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Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 9:49 +0000
by Amri
Hiya,

Ok, I've sold 5 old dresses and a pair of shoes on ebay and now have 70 euro in my paypal account which I've decided I'm putting towards car stuff :lol:

I'd really like to have new driving lights set into the bumper to replace the 2 small grills - but I've no clue what to look for. I know you can get fogs to sit in here but they're not much use to me on a day-to-day basis. I would like these new lights to come on with my dipped headlights for additional illumination.

I've seen these Angel Eyes on mx5parts - is this what I'd need? I'm still coming to terms with all this new terminology :oops:

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info. ... ts_id/1772

Can someone please explain what my various options are - would be much appreciated.
Thanks a mil :)

P.S Don't really want to spend more than 100 euro if at all possible ... cheers

Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 9:50 +0000
by charged_rs
citroen picasso foglights are the exact same..£40 a pair

dont pay mazda prices

Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 10:02 +0000
by Amri
Thanks charged_rs, but I'm going to ask a real dumb question now - what is the difference between front fogs and driving lights?

I would understand that fogs would only come on with my rear red fog light when I specifically switch them on - but I want lights to come on with my dipped head lights ... does it depend on the lights or how you wire them?

Sorry for the stupid questions :oops:

Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 11:35 +0000
by franksm
Fog lights - only for use in fog, they give a low, long focussed beam

Driving lights - just like your existing main beams (ie. blue indicator on your dash), the give a long, round beam. Think of 'spot lights' on rally cars. Should only be used in conjunction with your existing main beams

DRL - daytime running lights - these are bright marker lights that are used only during daylight, and which switch off or go dim as soon as you switch on the sidelights or dipped beams.

My recommendation would be to go for DRLs :) as they're a great safety feature
These are my current favourite, I have them on my non-MX5: http://www.tuning-rdi.de/product_info.p ... hnsjiob27o

Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:22 +0000
by Amri
Ah frank, that's great, thanks a mil!

Is the hole where the grill is usually a standard size? Does one light fit all or do I need to measure up and get surrounds or something?

Last question ;) will drl's be off at night by default once I turn my dipped lights on? I tend to have them on all the time is all ... thanks!

Sent from my HTC Desire

Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 1:42 +0000
by franksm
All generic lights will come with a generic bracket, so something will have to be modified to fit to your grill.
It's not difficult though.

DRLs come with a little box of tricks that switch them on when the ignition is on, and switch them off when the other lamps are switched on (because the DRLs are very bright and would be too bright at night). Then there are some that come with a box of tricks that switches them on with the ignition, and then switch them to DIM when the other lights are on. This is preferable and sounds like what you want !

Unfortunately those Devil Eye DRLs I shows you are the former - they don't auto-dim :-(

Re: Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:38 +0000
by Amri
franksm wrote:All generic lights will come with a generic bracket, so something will have to be modified to fit to your grill.


Are you referring to the big grill here or the two little ones?


Sent from my HTC Desire

Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:12 +0000
by franksm
Either grill - I haven't seen yours up close, but the corner grills can probably be removed and any suitably size lamp can be mounted into them, either with a fabricated bracket (from a strip of metal) or with the bracket they all tend to come with.

Here's mine, you can see the bracket at the top of the lamp, it has two slots that can be use to screw it into nearly anything

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Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 1:24 +0000
by Paschal
In my opinion, the only ones that work in the grills of the mx5 2.5 are the original ones. They used to be available on mx5parts but haven't seen them recently. Unfortunately they are not cheap, probably close to €200 but, in the long run, well worth it.

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Re: Lights to replace the 2 grills in front bumper?

PostPosted: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 3:53 +0000
by Steve
Ebay has oem lights,see here