DIY Car Accessory: Glowing Front Grills

You’ve seen them in games, movies, TV shows, and auto shows. Maybe even on the streets and now you want to do it for yourself. You want your front grilles to have lights. Well installing lights on this exterior car accessory is an easy task. Here I will tell you the step by step on how to install lights to make your car look cooler.

Visualize

If you can’t visualize then you can’t do it. Make sure you first visualize how you want the outlook to be, what the color is going to be, and the style of the lights. You need to make sure that that the intensity and color of the lights compliment your car and its color. So this isn’t really a step you can skip. After you have a plan on how it will look, you can move on to the nitty-gritty stuff.

The Nitty-Gritty Stuff

Now that your plan has been finalized its time to go to work. There are models where you can access your grille just by popping the hood open. If you are a person who has one of these models then you are lucky. There are models especially for SUVs where you would need to remove the grille entirely to access the place. If you don’t know how to do that than your car’s owner manual will be able to help you.

Since this is a DIY thing I would suggest not taking the help of a mechanic or otherwise. This is because I believe it would be a waste of your time and money. You can easily remove the grille if you just read the instructions in the manual.

Placement

Once you have opened up the hood or grille you have an idea on the space available to you. Mounting and positioning sense for the lights would come automatically when you get to see the space, to be honest. The spacing and positioning ideas also depend on the type of LEDs you are using. The size is related to the intensity and other aspects of the project so you would need to assess that beforehand.

Regardless of the size, you have to make sure to use sturdy lights that are waterproof, dustproof, can stand the heat and also isn’t affected by vibrations. The front of your car grille is a treacherous place. The lights have to withstand engine vibrations and heat along with whatever that comes through the grilles of your car. Things will come in, of course, it doesn’t matter what type of grille you are using.

Wiring and Mounting

Measure the inside space, now the visualization you had you have to put it to work. You should use then have 3-4 1 meter long LED light strips and start mounting it. Using long strips will result in an even glow and a brighter output. After that solder the strips on the empty space and then put hot glue over the joints. This ensures that the joints are fortified from natural causes. You can use clear tape to put over the lights to make it more secure but that is completely your choice.

Use a multi-meter to trace a line from an ignition relay. This will provide power to the lights. It’s the same principles that the DRL relays use. When you shut down the power the lights turn off. Additionally, you can add a diode to maintain a linear voltage as car voltages fluctuate a lot. This will ensure that your LEDs last longer. Once you are done, check to see if everything is functioning properly. If they are close the hood or re-attach the grille.

Showing Off Your Glowing Beauty

Now that you are done with all the work all you need to do is take it out for a spin and show it to everyone. Getting your grills some lights will change the whole outlook of your car. So if you want to jazz up your car auto parts then you can try to do this. Trust me, if you can pull this off you won’t ever regret it.