HID Fog Install DIY w/PICS for LS460
10-22-10, 11:15 PM
#1
Moderator
Thread Starter
HID Fog Install DIY w/PICS for LS460
Hello Everyone,
I installed my HID fogs today and thought I would share some pics and info that could help someone out, yes I know this is a long post..sorry.
Some housekeeping:
Disclaimer - attempt at your own risk and I am not responsible for what happens to your install.
My camera really sucks and I was in a rush to install these, so these are the best pics I could provide.
Shout out to my boy Dan for helping me out.
Whats needed as it related to my HID fog install:
*HID Kit with a 9006 bulb application (35 watt system is recommended and most common)
Note - my HID bulbs are OEM Philips 4100K D2S bulbs that have been retrofitted with a 9006 collar to fit into 9006 applications. PM me if you want the ebay seller name that should be able to get you some of these. I recall paying about $60 a pair.
*Flat Head Screwdriver to remove fender liner screws
*Slotted Screwdriver to remove fender liner screws
*two bolts with nuts
*2 big washers with smaller hole for bolts
*2 smaller washers
* Electrical Tape
* Long Zip Ties (optional to support ballast in bracket tighter)
* Isopropyl Alchohol (used to clean HID bulbs to remove any oils)
* Q-tips to clean bulbs with alchohol
Begin by parking car on level surface. Safety First. Make sure lights are off completely, not Auto and also turn the fog switch OFF.
Pick a side to start working on, I chose drivers side and took pics of only this side of the install since the right side is identical. Only difference is there is more room behind the fender liner on the pass side.
Loosen the two fender lining rivet stile plastic screws and one metal screw toward the top that also holds the plastic wheel wheel liner edge and one metal screw at the very bottom of the liner underneath bumper (bottom screw not shown, sorry)
Here is a close up of the overall fog light assembly
Notice the mounting location I chose, a pre drilled hole already there:
Turn and remove the existing halogen 9006 bulb by turning and it should pull out. You may have to wiggle it some. Unplug the light bulb from the connector.
At this point, you may want to test your new HID bulbs and each ballast to make sure they work. Instructions for connection are below or should of come with your kit.
Here is the bracket that came with my HID kit, one bracket per ballast.
Here is what the ballast looks like in the bracket. Notice that on the install that the wires are pointing down where they enter the ballast. This allows for more play and perhaps keeping water from hanging around. You can zip tie around the bracket and ballast to make sure the tabs are tight around the ballast if you wish.
I used the big washer to brace the back side of the bracket facing the front of the car and then a smaller washer on the side facing the tire and then mount the ballast to the pre drilled hole in the bumper frame. The ballast will basically hang down. These ballasts are pretty stable, but slight vibration like this should not be a factor. Once the fender liner is back in place, it will act as a support and keep the ballast from moving around.
At the end of the ballast, one set of wires connect to the pigtails of the HID bulb. The other connection will have two leads (perhaps there is a finished plug for your kit)
There are two female receptacles on the stock harness plug. Insert the red lead wire to which the red wire on the car is going. Then, the other wire will connect into the other female connector. Red seems to stay consistent, but the grounds can be white, blue or black from my experience doing these installs. Just make sure you know which is pos and which is neg. If the fogs don't come on, make sure your fog switch is on, high beams are off. If no luck, then switch the wires.
It should look like this:
Later on you may want to seal up the connection with some electrical tape.
Get a Q-tip and dip in the alchohol and clean off the bulb glass to make sure it is free of oil. Let it just air dry, takes a few seconds. Make sure you don't touch the glass! Where some latex gloves if you have no confidence in your ability to not touch the glass.
Connect the HID bulb wires to the pigtails from the ballast. You can't mess this up, they are male to female and female to male plugs and only go on one way.
Insert the HID bulb back into the fog light assembly. Push it in, turn and you should feel it lock into place. Pull on the light to make sure it is firmly in place.
Start car, and then turn on the fogs to see if it lights up, hopefully it should..you did testing along the way.
Leave the fender liner open for now.
Complete the install on the other side the same way
Once both bulbs are installed, you may want to double check to make sure they are aimed. Notice in the pic further up, there is an adjustment gear to change the vertical aim. I did not have to adjust mine, but I may lower mine to add more light between the bumper and where the low beams start showing on the road.
Easiest way to check aim is first pull up to a flat wall and notice if the fog pattern is basically even on each side..you can see a line going across. The true test is driving at night. If you get flashed, a good sign you need to lower the beams down. Again, i have not been flashed yet or had to adjust them to make sure the fog beams were even with each other.
Then, on each side push in the excess wire, close up the fender liners and put the screws/rivets back in and you are now HID fog kitted out.
On the right (driver side) is HID fog, on the left (pass side) is halogen fog. Camera really can't show the difference as well as I hoped.
Here is both HID fogs in
Here are some night pics also, enjoy.
HID fogs OFF
HID fogs ON
HID fogs OFF:
HID fogs ON:
FINAL PRODUCT
I hope this is helpful to someone, take it easy folks!
I installed my HID fogs today and thought I would share some pics and info that could help someone out, yes I know this is a long post..sorry.
Some housekeeping:
Disclaimer - attempt at your own risk and I am not responsible for what happens to your install.
My camera really sucks and I was in a rush to install these, so these are the best pics I could provide.
Shout out to my boy Dan for helping me out.
Whats needed as it related to my HID fog install:
*HID Kit with a 9006 bulb application (35 watt system is recommended and most common)
Note - my HID bulbs are OEM Philips 4100K D2S bulbs that have been retrofitted with a 9006 collar to fit into 9006 applications. PM me if you want the ebay seller name that should be able to get you some of these. I recall paying about $60 a pair.
*Flat Head Screwdriver to remove fender liner screws
*Slotted Screwdriver to remove fender liner screws
*two bolts with nuts
*2 big washers with smaller hole for bolts
*2 smaller washers
* Electrical Tape
* Long Zip Ties (optional to support ballast in bracket tighter)
* Isopropyl Alchohol (used to clean HID bulbs to remove any oils)
* Q-tips to clean bulbs with alchohol
Begin by parking car on level surface. Safety First. Make sure lights are off completely, not Auto and also turn the fog switch OFF.
Pick a side to start working on, I chose drivers side and took pics of only this side of the install since the right side is identical. Only difference is there is more room behind the fender liner on the pass side.
Loosen the two fender lining rivet stile plastic screws and one metal screw toward the top that also holds the plastic wheel wheel liner edge and one metal screw at the very bottom of the liner underneath bumper (bottom screw not shown, sorry)
Here is a close up of the overall fog light assembly
Notice the mounting location I chose, a pre drilled hole already there:
Turn and remove the existing halogen 9006 bulb by turning and it should pull out. You may have to wiggle it some. Unplug the light bulb from the connector.
At this point, you may want to test your new HID bulbs and each ballast to make sure they work. Instructions for connection are below or should of come with your kit.
Here is the bracket that came with my HID kit, one bracket per ballast.
Here is what the ballast looks like in the bracket. Notice that on the install that the wires are pointing down where they enter the ballast. This allows for more play and perhaps keeping water from hanging around. You can zip tie around the bracket and ballast to make sure the tabs are tight around the ballast if you wish.
I used the big washer to brace the back side of the bracket facing the front of the car and then a smaller washer on the side facing the tire and then mount the ballast to the pre drilled hole in the bumper frame. The ballast will basically hang down. These ballasts are pretty stable, but slight vibration like this should not be a factor. Once the fender liner is back in place, it will act as a support and keep the ballast from moving around.
At the end of the ballast, one set of wires connect to the pigtails of the HID bulb. The other connection will have two leads (perhaps there is a finished plug for your kit)
There are two female receptacles on the stock harness plug. Insert the red lead wire to which the red wire on the car is going. Then, the other wire will connect into the other female connector. Red seems to stay consistent, but the grounds can be white, blue or black from my experience doing these installs. Just make sure you know which is pos and which is neg. If the fogs don't come on, make sure your fog switch is on, high beams are off. If no luck, then switch the wires.
It should look like this:
Later on you may want to seal up the connection with some electrical tape.
Get a Q-tip and dip in the alchohol and clean off the bulb glass to make sure it is free of oil. Let it just air dry, takes a few seconds. Make sure you don't touch the glass! Where some latex gloves if you have no confidence in your ability to not touch the glass.
Connect the HID bulb wires to the pigtails from the ballast. You can't mess this up, they are male to female and female to male plugs and only go on one way.
Insert the HID bulb back into the fog light assembly. Push it in, turn and you should feel it lock into place. Pull on the light to make sure it is firmly in place.
Start car, and then turn on the fogs to see if it lights up, hopefully it should..you did testing along the way.
Leave the fender liner open for now.
Complete the install on the other side the same way
Once both bulbs are installed, you may want to double check to make sure they are aimed. Notice in the pic further up, there is an adjustment gear to change the vertical aim. I did not have to adjust mine, but I may lower mine to add more light between the bumper and where the low beams start showing on the road.
Easiest way to check aim is first pull up to a flat wall and notice if the fog pattern is basically even on each side..you can see a line going across. The true test is driving at night. If you get flashed, a good sign you need to lower the beams down. Again, i have not been flashed yet or had to adjust them to make sure the fog beams were even with each other.
Then, on each side push in the excess wire, close up the fender liners and put the screws/rivets back in and you are now HID fog kitted out.
On the right (driver side) is HID fog, on the left (pass side) is halogen fog. Camera really can't show the difference as well as I hoped.
Here is both HID fogs in
Here are some night pics also, enjoy.
HID fogs OFF
HID fogs ON
HID fogs OFF:
HID fogs ON:
FINAL PRODUCT
I hope this is helpful to someone, take it easy folks!
The following 2 users liked this post by CJITTY:
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10-24-10, 01:29 PM
#7
Moderator
Thread Starter
ebay has "U.S. Sellers" selling them for $35.99. Comes with two ballasts and a pair of bulbs. Everything you need.
I recommend getting the 3000K (yellow) bulb color or max 4300K to match headlights. I personally think the fogs should be at or less K's than the headlights. Anything over 6000K, and you are just not getting any lumens (usable light) on the road IMO. I have some 3000Ks on order and will install them when these 4100Ks go out.
I recommend getting the 3000K (yellow) bulb color or max 4300K to match headlights. I personally think the fogs should be at or less K's than the headlights. Anything over 6000K, and you are just not getting any lumens (usable light) on the road IMO. I have some 3000Ks on order and will install them when these 4100Ks go out.
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10-25-10, 10:24 AM
#9
Driver
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: texas
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I install mine and they look great. But I found out one thing weird, after the kit installed, my parking sensor somtime beeping while the car rolling, or park. (there was no car infront, no dust or bugs cover the sensor.) after 2 weeks I took the HID kit off the car, and now it is normal.
anyone know what was the cause?
anyone know what was the cause?
10-25-10, 10:28 AM
#10
I install mine and they look great. But I found out one thing weird, after the kit installed, my parking sensor somtime beeping while the car rolling, or park. (there was no car infront, no dust or bugs cover the sensor.) after 2 weeks I took the HID kit off the car, and now it is normal.
anyone know what was the cause?
anyone know what was the cause?
10-25-10, 02:58 PM
#13
Moderator
Thread Starter
dang, those ballasts must be putting out some serious frequencies, but then again parking sensors probably are easily overpowered. Good advice. If I notice anything, I'll report back. When this happened to you, did it just throw false parking signals all the time, or just a little blip here and there? Did it clear up after hitting the P))) button and turning back on? I'll do some testing with a spotter also to see if the sensors are completely off calculating distance.
11-29-10, 09:18 AM
#14
i think you can buy the connector here instead of sticking the blunt end into the stock socket and tape up. It would give a more secure/cleaner look. Not sure which socket to buy though. I think the 9006 male socket?
http://autolumination.com/connectors.htm
http://autolumination.com/connectors.htm
11-29-10, 09:24 AM
#15
Moderator
Thread Starter
thanks, i didn't update my DIY but i actually found my one piece connectors to go from ballast to factory wire harness so i did that the other day..i still put tape on it..probably not required but doesnt hurt. But nice solid connection now. My other car has the pigtails..going on 4 years now, no issues but I agree the one piece is probably the best route
