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- 2016 CX-9 GT
I had some time today so I tackled a couple things on the CX-9.
The stock LED dome lights just weren't cutting it for me. I found some LED boards on Amazon for $13 for 4. They come with festoon adapters so you can use them in all but the third row dome lightsI have switchable red and white LED boards in my 4Runner overhead lights and really like them but I can't find any for the CX-9. Since I could only use one color for each light, I went with the most used color in the front and second row. I prefer red at night but I don't need that up front because I have my "just in case" headlamps mounted to the visors and they are set to red. Red in the second row doesn't wake our toddler (and soon to be second baby) at night and doesn't bother the driver. We typically will drive with the red on the second row on just so we can see her better.
The liftgate light was atrocious even with a better LED board. I had some auxillary reverse lights sitting around from a previous vehicle so I thought I'd use those. They are 0.7A each so the pair is a bit too much for the stock 20 GA wiring. Opted to run some 16 GA wire from the battery through a relay. That was probably the hardest wire I've ever run in a vehicle. It's fused and uses the stock switch though! Each light is 900 raw lumens and oh man does it show
Also installed the incorrect canvasback so we can finally take our dogs with us in it. Canvasback is sending the right one out but said I could use this one in the meantime.
Last thing I did today was rip out the rear wiper. I don't like wipers that mess up the lines of a vehicle and I can barely see out the back window with the mirrors for my girls in the second row anyway.
Not pictured are the replacement LED turn signals and license plate lights that were also done today
The stock LED dome lights just weren't cutting it for me. I found some LED boards on Amazon for $13 for 4. They come with festoon adapters so you can use them in all but the third row dome lightsI have switchable red and white LED boards in my 4Runner overhead lights and really like them but I can't find any for the CX-9. Since I could only use one color for each light, I went with the most used color in the front and second row. I prefer red at night but I don't need that up front because I have my "just in case" headlamps mounted to the visors and they are set to red. Red in the second row doesn't wake our toddler (and soon to be second baby) at night and doesn't bother the driver. We typically will drive with the red on the second row on just so we can see her better.
The liftgate light was atrocious even with a better LED board. I had some auxillary reverse lights sitting around from a previous vehicle so I thought I'd use those. They are 0.7A each so the pair is a bit too much for the stock 20 GA wiring. Opted to run some 16 GA wire from the battery through a relay. That was probably the hardest wire I've ever run in a vehicle. It's fused and uses the stock switch though! Each light is 900 raw lumens and oh man does it show
Also installed the incorrect canvasback so we can finally take our dogs with us in it. Canvasback is sending the right one out but said I could use this one in the meantime.
Last thing I did today was rip out the rear wiper. I don't like wipers that mess up the lines of a vehicle and I can barely see out the back window with the mirrors for my girls in the second row anyway.
Not pictured are the replacement LED turn signals and license plate lights that were also done today