So, there are a few threads on here about this, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a few pictures to go along with the explanations. This probably could have been easier than I made it, but I'm anal about not damaging the car and having stuff well hidden.
I started with really simple 6" LED strips from WalMart: Flex LED
The first thing I did was choose placement for the strips. On the driver's side, there is a little strip of metal that's close enough to center and fit the strip nicely:
![Image]()
On the passenger side, I actually ended up putting it right on the bottom of the glove box. It means it moves ever so slightly when you open it, but it's really not noticable and anywhere else it was either to deep and didn't glow out towards the seat enough, or the strip was actually visible if you bent down a little:
![Image]()
Next, I figured I would test my wiring plan first before I stuck anything anywhere and boy am I glad I did. For some reason, I wasn't thinking and was planning to run these things in series. I was going to run positive to the fuse box on the driver's side, then the negative from there to the positive from the passenger side (meeting in the console somewhere) and then to ground on the passenger side. Made sense to me at the time but I guess the voltage drop over the strip isn't enough to turn them on that way. Sooooo I wasted my time doing that only to find out that they wouldn't turn on. New plan, run them in parallel, using the cigarette lighter for ground, a fuse for power, and tying both power wires together (hoping they would reach each other somewhere in the console).
Next question was when do I want them to turn on? Couple options:
Tied to Dome Lights: Come on when you unlock or open the door, off when driving. Boo.
Tied to console: Come on when the key is in, stay on when driving. Con: on during the day, when they are kinda useless.
Tied to headlight: Come on with the headlights. Since I have auto headlights, I thought this was the best choice. I can always turn the lights on manually and have them come on. One problem, if I wanted to turn them off for some reason, I would have to turn the headlights off (Could add a switch for this if I want). ALSO... it seems the headlight fuses are under the hood, but tailight works just as well since it turns on and off at the same time. I went for this, you could also go:
Tied to fog lights: basically just a switch, if you drive with fogs on most of the time this might be for you. For me, until I get some whiter fogs, they stay off so as not to detract from the whiteness of the HIDs.
So here we go; remove the tailight fuse. I used the bottom one cuz for some reason it's 10A and the other is 7.5A... odd.
![Image]()
I just wrapped the wire over one side of the fuse and stuffed it back in. In the pic, the wire is running out the side, so I just stuffed the whole thing through and pulled it out in the footwell. [Edit: As suggested by Nemesis, and probably lots of other people, you should probably use a fuse tap for this, but I didn't have one...]
![Image]()
Then you get to pull your console apart. Refer to this DIY for instructions. It's really really easy and I'm paranoid about breaking things. The only thing I couldn't do was get the airbag plug off, so I just let it hang.
Remove Center Console
![Image]()
Now, have fun routing your wires however you like. I ran em deep in there, and it was not easy. Lots of time upside down. At one point I was using the cables from my multimeter to fish things through since the solid piece at the end made it easy to drop through, or push around stuff, for example:
![Image]()
I ended up having to extend the positive lead on the passenger side strip to reach the positive on the driver's side. (Don't mind the grounds tied together I just really didn't want them to fall back out and have to route them again lol)
![Image]()
Then I just cut the lead from the fuse to the driver's side LED strip and spliced in the passenger side lead: [Edit: Again, you could use a wire coupler to be cleaner but I didn't have any on hand]
![Image]()
Then I actually peeled the backing off the strips and secured them where I wanted:
![Image]()
Aaaand threw a little black tape on there to keep em in place. The rest of the length was pulled into the center console.
![Image]()
Now all that was left was to tie the grounds together and stuff em in the cigarette lighter slot and plug the console back in.
![Image]()
It works! (Look at the clutch)
![Image]()
Then I stuffed the wires back as far as possible and put the shift boot back on.
Finished product!
Off:
![Image]()
On with parking lights (cuz it turns on tails):
![Image]()
On with headlights (MAN my window is dirty):
![Image]()
Terrrrrrible night pictures but it looks really good I think. I still might cover one of the LEDs to make it a little more subtle.
Happy modding.
I started with really simple 6" LED strips from WalMart: Flex LED
The first thing I did was choose placement for the strips. On the driver's side, there is a little strip of metal that's close enough to center and fit the strip nicely:
On the passenger side, I actually ended up putting it right on the bottom of the glove box. It means it moves ever so slightly when you open it, but it's really not noticable and anywhere else it was either to deep and didn't glow out towards the seat enough, or the strip was actually visible if you bent down a little:
Next, I figured I would test my wiring plan first before I stuck anything anywhere and boy am I glad I did. For some reason, I wasn't thinking and was planning to run these things in series. I was going to run positive to the fuse box on the driver's side, then the negative from there to the positive from the passenger side (meeting in the console somewhere) and then to ground on the passenger side. Made sense to me at the time but I guess the voltage drop over the strip isn't enough to turn them on that way. Sooooo I wasted my time doing that only to find out that they wouldn't turn on. New plan, run them in parallel, using the cigarette lighter for ground, a fuse for power, and tying both power wires together (hoping they would reach each other somewhere in the console).
Next question was when do I want them to turn on? Couple options:
Tied to Dome Lights: Come on when you unlock or open the door, off when driving. Boo.
Tied to console: Come on when the key is in, stay on when driving. Con: on during the day, when they are kinda useless.
Tied to headlight: Come on with the headlights. Since I have auto headlights, I thought this was the best choice. I can always turn the lights on manually and have them come on. One problem, if I wanted to turn them off for some reason, I would have to turn the headlights off (Could add a switch for this if I want). ALSO... it seems the headlight fuses are under the hood, but tailight works just as well since it turns on and off at the same time. I went for this, you could also go:
Tied to fog lights: basically just a switch, if you drive with fogs on most of the time this might be for you. For me, until I get some whiter fogs, they stay off so as not to detract from the whiteness of the HIDs.
So here we go; remove the tailight fuse. I used the bottom one cuz for some reason it's 10A and the other is 7.5A... odd.
I just wrapped the wire over one side of the fuse and stuffed it back in. In the pic, the wire is running out the side, so I just stuffed the whole thing through and pulled it out in the footwell. [Edit: As suggested by Nemesis, and probably lots of other people, you should probably use a fuse tap for this, but I didn't have one...]
Then you get to pull your console apart. Refer to this DIY for instructions. It's really really easy and I'm paranoid about breaking things. The only thing I couldn't do was get the airbag plug off, so I just let it hang.
Remove Center Console
Now, have fun routing your wires however you like. I ran em deep in there, and it was not easy. Lots of time upside down. At one point I was using the cables from my multimeter to fish things through since the solid piece at the end made it easy to drop through, or push around stuff, for example:
I ended up having to extend the positive lead on the passenger side strip to reach the positive on the driver's side. (Don't mind the grounds tied together I just really didn't want them to fall back out and have to route them again lol)
Then I just cut the lead from the fuse to the driver's side LED strip and spliced in the passenger side lead: [Edit: Again, you could use a wire coupler to be cleaner but I didn't have any on hand]
Then I actually peeled the backing off the strips and secured them where I wanted:
Aaaand threw a little black tape on there to keep em in place. The rest of the length was pulled into the center console.
Now all that was left was to tie the grounds together and stuff em in the cigarette lighter slot and plug the console back in.
It works! (Look at the clutch)
Then I stuffed the wires back as far as possible and put the shift boot back on.
Finished product!
Off:
On with parking lights (cuz it turns on tails):
On with headlights (MAN my window is dirty):
Terrrrrrible night pictures but it looks really good I think. I still might cover one of the LEDs to make it a little more subtle.
Happy modding.
