My dealer just quoted me $895for the roof marker lamps installed. I think that's a bit much and don't even think it's worth it to try to bust down the pricewith themsince it's just a world away from beinga fair price. The new marker kits are available for $430 on the web, but I have no idea what installation of them will be like. I ran a search of the forum and did not find anyone posting much detail about what the installation is like. My brother's dealerclaims it really only takes about an hour for the dealer to install them, but that's for someone who installs the kit regularly. How long/how difficult would it be for someone to do for the first time?I'm a little hesitant to install them myself because I don't want to get anywind problems, but I don't want to spendcrazy money on the install either.

Also, now that the new kit has been out for a little while, has anyone who installed it had any problems?

 

The kit is not that hard to install yourself. All the parts needed come with the kit, and outside of drilling some holes in your roof, it's pretty much a stright forward job. If you take it easy, it'll take you a little over 2.5 hours to do.

 

Depends how you feel about drilling holes in the roof of your car that wouldn't be covered under warranty...

 

That is a good point. There are some things to go wrong, such as drilling too far into your rood liner, improper seal around rivit nuts could cause water leakage. If you mess up, you have real trouble. If your dealer screws up, THEY have real trouble. It always hurts to lay out more than you need to, but it does buy yu some peace of mind.

 

I did it myself, it took me about an hour and a half. The instructions are very detailed that come with it and I had almost no problems and no wind problems and i have the old kit. If you follow the directions carefully and use the template they give you there should be no fear in screwing up the holes, they even recommend wrapping the drill bit with tape about an inch up so the bit doesn't go in too far. The majority of the wiring is exsisting.

You start by removing the A-frame molding on the drivers side and the rubber seal (very easy only 2 screws, put the template up on the roof make sure its exactly where it should be mounted, mark the spots to be drilled, drill a tiny hole to start, then drill the full size hole, mount the lights on the roof with rivnuts, run the wiring down the A-frame into the hood area where it meets up with factory wiring, reinstall the molding pieces and your done... (I know I'm missing a few small steps somewhere, but its been 5 months since I installed mine, but thats the gist of it)

 

Wow, good point about the non-warranty holes in the roof. My wife's grand cherokee had a leak around the sunroof when it was brand new. They fixed it quickly, but a month later, she strated having electrical problems - stuff likethe wipers justcutting out. It took two weeks for the dealer to fix it and required a part that had to be "released" by DaimlerChrysler in order to even be ordered by the dealer. Can't imagine what that would've all cost if that was something not covered on warranty.

So, yeah, maybe it's worth a little extra for it to be the dealer's responsibility...