I'm curious if anyone has installed the Honda interior illumination kit in their Clarity? I'm thinking about installing it but the process looks very involved, like easily an entire afternoon. I've looked into some aftermarket kits as well but would prefer OEM as it ties into the headlights, dimmer, etc for the rest of the vehicle.
Given the lack of responses Ill take that as a No. I ordered the Honda interior illumination kit in blue, should be here in about a week. Ill document the install if people are interested.
I have the illuminated side sills. When I bought them I thought I can do the installation myself. But the instructions was too complicated to attempt on a new car. So I asked a dealer to do it. It took them quite a while as well but they did a good job.
The door sills in Clarity are kinda large, flat and exposed. So I looked for a protection solution and came up with the illuminated door sills. It looks nice but honestly probably not worth the $340 or so that I spent on it. A non illuminated stick on protection will do the same thing. It required significant effort to wire the door sills. If you are doing the ambient light thing probably you can do the door sills at the same time. In that case spending another $200 or so maybe not too bad.
Not being a good photographer, I hoped someone else would show off their Clarity lighted door sill first. Because I like our Clarity so much, I appreciate seeing the name beaming up when I open the door. However, because they're just plastic and soft aluminum, I force myself to be careful not to scuff them with my shoes, which can be awkward. So I must admit they're just fragile ornamentation that is anti-functional and pro-hubris. Look, no scuff marks!
Well I got the interior light kit in, part #08E10-TRW-100, and installed it yesterday. It took me about 2.5 hours from start to finish but wasn't too bad of an install. If I had to do it a second time, I could probably complete it in an hour. The instructions were a bit convoluted, especially when it came to the wiring, but detailed and easy enough to follow. The results turned out pretty good. For anyone wondering, the lighting is subtle and not distracting at all. When driving, theres enough light to see whats going on down by your feet and legs but not enough that you blatantly notice it. The intensity also adjusts with the brightness of the instrument cluster which is nice so you can set them as bright as you want. And given that they turn on and off with the headlights, doors opening, etc I'd say they're better than any aftermarket product. Here's the best I could do for pictures. My DSLR is rather old and not so great at low light, but I did a manual exposure to give a sense of about how bright these things are. I also was using a F1.8 lens with a 50mm FL so I had to take the pictures from an awkward angle in the backseat. Overall, I'd say its definitely worth installing, at least for me it was anyway. For anyone curious about the difficulty level, the instructions are a bit intimidating but overall the install really isn't that hard.
