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New to the forum here but wanted to share this with y'all....I have a 2020 Maxima SV that I just bought in July 2020. After checking with multiple dealerships I was told that I can't get the factory fog light kit because the wire harness in this model doesn't come with the connections for the kit (unless possibly ordered from factory with the fog light option). After months of searching for after market kit, I FINALLY FOUND ONE. I don't have a review for it just yet but it was $100, includes the driver/passenger side lamps, bezels, wiring, hardware and a factory fitted switch that goes in one of the blanks where the trunk release is located (left of steering wheel). I just ordered it today and am super excited for it. If you're interested the link is below. Also if you know of any other kits please let me know so I can check those out as well in case they are better than this one.
I bought cheap replacement fogs for my Altima they were about 30 something bucks for the pair....I had one that took a stone......Honest to goodness....not one bit if difference ......Saved HUNDREDS
I have a 2016 SL, so my car came with fog lights. Curious if the newer base models that ship without fog lights standard are pre-wired or if they have a different wiring harness. If anyone checks, there should be an additional plug on each side taped up off to the side within the front bumper cover. It’s worth checking first, as each trim has different standard options/features and may have additional wiring capabilities.
I had a 2010 Altima coupe before this, and the fog lights were pre wired but were not standard. All you needed to purchase was the factory fog lights or oem replacements and plug them in after replacing the plastic trim pieces. I purchased the stalk with the fog light control for a factory look and that was a direct swap. If the car is not pre-wired, you would not be able to replace the stalk and would require an aftermarket style switch.
So are you going from a 2016 -2018 front end to a 2019-2020 front end? More details along with estimated costs involved. Thanks
Yeah I’m in a budget “no hurry” parts gathering mode. The parts being so new makes them expensive, but I’ve had luck buying headlights from junkyards with rear ended Maximas, etc.
Going from a 17 to a 20, I think the newer fronts are dead sexy, but I prefer the 16-18 rears.
I have a 2016 SL, so my car came with fog lights. Curious if the newer base models that ship without fog lights standard are pre-wired or if they have a different wiring harness. If anyone checks, there should be an additional plug on each side taped up off to the side within the front bumper cover. It’s worth checking first, as each trim has different standard options/features and may have additional wiring capabilities.
I had a 2010 Altima coupe before this, and the fog lights were pre wired but were not standard. All you needed to purchase was the factory fog lights or oem replacements and plug them in after replacing the plastic trim pieces. I purchased the stalk with the fog light control for a factory look and that was a direct swap. If the car is not pre-wired, you would not be able to replace the stalk and would require an aftermarket style switch.
I actually spoke with Nissan/Infinity corporate parts department and they said no, cars that ship from factory are only wired for what options they were intended to have which sucks. You can order your base/SV models from factory with fog lights as an option, but if you are buying off the lot you get what you get. My 2017 Maxima S came with fog lights and was on the lot.
Just an update, received the kit today, looks really promising! you can't see it but the hardware comes with the kit, its just under the wire harness. Also instructs came with it but are just general instructions on how to connect the wires, not how to install on the specific model car. But its pretty obvious how it all goes together. hopefully I'll have some time to install them tomorrow if the weather holds up. check it out below:
Last edited by Evan Sherman; Sep 19, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
Reason: left out some info
Yeah I’m in a budget “no hurry” parts gathering mode. The parts being so new makes them expensive, but I’ve had luck buying headlights from junkyards with rear ended Maximas, etc.
Going from a 17 to a 20, I think the newer fronts are dead sexy, but I prefer the 16-18 rears.
Agreed! I miss the back end of my '17, but the fronts of the '20 is incredibly better
One more who will be waiting, with eager anticipation, to hear how your install goes.
lol I'm going to see if I can do this myself. I did them on my 2016 maxima but had a friend to lend an extra hand and we ended up having to remove the bumper which I DO NOT plan to do on my Maxima (at least not by myself. Worst case is I pay the local car stereo place to do it for me, its only $100, totaling $200 including the cost of the kit which is still cheap AF considering if you buy everything from the dealer each lamp alone is $320!!! They look good though, peep the photo of the kit I posted
lol I'm going to see if I can do this myself. I did them on my 2016 maxima but had a friend to lend an extra hand and we ended up having to remove the bumper which I DO NOT plan to do on my Maxima (at least not by myself. Worst case is I pay the local car stereo place to do it for me, its only $100, totaling $200 including the cost of the kit which is still cheap AF considering if you buy everything from the dealer each lamp alone is $320!!! They look good though, peep the photo of the kit I posted
sorry for the delay. Between work and being sick with Rona and some crappy weather I had limited time for the install.
so, the install wasn’t terrible but I definitely recommend paying someone to do this if you have never done this before. I did run into a few technical and logistical issues with the cabling but got it all sorted out. If you own a Maxima and plan to do this yourself, be aware that the main harness grommet going through the firewall is tucked away in the VERY far back right corner on the battery side. I believe you can remove the inner fender liner and access easily through there (didn’t know this until after already getting it through lol). You will also need to remove the Air Box (very simple).
air box removal - easy
Bumper removal - easy just be careful of tabs
mounting the lights and trim - super easy
cabling - plenty of cable to reach where it needs to go
i used an add-a-fuse despite the “instructions” saying to tap into the parking lights wire (not a good idea don’t do this, always use a fuse tap)
the instructions suck but honestly it’s all pretty straight forward
anyway enough details here’s the final results. I love that the color matches throughout. The only thing I hate is the on/off switch being GREEN! (Probably gonna black it out anyway)
Day 1- tried to install without removing the bumper (tip: remove the bumper. Passenger side not accessible without doing so Day 1a - managed to get passenger side mounted but ended up removing bumper anyway another day because there’s no other way to run the wire harness and also had to tighten the screws for the lamps. Day 2 - face lift (literally lol) didn’t get pic of the wire harness at this point Day 4 - figured out that the fuse tap needed both slots to have a fuse (duh I’m a dummy) which is why the lights weren’t coming on. Ironed that out and here we are!
lights are not yellow btw, that’s just from the camera phone. They are white and match the headlights and the surrounding headlamp LED
Last edited by Evan Sherman; Oct 14, 2020 at 11:35 PM.
Great write up on what could save a lot of money. The fogs look factory. Can you light them when the high beams are on? Enjoy that car!
Thank you! Yes they can be powered on with the high beams since they are not integrated with the factory lighting. Though, its hard to tell they are on if your high beams are on.
They definitely added more visibility to the sides of the roads and you can clearly see where the light spread goes forward and out when turning them on and off
So I just got mine from Spyder Auto. I think we got the same ones. Did you have a problem aligning any of the holes from the light to the plastic housing? Mine aren’t seeming to line up.
Last edited by The Wizard; Dec 18, 2020 at 12:49 AM.
What's with the windshield banner.? The car looks great otherwise.
It says “DRIVE UNITED”. It’s a “club” I’ve started that I want to turn into an non profit that supports the local community. We’ve done 2 official events in my city where we did a drive-thru car show and we gave away hundreds of grocery bags filled with food for families in need. Our second event we did a drive-thru car show, drive-thru trick or treating, food bag giveaway again and passed out over 500 back packs filled with school supplies and sanitizing products for kids.
Our ultimate goal is to start doing videos where we show how the car community has broken off into different cliques compared to the OG car clubs. We want to try and bring everyone together from the OG low riders to bike clubs to the modern car club scene.
We say we’re in the car community, but are we really a community when we’re not supporting each other and not throwing hate against modern vs old school.
For those that did the work themselves, curious how long the install took. In that I mean real time if you did the job non-stop, as opposed to elapsed time allowing for coffee breaks etc!.
Not something I can tackle up here in the cold white north (0F tonight). I am planning to have a neighborly (Nissan) friend with a heated garage do the work, for which I will pay him, hence the time estimate would be helpfull.
For those that did the work themselves, curious how long the install took. In that I mean real time if you did the job non-stop, as opposed to elapsed time allowing for coffee breaks etc!.
Not something I can tackle up here in the cold white north (0F tonight). I am planning to have a neighborly (Nissan) friend with a heated garage do the work, for which I will pay him, hence the time estimate would be helpfull.
Really depends on the quality of work. I’ve seen some recently where they just ran the harness across the engine bay and they said roughly 1.5-2 hours. My friend and I did them and we zip tied the wire to the existing harness, tucked them in and used the existing harness running through the firewall to the cabin and used a fuse tap. Took us roughly 3 hours to get it nice and clean and worry free from thinking about the cables becoming loose.
Sorry, haven't been checking this much. I didn't have any issues with alignment. Because the lights are slanted, make sure you have the correct lights matched with the proper side of the car.
Looks Awesome! good work! also, the underglow looks sick, i'm actually thinking of doing them as well. Since we have the same color car, its good to know they will look good!
Last edited by Evan Sherman; Dec 22, 2020 at 07:08 PM.
For those that did the work themselves, curious how long the install took. In that I mean real time if you did the job non-stop, as opposed to elapsed time allowing for coffee breaks etc!.
Not something I can tackle up here in the cold white north (0F tonight). I am planning to have a neighborly (Nissan) friend with a heated garage do the work, for which I will pay him, hence the time estimate would be helpfull.
So this will depend. If you have never done this before, ever, its going to take a while, factoring in time it takes you to figure out how to pull the bumper off and pass the wire harness through the grommet in the firewall which is CONVENIENTLY (sarcasm) located in the far back right corner of the engine bay, driver side, behind the shock. It's been a while since I last did one of these but I kind of had an idea. It only took me so long because, like yourself, I didn't have a place to work on it and had to fight the remaining daylight after work or go to a nearby parking garage to work on it. I also didn't work on it each day. All together, I put in about 4hrs of actual work, no coffee breaks
YES! Taking the time to do the proper wiring job is DEFINTELY most important. The only wire I will say is acceptable to be seen, is if you connected the lead wire from the harness to the positive battery terminal. I will always give a pass for this because usually no one has a better way of connecting to the power, unless you are fortunate enough to have an enclosed battery or one in the trunk where no one will ever see it but you and a mechanic lol
I just upgraded my 2018 Maxima S to a 2020 Maxima SL and I can't believe it didn't come with fog lights. My S came with them so that was surprising. I'd love to do what you did and install them. I'm just not great with that kind of thing.
I just upgraded my 2018 Maxima S to a 2020 Maxima SL and I can't believe it didn't come with fog lights. My S came with them so that was surprising. I'd love to do what you did and install them. I'm just not great with that kind of thing.
if you look up through the thread, you will find a link to the ebay seller who has them as well as some information I posted about the install and what to expect. They were about $100 plus shipping but worth it. Not sure if they have gone up in price at all.
