I have the drill units installed on my 2013 XKR since new and had them installed on my 2011 XKR 175 with no problems to speak of. I think they look more factory because the original courtesy light is not affected. They shoot straight down giving a perfect circle with no distortion of the image. All this talk about corrosion is ridiculous. As above mentioned, the drill spot is out of sight and through the plastic door panel under the door within the sealed area. The small light appliance is inserted perfectly in the small hole so no water can get in. The integrity of the door or sealing system is not compromised. I'm very happy with the installation and would do it again if I get another XKR or Jaguar.


This is an elegant, tactful and cost effective mod you will enjoy and will attract many positive comments from your friends.

 

Yes, I do have to concede that the integrity against the elements may not be a strong argument, as the drill-ins also have an o-ring to ensure a tight seal. Just not sure I want to punch a hole in car (as nice as this) that I've had for 2 months and hardly driven (it's now hibernating for the winter).
As noted, the drill-ins are 'invisible' and you don't lose the original puddle and marker light function. And the non-drills do not have a great physical appearance (workmanship is not as good).
Still debating...

 

Probably my bad on the corrosion comment. Didn't realize you drilled through plastic but after scanning through lots of pages you tend to miss things.

Kj, I'd say steal the white lens from the non-drill and put it in the red letter drill unit and use those.

When the growler comes in you can do a lens swap if you like it better and leave the puddles where they are.

I might pick up a set of drill units for myself.

Not that there's anything wrong with the non-drill units, but wouldn't mind a brighter image.

I think non-drills are a good way to go for those that aren't mechanically/electrically inclined as far as ease of install.

 

The 'growler' non-drill units just arrived on my desk (in a white unmarked box). The enclosure is the same as the 'leaper' units I received earlier (semi-transparent clear plastic), but the connector is different, in that it is a single paddle with etched connectors on both sides, rather than 2 separate spade connectors.
For a quick test, I connected one to a 12v power supply, and wow!
The LEDs in these are much brighter than the 'leaper' non-drill units.
They are also brighter than the drill-in units (the ones I have with the red lettering), which were listed as 7 watt on the box.
The LED is 'whiter', and makes the drill-in leapers appear a bit yellow in comparison.

ALSO, these 'growler' units have another bright white LED on the power supply circuit board, which shines outward, to provide a marker/puddle light functionality. Probably not as nice as our original red marker lights, but an improvement over the non-drill leapers I was examining.


Again, I'll do a more detailed comparison, with pictures, using actual mounting distances and angles, but just thought I'd give you some initial impressions.

 

Nice, those were the ones from ebay UK for $46.99?

 

Yes, they ship direct from China.

 

Ok, I finally got a chance to do some side-by-side comparisons of the 3 types of puddle lights I purchased (drill-in with red lettering and white leaper, no-drill with white lettering and white leaper, and non-drill growler).
These are mounted to project against my office wall (which unfortunately has a yellowish tint to it), at 17 inches from the wall (the same as the car mounting to ground distance).
First the 2 non-drills:






Now the drill-in overlayed on the non-drills, to show how much larger its image is:





This is the drill-in by itself:





This is the growler unit, with its extra puddle lamp LED glowing brightly:





Hope to get some time this weekend to pop in the non-drills to compare the leaper and growler.

 

As promised, I tried out the non-drill puddle lights over the weekend.
First up is the growler. This shot was taken from outside the door (notice the reflection on the door, and please excuse the expansion cracks on the garage floor, had to be right where the door opens ):



Noticed a couple of things:
1. The distorted, or elongated image, as had been discussed earlier with the non-drill leapers.
2. Part of the image has been cut off.


Turns out, that the growler image is slightly larger than that of the non-drill leaper (as can be seen in my previous posting), resulting in part of the image hitting the bottom of the door panel, as can be seen in the next photo, taken from the door interior side.
Note the 'red' spot near the center of the picture (between the glow of the marker lamp LED, and the growler image), that is the bottom of my door being hit by the ring around the growler image:



Next is the white lettered non-drill leaper, taken again from outside the door (with a reflection on the door). See again, the elongated image:



And finally, a shot of the drill-in red lettered leaper. I didn't actually install it, but taped it in the puddle lamp hole, reaching down to the height at which it would be installed. No elongated image:



Having now seen all these 'in action', I have to say that the drill-in unit provided the cleanest looking image, and is probably the way I'll go, and then I'll experiment with the 3 different images (I'm sure they just pop out of the lens barrel).

 

I have the drill red letter leapers and the driver door one rotates. The passenger door one is stable as all heck, but the other is driving me nuts. I've quickly tried to tighten it up a couple times without disassembling the .... lens stack? The two half-shell parts holding this "lens stack" (as I'll call it) together are pretty loose and when I separated the halves I got a tiny bit nervous as I didn't want to drop, misplace, lose or otherwise goof it up (I was standing in the garage at the time). I was surprised that there are five different lens-like things in the whole tube. Next time I attempt to secure the little image disk, I'll do it in the kitchen so I can lay all the parts out so I can reassemble them correctly.
So, be careful when you change the image disks! I don't know how susceptible they would be to fingerprints either.

 

Cee Jay:

I had the same problem. Keep in mind the Jaguar image as well as all other images inside the plastic barrel come out. The barrel and lenses are standard and the vendor simply installs or places the auto logo into the barrel.

Here's the fix.

Carefully open the barrel which is split down the middle on the sides (two half-shell parts). Once open, DO NOT remove the lenses, do not remove the Jaguar image. Simply place a drop of crazy glue on the round removable Jaguar image and along the plastic barrel. Wait a few minutes and then put the two sides of the barrel back together.

There is no need to remove any parts. The problem is, the plastic Jaguar image that is about 1/8 wide and black moves/rotates within the plastic barrel and is not secure in the plastic housing. Once secured with the drop of crazy glue, it will no longer rotate inside the barrel, each time the car door is open or closed. Once you insert the puddle light back into the door, you can then rotate the entire barrel at the desired angle that best suits your view.

Doing this fix exactly as stated will resolve the rotating problem that drives you crazy.

 

The price on these is now down to $14.98. Just ordered them. Here's the link;


5th Gen Car Laser Projector Logo Ghost Shadow Door Step LED Light for Jaguar | eBay

 

You won't regret them at any price. They are a great addition. I still get a kick out of them.

 

Out of curiosity, I ordered a set of these to compare with the "4th generation" ones I had purchased earlier.
These "5th Gen" are identical in construction to the "4th Gen" drill in units, and apparently use the same LED, as they are the same brightness.
The only difference is the leaper logo (the red lettering remains the same).
As seen in an earlier post, the "4th Gen" leaper is a 'shaded full body', while the new "5th Gen" uses the outline of the full body, so it looks like the leaper in post #15 of https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-cover-128693/

So it would be an excellent match for anyone doing that to their shifter!

 

I received mine about a week ago and haven't put them in yet. Will give a report then.


Ron

 

Just dropped in my set of "5th Generation" drill in lights this morning. I darkened the garage, opened the door for "she who must be obeyed", and managed to elicit an "Oooh, that's really cool!" remark from her. Those unbridled expressions of enthusiasm from her are few and far between, so hat tip to you lads for this easy but unique little modification.