Class 8 Truck Lighting Guide:

Best Brands, Colors & Placement for Safer Hauling

As a retailer specializing in top‑quality exterior lighting for Class 8 trucks, Berube's Truck Accessories gets plenty of questions about what makes lighting great: which manufacturers deliver the durability and compliance needed, what color choices are best, how to use lights effectively—and how a modest investment in exterior lighting can dramatically improve safety.

Leading Manufacturers & Brands

When outfitting heavy‑duty rigs, certain names stand out for toughness, reliability, and performance. Among the brands we trust:

• Truck‑Lite — a benchmark for rugged LED fixtures, combination lamps, stop/turn/tail lights. Their Super 44 and Super 60 lines are hard to beat in terms of both brightness and durability.
  
  
• Optronics — excellent for trailer boards, clearance and marker lights, combination units. Affordable yet built to take vibration, moisture, debris, and road salt.
  
  
• Maxxima — strong LED offerings, well sealed, good warranty, good for auxiliary lights and work lights. We like their rugged housings and value.
  
  
• Trux Accessories — more known in the customization side, but many of their exterior lights meet DOT requirements and they offer good design/visibility combinations. Great for things like roof marker bars, accent lighting (where legal), and specialty work lights.
  
  

• United Pacific — gives you style and substance; many of their lamps combine good looks with useful function. Their reflectors, housing quality, and lens clarity tend to be quite good, especially for exterior accent, marker, or decorative lighting that also needs to be seen well.

We always recommend going with brands that are proven in harsh environments: hot/cold cycles, vibration, road spray, salt, dust. Compliance with FMVSS 108 / SAE / DOT standards is essential.

Best Colors, Styles, and Placement

Color and style aren’t just aesthetics—they matter for safety, compliance, and visibility. Here’s what we emphasize:

Red for stop/tail/brake lights are mandatory in most jurisdictions. Need to be bright, sealed, and reliable.

Amber (yellow) for turn signals, clearance lights, marker lights. Amber tends to stand out well under rain, fog or low light.

White/Clear for backup lights, work‑lights, utility lamps. Good white output for work zones or reversing.

Avoid using blue, green or other exotic colors in ways that might run afoul of local/state law (especially where lighting mimics emergency vehicles). Accent or off‑road (off duty) uses are one thing; on‑road regulatory lamps are another.
As to style & where to put them: roof marker bars, side markers, bumper lamps, mirror‑mounted lights, combination stop/turn/tail boards, under‑truck or rear work lights, auxiliary forward lighting all have roles. Each location serves a visibility purpose—whether making your truck seen from the side, back, or front, or helping you see when backing or working in dark areas.

Why Exterior Lighting Brings Big Safety Gains for Small Cost

From our perspective in the truck lighting business, lighting is one of the highest “bang for the buck” safety upgrades available. Here’s why:

Visibility = prevention
Proper marker and clearance lights, combined with bright turn/brake lamps, mean other road users see you sooner—through rain, fog, dusk. That reduces the likelihood of collisions, sideswipes, or rear‑end incidents.

Clarity of intent
Using reliable amber turn signals, red brake lights, white backup lights gives other drivers or pedestrians clear cues about what your truck is doing. When signals are dim, broken, or mis‑placed, people misread your movements.

Avoiding costly consequences
Even a minor “I didn’t see you” accident can cost thousands in repairs, lost revenue, insurance premium hikes, downtime. Spending on good lights often saves far more.

Lower maintenance, longer lifespan
LEDs from brands like Truck‑Lite, Maxxima, Optronics, United Pacific generally last far longer than old halogens. They draw less current, tolerate vibration and moisture better, so the replacement and labor costs go down.

Regulatory compliance and avoiding fines/delays
Failing inspections or getting citations for lighting infractions (wrong color, insufficient light output, poor sealing) can cost you both in money and in being forced off the road. Proper lighting helps you stay legal and keeps your fleet moving.

What to Look For—and What We Offer

If you’re outfitting or maintaining Class 8 rigs, here are essential features and what we stock:

LED light tech rather than halogen/sodium: more output per watt, better life, lower maintenance.

Sealed housings, high IP ratings, good vibration resistance. Road salt, debris, moisture are your constant enemies.

Correct color for function: red for braking/tail, amber for marker/turn/clearance, white for backup/work. No fake “cool color” compromises that interfere with function or violate legal rules.

Multiple mounting points: roof marker light, bumper lamps, side marker/turn/clearance, under‑mirror or fender lights, rear boards, work lights. The full coverage gives you visibility from nearly every angle.

We offer from the brands above: Truck‑Lite LED combination lamps, amber/clear side marker boards from Optronics, rugged work lights from Maxxima, decorative yet functional exterior accent and marker bars from Trux Accessories, and stylish but effective lamps from United Pacific. All compliant with DOT / SAE requirements, built to survive harsh conditions, priced reasonably.