ISTexas

As the title states, I'm going to be adding a 24" LED light bar behind the lower grill in the front bumper. I live in the country and any extra lighting would be a huge help.

I'm coming from Toyota Tacomas, 4Runners and Tundras so this is my first venture into a Toyota sedan. Loving it so far, but it's a big change from lifted off-road vehicles.

Enough of that though, has anyone tried this yet? Any issues with putting a light bar in that location?

It should be pretty stealthy, but look really clean.

Thanks for any opinions.

Snyperifle

I don't see why it would be a problem if mounted securely

ISTexas

Do you have the blue plastidipped IS? If so, really nice job.

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

Welcome to CL (I see that you're new). I think I know what type of led Kirby bar you want to install after you said you were into Tacomas. You shouldn't have a problem as long as you find a good location to loony it. I think the metal bumper is too high and not sure if yin can zip tie it. There was a member who had the police blue and red individual led lights. That's as close as I can remember. Good luck and post pics when done.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

It can be done; it'll just require some custom work to get it mount to a hard surface. I know the "crash bar" is probably directly above the location where you'll mount it behind the honeycomb grille.

ISTexas

Exactly, similar to the Rigid Industries double row light bars except I'll be using a knock off brand. I measured and I can fit up to a 24" bar behind the grill. I'm prepared to fab up some custom metal brackets and drill to secure it.

I'll post pics when I get it done.

That's the plan, directly behind the lower honeycomb grill.

Thanks y'all.

06350F

iTrader: (4)

I've always wanted to do this but haven't found the light bar for me. Please take lots of photos if you pull the trigger

ISTexas

I went ahead and ordered a 24" Tuff Stuff LED bar, several friends of mine are running them on their 4x4's with no issues after a year or so. The actual LED bar is 21", mount to mount is 24". Obviously the bar isn't "Rigid quality"; however, I won't be mudding, rock climbing or hitting the sand dunes so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Here's a picture of it:



I'm planning on wiring it and running a rocker switch into one of the available slots to the left of the steering wheel where the "coin holders" could go.



Goal is to make it look "stock", too nice of a car to start hacking stuff up.

Pics to come...

littleyan9

iTrader: (1)

Looks good man. Looking forward to the finish pics!

dorkacho

iTrader: (5)

will look good, keep us updated

06350F

iTrader: (4)

Heat would be my biggest worry. The light bar blocks the small section of the radiator. Also the bars get hot, even with the heat fins they still out off heat. Other then that heat soak that's all that comes to mind

rawr2is250

Wow interesting, love to see the final results.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

I was behind a Ford Raptor last night that had one above-cab and in-grille LED light bars; I gotta say, those things are BRIGHT! The only thing is the in-grille mounted one only illuminated the ground in front of the truck so far. To me, the better investment in lighting is HIDs in the fogs (and the headlamps is you don't already).

GL with the installed; post pics once done!

ISTexas

That was one of my concerns as well; however, the more I thought about it, I would only be using the bar at night or early morning when it's coolest outside. I don't think it should block enough air to make a difference, but we'll see.

Agreed, but I didn't really want to upgrade to HID's just yet - plus I assumed it would cost more than the $100 the bar cost me? If I position it correctly it should turn the night into day based on a few friends of mine running the same bar at bumper height.

Update:

The bar came in, I just have to make time to go get a different switch and crawl under there to install it. I'm used to being able to completely sit under my vehicles without using even using a jack, I then realized how good I had it when I could barely squeeze under the front bumper.

Here's a picture of the bar...



Hopefully it will be installed by this weekend.

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

I used some switches for different things I had in my car. There is also a factory switch from a Toyota (I forget what car) that looks oem. I'm really curious to see how bright this will be.