Hello NAM,

Was wondering if anyone had a good upgrade for the R53 fog lights. So far Ive tried led bulb replacement which was a waist of time. Looked great as you looked at the car but didnt put much light to the Road. Now I have an Hid kit insntalled and it really doesnt offer as much light as I was hoping. By no means could you drive the car at night with just the fog lights on at speed.

So this beings me to ask, Does anyone know or have an ideas to get some better working fog lights?

Thanks again
Sean

 

Suggestion...
Fog lights have a broad, shallow beam....
Driving lights have a narrow, longer throw beam....
Sounds like you are looking for driving lights....hella makes nice ones...

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...og-lights.html

As far as I know this is the only actual "upgrade" for the fog's to get them closer to a "regular use" light, the projector lens effectively turns your fog's into a lower mounted headlight (using your hid kit), just slightly dimmer because of no reflective material in the housing but better than hid's in the factory housings. If I choose to, I can use just my fogs for driving @ night everywhere but out near my home, where it's pretty rural and you want some extra distance to your beam.
Also if you decide later, that you want them more "fog" like, just replace your bulbs with some 3000k's.

 

I went with Quad Hella's on my R53.... And plan on converting the factory fog lamp locations to brake cooling.

 

Yeah, the fog lights are intended for use in....fog. So you want a light source that's low down (so light isn't reflected by the fog back into the driver's eyes), throws a short-range beam (since no light is going to shine far through fog) and throws a wide beam (so the sides of the road are well illuminated). They are only intended for use at low speeds, since you will never see far enough in fog to drive faster.

But in reality 'fog lights' are an option that manufacturers fit that (a) sounds good on the option list and (b) might impress your neighbours. Actually working as lights for use in fog is well down their list of priorities. ALL Mini lights were designed by 'stylists' to look good when parked and working on the road was definitely a secondary purpose.

 

For actual fog I use amber colored lights, but I do not see much fog where I live. Otherwise I use my Quads as my driving lamps.

 

HEy BlownAway,

Thanks for the link, went back and read all the posts. I actually saw those projectors on ebay and wasent sure about buying them cause they where from China or whatever. Looks like its the way to go though. Do you think 50W Ballest should be okay or would you just run the 35W?

 

IMO, 35w's. The housings are all metal & should handle the heat ok, but it may be too hot for the surrounding bumper cover, but most of all these really are close to an hid headlight & the 50w may be too bright for anywhere but back roads.

And yes, if you read back, you've noticed that those of us who took the chance on those were not only really happy with them & completely suprised by the quality.

 

Also, while we are all here. What you guys running for High beams?

 

Me, I'm just using your basic SilverStars, you really want to stick to a halogen bulb for your high beams, if nothing else than for emergency situations where you need the beam "quick" and an hid needs time to be fully illuminated, esp. a 50w ballast. (no sense in doing another 35w for a "high" beam)

Myself, for the really dark, backroads, I converted a set of driving lights to 50w hid.

 

Remember....
Hid's wear only when turned on/off, and take a bit of time to warm up...
So when different bulbs are used, hi/low, xenon lows are great.
It was not until bi-xenons came out the figured out how to make xenon's work good for lights that are on momentarily (in many cases) like high-beams.
And this brings up a good bit of info...
If you upgrade your whole headlight housing to a eBay unit, many are low beam only......
To the op...
As pointed out...
The lenses and the reflector do much to determine if a light housing is a driving light or a fog light....just a brighter bulb on a fog will not make it a driving light.....

 

Excellent points made here on early setups as well as how light patterns are different between a fog and driving lamp design. It has to do with how the light pattern is thrown out onto the road and into the faces of oncoming traffic. Fog lamps normally are not designed for any sort of distance so they stay within a short wider range in front of the vehicle. Meaning if you vary to far off the wattage path (going from a 35w to a 55w-85w-110w) you might end up pissing off oncoming traffic because you are blinding them with your fog lamps. Also don't forget to adjust them properly according to your "State" or "Provinces" so if you are ever questioned you are able to say you know the law and the lamps are properly adjusted.