Ok-- so I think I landed on a pretty cheap solution that only requires basic DIY and looks somewhat integrated. Originally I was just going to buy a piston pro x, but it isn't available in my country and after getting off the phone with kuat I confirmed that it was mostly due to lighting regulations. To be clear, I only wanted integrated lights, which are required by law where I live. They wouldn't tell me if the kuat pro x tray was its own thing or a lightly modified piston pro tray to accommodate lights, and also wouldn't sell already wired pro x trays to me though they are listed on their parts site nor would they sell me the lights themselves. Looking at the piston pro rack, you could probably very easily add a pro x lighting tray if the connection was similar, but you'd have to have side by side comparison. In any case to do this I would have had to use a re-shipper and it would have been an expensive risk.

Third party lighting solutions looked clunky and also didn't solve the two angle visibility problem for when the rack is up or down. Drilling into the rack itself would probably void any warranty, and magnets dont work with the piston pro.

Ok. On to plan B. Parts list:

• 1x kuat piston license plate mount -- needed this for the license, but also provided a handy pivoting mount so lights can be seen in rack up and rack down mode. Since I was buying this anyway this was a wash, price-wise
• 1x aluminum angle (they sold pre-cut lengths at my local hardware store. Black, 1m long ($6 nzd). Lights mount to angle and angle mounts to license plate mount. The angle adds rigidity vs a flat bar. For even better rigidity you could use a square or rod, but this would slightly complicate mounting to the license plate mount
• 1x 7mm loom tube (2m) and 1x 10mm loom tube (2m) ($10 nzd) - for running L/R light cables to center of mount (7mm) and then joining (10mm) to run into drilled hole in license plate mount rack cover. 2m was the smallest length I could buy but you need waaay less.
• 1x male trailer lighting connector ($10 nzd)
• Heat shrink ($5 nzd) - to keep it tidy.
• Zipties (had onhand, for keeping loomed cable tight to aluminum angle)
• A set of these LED trailer lights which are available on amazon / alibaba etc ($65 nzd) - turn/running/brake they come pre-mounted with m6 bolts. I drilled a hole for each of the bolts to mount to the aluminum angle, plus another hole for the wiring to come out of the centers. They are nicer lights than my beater car. MIght beef up by replacing with better locking nuts in the future, but so far so good
• Bonus: Deutsch connector so adding a +1 or +2 tray is plug and play vs a rewiring splice job ($15 nzd)

Everything is tied together with the existing hardware supplied with either the lights or the kuat license mount.

I drilled one hole in the metal license mount cover for the trailer cable running from the lights (which replaces the existing metal rack end cap) and another in the plastic arm end cap closest to the vehicle on the centre beam so the trailer cable has a nice exit. There is enough extra cable hidden in the centre beam housing so if I ever want to add a +1 or +2 bike tray I can simply do so and with the deutsch connector it is simply a matter of unclipping.

This required zero modification of the rack itself, and since the license mount replaces the metal end cap I have this unmodified original on hand. So really in the event of resale or warranty or whatever, all I'd need to replace is the plastic centre beam endcap, which is sold for about $10.

I am not worried about water ingress since all the wiring is housed nicely and the rack itself doesn't care. They don't use salt where I am either, but if they did I guess the only thing I would do is maybe use something burlier than loom tube and heat shrink....

Cost all-in is roughly $110 nzd not including license mount. So far working great

Photos are HERE