Foglight Placement

[theMANCHILD]

ok, i have a li'l question here.

i've got an `04 TJ(sport) - still totally stock on the front & since it's my daily driver i'm not sure if i'll be putting a brushguard on it.. no time soon anyway.

my question is this;
i just got a pair of PIA 525's they have plasma low beams & clear high beams. -- i'm wondering if anyone has suggestions about light placement,
what's the best place functionally & your opinions for what looks best as well. (i think i'm leaning towards keeping them on the bumper, but i s`pose i wouldn't mind hearing the pro's & con's about lights mounted onto the windshield brackets & i'm don't really want to go with a lightbar.)

i currently have factory fog lights on the front bumper there & part of me wants to keep them as well, or would i be best off just switching out the factory ones & placing the PIA's into the regular ones' spot. -- if i did this, i think i'd like to figure a place/way to mount them on my rear bumper to use with my reverse lights (independantly controlled of course.)

thanx for any input you have, technical advice & opinions.

~jd

[Jeepin' Rock Climber]

I mounted a pair of lights just inside the frame on the bumper. Make sure you check for clearance with the tubular cross member before you drill!

[RCHavok797]

If they are truly "fog" lights then putting them on the windshield will defeat their purpose.

[matts88yj]

You will want to keep them as low as possible meaning that you will want to keep them on your bumper. I just got a set of Warn Dual Beam Lights and I will be mounting them on the bumper. Look at the big rigs that are all over the place. They have their fog lights placed right above the ground in the summer and a little higher in the winter time. This is why they have no glare going back into their face because the light is so low. So my final answer is on the bumper! :D HTH!

Matt smile.gif

[theMANCHILD]

well, i might not have been as clear as i wanted to on my original post there, but i definately want the pia's on the bumper, it's mainly whether i keep the factory ones where they are or should i pull them out & put the pia's there?

part 2 of the Q, is: if i put the pia's in place of the factory lights, would it be good to also mount them on the front bumper? or should i just pop them on the back if possible?

--- what would work better?
fog lights in original place with pia's toward the middle (under the grill) or pia's in the original factory fog light location & relocating the factory fogs towards the middle (under the grill)... OR would that just look dumb & not do much good anyway, so maybe thing about having a couple extra reverse lights.


thnx guys/girls
~jd

[matts88yj]

So you want to keep your factory fog lights and you are adding a set of PIAA lights as well correct? Are the PIAA lights strictly a driving light or are they a combo beam like a fog/driving beam light? Im a little confused as well :confused: . Let us know.

Matt smile.gif

[theMANCHILD]

you are correct, & the lights are a combo driving/fog depending on whether they're on high beams (clear) or low beams (plasma).

here's a link to em (http://www.quadratec.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe?UID=2005012003415319&T1=97049%2B200&UREQA=1&UREQB=2&UREQC=3&UREQD=4&FNM=10&x=69&y=60)

[matts88yj]

I would mount the PIAA lights where the stock lights are now. I know this may be a pain but with the better quality light I think fog beams work the best when they are spread further apart. I think that this will give you a sick setup with lighting. Take some before and after pics of the lights. Or better yet just unbolt the stock lights and temporarly place the lights in the order you want to see what looks better. HTH!

Matt smile.gif

[theMANCHILD]

so are you recommending to not do anything w/ the stock lights? - is it a feasible plan to mount them on the rear bumper?

[matts88yj]

I was saying hook up the lights (both sets) and seeing what gives the best lighting. Get a piece of wood and lay accrost the front bumper with some holes in it. Mount the lights temporarily and see what gives you thet best results, know what I mean? As for your question about the rear mounting of the stock fog lights, I wouldn't recommend it. If you ever offroad that beast that will be on of the first things to get crunched when the rear is coming down. I would try and look in the local auto store for some cheap 55w lights of any kind. They will be a ton smaller and you can basically mount them anywhere to keep them out of the way. HTH!

Matt smile.gif

[Corey]

If you are concerned about appearance and not functionality, take some digital pics and photoshop them...that way you can move things around and get an idea of looks. If you are looking for functionality, follow matt's idea of the board.

['03 X Colby]

I agree with what Matt and Corey said. Except what I'm going to do, I'm going to build some mounts that I can easily take on and off of the back of my roll bars for some HELLA's that my friend gave me. So that away I can have them pointing backward. Because I have KC daylighters on my bumper and my windshield. But that's just a suggestion that you may wanna try with your stock fog lights... to build mounts to put them on the top back of your roll bars for when your top is off.

[theMANCHILD]

thnx guys, i think imma be goin w/ the functionality route - i apreciate all of the opinions you've given me.

[matts88yj]

No problem! Thats what everyone is here for! Take some pics and let us see what the results are. Good luck with the install!

Matt smile.gif

[PimpnE]

Can anyone point me in the right direction for switch mounting? The TJ's come with a few empty spots for switches on the dash, what's the easiest way to mount there? Does this require pulling lots of the dash to do? Thanks for any advice.

[hard core XJ offroader]

back up lights can be tricky to find a spot for them to mount no matter how small they are. i mounted 2 tiny ones on the top of my cherokee, there still there and work pretty good. if you don't put those on the back i would mount them in the center of the front bumper. (under the grill) i mean you've got the lights why not use them somewhere?