I bought the Ambient Light kit from College Hills, because my dealer didn't have them in stock. I was going to bring it to my local mechanic next week for him to install it but hearing from the folks on this forum, it sounds like it's fairly straightforward.

The instructions clearly said: "intended for use only by skilled technicians... These procedures should not be attempted by “do-it-yourselfers.”"

I know more about PCs then cars, this 09 Fit Sport is my first new car and to be honest I enjoyed working on it. I've installed the all weather mats and cargo cover with no problems. But those parts didn't involve wiring and drilling. Does anyone have any success with installing the ambient light themselves? Would you recommend bringing it to a mechanic to install? Thanks for any advice.

 

if your not to confident on doing DIY then i wouldnt take a chance with your new car. take it to the mechanic., that way also if a mistake occurs you'll have some insurance.

btw. what do you mean by installing all season weather mats? is there some kind if cutting involed? mine came in today and dealer said it they wanted me the car to install. that just means they want to put it in right???

 

the regular mats involve cutting the carpet...

 

The mats have small holes in them . There are little plastic hooks that are installed into the carpet. The hooks are glued in small holes in the carpet and the mats hook on to these. If they are going to charge you to install the plastic hooks, you might want to do it yourself. Even without the hooks, the mats stay in place. It is a bit over kill. It sounds a bit confusing. Go to the college hills honda site and look at the install pdf.
2007-2009 Honda Fit Accessory Installation Instructions

 

All season mats require cutting the carpet underneath to put in 2 plastic clips that hold the driver mat in place and prevent it from sliding forward. The mats do slide forward a little, you could probably live with it, but I installed the clips to make sure there secure.

 

thanks guys for the info. didnt kno this.

 

Just read through the instructions step by step and see if you'd feel comfortable doing them. This is one accessory I personally would leave my dealer in charge of. Do you have a 20mm Hole saw?

 

Yeah, I was reading thru the instructions, looks like the hard part is the drilling since I don't have a drill. Although Home Depot might let me rent one.

I'll probably bring it to a professional, don't want to screw up the drilling part.

 

I just finished my install. I had to order the 20mm hole saw and 3.5mm drill bit online - I could not find that metric stuff at Home Depot, or any other hardware store.

Hole size if critical, if it's too big the parts won't "snap" in place.

I didn't disconnect the battery, I think the lawyers put that in as a CYA. Just make sure lights and ignition are off.

 

Any pics? I wana see if its worth the install.

 

The picture on the collegehills site (under interior 2009 Fit accessories) shows it best. After the installation you can't see the LEDs. There is a switch to turn on/off the lights. If the switch is in the ON position, the LEDS come on when the parking/headlights are turned on.

 

What's the purpose to drilling the 3.5mm hole in the center and along the edge before using the 20mm hole saw? I see this in the instructions.

 

The one in the center is just to accurately set the hole location, any small bit size would work for that one. The one on the edge forms a "notch" in the 20mm hole, there is a small "tit" on the mating part that keeps it from rotating when the parts are snapped together and turned to lock in place.

It took a little messing with to get them to lock together tightly.

 

Thanks, I just bought the 20mm Dewalt Hole Saw off amazon.com. Do i need to buy a mandrel to get it to work??

 

Probably. You should be able to use a generic one from the hardware store, though.

 

So I brought the Ambient Light kit to my local mechanic to install. Is it just me or the blue lights a bit too dim? When compared to the blue lights emitting from the dashboard, my ambient lights are lesser in intensity, at least 50% less.

I'll try to post a pic, it's hard to take in the dark w/o flash.

 

Most automatic point-and-shoot digital cameras are capable of this. Here's how:
1. Turn the flash off.
2. Mount your camera onto a tripod. If you don't have one, put the camera on a table or sturdy box. You can also hold it braced against something solid.
3. Set the self-timer for 2 seconds and let it rip. The 2 seconds is to eliminate finger movement when you hit the shutter button.
4. If you're bracing the camera against a solid object, hold still the best you can for the duration of the exposure.

 

Mine are pretty dim, def. not as bright as the dash lights. It's a pretty subtle effect.

 

Here are some pics I took of the Ambient lights. It's not as bright as the pic on Honda's website. The 2nd pic is of the LED light itself.

 

installed mine last night - very easy - didn't have a 20mm but used a 3/4 just a tad bigger but worked. This was a easy install - any one could do it.
is a bit dimmer than i though it would be.