Does anyone know would the stock fog lights can handle the HID conversion ?

or the size would be long enough for those bulbs?

Thanks

 

As far as heat goes, you'll be fine. Most HID kits are going to be 35W, so no worries there. That's probably less wattage than the original bulbs.

Your question about depth, though, is more of a concern. HID bulbs are going to be longer than what's in there. Let me see if I can get a measurement on the stock bulbs, and then measure one of my HID sets here. All of those bulbs are the same length - the only difference is the socket.

 

I heard of a guy in my club that did HID on the fogs of his R56 and melted the housings.

 

I could understand if they were 55w, but 35w HIDs run quite cool.

However, if the filament or outer wire is less than 5mm away from the lens, it will certainly melt it.

 

GeoffreyM and theta,

So both of you not really recommend to get the conversion on the fog right?

 

I'll be trying it on mine when I can code the fogs to stay on with the highs.

More than anything, I don't want to burn out HID fogs by mistake.

I'll do more research on the bulbs to see if they have room, etc. They may well be different from the capsules used in the R56.

 

Personally cant see the reasons to go HID's considering the risk (melting), the expense, and the lack of need for additional light there (they point down, too much light from your fogs actually hurts your visibility).

If the reasoning is to get rid of the yellow OEM fogs I would suggest either doing xenon match bulbs,
http://www.hoen-usa.com/fog.htm

Or LEDs
http://www.superbrightleds.com/vehic...(Top%2BButton)

Both are better options for fogs, and much cheaper. LEDs do require resistors.

 

In almost all of my other vehicles, I've used 3000K HID 35w fogs for the crystal yellow color that allows for excellent fog driving.

The cost for HIDs is really extremely low, and they look far better than any halogen match bulbs, and produce a yellow unlike any other (same as Lexus did for years).

Now, that being said, I really like your idea of the LED bulbs down there, but I'll need to look into how much light they emit. LEDs can also be cycled without issue, so the high beam / fogs off issue is fairly moot.

Good links!

 

The first thing I do with any car is change out the bulbs for the right color, usually 6000K, then if the fogs are halogen bulbs I add HIDs. Mine work and fit just fine, no melting, no issues.. I've never actually seen a headlight housing melt before, but that's just me. You'll have no problems.

Also, I don't believe LED's are bright enough to actually output enough lights to be as powerful as fogs.. as far as I've seen, you won't be able to really see them in the day at all and at night it will glow the housing and not really put down much light.. to each their own, but HID's are the way for me for now. eBay kits are $35. and the DS2 bulbs are about 40-50. I changed my headlights in 30 seconds and fogs in less than 5 minutes each without removing the wheels.

 

For (real) fog lights to work well, they need to put out a lot of light, preferably from down low, and have a sharp cutoff (much like the excellent xenons). The factory bulbs, if I remember correctly, have a silvered top so that all the light comes out of the reflector and very little directly from what would be the front of the bulb.
The HID lights I've seen don't have any blockage for light, depending on the housing to accomplish what is needed. If those are used in the CM fog lights, I'd expect bright lights visible to oncoming cars but relatively poor utility as actual fog lights. They make a nice personal statement but can be blinding to oncoming traffic if really bright.
Have I got this right?

 

Perhaps on other cars you could be quite right, although I can't say I've ever heard of a bulb with silver on anything but the tip to prevent pointing straight on if that's what you're referring to? (not starting a war, just stating the experience I've had so far) I've owned a BMW, a couple Mini's, a few Pontiac's, a Chevrolet, and an Infiniti, and they've always had (factory) bulbs that are completely clear. The lens/housing is going to do most of the work - same true goes for the xenons. I could measure tonight if you all would be interested, but I believe the fogs even with the HID's I just put into the countryman don't shine 10-15 ft past the front end of the car. It may not be a perfect cut off line like the headlights, but it's not different than the cutoff from the halogens that were in it.
Hopefully this helps and worst case scenario if you don't like it you're only out $35 from the HID kit to go back to stock. Hell you could even resell them to make your money back

 

Perhaps on other cars you could be quite right, although I can't say I've ever heard of a bulb with silver on anything but the tip to prevent pointing straight on if that's what you're referring to? (not starting a war, just stating the experience I've had so far) I've owned a BMW, a couple Mini's, a few Pontiac's, a Chevrolet, and an Infiniti, and they've always had (factory) bulbs that are completely clear. The lens/housing is going to do most of the work - same true goes for the xenons. I could measure tonight if you all would be interested, but I believe the fogs even with the HID's I just put into the countryman don't shine 10-15 ft past the front end of the car. It may not be a perfect cut off line like the headlights, but it's not different than the cutoff from the halogens that were in it.
Hopefully this helps and worst case scenario if you don't like it you're only out $35 from the HID kit to go back to stock. Hell you could even resell them to make your money back

 

Silver on the tip so the filament or other light source doesn't shine directly out of the enclosure is what I was thinking of, thanks.

 

If you check into it, by 6000K you are losing lumens, per watt being applied. Climbing up the Kelvin scale provides the "bluer" look some want, but isn't about lighting efficiency. That's down at/falling away after 4K-4300K. Owning Audis where others often comment on liking their slight blue hue, they operate at 42-4300K. Best fog efficiency is lower than that (and many believe much lower toward outright yellow), though as others have mentioned some will compromise here with the xenon match type bulbs.

 

Yes haha.. those are on most if not all halogens for sure! I can't say they are on xenon bulbs though, even factory ones..

I remember old threads back in the days of people trying to 'file' them down so to speak so halogen bulbs could be brighter, however they just made other people mad from the extra light pointing forward, even though it didn't actually provide extra light lol!

 

I too have seen them, and they are used on some of the standard OEM "H" variants used in fogs as well as headlights.

For a fog, a classic quality fog lamp (like from Hella) made before the day of factory throw away fogs where design aesthetics outweighs lighting performance will have a metal front reflector element that both directs the light that otherwise would shine upward back into the rear reflector, and also serves as the primary upper beam cutoff device.

 

Correct! The higher you color, the more color intensity shows, but less light output. I like it because of the color. I believe the brightest is the factory 4300K D.O.T. approved color at 3,xxx lumens I believe. The 6K moves it down to like mid-2,000 lumens light output.. Still brighter than most factory halogen bulbs at like 1300 lumens!
Best for fogs cutting through actual fog is a yellow HID bulb such as the color temp 2500K-3000K.

 

Just to clarify this.. If I go for the PIAA or the HOEN it would just be a direct replacement of the bulbs.. no need for any resistors or ballasts to avoid the computer error messages..? Thanks for the input..

 

on both the Mini and on Audi's with a bulb out system too, yes they are just plug and play, and I have never had/seen a follow up problem.

 

Can you add some pictures of your lights on at dark in you gallery? i would like to see hid bulbs in the fog light housing.

 

Anyone install hid fog lights and not have the housing melt? Girlfriend wants pink fog lights.

 

Thread back from the dead!

I've run 35w HIDs in both R60s for years without any issues.

 

Same here 35w HIDs in dogs for a couple of years now. Saw somewhere they have LED HIDs but did not want to spend the money.

 

Thread revival!!

So I had HID fig instslled in cousins R60 for some time. But recently its been throwing error or errors, might be related. While driving, it says drivers door is open and when I lock the door/car, no beep and interior lights stay on.

Is it the HIDs or something else? I pulled a headlight fuse, turned off passenger Lo beam, driver fog). Turned it on and then off, it works like a charm.