Fog Lights: A How-To

Melt · #1 07-29-2002, 04:45 PM

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

Quick Note: 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