Pelican Pete

Hi All...

I made it known that I purchased the 99.5 black plastic grilles for beneath the bumper, and I was going to try to install aftermarket fog lights into the 99.5-2000 stock location on my 1998.5 car.
And a lot of people have been emailing me, asking me to let them know how the project goes.

Well the 99.5 grilles are exactly the same shape as the older grilles. They'll fit just fine into the holes.

However I have run into TWO problems with this project:

1. There is noplace in that area to mount the fog lights.
2. The mounting clips for the plastic grilles are not compatible between the different bumper styles (1998 & 2000).

So if I am going to make this project work, and put PIAAs into the lower grilles, and use the 99.5 OEM grilles in my 98 car, it's going to cost me a LOT of money in custom work -- to fabricate mounting brackets for the lamps themselves and also the trim pieces.

Now I am thinking of returning these four trim pieces to Clair, and just buying the LLTek fog lights instead.
But ever since I put Euro projectors on the car, fog lights became much less a priority.

Or heck, for the amount of money I am looking at in custom labor, I can probably just buy a new front bumper cover. The S4 bumper is only $400.
(Although with paint, installation, and fog lights I am sure it would be close to a grand.)
Or maybe one of the aftermarket bumpers...

If anyone can offer and advice/suggestions, I am certainly willing to listen.

Thank you,
Peter

Longwolf (Christian)

One of my friends bought the LLTek fog light upgrade kits and I helped him install it about 3 weeks ago. Kit is pretty good, hardest part was relocating the horn to make room for the lower fogs. The grilles are black plastic that is kinda flimsy, but it works overall. LLTek talked my friend into buying a matching center grill as well, but you really should skip that piece, it is another $75 or so and not worth it in my opinion. The wiring isn’t hard, just time consuming, took me all day to wire the fog light switch (another OEM switch) and relays.

Once done, the car looked great, and I am thinking about doing it myself as well.

Christian Long

CP

I mounted my 1000Xs to the underside of the bumper in the same location.

Pelican Pete

CP --

I saw a picture a few weeks ago of 1000X's mounted in that location, but they stuck out quite a bit. Was that your car ?
I'm sure the fog lights are plenty functional there, but I am interested in a more "stock look" and want them recessed like the stock 99.5-2000 fog lights.
If that picture was not of your car, and your 1000X fogs are recessed into the grilles, I'd love to know how you mounted them, and any other details on the installation.

Thanks,
Peter

Jake

How much $$$ is the llteck kit?

CP

The reason that they stick out so much has to do with how they are mounted. Any farther into the grill area and there would have been nothing to attach them to. I ended up cutting both grills to make room for the lights. Actually, being as far out as they are, they tend to give off a better light pattern (towards the side of the car, aka the fog lights) than if they were recessed. Yes, they stick out a bit, but I'm not at school anymore, so I'm not worried about them getting stolen like my last pair. Also, the included wiring is barely long enough(considering where the batt is located) to reach the lights where they currently are.
Good luck and keep the Qs coming.
Cy

Longwolf (Christian)

I think it was around $225 or $250 (nt)

98A41.8T

Heard that the Factory look-alike fogs from LLtek is not bad but the plastic is really soft.

Get a body shop to order it for you since body shops do get aprroximately 10-20% of the list price. A good shop will be willing to split that with you.

Pelican Pete

I purposely did not want the OEM fog lights for TWO reasons:

1. They are too damn expensive -- and they would still require a lot of custom installation work.
A Projectzwo or OEM S4 bumper would be cheaper, and there are already mounting locations for fogs.

2. The OEM fog lights are not very effective.
Better than nothing perhaps, but I already have Euro projector headlights. The OEM fogs won't do anything for me except cost money.

Thanks for the suggestion though !
(I thought about it months ago, and these two reasons were what I learned.)

-- Peter
98.5 1.8tqms 1 bar