OK...here it is...Gene, if you want to move this to a new like "review" or "install" section thats fine...whatever you want...

Given my issues with 4wheelsupply.com over the previous two weeks which resulted in them not having the lights I ordered after I had been charged by them for the lights, I decided to go with a large, well known company, figuring that even if I have to pay a couple extra dollars at least they would be more reliable. So I ended up ordering these lights from the Jeep specialists Quadratec. They had great customer service--picked up the phone on the first ring, confirmed that they had the lights in stock, and had them shipped overnight to me without a single issue.

The lights arrived on 4/1 after having ordered them on 3/31. Cost was $179 for the lights and an extra $39 for the overnight shipping. This is how they looked when they arrived:

The box was the perfect size...very little extra space for any movement of the lights and everything arrived intact and in excellent shape. A catalog of all of Quadratec's products and 4 Quadratec stickers also came with the lights:

Opening the box for the lights I found 2 sets of instructions--1 for the installation of the lights and one for the replacement of bulbs, if or when they burn out. In addition to the lights themselves came zip ties, wiring harness, relay, toggle switch, etc. All products present and accounted for:

Now let me explain a little bit about the lights...These are IPF 630's. While far from the top end of IPF's lights they fit my needs perfectly. I wanted something bright, inexpensive, durable, not prone to rust--and my biggest issue--easy to intall. Given that I am not the most mechanicly inclined person in the world this lasts issue was the most important to me. These lights fit all these requirements...At under $200 they fit within my budget...they are not too big or "bling-bling"ish at about 5 1/2" in diameter and about 4 inches deep...they appear durable in that the housing for the lights is a hard black plastic resin...not to hard as to be brittle but hard enough to withstand any tree branches that might come its way...oh, and the plastic housing has a second benefit--it won't ever rust....And finally...the most important feature....they run off 55 watts...same as the stock fog lights, making install a breeze, but supposedly producing the same brightness as a comparable 85 wattage light....

Now for the install...

The tools needed for my version of the install:


This would be a pair of wire snippers, a pair of wire strippers, a mediums sized screw driver, an 11 mm wrench and a 14 mm wrench.

First step--anytime you are dealing with the electrical componants of a vehicle is to disable the battery by removing the negative terminal connection for the battery(11 mm wrench used here):

Now that I no longer had to worry about being zapped it was time to figure out where I was going to mount the lights. Fortunately on all Shrockworks front bumpers, the guys down in Houston have thought ahead and provided two holes--one on either side of the winch access slot that are PERFECT for mounting these lights:

Each light is secured to the bumper through these holes by a heavy duty screw, washer, locking washer and nut. You will be using the 14 mm wrench to loosen and tighten this nut to the bumper.

Now since I was using the stock wiring to my old foglights there is no need to install any sort of new relay, grounds, or any other type of wiring. So taking the wiring harness that comes as part of the IPF 630 package, plug the corresponding ends of the harness into the lights, leave yourself about a foot or so of wire from where it connects to the lights and snip off the relay, grounds and harness...You will do this on both sides...and you can now toss all the rest of the wire and harness that this package came with in the garbage...

Once the lights are attached to the bumper it is easy to thread their connection and trailing wire back down through the bumper and back towards your wiring that you should have from your stock fog lights--that is, if your Xterra came with foglights as mine did. Now seeing as my old foglights were long gone--removed at the time of the Shrockworks bumper install...all I had left was the stock wiring--thereby allowing me to control these new lights with a flick of the stock foglight switch. This is what I was left with after removing the stock foglights and their rusted out connectors...


So using the wire stripper I would strip about 1/2" of insulation off of the ends of each wire--the stock wiring and the wiring now coming from your lights...and you will end up with this:

Now a professional electrician or someone on "Pimp My Ride" would probly break out the soldering gun at this point and solder these wires together...well...I don't own a soldering iron and I'm not looking to win any "Pretty Truck of the Year" awards....so I used the old standby...my fingers and tape...twisting the wires together is easy...just try and make the twists as tight as possible and you should end up with this:

Then its a matter of protecting these now connected wires from the elements and from seperating. For this I used a special rubberized electrial tape that I had won at last years ECXC...It has a great property of ONLY sticking to itself and being very stretchy...almost like a sticky, thick latex, tape...If someone knows what this is called please let me know...its great stuff...Well, after a few wraps of this tape I now have a durable, waterproof seal around my wires:
I eventually used some more of this rubber tape to cover the exposed insuation areas of the wires, just adding more protection for them...I ended up with droopy wiring--used too much slack...but this was easily solved but tucking the wires up above the frame and using the given zipties to tie them tight and tucked back out of the way...

Now reconnect your battery terminal and thats it!!! Believe it or not you are done!! Now its just time to sit back flip the foglight switch and enjoy your handywork....here is the results of mine...hope you like it!!







Now given that I have been out on the road, or offroading at night with these I cannot give them a complete "in-use" review as to how they light up my surroundings at this point. I will say they are about twice as bright as my regular headlights so I am pretty confident that they will be a great help in helping me see obstacles that I may have once ignored and the thick glass lense with hard plastic brush guards on the front of these lenses will hopefully give me years of use...

Very nice! I think I am going to print this one, very good description and pictures. My only question is if you were not as lucky as yourself to have foglights equiped, where would you mount the toggle that came with the lights, would it fit into the blanks by the steering wheel (2004)? wouldn't it be nice if they prewired for fogs even if you dont have them?

Looks GREAT Dan, great job. At some point, I would like to do the same thing, tap a similar set of lights into my original fog-light wires. Thank you for writing out the description of how easy it is and providing the great pics. Are those considered "driving lights" or "fog lights" ??

does it look like this?



if so, then its "Electrical" or "Electrition's" tape

sweet, looks awesome man, and that review\install gave me a good idea of what to expect when your gonna wire em up, i'm hoping to add 4 KC daylighters on the roof this summer...either that or a cat back...still torn inbetween but lookin at your truck with those lights lit up im leanin towards the lights

These are considered "driving lights"...they had ones with an "amber" color to them that are considered "Fog lights" but for now I wanted somethind in addition to my regular headlights...

the toggle it comes with is only like 1 inch tall and 1/4 an inch wide...not sure what the interior of an '04 looks like exactly but in mine--an '00, if I didn't have the stock fog light switch, there would be a spot for it below and to the left of the steering wheel...

it looks a bit like that....but with a blue stripe down the center and with a clear plastic backing down the whole thing to keep it from sticking to itself...its not electricians tape--which is only sticky on one side...this is completely un-sticky to the touch...but sticks to itself on either side when it touches itself...I will have to ask Swampwrecker over at ECXC what it is...

huh, never heard of anything like that, but it sounds pretty neat

Looks great Dan. The review of the lights, the installation, and the company you purchased from are all very helpful

Dan,

Great job with the install and an excellent, detailed write-up. Thanks for taking the time.

Now, I don't mean to be critical but: "Now a professional electrician or someone on "Pimp My Ride" would probly break out the soldering gun at this point and solder these wires together...well...I don't own a soldering iron and I'm not looking to win any "Pretty Truck of the Year" awards....so I used the old standby...my fingers and tape...twisting the wires together is easy...just try and make the twists as tight as possible and you should end up with ..."

If you don't solder the wires, by twisting them and taping them, it is almost impossible to get a waterproof connection, particularly here in the great northeast. Salt will eventually get in there, the twisted wires will loosen, corrosion will begin on the wires, voltage will drop, and resistance will increase. I don't even like to use the automotive quick-connects. Even when I shrink wrap them, eventually they will corrode in between the wires. Soldering is easy and only takes a few minutes and a good soldering iron is less than $30.

Again, nice job.

Hmmm...didn't realize a soldering iron was that cheap...after soldering the wires together I assume you still wrap them or cover them in some sort of taper or insulation?

Dan go to any auto parts store and get some heat shrinking tubing and use that to keep the wires clean.Much more durable than electrical tape especially where they are prone to get water on it..

i once used a propane torch, and a nail for soldering iron

Yes, after soldering them, put some shrink tubing around the connections. I have a heat gun, but a hairdryer on high will work.

Just don't do what I always do at least once...solder the connection and then have to take it apart to get the tubing on. Put the tubing on the wires, slide it back from the heat, solder the connection, push the tubing over the connection, and then heat to shrink.