Over Spring Break I upgraded and added lighting in my 2011 Chevy Malibu LTZ. I had already replaced the dome and map lights, but I went ahead and added some LED strips in the foot wells and under both sides of the car to act as puddle lights. I’ve included some pics to show the finished product.

Here’s the dome and map lights. I added a resistor to make them completely dark at night. They are natural white and the color temperature is around 6000k.

Here are a few pics of the LED strips in the foot wells. I don’t know the color temperature of these but they looked pretty good so I decided to go with them. I wanted to try to match the color as much as possible on the interior lights.

Driver Side:

Passenger Side:

Rear:

And here are the puddle lights. These were listed at 6000k as well so I thought they would match everything else, but I guess not. They have a lot of bluish tint to them. This is more like cool ultraviolet rather than cool white, but I’m in college so I think it looks pretty cool as do my friends so I think I can live with it. (Although my OCD is still not happy about it.)

Side View:

Front View:

Bottom:

I added a strip of tape along the side to keep the LEDs from showing from the side because it looked a little tacky to me when standing more than 5ft away from the car.

And this is what it looks like when I open the door to get out:

Here are the switches that control it all:


The red switch controls the interior lights. Flip it to the left and the interior lights flash with the bass from my subwoofer. Flip the the right and they can work with the doors. The black switch on the left controls the puddle lights. Flip it up and they work with the doors, but if you flip it down they mirror the interior lights. The right black switch controls the mode for the interior lights. They can be in the mode that works with the door or they can just be on. I like options which is why I have three switches. I know this could have easily been done with fewer switches.

This project took about a full day to complete with planning and getting all the wires and switches installed. I absolutely love the result and I get a lot of compliments on it. Also, the extra light is useful at times when I drop something on the floor or on the ground outside of the car and need to find it. I’d definitely recommend this project to improve the look and feel of your vehicle. I purchased all of the LEDs used in this project from Super Bright LEDs.