Ok so last week my bonehead roommate backed his truck into my MCS, smashing the 2 MINI driving lights and the 2 6" PIAA Fog lamps, as well as causing damage to the hood. I don't have a picture of the damage (yet). I am searching for some new lights and can't find a decent set that looks good and doesnt experience a lot of vibration, besides the ALTA light bar, but I dont want to have to take off my Euro plate and I would like the tow hook hole available as I am going to mount my front CA license plate there. And no, going with the expensive Palo Uber light bar isn't an option.

What are some other nice lighting options for say $500 or less?

Here is what the front looked like.

 

Are you looking for FOG lights or DRIVING lights?

Fog lights are the lowest-mounted lamps in the bumper and are intended for, well, fog. ALl you can really do is replace the stock bulbs with bluer/cooler-temp ones - as far as I know, nobody makes aftermarket fog unit replacements. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here...

Driving lamps are meant to use in clear conditions, generally alongside the high beams (although you can wire them to come on independently if you want to). Fogs and driving lights should never be used together, as they're designed for radically different conditions. What you have mounted in your photo is 2 different pairs of DRIVING lights.

QUESTION: What's wrong with replacing the lamps you had with the same units? Are you looking for something smaller? Bigger? Black instad of chrome? Blue instead of yellow? I assume that you're asking because one pair of your driving lights look to be the OEM ones from MINI, which cost about $450 just themselves to replace, right?

If we know what look you want to end up with then I'm sure we can make good recommendations - not sure what you mean by "can't find any that look good" since that's purely subjective... what DOES look good in your opinion?

 

The 2 PIAA lights in that picture (the yellow lights in the middle) are fog lamps. The smaller lights on the outside are the MINI driving lights. All 4 of these lights are busted. The lenses are all broken, the bulbs are out on 3 lights, and the chrome lamps are all bent out of shape. I need new driving and fog lamps, or i might just get all driving lights.

Yeah, the OEM driving lights are going to be ridiculously overpriced to replace. And the PIAA's cost about $267 a pair. I was thinking I might get 4 lights that are all the same size. To me, it just looks goofy with all those different sized lights on the front.

I am liking the ALTA light bar the more I look at it, and I think I will be able to keep the Euro plate and shove the CA plate up on the dash.

 

+1 for similar sized lights.


I love the euro plate - Het lekker smaak, ja?

 

Unless the yellow PIAA's have a special cut-off pattern, using them in fog will do more harm than good. The color helps, but beam pattern is also crucial to good visibility in fog (or so I've read).

I read PIAA's marketing on their lights before I installed my Hellas, and I didn't see them mention anything about the required sharp horizontal cut-off that TRUE "fog lights" have. Aiming them low (well below the level of the low beams" will HELP, but for best safety you have to be sure to get true fog lamps and then mount them low on the bumper (the position of the stock units in the bumper is ideal for fogs - not so great for driving lights).

The yellow color also helps, but beam pattern is most helpful to reduce fog glare - looking on the web, it seems like ANY light with a yellow coating is often called a "fog light" even though they might well have a wide-spread pattern. Bottom line, yellow-tinted glare is BETTER than white or blueish, but no glare is even better.

Probably more info than you needed, but it's worth challenging a seller's assumption that a light is a fog light, especially if you plan tio install 4 of them and use them as driving lights AND in fog. Ideally, the best thing to do seems to be to use the OEM fog lights in foggy/snowy condictions ONLY and to use the driving lamps for extra illumination in dark, clear conditions.

Here's a GREAT ARTICLE on what a good fog lamp is and is not if you've not already seen this.

Good luck on your search!

PS - lots of people seem to like the HELLA 500 series when installing 4 driving lamps on a bar. I've not used them personally (my driving lamps are Hella Optilux 2500s) but many people speak of them highly, and they're only about $70-$80 a pair, I believe...

 

hmmm...driving lights not meant to be on the bottom, maybe I will just say screw the lights, and use that money to do my pulley and sway bar install, or maybe paint the whole damn car Jet Black...

After all, the front looks mean enough with the Palo Uber scoop installed now, and I don't do too much driving on really dark roads, nothin the normal brights can't handle...but I do like the insane brightness at night....Pulley install now, light install later on my dime.

 

But driving lights are so much fun!

 

True, but I keep having this reoccuring nightmare of me hitting one of the many uneven sections of crappy San Jose roads and seeing a lamp go flying up over the hood and over the roof into traffic behind me just after impacting the pavement. Or, one of the bastard neighborhood kids taking a baseball bat to them some day after school gets out....

But they are fun, and I have enjoyed blinding the kids everynow and then...

 

i know what you mean.
I came REALLY close to hitting a crow who refused to leave whatever
it was eating on the street...had to swirve last minute. and I come
ridiculously close to hitting one of my neighborhood's cats ALL of the
time. theyre not very smart...and as much as I love animals, if one of
them cracked my lights I'd be pretty PO'ed.

 

That WOULD suck... although any hit hard enough to pop a light free would also probably ding the rims or something too. But at least there's no chance of punks taking out a pulley with a baseball bat!

 

Alta Light Bar, final answer!