I just installed my second pair of puddle lights, these were on my '13 XLT

Instead of taking off the mirror glass itself and taking the back off the plastic portion in order to run the wires, I took off the bottom cover on the arm and drilled a hole to run the wires.

I was too afraid of breaking the glass so I didn't want to take it off.

Below is a pic of what I did. The red arrow points to the cap I removed on the underside of the mirror arm. It pops right off with a plastic tool or small screwdriver.

The green line represents where I drilled a small hole from the mounting side to the puddle light hole. It is inside the housing and cannot be seen when put back together. I put in my wires and then put the plastic arm cap that I removed back on.

Purple wire on the mirror connector is the hot lead that goes off with the interior lights. I just ran a negative from the puddle light to one of the studs holding the mirror on

I think the worst part of the whole job is getting the door panel lined up and back on.

I hope this helps someone in the future. I was really sweating the first time I did this job. This time it took me an hour total.

 

You have factory power folding mirrors on your XLT? I'm jealous. Looks good

 

Did you actually drill the hole into the visible part of the arm? Installing puddle lights tomorrow on my truck but it really isn't hard to take the glass off, just curious?

 

The hole I drilled is on the inside where the green line is. It is index the bottom arm cap I removed and then put back on

 

This will not work with folding side mirrors unless you never want to fold them. I just added the rear facing turn signals today and you must remove the mirror to accomplish the task. I installed the wires for the puddle lamps, but will finish that project after I order the lamps.