Puddle Lights Brighten the Experience of Getting into Your Car

Puddle lights are splashes of illumination that brighten the ground near your vehicle’s door. The lights turn on when you unlock the doors or approach your car.

Until recently, puddle lamp projectors—usually adorned with a marque’s logo—were reserved for luxury automobiles. Nowadays, many carmakers offer them standard for branding purposes. The convenient exterior lighting option also helps motorists avoid stepping in dirt, debris, and (of course) water or mud as they approach the car.

The light beam in the side mirror is barely visible until activated.

Do you have puddle lamp envy? We have a fix for that. A wide selection of easy-to-install DIY puddle lighting for cars and trucks is available on eBay Motors.

Lighting the Way

Puddle lighting is usually installed under the car’s side mirrors. When you unlock your vehicle with the key fob, the lamps reveal the ground around the door as interior lights illuminate the car’s cabin. When you close the door, the lamps automatically turn off.

Many puddle lights project from the side mirror.

Alternatively, manufacturers put the car puddle lights under the vehicle’s rocker panel or door panel. Placing the light on the rocker panel projects more light on the ground, but there’s an increased risk of damage to the fixture from road debris.

Halogen and LED puddle lights both focus a defined beam on the ground. The LED lights are bright and white, properly illuminating the scene.

Some puddle illumination devices use old-school screw-in incandescent bulbs. But this type of bulb scatters the light in many directions. In addition, incandescent bulbs are less efficient, with a filament that can easily break from road vibrations.

A puddle light combined with a logo makes for a distinctive look.

Adding Color and Vehicle Logos

Some enthusiasts like to incorporate color into their puddle lighting. This creates a dramatic effect but decreases the amount of light falling on the ground. You can add the car’s logo or a custom image to a plain puddle lamp for even more pizazz. Vendors offer lenses that allow you to place your design over the light.

Easy Installation Tips

Many cars now come with puddle lighting standard or as a factory upgrade option. This allows puddle-less drivers to add them by utilizing existing wiring. Check your OEM upgrade options to see if they offer a puddle light kit.

Puddle lights are weather resistant and easy to install.

For example, my Subaru Outback didn’t come with puddle lighting, but I could buy a Subaru side mirror that offers that feature. So I would remove the original mirror and use the existing wiring harness to power the new mirror. Other auto manufacturers design the bottom of the mirror housing so that drivers can insert the light via existing wiring.

How to Retrofit Car Puddle Lights

If your vehicle is upgrade-ready, you’ll have to start from scratch with a un-branded aftermarket solution. eBay Motors offers mirror assemblies built for specific makes and years. Simply unfasten and remove the original mirror assembly and replace it with the aftermarket mirror assembly with pre-installed puddle lamps. Connect the wiring harnesses, and you’re in business.

A single puddle lamp will quickly light up the approach way.

eBay has puddle lighting options for a variety of car models, but you might not find a unit made for your specific car. In that case, buy a one-size-fits-all lamp kit. Unfortunately, those are a bit more work. The tasks include removing side mirrors, drilling holes for the lamp housing, and running wire to fuse blocks.

Puddle lighting can mimic the factory look in style and wiring.

Before getting started, read the installation directions to verify that you want to take on the project. It takes about one hour per light.

After you install puddle lamps, don’t stop there with lighting upgrades. Instead, consider upping your lighting game with brighter or stylized interior illumination—maybe adding glow lights under the chassis or fog lights to light the way. Lighting makes a huge difference to the driving experience, and the options are practically endless.