Fog Lights: A how-to

[Melt]

This article will show how to put fog lights onto your car, the project car is a 1991 Honda Civic Sedan.

Tools
Saw (if needed)
Phillips Screwdriver (power is prefrable)
Crimper
Dremel (for making custom switch, not needed but its a plus)

Fog lights are made for improving visibility in the fog. Also a lot of people buy them because they look cool. Regardless of what the purpose, you must mount them onto your car in order to use them. In this article the foglights pictured below will be installed.

These foglights were on sale for $19.99 at my local Harbor Freight Tools store, and they were the amber hue, which I wanted for the fog which may or may not be there on my commute to heald college.

Step 1: Choose an optimal mount location, evenly spaced on your car, I chose to mount my foglights in the white squares in the picture.

Step 2: If you must cut into your bumper to mount them, do it carefully and cut as close to the light assembly its-self to make it look almost as if the light is supposed to be there, remember, professionalism is key. I removed my front lic. plate because it kept getting in my way when I was mounting them.

Step 3: Refer to your wiring diagram which came with your foglights in order to install them, posted is an image which is fairly universal

Step 4: Be sure to ground your foglights to a metal place, I chose to ground them using the same bolt the engine is grounded with (the blue wire pictured)

Step 5: Bring your power wires from both foglights together and connect to your "Auxillary lights wire" (refer to wiring diagram)

Step 6: Find a hole in your firewall to run the power wire (red) and the auxillary lights wire (green) into your car and over to your switch, I chose a hole I found on the right side

Step 7: Mounting your switch, choose a place on the drivers side which is easily accessible, I chose to take out a plate which was there (every car has these, its always some option you dont have) and using a dremel, I cut a hole for the switch, I messed up the first one, but the second one turned out quite nicely. Then, connect up all your wiring as shown in your diagram.


In most cases, the switch must also be grounded, I chose to use a screw of a metal box near the foot pedals which I figured should work

If you did everything right, your lights should power on and you can now enjoy the added benefits of your new lights (if any).



Allow me to stress the importance of quality mounting, because you probably want these foglights on your car to look somewhat cool and you do not want to decuct from your cars visual appeal.

Below are some pictures of my moms accord of a crappy install the owner before us did.
The bumper is hacked up and the mounting brackets are really overbearing, it doesnt really have that "clean look" you want when installing aftermarket equipment


In this example you can see that the foglights are not evenly spaced, the left one is closer to the license place (which is a good center piece) than the right one.

And there you have it folks, A quality foglight install

[Melt]

Oh, and when you are checking out your cool new lights TURN YOUR CAR ON or you will look like an idiot in front of your dad who told you to turn your car on when your battery is drained

[SkyNex721]

Why did you post this here instead of in the How to Forum???

[QuickSilverEF9]

Want fogs get a JDM bumper then have some1 who has access to JDM equipment buy the fogs and a switch for you... Do you really need fog lights though? I mean they look cool but what purpose are they going to serve?

[darolh]

Where I live fog lights are a definite help. Unlit roads on rainy foggy nights in the winter.

As an additon to the article, if you are going to get fogs to USE rather than for the look, buy quality lights. Don't buy some of the crap that's at your local disco auto parts store.

[Melt]

I also did post this into the how-to forum, but I figured I would share it with my 4g friends seeing as it was done on a civic.

No, I may not need them, but better to be safe than sorry.
And yes, they were somewhat cheap, but the same foglights that I bought sell at pepboys for like $50, so I got a deal.
If I wanted really good foglights I would have gotten some PIAA's or Hella's cause those are tight, but whatever, these foglights are pretty sick.

[QuickSilverEF9]

Yeah dude I agree, good job with all the custom work too... It wasn't a half ass job look with the wires hanging out.. Keep posting your stuff!! I will post pics tommorow of my new cat back exhaust.... Finally

[Melt]

thanks for the compliments on the custom work, I vowed not to have the wires hanging out after I saw the shitty job my friend did with his 96 Camry.