Fog Lights/Bumber guard - My self install summary

[vertrkr]

And I thought the trailer hitch was hard, haha. Took me 6 hours but I got the fog light and bumper guard installed. Dropping the front bumber was easy. Then it came time to drill out the holes. Of course Honda has everything in metric and I have only SAE drill bits but it wasn't critical so I just selected the standard size that was close. Did the bumber guard first, no problem there, drill 10 holes and screw in some bolts and you're done.

Cutting out the hole for the fog lights was easy enough. Just need to go slow while cutting out the curves with a hacksaw blade, I used a open ended hacksaw blade handle. Cutting exactly on the line isn't too critical as the cover will overlap the cut edge by about half inch. Few more screws and they were attached to the bumper.

Then came the fun part of hooking up the wiring harness. That was a bitch but went pretty much as the directions described. The hardest part was with the connections to the lower fuse box. Two connectors had to come out in which you plug two wires from the fog light harness into. Each connector has a wiring lock on it which was quite difficult to figure out how to release and the directions did not give details. I'm not talking about pulling the connector out of the fuse box but rather the connector itself has a wire lock on it that must be release before plugging other wires into it. The big 18 pin one I used a screw driver to ply it off, it was sort of a tab across the whole width that flips up, hard to describe. The other small connector was different and you need needle nose pliers to pull out the white plastic part, not much to grab onto when in place so it took a bunch of tries to get it out.

Then the directions said to look for a 2 pin connector that was blue taped already installed near the headlight. There was no blue taped one for me, it was black taped which stumped me for a bit. After that it was pretty easy going, just alot of cable routing and zip ties.

The front bumper installed back just fine, just mind getting the lower and wheel molding in place before snapping everything back into place.

All said and done it was well worth it. Looks so much better now. I'll see if I can get some preliminary pics up tommorow. Now I'm down to two items left, the fender flares and the wireless backup sensors.

[Blue]

Hi, Vertrkr:

Thanks for the report. Do you think it was worth it or should we ask the dealer to install? 6 hours seems to be a long time. What do they mean by chrome bumper guard? Isn't it silver color? How would it look on a red truck? or on your ridgeline color?

Do you recommend owner install hitchand wire harness?

Are you installing matching color fender flare or black? I have seen most of the truck have black fender flare. I really like Chevy Avalanche body hardware that surrounds the truck. My Toyota Sienna is like that and it looks great. Do you think anyone or Honda will ever have the full body hardware?

One of my concern is having silver bumper and black fender flare on a red truck will get too colorful.


Sorry to trouble you but you seem really knowledgeable.

thanks.

[delphi7x10]

Blue,

Based on what a dealer got for installing side bumbers, 995.00 installed, I would do this myself. My guess would be $500.00 for dealer install, as there are parts to be rmoved and holes to be drilled. But check with dealer, maybe you can pay retail for the part with no charge for install.

Originally Posted by Blue

Hi, Vertrkr:

Thanks for the report. Do you think it was worth it or should we ask the dealer to install? 6 hours seems to be a long time. What do they mean by chrome bumper guard? Isn't it silver color? How would it look on a red truck? or on your ridgeline color?

Do you recommend owner install hitchand wire harness?

Are you installing matching color fender flare or black? I have seen most of the truck have black fender flare. I really like Chevy Avalanche body hardware that surrounds the truck. My Toyota Sienna is like that and it looks great. Do you think anyone or Honda will ever have the full body hardware?

One of my concern is having silver bumper and black fender flare on a red truck will get too colorful.


Sorry to trouble you but you seem really knowledgeable.

thanks.

[vertrkr]

Originally Posted by Blue

Hi, Vertrkr:

Thanks for the report. Do you think it was worth it or should we ask the dealer to install? 6 hours seems to be a long time. What do they mean by chrome bumper guard? Isn't it silver color? How would it look on a red truck? or on your ridgeline color?...thanks.

6 hours was with some breaks and I work slow to make sure everything is perfect. I'd recommend doing it yourself to save tons of cash but only if you're comfortable with taking things apart. As for colors and how they'd look I can only suggest you build your own virtual truck on Honda's site to see:

http://automobiles.honda.com/tools/c...Name=Ridgeline

[Blue]

thanks, vertrkr:

Honda build does not allow color selection for fender flare. but the chrome front bumper looks a little stange on a red truck. Black would be better.

Too Bad...

[zero]

I just checked the build and price section. The fender flares are body colored. They are not very different from the regular appearance of the vehicle.

Go through the build and price process and when you get to exterior accessories, scroll down far enough to be able to still see the Ridgeline at the top of the page. You should be able to select the radio button for the fender flares while still having the Ridgeline in view so you can see how the picture changes.

Hope this helps.

[Blue]

Hi, Zero:

I would like to see black fender flare on a red RL. Most fender flares (including CR-V and Pilot) are black. I think black looks better than body color. BUT, I would like to see how black fender flare looks on a red RL before I buy.

thanks for the help again. I have never customized my car. The last time I did was when mono radio was standard and I put stereo radio and speakers in my Karmon Ghia and Scirocco.

[zero]

I honestly don't know if they make black fender flares or not. I have not seen tham listed as one of Honda's accessories.

Maybe the aftermarket will provide such a product.

[delphi7x10]

Zero,

Wouldn't the fender flares for the black ridgeline be black?

Originally Posted by zero

I honestly don't know if they make black fender flares or not. I have not seen tham listed as one of Honda's accessories.

Maybe the aftermarket will provide such a product.

[zero]

Of course they would. You would think I would know that considering I am waiting for a black Ridgeline.

I guess I meant to say that I didn't think Honda sold a generic black fender flare other than the body colored one that matches the nighthawk black pearl.

I guess if you really wanted then to they could sell you black febder flares for a red Ridgeline.

Thanks delphi7x10 for pointing out my brain fart. I was wondering what smelled around here!