Hi!
It's getting dark and the Model S lights are not that bright. I already had swapped the original 25W HIDs to "US spec" 35W, but still it didn't feel too good at high beam.
I bought this curved 98W led light bar:
Arctic Bright Curved Slim 98W LED lisävalopaneeli | Karkkainen.com verkkokauppa
Only 89eur at local store, and has EU approval.
Here's the dimensions.. I'm pretty sure this "Arctic Bright" is some Finnish-only relabel of some cheap China junk, you can probably find the same product with different brand elsewhere.
I wanted the installation to be as "hidden" as possible, so the light bar wouldn't pop out visually when not in use. I thought that it must fit behind the upper grille. I googled around if anyone has done similar setup, and found this thread from the Australia section of this board:
My Light Bar Project
So it is indeed possible!
First I removed the bumper. There's excellent instruction on this forum:
How To: Front Bumper and Headlight Removal
Bumper is very fast to remove, only takes about 15 minutes. Air suspension helps, you can raise it to max high to reach the two screws above wheels in fenders.
With bumper removed it's obvious the light bar fits really well to the upper air duct! I just pushed it there and it fitted nicely. So there's no need to cut or trim anything.
I removed the plastic piece so it's easy to drill holes for the mounting brackets.
Then, I added two extra stainless steel brackets that are riveted to the metal bar inside the bumper. So the light is now attached very securely. There's bolts going through the air duct which are not visible in the photo, sorry.
For the power I figured I just use the power taps inside the nose cone. The light has wiring with relay, so it's safe to connect to permanent supply and then just the relay control wire is wired into the original high beam.
Finished product, behind the grill. Completely invisible!
But not so invisible when you flip high beams on..
Even though the light is curved, the beam is surprisingly narrow. Doesn't look very bright from this angle.
I just drove a small 20km trip at dark just to test this light, and I have to say it's incredible. Didn't take any photos, sorry. But now it really feels safe to drive at night.
It's getting dark and the Model S lights are not that bright. I already had swapped the original 25W HIDs to "US spec" 35W, but still it didn't feel too good at high beam.
I bought this curved 98W led light bar:
Arctic Bright Curved Slim 98W LED lisävalopaneeli | Karkkainen.com verkkokauppa
Only 89eur at local store, and has EU approval.
Here's the dimensions.. I'm pretty sure this "Arctic Bright" is some Finnish-only relabel of some cheap China junk, you can probably find the same product with different brand elsewhere.
I wanted the installation to be as "hidden" as possible, so the light bar wouldn't pop out visually when not in use. I thought that it must fit behind the upper grille. I googled around if anyone has done similar setup, and found this thread from the Australia section of this board:
My Light Bar Project
So it is indeed possible!
First I removed the bumper. There's excellent instruction on this forum:
How To: Front Bumper and Headlight Removal
Bumper is very fast to remove, only takes about 15 minutes. Air suspension helps, you can raise it to max high to reach the two screws above wheels in fenders.
With bumper removed it's obvious the light bar fits really well to the upper air duct! I just pushed it there and it fitted nicely. So there's no need to cut or trim anything.
I removed the plastic piece so it's easy to drill holes for the mounting brackets.
Then, I added two extra stainless steel brackets that are riveted to the metal bar inside the bumper. So the light is now attached very securely. There's bolts going through the air duct which are not visible in the photo, sorry.
For the power I figured I just use the power taps inside the nose cone. The light has wiring with relay, so it's safe to connect to permanent supply and then just the relay control wire is wired into the original high beam.
Finished product, behind the grill. Completely invisible!
But not so invisible when you flip high beams on..
Even though the light is curved, the beam is surprisingly narrow. Doesn't look very bright from this angle.
I just drove a small 20km trip at dark just to test this light, and I have to say it's incredible. Didn't take any photos, sorry. But now it really feels safe to drive at night.
