My 2012 GTS has ambient LED lighting which shines from the rear view mirror housing (I think); this feature is standard on 997s I believe. An option on late 997.2s was additional LED lighting inside the door storage compartments. A "Light Design Package" is available as an option on the 991. This includes additional ambient (i.e., soft, indirect) LED lighting in the door openers, overhead console, rear seats and front driver and passenger footwells, along with white LED illumination of the interior of the door storage compartments. My 2001 Boxster S came standard with the ambient door opener LEDs, a "hidden" LED on the drivers door handle which gently illuminated the ignition rosette, and an adjustible overhead LED mounted in the rear view mirror attachment stalk. The effect is quite pleasing.

I would like to install white illuminating LEDS in the door compartments and ambient LEDs in the door openers of my GTS. By pulling on the door opener, one can see a small square or rectangular hole in the door finisher trim (around the pull) which is where LEDs are/were intended to be installed. The standard black plastic door finishers which came with the car had these holes, and in pitch darkness, by opening the door pull part way, I could see LED light bleeding out from inside the door finisher, even though the LEDs were not installed in the holes. I'm thinking that there must have been LEDs wired inside the finishers, but not installed in the holes. I had the plastic door finishers replaced with carbon fiber pieces, which have the holes, but there is no longer any LED light leaking out through the holes.

So, my question is, has anyone tried to install ambient lighting LEDs in the door pull/finisher area, or elsewhere? I suspect that the wiring is amenable to a rather simple DIY installation if a wiring shematic could be found to use as a guide, since power is provided to the window lift switches and a ground could easily be found. Tiny "grain of rice" LEDs can be purchased at Radio Shack, wired and installed in the holes, and, if necessary, a resistor could be wired in series to reduce light output to the desired intensity. The door compartment would require some drilling, and partial disassembly of the door card for access to power. I haven't investigated yet, but I imagine a similar arrangement could be installed unde the dash for ambient LED lighting in the front footwells.

I don't really care much about illuminatng the storage compartments; what I am mainly after is the subtle lighting of the door pull area, and maybe a similar light source in the footwells (there is already bright white LED illumination of the footwells, but the LEDs would remain permanently on and therefore would be most apparent at night after the interior lights shut off).

The effect of the ambient lighting is delightful on a dark road, and I would very much welcome hearing about any experiences others may have had, and I welcome any advice others might care to offer.

Thanks in advance!