[5457]

My 2016 Trax has long life bulbs in both high and low beams. I didn't think they were lighting up the road as good as the Hella conversion that I put on my old 92 Toyota. I bought some Philips VisionPlus bulbs, H11 for low beam and 9005 for high beams. Note that many manufacturers catalogs say the Trax takes H7 for low beams and H1 for high beams, that's wrong, at least for 2016 USA sold Chevy Trax. Check your owners manual to make sure.

It takes about 5 minutes to swap the bulbs. There's a large plastic cap behind each bulb, about 1/4 turn counterclockwise to remove. Leave the wire connector attached until after you remove the bulb, that way the connector won't fall down inside the back of the housing requiring some fishing to get it back out.

I tested many different bulbs from yellow to blue in my Toyota Hella conversion. Don't fall for the whiter or blue colored bulb hype. The whiter or blueish ones may look cool staring at the headlamps, but the way they illuminate the road is worse than regular bulbs. The yellow coated bulbs work the best but are not DOT approved and might get you a ticket. The VisionPlus bulbs I put in the Trax is an improvement. I think the only way to get them brighter would be HID, Projector, or perhaps LED, but those cost a lot more. I just need to remember to turn off the DRL every time I drive as these are not long life bulbs.

 

[wolfie]

thanks for the info,just goin to replace mine in my 2016 trax and i would of gotten the wrong ones.

 

[beeguz]

You can up the wattage of the headlights buy using 65W bulbs.

By removing the tiny piece of plastic where the bulb plugs into the harness.

This piece is easy to remove with a razor knife or a dremmel tool once the piece of plastic is removed it plugs right in.

 

[5457]

You can up the wattage of the headlights buy using 65W bulbs.

By removing the tiny piece of plastic where the bulb plugs into the harness.

This piece is easy to remove with a razor knife or a dremmel tool once the piece of plastic is removed it plugs right in.

I saw those (H9) and even some H11 100W bulbs but wanted to keep it legal. Then there's the problem of no anti-glare coating on those bulbs, the extra heat trapped inside all that plastic, bulb life, and if the DRL circuit can handle the extra load. From what I understand the DRL does not use a drop resistor, but uses a pulse modulated voltage from the BCM or whatever they call it now. If you do go with H9 you can get a pigtail adapter for $10, that way the bulb socket won't need to be modified.

 

[beeguz]

You modify the bulb, not the pigtail.

All you do is cut out, or dremmel the plastic spine.

I did it on cars that I have owned, never had a problem just brighter light.

 

[danceswithpie]

Since this is the most found thread on bulb replacement for 2016 Chevy Trax, would just like to point out the manual claims the correct bulb is H7, so thank you for clarifying this should be H11

 

[Oneeleven]

I am bumping this thread rather than starting my own.

I want to change out my headlights on my 2013 Trax (Canada). They're the original manufacture bulbs (crazy I know. It's really lightly driven before I got it). they just seem a bit duller than I'd like.



1/ How can I find out which bulbs I should get?

2/ Which are the best bulbs I can buy that will give me the highest level of illumination without risking over heating the casing, or switching to LEDs (love LEDs but from what I've read it's pretty complicated to do)

3/ Do I have to change both high and low beams? My highbeams still seem fine to me.

Thanks everyone

 

[Traxy]

I've done this to my Canadian 2016 Trax, Change both highbeam 9005 for 100W 5800°K and lowbeam H11 for 100W 6000°K. They put out a nice white light considerably better than original. Would have preferred 5300°K but closest I could find was 5800°K. Don't know what beeguz is talking about because higher wattage are just plug and play. Like mentioned by bswarm you don't want to go too blue or too yellow because your eyes see best at 4300°K but that is fairly yellow. Avoid going over 6000°K because you will need too much power to compensate for your eyes lower sensitivity to these wavelengths.

 

[Oneeleven]

I've done this to my Canadian 2016 Trax, Change both highbeam 9005 for 100W 5800°K and lowbeam H11 for 100W 6000°K. They put out a nice white light considerably better than original. Would have preferred 5300°K but closest I could find was 5800°K. Don't know what beeguz is talking about because higher wattage are just plug and play. Like mentioned by bswarm you don't want to go too blue or too yellow because your eyes see best at 4300°K but that is fairly yellow. Avoid going over 6000°K because you will need too much power to compensate for your eyes lower sensitivity to these wavelengths.

Wow! Thanks for all the info.
Any recommendations for brands specifically?

I'm also going to change my back up lights.

 

[Traxy]

Wow! Thanks for all the info.
Any recommendations for brands specifically?

I'm also going to change my back up lights.

Actually after I wrote that I found both of these on ebay at 5300°K. I am not a brand name person since you pay more because they brag more in commercials. I buy whatever I like in double so I have spares, easy enough to change so I don't worry about it. As for the rear backup lamps I changed those too and am very happy with the results.

Also seems to work better with backup camera.

 

[Traxy]

Like these for instance....I'd buy these

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/XENCN-HB3-9005-12V-100W-5300K-Blue-Diamond-Light-Xenon-White-Look-Car-Headlight/253288356785?hash=item3af9299bb1:g:lkkAAOSwnDpaIRpV&vxp=mtr

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/XENCN-H11-12V-70W-5300K-Blue-Diamond-Light-Car-Bulbs-Replace-Upgrade-Off-Road/253288176059?hash=item3af926d9bb:g:4yAAAOSwnCFaIQIU&vxp=mtr

 

[Flyinfool]

On my truck I installed LED DRLs that work the same as the factory DRLs. I was able to isolate the DRL from the headlights and still have the computers control them. Now I do not have to abuse my expensive headlight bulbs all day long. I have not looked into if this separation is possible on the Trax. If someone has access to a wiring diagram for the Trax and can post that page I will look to see if the same mod will work on the Trax.

 

[Traxy]

You can't do that with the Trax, the BCM pulse modulates the low beam filament for DRLs up to 2017. This circuit is valid for the Trax pre 17 and Encore without leveling control.

 

[Flyinfool]

Bummer!
Well I think the DRL could still be split out but it will take more than what an average backyard mechanic could or should do.
It would require a custom circuit board with some logic on it. Not many have the ability to make such a thing. Someday IF we decide to buy out the Trax lease at the end of this year AND I get the ambition to start modding it, Then I might design and build the PC board to do this. Unless someone already makes such a thing that I do not know about (it is VERY possible to have something I do not know about).

 

[Traxy]

You could always install fog lights and use those as DRLs then setup your low beam to come on when the high beams are ''OFF'' via a couple of relays.

 

[Oneeleven]

Hi again. This might sound like a stupid question, but my friend who's helping me change out my bulbs tonite is telling me that the Hi and Lo beams come from the same bulb. Mr. Google says that's not true for all cars.

To be sure, the Trax (mines a 2013) has separate bulbs for both Hi and Lo beam, correct?


Thanks a lot!

 

[Traxy]

Yes, 9005 for highs and H11 for lows

 

[beeguz]

Hi again. This might sound like a stupid question, but my friend who's helping me change out my bulbs tonite is telling me that the Hi and Lo beams come from the same bulb. Mr. Google says that's not true for all cars.

To be sure, the Trax (mines a 2013) has separate bulbs for both Hi and Lo beam, correct?


Thanks a lot!

Years ago headlights had dual beams in them.
High and low were in one bulb.

Be careful touching those bulbs, if you can't avoid touching the glass make sure to wipe them down with alcohol, before placing them in the hole.
People often make this mistake only to find out the headlight won't work a few days later, its because the bulb cracked from getting hot.