The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Perfect, shoot me a PM.

 

My KC G4 Amber fogs will be for sale soon. They are retrofitted to be a drop in for ARB bumpers. You will need to splice in your own pigtail. I've been following this thread for too long and am going to try out the Rigid 360.

 

Tacoma 360 mounting bracket install
(This will be copied back to the space saved below the original 360 post for easier reference)

I received the kit before instructions and packaging was available. Rigid's kit is intended for 3rd Gens, but I've tested it to also work without modification on 2012-15 2nd Gens.
Edit: Modification is required on 2nd Gen for the beam to be level. Update coming soon.

The Tacoma kit.


First the outer sides of the 360 body need to be removed in order to make the light small enough to fit in the mount. 4 hex bolts (standard, not metric), 2 per side, hold the shrouds on.


What the 360s look like with the side shrouds removed.


Then on the back of the 360 body the pivoting mount is attached with 2 more hex bolts, shown on the right. You can see where the protruding pivot point now attached to the light mates to the bracket for the OEM compatible mount on the left. Repeat for both sides.


These mounts have a threaded adjustable aiming mechanism like stock, which is a great improvement for those that have tried aiming pod style lights without them. Find the OEM style mounting bracket you plan on using for the light and insert the white plastic square piece into the light body on the same side as the adjuster on the mounting bracket. (Not shown seated in the picture.)


Seat the light into the mounting bracket by gently pulling the mounting bracket open to get both pivot points into their respective holes in the bracket, then insert the threaded adjuster up into the light from the bottom till it engages the nylon threads installed earlier. Turn it to engage the threads and continue to thread it onto the light till you have small enough play that you can push the adjust in so it clicks into place.


Remove all the trim ring surround mounting bolts.


Remove the trim ring.


Install the plastic Tacoma mount filler so the taller side is on the same side as the adjuster. It just snaps on. The light now looks very different than it did in the beginning. I actually like the look even better. Rigid did an impressive job on modularity on this product.


The 360s come with raw leads and a vehicle specific plug kit. You need to crimp the leads onto the wires, wire crimpers work great, but in a pinch pliers could work as well. Be sure to install the gaskets onto the wires with the necked down side facing the terminals before crimping the terminals on. The wire leads on these lights are very long, if installing in the stock location, I would recommend cutting the wiring down. Keep in mind the stock fogs have no additional wiring. IMPORTANT: Before you insert the terminals into the plastic plug housing, you must test the polarity in the truck.


Testing polarity. Insert the raw terminals into the foglight plug in the truck and turn the fogs on. LEDs are polarity sensitive and will only work when plugged in one way. Don't rely on this picture or wire coloring. Test it on your own vehicle they are being installed on. Look at the internal tab on the plastic plug and note that it will only go on the OEM electrical fog connector one way. Be sure to insert your wires into the plug housing so they match your polarity test.


Completed plug.


Installing the fogs is pretty straight forward. There are 2 screws on the outside edge of the light for 2nd Gens, and 1 screw for 3rd Gens. Remove the screwed and slide the light toward the outside of the vehicle to free it from the tabs on the inside. Install is the reverse. Toyotas tab mount design is a bit of a pain to work with due to the location and akwardness of using a screwdriver in that location. The inside 2nd Gen tab light mounts are just a little further apart than the 3rd Gen according to Rigid, meaning the light tabs on the Rigid mount are just a touch narrow for the 2nd Gen. There is enough play in the flexible plastic bumper material used for the mounts that you can push the Rigid 3rd Gen mount into the tabs without issue. I meant to get a picture of the tab mounts with the cover plate off, I'll get one when I do the other side.


The filler plate seems to sit just a millimeter or two to the right of perfect when mounted on a 2nd Gen. But it looks really good.


There is some gapping from the filler plate to the Tacoma bumper, but some spacing offset is necessary for it to move freely to adjust, but it isn't very noticeable when standing back from the truck.


Overall this is a really sharp looking clean setup.


Rigid SAE D-series vs the 360s. The round 360s look much more OEM like on the Tacoma.

 

Awesome write-up. Might have to switch out my BD squadron's for these.

 

Great install! Whenever this kit is available I’ll be ordering it

 

It will be available this month.

 

So .... based on all the info here, the new 360s will mount directly in a plate bumper with mounting points without the need for mounting brackets.

 

They come with the standard style base mount like this:

 

Over 100 users viewing the thread.

 

Because you are the man!

 

LOL, I’m just a lighting enthusiast who likes getting others excited about good lighting products.

 

Well... the 360 mounts may need slight modification for 2nd Gen after all. The beam is crooked. The tab mount spacing is a touch to small for 2nd Gen but can still be pushed on, but I didn’t consider the effect on it possibly not sitting perfectly level. Just needs a very minor amount of material removed from the plastic tab to sit level.

360 left vs D-series right

 

so much awesomeness right there!

 

SAE D-Series only right


SAE 360 series only left (need to fix the beam level) - much larger spread


From above the cab with both 360 and D-series. This is a bit deceiving and not a great comparison, see below.


The D-series on the right are pointed off to the side with the Rago mounts whereas the 360s on the left are pointed straight ahead. The shorter pattern of the D-series also benefits from the stepped up curb making the light look closer to the vehicle than it would if the surface was level. Note the darker region to the from right of the truck vs more coverage from the left. The 360 also illuminated much of the right side making it look even brighter, whereas the D-series does not return the favor on the left side. This is not a good comparison picture, but I need to level the beam for a proper comparison before driving out somewhere to get photos.

D-series passenger side vs 360 driver side

 

Does the 360 have a shadow in the middle of the beam pattern? Seems not ideal.

 

There is a small break between the high and low intensity parts of the pattern, which the Rigid bar on the faceplate separates. Rigid says if the high and low intensity beams overlapped they would exceed the J583 compliance spec. While more noticeable in the short range wall shot, it seems less noticeable in real world application.

 

It seems like the high intensity beam goes wider/further than the D series, and the low intensity helps closer to the vehicle. I know optics play a part on that but man either one are sweet, virtually no glare above the cutoff.

 

I’m so glad the Tacoma kit gets rid of the trim ring with the bolts. Looks soooooo much cleaner. Great write up @crashnburn80

 

The 360s are definitely noticeably wider, but the D-Series being more focused with smaller area coverage are higher intensity and will project further. Both great options. If I had both lights level the cut off would look even better, the projector optics do a great job of providing sharp clean cut offs.

 

Looks Great, especially with the side by side shot!