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Old 12-03-2017, 09:25 AM   #192
22R
22R
 
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Join Date: Apr 2017
Drives: 2012 Camry SE 2017 Toyota 86
Location: South Louisiana
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OLM/ OEM style Fog light kit and JB Autosports Fair and Balanced Review


After much research on OEM vs Aftermarket I found these to be the best buy for the money. I can recommend them but with some caution and constructive criticism.
First the Pros, It is of course cheaper than OEM and it gives you the nice corona ring DRL that increases visibility. The kit is virtually OEM except for the fog light housings and associated wiring to run the DRL rings. The Fog Light bezels, interior switch and even the mounting hardware all are either Subaru or Toyota packaged. The finished product looks and works great.

Now the Cons, The OLM lights came with no instructions whatsoever, While the OLM box and fog lights was neatly packaged in it's own box there is no hint of directions anywhere. The OLM harness must be plugged together in 7 places, while you can figure it out looking at it with a lil mechanical aptitude you would think a 400.00 kit would rate some instructions. The H11 plugs that plug to your factory fog light plugs must be chosen from three sets of other options in the kit and then the terminals inserted into the H11 plug. Not hard but polarity may matter and you have nothing to go off of. The small DRL modules and wiring need to be mounted or strapped somewhere. I chose to use silicone RTV to stick them to the front fender liner as they are stuck well but I can remove them and never know it was there( no holes in car for me) There may be a better spot to mount them but with no instructions.....
The fog light brackets I think are aftermarket and while they are nice they even have thumb screw height adjusters, They are loose when installed with the factory screw, spring nut and plastic push pin. Easy fix was using a small lock washer the size of the shoulder on the bolt on the backside to get the slop out. The bolt shoulder is a larger diameter than the hole in the spring nut and you cannot tighten it enough without the washer used a spacer.
Wiring...Now there are only two loose wire ends, One is the red power line for the DRL's that need to go to the spot in the fuse block that the FT86 web site shows ya but the yellow one you are left to wonder. It is not needed unless you want the DRL halos to go off when you turn the fog lights on so I just tucked mine in the wire loom.
The interior fog light switch while not a JB auto issue I must warn you of. When they say the factory wire plug is short...they mean short. Unless mine was cut shorter than short we are talking like 4 inches long. I can't help but wonder if Toyota/Subaru does not have extension pigtail for the switch to reach the factory wiring. It can be done but I had to not only cut the tape off I removed the wire harness body connector that the wire tied into to get a bit more slack but it will be a pain in the azz if I ever have to remove the panel under the column again.
Communication with JB Auto.... Be warned you cannot reach them by phone...ever. There is a number but it goes to voicemail and they will not call you back. They do all communication via email. David L is good to deal with but when you spend 385.00 on fog lights and 500.00 about a month ago on a tuning tablet it would be nice to talk to someone over the phone for some help especially if no directions are included. Now David did offer me the chance to return the item but if it was discovered that I had try to install the fog lights they would ship them back to me again. They gotcha there cause they know you have tried to install them hence the reason you are having installation issues. In their defense it would be hard to plug the wrong plugs together in the wiring kit but the polarity thing and the loose yellow wire a less astute installer may go put it somewhere and fry the lights then guess what ?
The YouTube video is great but the fog lights in there are plugging your factory fog lamp wire into the fog lights, these you have to use the aftermarket harness to go the the DRL module then and then the new connector to the fog lamps. So the video is a good guide but not exact to what you are buying there will be no mention of the DRL modules wiring or mounting and again no instructions in the box. After a few emails with David he shot me some OLM pics of how the harness looked put together and that was big help as it also showed the polarity of the H11 plugs that you have to assemble and explained about the yellow wire. Also if you go this route Little fuse makes a 5.00 fuse tap that plugs into the empty fuse slot in the fuse box you need to power the DRL's
So is it plug and play ? Yes if you do not want to use the Halo DRL's and can figure out the wire harness connections You can leave both the red and yellow wire not connected and the fog lights will come on with your factory switch.
Only other thing which is a factory preference issue is I wish that I could just run the fog lights but the headlights have to be on with to come on but the DRL's soften that blow.
And do not request on of those neat FT86 decals that you see on the lower front spoiler in the youtube videos cause they are like Unicorns at JB autossports
Summary
Very Nice product
Very poor instructions
Almost impossible to get quick help but they will email you back a few hours later.
If I could have spoke on the phone with someone for 5 minutes I could have finished a day earlier not having to wait for the email pics to clarify and confirm what I thought needed to be done


Note: I just noticed on the FT86 site on the Toyota OEM Fog light kit, the Switch does indeed have a extension on it in the advertisement pic. see for ya self
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/toyo...l#.WiVFXJjfPcs


This one too
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/toyo...l#.WiVGSZjfPcs

Last edited by 22R; 12-04-2017 at 07:58 AM.
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