#271 needs a little help with interior lighting.

[8AD•SS]

First of all, thanks everyone for all the great information available in this forum and if what I'm looking to find out is available here already I do apologize. I did try to search but to no avail.

I've had my ZL1 for a couple days now and can't stop driving it! I love this car! Hoping to have her broken in and starting some mods in the next couple weeks.

Anyway, the reason I started this thread, the first night I was out driving I noticed the lighting above my door panels were extremely dim. It's clearly being obscured by the coloring of the panels which on my SS cars ends a few millimeters before the top to allow the light to shine clearly. My general assumption was that it was a defect and I would need to get some new panels but having never seen another ZL1 at night I wasn't 100%.

So I was hoping I could turn to my friends here and get a few pics of other ZL1s door lighting to find out if this is just how they are or what I figured to be more likely my baby needs some new ones.

Thanks in advance everyone,
Mike

[G-Oil Guy]

Nope. You don't need new ones. At full blast the black paint (or maybe they used grey translucent plastic) on the panels tints the light making it dimmer. It was the same way on the 12's as well.

I don't know why they didn't make it red to match the stitching, but that's just me. I heard you can change the colors quite easily with replacement plug and play bulbs cause I'm thinking of swapping mine to orange.

[SteveRS]

hmm Id like to see a ZL1 interior ABL.. i was under the assumption somehow didnt come with it..

[mlee]

Originally Posted by SteveRS

hmm Id like to see a ZL1 interior ABL.. i was under the assumption somehow didnt come with it..

Same as any other Camaro...

[G-Oil Guy]

Originally Posted by SteveRS

hmm Id like to see a ZL1 interior ABL.. i was under the assumption somehow didnt come with it..

Steve,

ABL? whats that stand for?

[SteveRS]

AmBient Lighting

[SteveRS]

I just added the Silver Panels and did the lighting 2 days ago

[8AD•SS]

Originally Posted by G-Oil Guy

Nope. You don't need new ones. At full blast the black paint (or maybe they used grey translucent plastic) on the panels tints the light making it dimmer. It was the same way on the 12's as well.

I don't know why they didn't make it red to match the stitching, but that's just me. I heard you can change the colors quite easily with replacement plug and play bulbs cause I'm thinking of swapping mine to orange.

Thanks for the feedback. That's really odd, I don't get why they wouldn't leave a gap like they do on the SS panels
And I couldn't agree more about the color choice, will absolutely be changing mine to red in the future

[WCoolBreeze]

In the DIY section there are numerous threads about the ABL in the 2LT's and 2SS's. One of the things that was found out is that for the last 2 inches before the door panel meets the dash, on the inside, GM put a 2 inch piece of black/electrical tape. The Mod that has been done my some here has been to remove that piece of tape and sand lightly along the grove for the light pipe. This allows the ABL to go all the way up to the dash, also some owners have added a second ABL LED light to the other end of the light tube, this makes the ABL show up brighter. Plus some of us have done full ABL Mods to our door panels and dash.

Walt B.

[StangKiller-SS]

Originally Posted by SteveRS

I just added the Silver Panels and did the lighting 2 days ago

Did you use different LED's for your lighting? Looks a lot more Blue than what the factory LED's usually are.

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Originally Posted by 8AD•SS

First of all, thanks everyone for all the great information available in this forum and if what I'm looking to find out is available here already I do apologize. I did try to search but to no avail.

I've had my ZL1 for a couple days now and can't stop driving it! I love this car! Hoping to have her broken in and starting some mods in the next couple weeks.

Anyway, the reason I started this thread, the first night I was out driving I noticed the lighting above my door panels were extremely dim. It's clearly being obscured by the coloring of the panels which on my SS cars ends a few millimeters before the top to allow the light to shine clearly. My general assumption was that it was a defect and I would need to get some new panels but having never seen another ZL1 at night I wasn't 100%.

So I was hoping I could turn to my friends here and get a few pics of other ZL1s door lighting to find out if this is just how they are or what I figured to be more likely my baby needs some new ones.

Thanks in advance everyone,
Mike

Congratulations Mike! We are happy that you love your ZL1! Have you taken it to a dealership to see if there is an issue with the lighting? Please let us know if this is an available option for you!

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

[mmarx82]

Just looking at the obvious, The brightness for the door lighting is controlled by your cluster brightness. Do you have it turned all the way up?

[8AD•SS]

Originally Posted by Chevrolet Customer Svc

Congratulations Mike! We are happy that you love your ZL1! Have you taken it to a dealership to see if there is an issue with the lighting? Please let us know if this is an available option for you!

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

Thanks for chiming in Brandon, the car is fantastic! GM did wonderful work here.
I have not taken it in to have it checked yet, I was hoping to find out whether or not the lightning should be the same brightness as my SS Camaros first as to not waste anyone's time when they tell me thats just how the ZL1s are lol. Kind of where I am at here. If it's suppose to be the same as my white 2SS and my 45th Vert then I can see the problem.

Mike

[8AD•SS]

Originally Posted by mmarx82

Just looking at the obvious, The brightness for the door lighting is controlled by your cluster brightness. Do you have it turned all the way up?

I appreciate it and wish that was the case but I'm very experienced with these cars...just not with the new ZL1. The Z's panel coloring/tint what have you runs the full length of the panel covering and dimming the light while my other Camaros have a small clear gap along the tops that allow the light through. Just need to know if it's a defect or foursome reason how they decided to do the ZL1s, which I thought odd.

Mike