Since I got an early '14 model before the LED foglights were an option, I've been looking for a cheap LED set to pick up. Finally found a set for relatively cheap off of E-Bay, used of course.
And since I can't leave well enough alone, especially since I want to know what's inside, I opened them up. I plan on painting everything white. The pics:
This picture shows all the parts. It's ridiculous- the topmost black bezel is the one that goes over the lens itself. Under that is the lens, and the next black bezel attaches to the inside of the lens, and covers the same area. And further, I tried mocking it up without those two black bezels, and it looks the same. Think I'm going to ditch those two bezels. It also looks like it they affect output, so I'm still going to experiment with that.
I do like the output of these - nice thin, flat line, and they look wide. Definitely way better than the halogen fog lights. I'll grab some output pics of them later.
Also, the electrical connector in the rear is not a direct plug and play from the halogen fog lights. I found the connector though, and still debating if I want to order it, or just wire something up myself. I only found the connector in China, so if I order it, won't be here for a while.
Sigh - I thought the fog lamps were the exact same shapes, so no need for a new bezel. Wrong. New bezels on their way. I'm getting really fast at taking off the bumper.
The light distribution becomes much wider - and was really bright as a DRL. They would be easily noticeable in the daytime, but would easily blind traffic at night, so would have to be wired to turn off with the headlights.
Got the new fog light bezel in a couple of days ago. Also got some SWP paint in a spray can in today - going to color match the black shroud to SWP, and leave the chrome piece chrome - for now. May change it to black at some point, we'll see how it looks.
I was reading through is now waiting for the bad news and LOL'd when I got to the bad news. That sucks, glad you got new bezels! Let see this installed
I was reading through is now waiting for the bad news and LOL'd when I got to the bad news. That sucks, glad you got new bezels! Let see this installed
Gotta say the color match to SWP is dead on. I got two stage paint from automotivetouchup, and when the basecoat went on I thought, hmm, seems a little light. Then the pearl midcoat, and wow - dead match right down to the pearl effect. Ended up doing the outside foglight bezels as well.
This was probably the nicest paint job I've ever done, and then, of course, disaster. A moth lands on my drying paint. :cry
Zoomed in here, you can see some of the aftermath. I tried to fix it best I could with some light sanding and re-spray, but decided this was good enough. The perils of painting in an open garage at night.
Gotta say the color match to SWP is dead on. I got two stage paint from automotivetouchup, and when the basecoat went on I thought, hmm, seems a little light. Then the pearl midcoat, and wow - dead match right down to the pearl effect. Ended up doing the outside foglight bezels as well.
This was probably the nicest paint job I've ever done, and then, of course, disaster. A moth lands on my drying paint. :cry
Zoomed in here, you can see some of the aftermath. I tried to fix it best I could with some light sanding and re-spray, but decided this was good enough. The perils of painting in an open garage at night.
Couldn't agree more. Minus my moth incident, this is the nicest paint job I've done. I'm blown away how well the paint went on, so smooth and glass like. You'd be hard pressed to tell it was done with a rattle can. Their clear coat went on just as smooth. I'm definitely a fan.
It's a little bit of a long process -but the results are well worth it.
- scuffed plastic with a green brillo pad (to rough it up for better adhesion)
- two coats of adhesion promoter (makes sure the paint/primer sticks to the plastic)
- three coats of primer - I used a rustoleum product for this (one that claims it bonds to plastic), as I forgot to order a primer
- wet-sanded with 800 grit sandpaper (automotivetouchup recommends 600, but I didn't have that so went higher)
- three coats of the base color
- two coats of the mid coat (the pearl color) - really you want as many coats as needed to match the pearl effect
- three coats of clear
I also heated up the spray paint cans (base, mid and clear) with a heat gun before each application - I've read that helps the paint lay smoother. Not sure if that helped it lay smoother or not. But given the results I got, I'll be doing it in the future.
Are you doing some painting? Please share, would love to see what you're up to.
Nice! I've got a lot of pics of the headlight torn down if you want it. Do you currently have the halogen projectors, HID, or HID with adaptive lighting (projector turns with steering wheel) currently?
Honestly I'm not crazy about them. Something's off and I can't put my finger on it. Thinking maybe it's too much white. Maybe if I paint the chrome trim black. Or, maybe the lower grill white?
I'd welcome any thoughts/opinions. My next project is to open up the headlights again and paint the shrouds and "barrels" white, and add some halos to each.
Nice! I've got a lot of pics of the headlight torn down if you want it. Do you currently have the halogen projectors, HID, or HID with adaptive lighting (projector turns with steering wheel) currently?
Thanks Yooshaw. I'm getting those retrofitted by a professional since I have zero experience with this type of modification.
I currently have halogen projectors with HIDs inside which surprisingly perform well, but I still want better responsiveness and output when I turn the high beams on.
Since the headlight assembly is going to be opened anyway, I might also fit RGBW demon eyes in the high beam projectors, and those switchback DRLs as well.
Honestly I'm not crazy about them. Something's off and I can't put my finger on it. Thinking maybe it's too much white. Maybe if I paint the chrome trim black. Or, maybe the lower grill white?
I'd welcome any thoughts/opinions. My next project is to open up the headlights again and paint the shrouds and "barrels" white, and add some halos to each.
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