Hey, guys.
Adam here with americanmuscle.com, and today we're takin' a quick look at and installing
the Axial Smoked LED Side Markers for the '05 to '09 Mustangs.
You can pick up the pair if you're lookin' to ditch your factory, traditional, outdated,
red halogen side markers for something that is smoked, a little more aggressive, and a
little bit more modern with a more attractive LED finish.
Now, inside, you'll get powerful red SMD LED technology, which is more state-of-the-art.
It's something very bright, very attractive, definitely gonna catch some attention.
Now, replacing that factory one, you are still keeping all the OEM-quality materials.
It does have a polycarbonate lens, although this one being smoked adds that level of stealth
and just a little bit more aggression, making it a little more unique.
It's definitely just an appearance change, but, in my opinion, the LEDs are definitely,
definitely gonna be more attractive.
Now, it's one of the first mods most people do when they get a new Mustang or a new car,
in general, get rid of all the halogens.
If you don't have a newer model, replacing it with all of those newer LED technologies.
In addition to that, you're also gonna reuse your factory connector connecting to the harness,
making it a very simple plug-and-play connection.
And I'll take you guys through that in just a little bit.
In addition to all that, you're getting the powerful red SMD LED technology, so it is
one of the more state-of-the-art technologies built in here.
This comes in right around $50 bucks.
You get the pair.
Very affordable, easy mod to take care of.
Anybody can tackle it in the driveway at home, one out of three wrenches on our difficulty
meter.
I'm gonna take you through the process.
Took me about 30 minutes start to finish.
Let's get to it.
Tools used in the install include a 1/4-inch ratchet, 1/4-inch socket, and a Phillips head
drill bit for those hard-to-reach places as well as a Phillips head screwdriver.
All right, guys, the first step here is gonna be to grab either a very small Phillips head
screwdriver, or you can get a little more creative and grab a Phillips head drill bit
with a 1/4-inch socket on your 1/4-inch ratchet to remove the two Phillips head screws inside
the wheel well holding that bumper into the liner.
Now, the reason I say it has to be a small Phillips head or this is basically because
we don't have enough room to fit a Phillips head in here.
If you don't have the drill bit, you can, of course, pop your tire off, but it adds
a little bit more to the process.
So I find this to be a little easier.
We're gonna head into the wheel well and basically remove these two Phillips heads.
All right, do the same thing for the top one.
All right, so for the top one, I'm switching over to a regular Phillips head screwdriver.
We have a little bit more room to work with.
All right, at this point, we can just peel back that bumper.
Disconnect the trim from the top to gain access to the quarter marker light.
Holding this back very gently, you're gonna push down and out from the inside on your
quarter marker.
Basically, this big tab right here, now push, and it pops right out.
From here, pinch and disconnect your harness and set the old one aside.
Now, taking a look at our Axial Smoked LED option next to the factory quarter marker
light, you can see it's completely different in almost every single way.
The only thing that's the same is the quality of the housing and the generic shape.
Now, the factory one, very reflective, has a very basic halogen bulb at the back side
here.
Red in color, blends in with the car, very factory, very traditional.
Our new one here is smoked, which basically means it's got that darkened lens at the front
end, and it's got an LED bar on the inside, which you can see is completely different.
Now, that middle section's gonna be what's lighting up red, which is gonna be a lot brighter
and, you know, in most cases, more attractive than the factory one here.
That's typically what you get when you switch from the halogen from the factory to an LED.
It's more modern technology, and it generally is more attractive.
So getting this installed is gonna be pretty simple.
It is a plug-and-play.
What we're gonna need to do is pull our factory bulb out.
Disconnect the bulb from this harness connector.
We'll plug that into this wiring, and then we'll snap it back together like our factory.
So let's take care of that.
Now, you're basically just gonna twist the factory bulb until it snaps out of the housing.
Set that factory housing aside.
Gently, and I mean very gently, pull straight back on that bulb.
We're gonna set that aside.
Pick your new Axial housing up, take that wiring from the back of the LED and plug it
into where your factory bulb was.
Simple, snaps right into place.
Grab this factory connector.
Plug it into the harness.
We wanna make sure we're testing our light before we reinstall it, so we got my buddy
Blake in the car, throwin' that light on.
Can see, works perfectly.
From here, take the housing, snap it into place from the left side, and snap it in on
the right.
You'll hear a click.
We can reinstall that bumper.
Now, reinstalling the bumper can be tricky, you wanna make sure you're lining your tabs
up properly.
Snap it back in and replace those two Phillips heads.
All right, once that last Phillips head's back in, repeat for the other side, and you're
good to go.
Now, that's gonna wrap up my quick overview and install for the Axial Smoked LED Side
Markers for the '05 to '09.
And, guys, remember it's available in the pair.
Replace the factory halogens with some nice LEDs in the smoked finish.
You can get the pair right here at americanmuscle.com.