing that is OEM is very hard to take off. The eagle eye replica housing on eBay that is like less then 200 for a set easily comes off to put in the shroud/projectors if you decide to tackle the project yourself. You can go with AWS on eBay for 700 a set, or the vendor on here BFC for ~$1k for the standard set.

If you don't want the red g5's you should get the smoked ones. They're pretty much gray and look SICK on your black vehicle. Google a 2012 escalade premium in black and check it out. Or look at FiatDale's ride on here.

Dude, you're a wealth of knowledge!

I think you have scared me away from the Airaid. Don't want it falling off and causing damage...

I think I am going to have my tint guy meter what the factory tint is and try to get it down to 15-20%. I liked my 20% tint, but it felt a smudge light during a sunny day, but it sure was dark at night. So thats why I am leaning towards 20% on the fronts and whatever gets closest to 20% on the rears. I do 5% on the hatch to stop glare at night.

I'll check out the black G5's and look for them on Fleabay. What's the main difference between G4's and G5's?

I knew the headlights would be expensive....I'll check out the eagle eye's. I used to have a G6 and those guys did retrofits in those all the time. Maybe I'll get on touch with one of them, he had great prices.

 

[07Burb]

To give you an idea I tinted my burb 5% over stock, 35% front doors and a brow for $200. Not bad and is MUCH better IMO

With the tails you could also have someone local you trust put a light smoke over a set of G4s or G5s

 

[yates ™]

Rears are right around 20% from the factory.

 

[felixgun]

Dude, you're a wealth of knowledge!

I think you have scared me away from the Airaid. Don't want it falling off and causing damage...

I think I am going to have my tint guy meter what the factory tint is and try to get it down to 15-20%. I liked my 20% tint, but it felt a smudge light during a sunny day, but it sure was dark at night. So thats why I am leaning towards 20% on the fronts and whatever gets closest to 20% on the rears. I do 5% on the hatch to stop glare at night.

I'll check out the black G5's and look for them on Fleabay. What's the main difference between G4's and G5's?

I knew the headlights would be expensive....I'll check out the eagle eye's. I used to have a G6 and those guys did retrofits in those all the time. Maybe I'll get on touch with one of them, he had great prices.

All the mods you're thinking of doing, i've done... several times lol. It doesn't fall off, it's more like SLIPS off one side and throws the CEL when it does. Then you have to pop the hood, slip it back on and maybe re-tighten, and then the CEL will go away after a turn on/turn offs. It was an aggravating process that wasn't worth the slight HP gain and "cool" noise.

G4's look WAY more after-market-y if that makes sense. The chrome at the bottom really bothers me and it looks really cheap looking if you get em you will understand what I'm talking about. PLUS not to mention the resistor issue where you had to splice in resistors to stop the hyper blink issue. g5's are just replica escalade tails. I had them on my 08 tahoe but right when G5's came out I sold em and got the g5's. You'll be way happier with the g5's. PLUS you don't have to get resistors.

 

[Jonah52]

To give you an idea I tinted my burb 5% over stock, 35% front doors and a brow for $200. Not bad and is MUCH better IMO

With the tails you could also have someone local you trust put a light smoke over a set of G4s or G5s

I'm nervous about the popo with the 5%, the factory just seems so much lighter than the 20% on all my other vehicles. $200 is really cheap. I've been quoted $300-$400.

After talking with Felix, I'm going G5's smoked, like the Esky platinums.

---------- Post added at 11:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 PM ----------

All the mods you're thinking of doing, i've done... several times lol. It doesn't fall off, it's more like SLIPS off one side and throws the CEL when it does. Then you have to pop the hood, slip it back on and maybe re-tighten, and then the CEL will go away after a turn on/turn offs. It was an aggravating process that wasn't worth the slight HP gain and "cool" noise.

G4's look WAY more after-market-y if that makes sense. The chrome at the bottom really bothers me and it looks really cheap looking if you get em you will understand what I'm talking about. PLUS not to mention the resistor issue where you had to splice in resistors to stop the hyper blink issue. g5's are just replica escalade tails. I had them on my 08 tahoe but right when G5's came out I sold em and got the g5's. You'll be way happier with the g5's. PLUS you don't have to get resistors.

Makes sense. The "black" G5's look killer. Definitely sold on those. They are the color I'm looking for, but LED and not completely black. I'm not really into the whole "murdered out" look. PnP is always a plus too. I hate wiring.

The intake isn't worth the hassle then. I don't want to keep doing that all the time. That happened with the filter on my spectre.

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 PM ----------

Rears are right around 20% from the factory.

Perfect, thanks for the heads up. Is it ceramic?

 

[07Burb]

Popo don't care about any of the windows other than the front doors and windshield. You can have the others as dark as you want

 

[felixgun]

I'm nervous about the popo with the 5%, the factory just seems so much lighter than the 20% on all my other vehicles. $200 is really cheap. I've been quoted $300-$400.

After talking with Felix, I'm going G5's smoked, like the Esky platinums.

---------- Post added at 11:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 PM ----------




Makes sense. The "black" G5's look killer. Definitely sold on those. They are the color I'm looking for, but LED and not completely black. I'm not really into the whole "murdered out" look. PnP is always a plus too. I hate wiring.

The intake isn't worth the hassle then. I don't want to keep doing that all the time. That happened with the filter on my spectre.

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 PM ----------



Perfect, thanks for the heads up. Is it ceramic?

Def get ceramic tint. Looks better and it looks way lighter on the inside then normal tint which is a huge plus for me at night. Also it's the Esky 2012+ Premiums that has those dark gray smoked tails/third brake light color. (the ones with the color matched platinum front end). Look at soulsea's 2012 black esky premium for a good example. He also has ck375's (although in 24) so it'll give you a good example of what your ride will look like. The Platinums still have the red tails and normal platinum non-color matched front end.

---------- Post added at 10:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:25 PM ----------

Popo don't care about any of the windows other than the front doors and windshield. You can have the others as dark as you want

Actually that might be true for where you live jacob but it is a different for every state. I looked it up. There's actually a website that lists every states tint laws.

 

[07Burb]

So there are states that care about the windows other than the front doors and windshield? I've never heard of that.