One of Saab’s good suppliers of spare and upgrade parts for Saab CardYourCar.eu seems to be out of order. Their range included many parts from the Hirsch Performance program to improve aerodynamics, but also upgrades to brakes and suspension kits, and improved driving characteristics. For the interior of the Saab car, this company, which has been in business for some 5 years, offered original Hirsch Performance sports pedals and sills, as well as a very interesting kit for upgrading the interior lighting.
This supplier is no more, but this upgrade kit with the factory Saab number 32018009 can still be purchased in several places, such as Skandix or Stephan Individual or eSAABparts, where it is now on sale and costs only 60 euros, and greatly improves the atmosphere in the cabin Saab 9-3, and that of all generations from 2003 onwards.
Therefore, for those who decide to improve the cabin of their Saab 9-3 cars, below we share the experiences of one of the members of the CardYourCar team, as well as their construction video which explains how to install this upgrade kit.
Saab 9-3 Interior Ambient Light Kit Installation
The author has read the comments of several people and concerns that it is too bright and distracting, so he was a little afraid that I would not be satisfied with the kit after installing it. As it turned out, he was very satisfied not only with the final result, but also the installation process was quick and painless.
The installation took roughly 45 minutes from start to finish and required a T25 screwdriver, a battery powered drill with a 25mm drill bit and a handful of zip ties. Fitting the LED lights required removing the front outer kick panels and (following the directions) measuring/drilling the holes for the LEDs to be mounted. Once the holes were drilled and the LEDs fitted in place, it was time to run the wiring harness. This meant removing the upper kick panels along the base of the dashboard and He found it helpful to remove the center console storage space and climate control panel. He chose to run the harness for the LEDs in parallel to the existing wiring for other components in the car and secured them using the supplied zip ties.
With everything plugged in, secured and the interior panels refitted, it was time to see how it worked… Overall, author was pleased with the consistency of the green ‘under glow’ effect and how well it matched the instrument panel and switch lighting.
After playing with the buttons for a few minutes, He found that the brightness could be controlled via the dash rheostat switch as well as via the Night Panel button which dimmed the LEDs down to their lowest setting. Additionally author od upgrade can report that you can power it on or off via the headlight switch and (if your car is so equipped with the automatic lighting feature) they will turn on when it becomes dark enough for the solar sensor to trigger your headlights.
As you can see, a fairly inexpensive upgrade kit with a simple installation procedure that does not require any special tools or experience. And the result is surprisingly very pleasant for everyone who finds themselves in this Saab environment.
What’s it good for? I don’t look at my feet when I drive.