I know the title sounds stupid. How hard is it to install clear corner lights after all? And why am I making a dedicated thread about something so meaningless?
A little background:
I bought my 98 LX back in February of this year, and since then, i've been slowly working on small issues, lots of maintenance, and a few key upgrades. Something I've been wanting to do is to change out the front USDM/Lexus amber corner lights to the clear versions. But with the OEM/JDM Toyota/Cygnus corner lights at around $200, I couldn't justify spending that much on something so meaningless when I could use that money towards something more useful like a roof rack or quality sliders.
I started looking at the eBay variations around the $50 mark, shipped. They look cool, and the price point was more doable, but after a quick search, the general consensus reveals that the fitment was not the best, and worse, the housings would get cloudy or start turning yellow.
I also saw that DEPO made the clear corners too. Although they aren't Chinese made (they're Taiwanese), they're cheap, and from my experience with various cars and parts, DEPO makes acceptable fitting parts, so why not? Well, they're not as abundant as you would think. After multiple searches on eBay, I found that the cheapest set of DEPO corners would ship from Lithuania. It would be only $58 shipped, but the con was that it would take 3-4 weeks to get as they're not stateside, and was the cheapest shipping option.
Here is the exact ones I bought
When my DEPO lights finally arrived, I figured it was just a matter of minutes to swap housings and bulbs, right? Nope. Well. Sort of. The housings themselves do install easy, but the issue was the light bulb socket.
Here is the back side of the OEM Lexus LX470 corner light housing:
And here is the back of the DEPO light
Side by side:
So as you can see, the light bulb socket sizes are completely different. Why does this matter? Well for one, the OEM Lexus bulb socket connectors just fall right through with no way of holding it in place, and for two, this would be a real issue once moisture is present, as there is no way to seal the lights.
So after doing some combing through on MUD, I found a thread that showed what a Lexus LX470 would need to make it work. And then, afterwards, I searched for any threads explaining how to make it work, but none showed up. I felt confident enough for any types of rewiring involved, so here we are.
Parts needed:
(2x) 90075-60006 Light Socket
(2x) 90980-11019 Housing Connector
(2x) 7057 Amber light bulb
I bought the OEM Toyota parts from McGeorge Toyota, but it may vary for everyone based on where they live. But here are the direct links I used.
Housing Connector $5.52 each
Light Socket $7.56 each
Assuming you buy some regular 7057 amber light bulbs, all said and done, it should cost under $100 for both corner lights.
Tools needed:
Regular ass philips head screwdriver
Small straight pick
Optional tools:
Plastic non marring interior trim removal kit
Total time should be about 20 minutes, but if you know what you're doing, it could take as little as 5 minutes.
1. Pop the hood
2. Locate the one philips head screw near the front of the fender, next to the headlights.
3. Remove this screw, and do not throw away, you will reuse the same screw at the end of the installation of the new DEPO light
A little background:
I bought my 98 LX back in February of this year, and since then, i've been slowly working on small issues, lots of maintenance, and a few key upgrades. Something I've been wanting to do is to change out the front USDM/Lexus amber corner lights to the clear versions. But with the OEM/JDM Toyota/Cygnus corner lights at around $200, I couldn't justify spending that much on something so meaningless when I could use that money towards something more useful like a roof rack or quality sliders.
I started looking at the eBay variations around the $50 mark, shipped. They look cool, and the price point was more doable, but after a quick search, the general consensus reveals that the fitment was not the best, and worse, the housings would get cloudy or start turning yellow.
I also saw that DEPO made the clear corners too. Although they aren't Chinese made (they're Taiwanese), they're cheap, and from my experience with various cars and parts, DEPO makes acceptable fitting parts, so why not? Well, they're not as abundant as you would think. After multiple searches on eBay, I found that the cheapest set of DEPO corners would ship from Lithuania. It would be only $58 shipped, but the con was that it would take 3-4 weeks to get as they're not stateside, and was the cheapest shipping option.
Here is the exact ones I bought
When my DEPO lights finally arrived, I figured it was just a matter of minutes to swap housings and bulbs, right? Nope. Well. Sort of. The housings themselves do install easy, but the issue was the light bulb socket.
Here is the back side of the OEM Lexus LX470 corner light housing:
And here is the back of the DEPO light
Side by side:
So as you can see, the light bulb socket sizes are completely different. Why does this matter? Well for one, the OEM Lexus bulb socket connectors just fall right through with no way of holding it in place, and for two, this would be a real issue once moisture is present, as there is no way to seal the lights.
So after doing some combing through on MUD, I found a thread that showed what a Lexus LX470 would need to make it work. And then, afterwards, I searched for any threads explaining how to make it work, but none showed up. I felt confident enough for any types of rewiring involved, so here we are.
Parts needed:
(2x) 90075-60006 Light Socket
(2x) 90980-11019 Housing Connector
(2x) 7057 Amber light bulb
I bought the OEM Toyota parts from McGeorge Toyota, but it may vary for everyone based on where they live. But here are the direct links I used.
Housing Connector $5.52 each
Light Socket $7.56 each
Assuming you buy some regular 7057 amber light bulbs, all said and done, it should cost under $100 for both corner lights.
Tools needed:
Regular ass philips head screwdriver
Small straight pick
Optional tools:
Plastic non marring interior trim removal kit
Total time should be about 20 minutes, but if you know what you're doing, it could take as little as 5 minutes.
1. Pop the hood
2. Locate the one philips head screw near the front of the fender, next to the headlights.
3. Remove this screw, and do not throw away, you will reuse the same screw at the end of the installation of the new DEPO light
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