Sasnuke

Nothing so far...and I've hit some apocalyptic potholes since I've installed them.
The ride quality was diminished slightly, but the handling was improved in turns, so it's a give and take.

Napalvr

Sasnuke

No prob Napalvr...all input welcome.

I looked at my response and probably should have clarified.
The diminished ride quality was from when they were first installed. From then the ride quality has been constant...as well as the handling.
Essentially I would concur with Napalvr's comment.

evchao

Did you go through winter with them? I think Ontario winter was worse than here in Alberta. How'd they fare?

Sasnuke

The car was fine. I even had the 16 inch snows, which reduce ground clearance even a little more.
Never got stuck or beached the car.

Sasnuke

Lexus OEM Fog light switch installed...only switch in stock in North America...and I got it!! (keeping in mind it's for a Canadian vehicle (no DRL OFF option) with fog lights)


Collage of the process at a few key stages - dash indicator for the Fog lights works as well

Sasnuke

Winjet LED Fog light kit and gloss black Vivid vinyl on the grill surround. Thrilled with the chrome delete look, not so much with my vinyl wrapping skills lol! Might redo or get professionally done...or was thinking a black chrome finish on the grill

minhael

Thats awesome...very nice and clean install.

Sasnuke

Thanks, I was going for that OEM look.

a1rh3adsz

since the IS is prewired for fog lights, can you still use the fog light kit without the oem switch?

Sasnuke

Yes, it would be like adding an independent circuit to the vehicle, and basically just using the Power and Ground from the battery to make it work.
Everything was included in the kit, unfortunately all I used was the fog lights and the covers. I still have the harness and switch.

Ciggy

iTrader: (1)

i failed EXTREMELY on getting the JDM fog light stalk to work. It would light up the dash but would not power the fogs.

I tested extensively and towards the end of the project even the dash light had stopped working. I wired the fogs to come on with the parking lights and stay on which actually gives some better functionality than the oem stalk. I wanted the oem stalk to work for a clean install but ultimately gave up. Not sure if I damaged the one I purchased. I have it in the basement if anyone is doing this project soon and wants to use mine.

Rite now car runs DRL's always in auto mode like stock. If you flip the stalk to parking light mode DRL's stay on, and the fogs come on, no headlights. If your in auto and it's dark or you've flipped headlights to on you get the fogs, DRL's and headlights.

Pretty cool because I believe the way you have it wired your unable to run the fogs without the headlights.

Anyways. Nice install. Great job. I'd love to know how you wired everything to get it working correctly.

Sasnuke

Thanks Ciggy.

In regards to the fog lights being on without the headlights, you are correct, the fogs won't come on without the headlights. The theory behind that is if the driving condition required the extra illumination of the fogs, then the headlights should be on as your primary source of illumination, as the headlights are much brighter, and illuminate your main field of vision.
Although, this makes it super tough to aim the fog lights up or down because the headlights have to be one. I ended up turning everything on, then covering the headlights with cardboard (lol...so ghetto) and then adjusting the aim of the fog lights.

In terms of the install, I removed the front bumper, attached the fogs to the bumper and plugged them into the existing harness connectors...and then put everything back together.
From inside the vehicle, i removed the steering wheel, column covers, spiral cable, and the turn signal/wiper switch assembly...swapped the turn signal switches, and put everything back together.
There was no additional wiring or fuses needed to make it work, the car was pre-wired for everything.

If the dash symbol on your IS illuminated when the fog switch was turned on, then the vehicle might have been pre-wired for everything...especially if you had the connectors behind the bumper when you removed it.
Is reality, the switch on the stalk is just a Ground circuit...when the switch is on, it Grounds the wire to the Main body ECU telling it to turn the fogs on. However, if the vehicle was not pre-wired from the Main Body ECU to the fogs, then the dash symbol will come on, but nothing would happen out front...meaning the lights won't come on.

Did you have the connectors behind the bumper? It would have been a 2 wire connector...1 green wire and 1 white/black stripe wire

Ciggy

iTrader: (1)

I did NOT have the connectors behind the headlights. And that's where **** got real lol.

All the info on the forums said if my dash lights up by just plugging in the stalk and flipping the fogs to on then I MUST have the wiring. Well I looked and looked and no existing wires. So i was trying to use the existing switch and power the foglight relay myself. As I said many trial and errors later the light on the dash stopped working and i called it quits.

I understand the reason fogs turn off when you use your high beams or only turn on when the headlights are on but when it comes to showing the car off I love the look of having just the fogs and the DRL on. Makes for a mean look.

I had a honda fit many years ago and I was able to re-route a single wire on the stalk to change the OEM style of the fogs being tied to the headlights to make them independent.

An additional plus side to my set up is that when your unlock your car from afar at night the fogs and DRL's pop on but the headlights don't come on until your open the door. Also makes for a mean look.

All in all. I love the JDM fogs. SUPER SEXY.

Your chrome delete looks so perfect on the red car. How about the DRL's did you smoke those? Now that you've deleted most of your chrome you should pick up a hollow lexus badge from RR and have it powder coated black. Would look super dope.

Sasnuke

The DRL's and Lexus emblem both have Lamin-X "Tint" film on them. If I had to do it again, I would use the Lamin-X "Smoke" film...it's a shade darker and the DRL's still show through for safety...of course.
Also Lamin-X sells the DRL's pre-cut. The emblem I just bought a sheet, removed the emblem, and wrapped it (almost like vinyl, but noticeably thicker)

I agree the chrome delete looks awesome...wish I did a better job on the top portion...the bottom two thirds of the grill is mint.
I've come to learn that the Vivvid vinyl has lost quality over the years, and better to go with 3M or even Avery.
I will look at redoing it in the future. I had actually taken out the chrome surround to do it, since I had the bumper off already.
I wouldn't mind the chrome delete on the entire car, but I don't think I'm ready to tackle that myself. The patience to work with vinyl around curves I have not mastered yet lol