Rep Power: 511

So, this is so stupidly easy to do, I'm almost ashamed that I had to look it up. However, I like to make life easy for you folks, so here's how to swap out your factory orange sidemarkers for fancy clear or smoked sidemarkers

Estimated time: 10-15 minutes

How it do:

1. Meet your OEM orange sidemarker. Depending on the color of your car, it would look cleaner with clear or smoked, no? Let's change that. Complete sidenote: it's gameday kids, I stay knighted up all the time (Vegas Golden Knights hoodie seen in the reflection. lol)
   
2. Locate the two screws holding the bumper to the fenderwell lining below the sidemarker. Take those out. In hindsight, you probably only need to take out the top one, but since they're easy access and a phillips head screw, why the hell not?
   
3. Pull back the fenderwell lining adjacent to the sidemarker. You should see a little orange tab. This holds the sidemarker to the fender. Push inwards (towards the front of the car) to release the clip then push the clip through the hole in which it sits. The sidemarker should pop right out. It takes a small amount of force, but very doable by hand. Another DIY I read, the dude insisted on using a screwdriver to pop that clip. It's not that serious.
   
4. Now, careful here. The harness to connect the light is very short. Pretty much just enough room to swing the sidemarker out with a quarter inch to spare. Disconnect the light by pushing the tab on the pigtail (or twist it out of socket -- that's what I did) which should let your remove the sidemarker completely. If you look at the factory sidemarker, you'll see 3 main protrusions on the backside. From left to right, here's what they are: clip that holds the sidemarker to the fender, the bulb socket, and the third that you can kinda see is a little hook, or sorts. This hooks into the fender and secures the front of the sidemarker down. The sidemarker is swinging out like this for a reason, and that's because the direction the hook faces to hold it in place.
   
5. If you're installing LED bulbs, take this time to test out the polarity of the bulb. If you left the socket attached, put the bulb in and turn on your parking lights. If it doesn't illuminate, flip the bulb and try again. If you disconnected the pigtail, remove the socket from the sidemarker (you'll need to transfer this over to the new assembly anyways), plug it in and test it out as mentioned.
6. Once you got the bulb situation all figured out, install the bulb-installed socket into the new sidemarker. Installation of the sidemarker is literally reverse of removal. Plug in the socket to the pigtail, hook on the front of the sidemarker into the hole in the fender in which it sits, and push the back end to clip in place. Should be an audible click.
   
7. Repeat the process on the other side.
8. Stand back and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

That looks better, now, doesn't it? Especially on the polished metal metallic paint, the smoked sidemarkers don't disrupt the color scheme I have going Like I said before, the amber LED bulbs are bright enough to see in the daytime (granted, in the shade, but bright enough anyways, and these things are only illuminated when my parking lights are on). My only gripe with these sidemarkers vs. the OEM ones is that diamond refractive texture on the inside of the OEM ones that these clear ones lack. It is what it is, and I didn't wanna spend more than $30 on a pair of sidemarkers, so these'll do the trick.

New sidemarkers installed, lights off


And with the lights on


Edit: bonus night time illuminated shot




p.s. pre-emptive shut up Sandro. I know I said I was gonna keep her stock-ish.

 
Rep Power: 221

Looks good dude

 
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Rep Power: 511

Good info. However, in my case, I didn't feel like spending more than 30 bucks on sidemarkers, so that's why I went with these ones. After seeing them at night, the diamond texture was a non-issue for me.