'13 Sport - Hood Vinyl and DRL's | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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'13 Sport - Hood Vinyl and DRL's

ieee_raider

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 22, 2013
Messages
361
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City, State
Paris, TX
Year, Model & Trim Level
2013 Ford Explorer Sport
Just wanted to share pics of my 2 mods today.

Cut out and applied vinyl to hood in center "scoop" area. It's not perfect, and it was a pain... outside my comfort zone... lol. Used matte black 3M automotive vinyl.

IMAG1271_zps5aade861.jpg


Also added LED DRLs from here: http://www.feeldo.net/products/1211-super-bright-led-daytime-running-light-automatic-switch-onoff-8-led2467.aspx

I like the location I chose and the look, but the "control wire" doesn't seem to be working. (To shut them off with headlights on). Will have to work on that another day...
IMAG1276_zpsbcf5ce9c.jpg


IMAG1275_zps4081ddc1.jpg


IMAG1273_zpsb6795f34.jpg
 



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I was wondering about that location for LEDs... Is it very visible in sunlight? I'd like to see some pics of the vinyl from other angles in the sun when/if you get a chance. Thanks for sharing!
 












I was wondering about that location for LEDs... Is it very visible in sunlight? I'd like to see some pics of the vinyl from other angles in the sun when/if you get a chance. Thanks for sharing!

I would say they are visible but not distracting. So they're not going to catch another driver's eye in direct sunlight but they would if coming around a shadowed stretch
 






I am interested in the wiring. Can you share the details for the DRL's, they look sharp!
 






DRL's have 3 wires: red, white, black.
Red and black are power. White is trigger.

Connected black direct to battery.
For power, I took top off of fuse box in engine compartment to get to wires underneath. Located fuse 94 which goes to the fuse panel on the inside (under dash I think). Tapped off of that wire using the wire coming off the fuse.
Then I connected white wire to hot wire for headlights.

But, currently my trigger wire is only dimming the LEDs, not cutting them off. Not sure what I've got wrong.
 






It depends on the drl controller. Some dim and some turn off when headlights/sidelights turn on.
 






Here are a couple more pics at different lighting / angles as requested:



 






Is there a template for the hood section matte black - that looks incredible!

Darren
 






Is there a template for the hood section matte black - that looks incredible!

Darren

Nope, sorry.
I bought a large sheet of vinyl from http://autovinylsolutions.com/
I made sure it was oversized x2 (because I planned to screw up the first time... which I did, so it worked out)
The method that worked for me was time-consuming, but worked...
Basically lay the material out upside down. Use some kind of clips to clip it in place at the top of the hood so it doesn't slide around.
I felt along the edge of the dip in the hood and drew a line about 1/4" outside of it.
Then I cut out on that line.
Then I laid it back down, black side up and trimmed until it was right.
 






Here are a couple more pics at different lighting / angles as requested:




Nice looking Sport you have there. I am going to add LED DRL's similar to yours and wondered if you would share how you mounted them. Thanks for your help.
 






Nice looking Sport you have there. I am going to add LED DRL's similar to yours and wondered if you would share how you mounted them. Thanks for your help.

3M double sided automotive tape (black with red backing).
You can get at AutoZone, walmart, etc.
The led's screwed into supplied brackets from the side, so the brackets wouldn't work where I wanted to mount them.
So I just fished the wires through the grill/vents, cleaned the surfaces with alcohol, and stuck them in!
 






3M double sided automotive tape (black with red backing).
You can get at AutoZone, walmart, etc.
The led's screwed into supplied brackets from the side, so the brackets wouldn't work where I wanted to mount them.
So I just fished the wires through the grill/vents, cleaned the surfaces with alcohol, and stuck them in!

Thanks for the mounting info. My lights will be here Tuesday, so 3m double sided tape should work nicely.
 






I like that red ex the more and more I see it. Very pretty color. What you did with the vinyl on the hood looks legit... makes it look way more aggressive IMO!

How'd you get the red Ford badge... that just a vinyl overlay too? I'm thinkin of doin one all black, with a stealthy grayish silver "Ford" lettering. Not sure how imma accomplish that yet.

I wanna throw some DRL LED strips round' the lower front grill too. Yours look nice. Would those fit on the sides of the grill? (i.e. vertically oriented)... and how do you think that would look?

p.s. why in gods name do you still have your front license plate on there!!! take that crap off! ;.p
 






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