[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

Absolutely amazing! What a great writeup DrivenDaily, you went all out on this one. A must do for my Malibu, can't wait till I tackle it myself.

Thank you very much for the time you took to do this and the attention to detail as well.

 

[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

Hey DrivenDaily, I just got done doing this mod on my Silverado. I looks great and boy those LEDs are really bright! Since I cut about 4 of them off of the strand, I will try and see if I can solder some wire on the remaining LEDs and use those on the Bu with your write-up. I will get some video up tonight and post day pics tomorrow. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

By elcompalalo, shot with DSC-W70 at 2010-02-12

 

[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

Well from a scale from 1 to 10, I rate the difficulty like a 5. I had never taken off the door panels on the truck so that was a first. GMT900 Silverados already have a lot of features pre-wired in the trucks, before I started anything I got under the dash and started poking and prodding wires exiting the BCM. Of course staying away from any yellow ones! After finding the driver and passenger side blinker wires, I took the door panels off and to my surprise there they were, the wires run up to the door and are ready for DL3 signal/power fold mirrors ($350 upgrade) which if I got OEM would be plug-n-play. So took they mirrors down, took the mirror off just as you explained DrivenDaily, fished the wire for the LEDs through, and remounted them. Once mirrors were on firmly I proceeded to find a ground on the door, and finally tap into the blinker wire behind the door panel. Turned on my hazards to insure they worked and put back my panels. Overall the whole thing took about 2 hours, but I think the Bu can get done in half the time. Not too bad considering I worked in the dark and had to find my blinker wires in that spaghetti bowl under the console.

Day pics are on the way.

 

[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

 

[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

Well, I'm happy to say this mod has been done on my Malibu as well! Here is a vid and some pics as well. I only used 3 LEDs on each side, my car is an 08 and already has the side marker. I only added the lights in the mirrors for more piece of mind even though the side markers flash bright enough both at night and daytime.

 

[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

I like it as well, really disappointed I could not use more of the LEDs. After cutting the excess when doing the truck I had 6 left on each piece. Well I tried to solder wire onto one of the leftover pieces and ruined it. I was then left with only 6 LEDs, 3 for each side. Soldered wire on the ends and coated it with liquid electrical tape and tested to make sure they worked. After ensuring they worked I started to take the door panel off (very easy thanks to your write-up), mirrors then came off and ran the wire through the door. I must say the hardest part of the whole mod was running the wire through the door-to-body loom protector. Ran my wire to the BCM and found both of the wires and labeled them (very small wires and tight area to work with but I was determined).

The whole thing took me about three hours, not too bad since I stopped every now and then to have a beer...haha! Two of those were spent on the drivers side and the other on the passenger. The passenger was much easier because I already knew exactly what to do to remove the door panel, the door-to-body loom consisted of less wires so it made fishing it through much faster, and it was closer to the BCM.

If I could do it all over again I would double the amount of LEDs per mirror. Who knows I might redo it in the future but I'm not too worried about it since I have the side markers on my Bu.

On another note, what do you have up your sleeve DrivenDaily? What are those extra wires you ran through there for, I'm dieing to know!

 

[elcompaLalo]

Re: no side marker - add side bliner in Mirror?

I see, I was surprised to find out the mirrors were not heated to begin with. I myself don't mind but for those folks located in areas with colder weather it must be a PITA. When doing my driver side I was stuck there for a little while, I must have sat there for like 15 minutes thinking to myself..........how in the heck did DrivenDaily fish not one but like four wires through this door-to-body thing?..........haha!

I highly recommend this mod for anyone with an 09+ Malibu, the added lighting will give you some more peace of mind on any type of commute and much safer!

 

[elcompaLalo]

Thanks Daily! I should pick up a butane soldering iron. I had one that was battery powered for some other head unit install and it was a piece (as you would expect...really batteries driving a soldering iron??).

With your writeup and a little more time this evening I was able to 'practice', getting the door off and investigating and it didn't take long. I had trouble though with the latch cable. That is the only thing standing in my way and doing this mod! I looked, twisted the door around to get a better look, but I was unable to find a way to detach the cable. I am sure I could figure it out with a unobstructed look to check it out, but those are never present with cars. The latch cable has too little slack to simply leave the rest of the door attached. care to help a follower out?

You really don't need to take it off. I did mine with it attached, just put something on the floor so that it has something to rest on (I used a bucket).

 

[elcompaLalo]

Welcome to the club fest702! Its cool that others are doing this mod too, by far my favorite mod since I've done it on the Bu, my Silverado and my cousin's Silverado too.