PIAA 520 SMR Driving XTreme White Plus Halogen Lamp Kit

I recently purchased the PIAA 520 SMR Driving XTreme White Plus Halogen Lamp Kit from @automatcentral and I'd like to give my opinions and observations on these after using them for a few weeks.

First impressions were good, lights came well packed and everything needed was in the kit. I opted to mount the relay behind the grille on the drive side of the radiator core support. I ran my wiring along the AC lines and over to the battery on the positive side. The rest of the wiring I wrapped in convoluted tubing and ran it along the driver side in between the fender and the battery. Install was very straight forward, and instructions were clear as well. Wiring diagram was easy to understand also. Difficulty of install on a scale from 1-10 was probably a 4. Not difficult, just a bit time consuming to get it all done up nicely, and takes a little creativity to mount the relay where you want it depending on any accessories you may have. My s/c coolant reservoir was in the way of where I originally wanted to mount the relay, so i had to come up with another solution.

Now that the install has been covered, onto the lights themselves. I have been driving early mornings with them for a couple weeks now, and really wish I would have gotten these sooner. I leave for work early morning when it's dark out, and I drive on back country two lane roads that are very dark. These are like having another set of high beams - they make a big difference! It should be noted that these are spot lights, so the beam they cast is around 30*, so it's pretty narrow. When you have a pair of them though, it is great for driving on two lane roads. They have already saved me from hitting deer a couple times now. I couldn't be happier! The light is clear, bright, and white so it makes it very easy on your eyes to see


For the switch, I decided to try and make it as clean as possible, so I drilled a hole in bottom of the factory switch blank, and ran the wiring for the switch down through there. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out


with covers

without covers



For reference, these pictures were taken without covers installed
Dims

High beams

High beams w/ PIAA 520s



Overall, I'm very pleased with these lights and I think they would be a great addition to any vehicle. These have exceeded my expectations, and are an excellent spot/driving light for someone wanting better visibility.

 

Good look. Do they come with opaque covers? (legal requirement here)

 

Thanks man, they come with the PIAA covers like in this picture, but they do not cover the whole light (ie the lights still work with the covers on)

 

Cool thanks. I'd bet they have some that would fit (for $$, of course)