Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99 + 1.6 liter 1.8 liter
Catz XLD dual fog/driving lights. Clear Driving Dichroic lense/ Amber Dichroic fog lense. 4 lamps total molded together into one pair of very stylish auxiliary lights.
Awesome lights. I've used Pilot, Hella, and Piaa in the past. I believe these lights are as good as the piaa's if not better, have a much better wiring harness than hella and are sturdier in than the pilots (althought i've never had a problem with the three brands mentioned above, i felt like it was time to try something new!). Instalation was very easy on my 99' . If you're like me and you want to be able to turn on your fog lamps/driving lamps seperate of any other lights on your car, you're going to have to find a positive lead somewhere. I found one sealed in electrical tape in a bundle of wires about 5 inches behind the drivers side headlamp. It was blue in color and simply tapped the power wires into this. The one screw used for the elbow of the stock airbox's intake makes a wonderful ground. Overall installation was quite easy. and i really like the switch and toggle for the lights.
I beleive these lights are probably the best that i've bought for the money and were very high quality. I purchased mine off E-bay for less than half of their retail value. If you can find the same deal i did then i strongly recomment these lights for your miata.
Over 30 minutes to remove completely
Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99 + 1.6 liter 1.8 liter
Two small round 50W white driving lights, to be installed in the "mouth" area of the car. Kit includes two lights, all required wiring, relay, fuse, screws, and LED switch. Purchased from R-Speed. Smaller, less bright, and more round than the XLO model. The kit came with some generic instructions and some Miata-specific instructions from R-Speed.
The R-Speed instructions regarding the mounting location were useless. I used the area of the hard plastic bumper support which was between the plastic screw mentioned in the instructions and the corner of the mouth. Next was the wiring. Again the R-Speed instructions were inadequate. No suggestions as to where to connect the grounds from the two lights. I used the 10 mm bolts which are on the top of the cross member in front of the radiator almost directly above where the lights were mounted. The next problem was connecting the LED switch wire. The instructions were useless. So, I bought a length (6') of wire, connected it with a wire nut to the LED wire, ran it back through the firewall into the engine bay, and connected it with a tap connector to the red with black stripe wire that went directly into the left front parking light assembly. It worked.
After all the work ( 6+ hours), I was quite pleased with the end result. The lights look great on the car and work the way they're supposed to. The lights themselves appear to be high quality. The light is very intense and very white. I purposely aimed them kind of low and have not had any on-coming drivers flash their lights at me. The lights fill in the darker areas immediately in front of the car and to the sides. I'm sure they help on winding roads at night. I primarily bought them for the looks and I'm satisfied. I hope my installation experience will help others. Unless you like a challenge, you may want to have them installed by a pro.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
When I first bought the lamps I was overwhelmed by their exquiste beauty. The lamps feature cutting-edge technology; 70W dichroic halogen bulbs, 100% Diecast aluminum body, semi-multi surface reflectors, and borosilicate lens with a gold-iridium coating. Absolutely everything was featured with this lamp set. It came with high quality wires, a compact relay, fuseable link, led power switch with easy to understand instructions. My only beef with this product is that the main power lead to the battery was designed for a car with the battery in the engine bay. Of course this is not the fault of the lighting company, but a minor adjustment had to be made. I had to run the main power lead off the 12 v lead off one the empty main fuse sockets. The entire wiring procedure took 30 minutes. One problem I experienced was finding the 12V + lead off the parking light (this is so you don't forget to turn them off, just turn the parking lights on and so do they). The 12V + parking light lead is in the wiring harness along the right hand side of the engine bay, near the headlight; its the solid red wire with the black stripe. You'll have to remove the tie down rods to get a decent mounting location. Simple also.
In summary, these lights are worth every penny, add to the appearance of the car, increase safety, and distinguishes your precious roadster from the rest. The XLO's far out-shine the Miata's standard headlights with a brilliant soft beam. The XLO's are excellence in a lighting products. Two thumbs up.
| Back to Product Reviews | 15 December, 2002 |