Like most vehicles, the 2008 Honda Civic does not come equipped with fog lights. Fog lights sit below your regular lights. They spread the light beam and reflect off the road, illuminating the road rather than the fog, as your normal low beam or high beam headlights do. This greatly improves visibility in fog. Despite these benefits, installing fog lights is no task to undertake lightly. Expect to spend an afternoon with a friend getting this done.
Turn off your 2008 Honda Civic and raise it above a flat surface with your car jack and jack stands.
Remove the bulkhead -- the bezel above the radiator and behind the grille -- by popping open the hood, removing the four retaining clips on top of the bulkhead, and pulling the bulkhead out of the Civic with two hands. Remove the clips by wedging the flat end of the flat head screwdriver between each one and the bulkhead and prying upward.
Spread masking tape on the lower grille of the bumper where you intend to install the fog lights. Ideal spots for the tape are at the opposite ends of the lower grille.
Remove the three front bumper socket bolts which are attached to the bracket revealed when you removed the bulkhead. Remove the eight retaining clips below the bumper in the same manner you removed the bulkhead retaining clips. Remove the bolt in both front wheel wells that holds the bumper to that portion of the vehicle. Pull the bumper off the Civic with your friend and set it on a surface where it won't get scratched.
Turn the bumper upside down so that the inner portion is facing you. Draw the shape of the fog lights onto the bumper as a guide for cutting. Draw each shape on the portion of the bumper just beyond the edge of the grille. This portion has four stud posts around it. Draw the shape so that it resembles a crown.
Cut out the marked area with your hand-held cutting tool. Do not cut off the stud posts. Cut carefully and slowly.
Open the fog light kit and install the two brackets that come with each fog light onto the fog light. Install the brackets with the provided hardware in the packet.
Place a fog light with its brackets into the hole you just cut and check that the fog light fits and the brackets press against the bumper. Trim off more bumper with a razor to provide a better fit if need be.
Screw in the brackets to the stud posts to mount the fog light assembly to the bumper. Repeat this for the other fog light assembly.
Attach the two assemblies with the wiring harness provided in the fog light kit. Tie the wiring harness cable to the grille with the wire ties.
Kneel in front of the washer reservoir with the additional sub wiring harness provided in the kit. String the sub wiring harness behind the washer reservoir from the wheel side to the bumper side.
Attach the sub wiring harness ground to the vehicle with the hardware provided in the fog light installation kit. A good post is on the vehicle frame next to the washer reservoir. Attach the sub wiring harness cable to another portion of the vehicle frame with wire ties to hold it in place.
Plug the sub wiring harness to the wiring harness from the fog lights.
Reinstall the front bumper and the bulkhead.
Step into the Civic and remove the dashboard cover, the lower cover below the dashboard, and the steering column cover. The lower cover only has one clip and can be pulled off with force. The steering column cover has a screw below the column and the dashboard has a few retaining clips that need to be popped off in the same manner the retaining clips holding the bumper on were popped off.
Remove the the current headlight switch by taking out the screw that secures it and unplugging the wiring block. Pull the switch out and insert the new switch that comes with the fog light installation kit, secure it with the screw and plug in the wiring block. Reinstall the column cover.
Open the fuse box and take out the 34, 42 and 21 pin connectors from the fuse box. Take out the switch harness from the installation kit and connect the terminals to the 34 connector slot, which previously held the 34 fuse. Reinstall the connector box into the fuse box.
Run the switch harness over the vehicle knee bolster, which is below the fuse box and looks like the lower half of a sideways cylinder.
Plug the switch harness relay block, the large block on the switch harness, onto the relay and plug the relay into vehicle bracket stay. The vehicle bracket stay is just past the vehicle knee bolster.
Look for the blue-taped 1-pin connector. It should be very close to the vehicle bracket stay. Attach the 1-pin connect of the switch harness, which is the smaller of the two plugs on the switch harness, into the 1-pin connector from the Civic.
Wire tie the cables from the 1-pin connector of the switch harness to the 1-pin connector of the vehicle. Wire tie the switch harness to the knee bolster.
Test your fog lights by turning on the Civic and using the new left switch you installed earlier.
