LED Fog Lights on a Coupe
07-26-2015, 04:59 AM
#1
LED Fog Lights on a Coupe
Like many others, I was annoyed at the yellowish factory fog lights that didn't match the HID headlights. A lot of research and I settled on replacing the fog halogen bulbs with LEDs.
LEDs don't light up the road very well; but that's ok for me since I live in So Cal and we rarely get fog. For me, the fog lights are purely for aesthetics.
I searched and found lots of instructions on how to swap them out by peeling back the fender liner to gain access to the bulbs. However, it seemed that every post or video I saw showed how to peel back the driver's side liner. Then the author would then say something like "I'm not going to show you how to do this on the passenger side because it's exactly the same". That might be true for the sedans, but not the coupes! At least not for my 2013 G37s coupe 6MT. When you peel back the liner on the passenger side, there is a window washer fluid tank in the way. You can’t access the fog light by simply peeling back the liner on the passenger side.
If you want to swap out the fog light bulb on the passenger side of your G coupe, you’re going to have to get under your car. I actually took off the wheel and removed the entire fender liner. Not only do you have to unclip a bunch of clips on the inside of the liner, but you will also have to unscrew five 10mm hex screws under the car.
I did this because I was planning to remove the window washer fluid tank and wanted plenty of space to work. But once I saw all the wires and other parts in the way, I nearly gave up.
Then I stuck my head under the bumper and looked up into the space between the tank and the bumper. From there I saw the plug for the fog light and there was enough space to reach up and pull it out. So did I really have to take the entire liner off? Probably not.
Now I know that you have to just unscrew the hex screws from underneath the car and enough clips on the inside of the fender so that you can slide that liner back to get your hand up in the space between the fluid tank and the bumper.
This is the view of the space between the tank and the bumper as viewed from under the car. So imagine you are on your back looking up with the top of your head pointed towards the driver’s side. The two skinny wires lead to the fog light bulb plug. In order to turn the bulb to get it out, I popped of the little clip holding the wires to the bottom of the tank. That gave me more slack so I could turn the bulb. There’s just enough room to reach up, turn the bulb about ¼ counter clockwise and pull it out.
Once it’s out, swap in the new LED and test it. Here is the new LED bulb (plugged in) compared to the old halogen.
Putting the new bulb back up in there was a little challenge. You have to align the tabs on the bulb housing to the slots on the fog light housing. But because you can’t see from this angle, you just have to go by feel.
Passenger side installed! Pretty good color match!
As for the driver’s side, it was much easier. I still lifted the car and took off the wheel just to give myself more space, but you can just try turning the wheel in all the way. Pop off a few clips, peel back the liner, and you’ll see the fog light plug.
Reach in, turn it, pull it out, swap, test, reinstall, done!
LEDs don't light up the road very well; but that's ok for me since I live in So Cal and we rarely get fog. For me, the fog lights are purely for aesthetics.
I searched and found lots of instructions on how to swap them out by peeling back the fender liner to gain access to the bulbs. However, it seemed that every post or video I saw showed how to peel back the driver's side liner. Then the author would then say something like "I'm not going to show you how to do this on the passenger side because it's exactly the same". That might be true for the sedans, but not the coupes! At least not for my 2013 G37s coupe 6MT. When you peel back the liner on the passenger side, there is a window washer fluid tank in the way. You can’t access the fog light by simply peeling back the liner on the passenger side.
If you want to swap out the fog light bulb on the passenger side of your G coupe, you’re going to have to get under your car. I actually took off the wheel and removed the entire fender liner. Not only do you have to unclip a bunch of clips on the inside of the liner, but you will also have to unscrew five 10mm hex screws under the car.
I did this because I was planning to remove the window washer fluid tank and wanted plenty of space to work. But once I saw all the wires and other parts in the way, I nearly gave up.
Then I stuck my head under the bumper and looked up into the space between the tank and the bumper. From there I saw the plug for the fog light and there was enough space to reach up and pull it out. So did I really have to take the entire liner off? Probably not.
Now I know that you have to just unscrew the hex screws from underneath the car and enough clips on the inside of the fender so that you can slide that liner back to get your hand up in the space between the fluid tank and the bumper.
This is the view of the space between the tank and the bumper as viewed from under the car. So imagine you are on your back looking up with the top of your head pointed towards the driver’s side. The two skinny wires lead to the fog light bulb plug. In order to turn the bulb to get it out, I popped of the little clip holding the wires to the bottom of the tank. That gave me more slack so I could turn the bulb. There’s just enough room to reach up, turn the bulb about ¼ counter clockwise and pull it out.
Once it’s out, swap in the new LED and test it. Here is the new LED bulb (plugged in) compared to the old halogen.
Putting the new bulb back up in there was a little challenge. You have to align the tabs on the bulb housing to the slots on the fog light housing. But because you can’t see from this angle, you just have to go by feel.
Passenger side installed! Pretty good color match!
As for the driver’s side, it was much easier. I still lifted the car and took off the wheel just to give myself more space, but you can just try turning the wheel in all the way. Pop off a few clips, peel back the liner, and you’ll see the fog light plug.
Reach in, turn it, pull it out, swap, test, reinstall, done!
The following 8 users liked this post by superjoey:
Al Czervik (10-29-2015),
bikezilla (11-26-2015),
G37XS13 (09-02-2016),
Intake (08-04-2015),
kennyz424 (02-21-2016),
and 3 others liked this post.
07-26-2015, 07:22 AM
#2
Nice write-up!
Although a more expensive option, with discounts able to get them down to about $130 or less and receiving a purpose built set of full housings with proper heatsink passive cooling for the led drivers. This option from TRS has proven itself since I put them on my car back in February. The light output/throw to the sides is great and you can tell when your fogs are off as they put at much more than the stock halogen (also a better look for those who have put in LED lighting for the running lights and/or CBI bulbs for their primary HID).
Morimoto XB LED Fog lights Mopar Chrysler Dodge Jeep
Although a more expensive option, with discounts able to get them down to about $130 or less and receiving a purpose built set of full housings with proper heatsink passive cooling for the led drivers. This option from TRS has proven itself since I put them on my car back in February. The light output/throw to the sides is great and you can tell when your fogs are off as they put at much more than the stock halogen (also a better look for those who have put in LED lighting for the running lights and/or CBI bulbs for their primary HID).
Morimoto XB LED Fog lights Mopar Chrysler Dodge Jeep
07-26-2015, 01:51 PM
#3
Registered Member
Looks good, just a note for future use, you never want to get under a car supported by one of those scissor jacks. If you plan on being under your car much in the future get yourself a set of jack stands at the very least.
08-04-2015, 02:01 PM
#6
They look pretty close to me.
As for lighting the road, I wasn't really going for function. Just color matching. LEDs usually aren't bright enough to function well as main headlights or fog lights. But I have seen some that look like they might work pretty well, like these from VLEDs VX3 H11 H8 H9 H16 2800LM LED HEADLIGHT FOG LIGHT | 1 PAIR - H11 - Fog Lights - Shop Bulb Type
I don't think the stock fog lights did that great of a job anyways. I remember learning in school that if you are driving in fog, you turn on the fog lights, but keep the headlights off. There's no way to do that in my G coupe. The headlights always come on with the fogs. So I'm thinking Infiniti put the fog lights there just for cosmetic purposes as well.
08-04-2015, 02:38 PM
#7
Registered User
Stock HID's are 4300k
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08-04-2015, 03:45 PM
#8
Gotcha I know stocks were 4300K, but from the pics it looked like you had aftermarket HIDs in. I have 6000K HIDs in so these bulbs won't match my headlights.
Thanks for the guide and reply though!
Thanks for the guide and reply though!
08-05-2015, 11:34 AM
#10
The headlights are stock. I haven't seen any document with the actual color temperature of the stock HIDs, but I've read threads that say they are 4800K. The LED bulbs I installed are 6000K according to their description on Amazon. Amazon.com: JDM ASTAR 1200 Lumens Extremely Bright 144-EX Chipsets H11 H8 LED Bulbs with Projector for DRL or Fog Lights, Xenon White: Automotive
They look pretty close to me.
As for lighting the road, I wasn't really going for function. Just color matching. LEDs usually aren't bright enough to function well as main headlights or fog lights. But I have seen some that look like they might work pretty well, like these from VLEDs VX3 H11 H8 H9 H16 2800LM LED HEADLIGHT FOG LIGHT | 1 PAIR - H11 - Fog Lights - Shop Bulb Type
I don't think the stock fog lights did that great of a job anyways. I remember learning in school that if you are driving in fog, you turn on the fog lights, but keep the headlights off. There's no way to do that in my G coupe. The headlights always come on with the fogs. So I'm thinking Infiniti put the fog lights there just for cosmetic purposes as well.
They look pretty close to me.
As for lighting the road, I wasn't really going for function. Just color matching. LEDs usually aren't bright enough to function well as main headlights or fog lights. But I have seen some that look like they might work pretty well, like these from VLEDs VX3 H11 H8 H9 H16 2800LM LED HEADLIGHT FOG LIGHT | 1 PAIR - H11 - Fog Lights - Shop Bulb Type
I don't think the stock fog lights did that great of a job anyways. I remember learning in school that if you are driving in fog, you turn on the fog lights, but keep the headlights off. There's no way to do that in my G coupe. The headlights always come on with the fogs. So I'm thinking Infiniti put the fog lights there just for cosmetic purposes as well.
The following users liked this post:
Al Czervik (10-29-2015)
08-09-2015, 06:50 PM
#11
Thanks! Yeah, there's hardly any fog around here in So Cal. I hope yours worked out. After the fog lights, I did the parking lights as well. https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...eds-coupe.html
Last edited by superjoey; 08-11-2015 at 01:54 PM.
The following users liked this post:
Al Czervik (10-29-2015)
11-11-2015, 09:41 PM
#12
I realize now why the stock HIDs looked like 6000K. I took the picture right after turning them on. As the bulb warms up, the color gets warmer, too. I started noticing the difference when I saw my reflection at night off another car's bumper - the bulbs were obviously warm by then. The stock HIDs were noticeably yellower than the 6000K LED fogs and newly installed LED parking lights.
