My stock fog lights don't do a whole lot to improve my nighttime visibiliy, even in the fog. What's a good aftermarket alternative to make them brighter or just more effective? Are yellow lights better?

 

Amber fogs actually help a bit more both in dry and foggy conditions...If you re-aim them a bit, and use 100watt bulbs in them, they will light up a lot better.

 

or you could switch to aftermarket fogs

 

I would never use 100watt bulbs in anything having to do with factory wiring harnesses. If you want better light output from your stock fogs, use a HID kit. The best visibility you will get from a 5400k HID kit, but most get the 6000k kit, that gives a white light with a tinge of blue.

HID kits are 35watts but hi-output. They won't mess with your factory setup. 100watt bulbs can definately fry your wiring. Happened a few times in my old 96. For headlights and fogs, I had 100watt bulbs in there, fried the wiring harness, and those aren't cheap to replace, a couple hundred.

Do it right, put a HID kit in there if you want good lighting. I wouldn't recommend aftermarket fogs cause they aren't aesthetically pleasing, IMO. But to each his own.

 

Also keep in mind the true purpose of fog lights. Unlike headlights, fog lights are not for seeing any real distance down the road. They are designed to give a wide field of view with a sharp horizontal cut-off to prevent glare from precipitation. This is to improve lighting directly in front and to the sides of the car in inclement weather when the driver should be driving at a reduced speed anyways. Check out www.danielsternlighting.com for some good info on all types of automotive lighting. His site debunks quite a few myths, like the one about "superwhite" or blue coated bulbs increase light output and seeing distance (you know the "55 watts=85 watts" and "closer to natural sunlight" claims). That's an absurd, dangerous myth that people (typically the younger crowd) fall for because they want their lights to "look" cool without knowing true lighting needs, design, or output. It's almost as dangerous as putting an HID kit in a light housing designed for a halogen bulb. If that offends anyone, read up on the facts about lighting design and operation. HID kits to "upgrade" existing lights are illegal in the United states now for a reason. If you just have to have HID's because of the perceived notion of "better" light, do it right and spend the big bucks to replace the entire lighting system correctly, if even available for our cars.

He also explains how to check your lighting systems for voltage drop which drastically reduces your lights' output. If your car experiences voltage drop, he explains how to make new wiring harnesses, with relays, in order to use the correct voltage for proper light operation without using dangerous and inconsiderate overwattage bulbs.

His site also sells quality, proven, and legal bulbs for our cars that give great light output unlike the current trend of marketing color temperature as a measure of a halogen light's output.

If this sounds like I'm belittling anyone, that is not the intent. It has become popular for people to get "exotic" bulbs in the quest for better lighting. Unfortunately, these "exotic" bulbs (aka superwhite, cool blue, HID look alike, etc manufactured by PIAA, APC, and others) give the illusion of increased visibility while actually decreasing light output. See here for an explanation: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...e/bad/bad.html
My intent here is to help educate other drivers, along with myself, so that we can all share the road safely. I even had Cool Blues (Sylvania I think) years ago until I tested one against a stock bulb looking at distance and the stock bulb won! I'm also sick of being blinded by other drivers who fell for the marketing gimmicks of certain light manufacturers just because they want to look "cool".

Crooper_Hedder, didn't mean to turn this in to a b&^ch session, but just check out the link to help you get some ideas on how to safely and effectively increase your nighttime visibility.

Semper Fi,
Dave

 

get yellow bulbs. www.luminics.com Your harnesses will be fine. i've been running PIAA ION Crystal bulbs for over a year now.

 

Pop in some HIDs and you will be set.

 

I Need Some New Fog Lights Too. One Of Mine Got Full Of Water And The Other One Is Just There.

 

dont cap everything.

 

ive said it once and ill say it again, the stock fogs are a joke. buy some quality name brand fog or diving lights and be done with it. 100watt h3 do nothing but melt the inside of the light.

 

Sloppy remembers an experiment that my chemical measurements laboratory professor and I performed back in my days at Indiana University. Without boring you with the details, a certain color light illuminated through high humidity in a controlled chamber. The most lumens detected (and clearly visible to the observer) was from green light.

I am assuming that green fog lights are not a reality due to the fact that stoplights have green lights (yeah....I know....they have yellow too) and an oncoming driver might have a problem at an intersection with a trafic light. It is close to Christmas so what the heck......anyone know where I can purchase some green bulbs for my factory Infiniti foglights?

 

yeah, and the car behind you with the red and blue lights is just showing his admiration for your green lights

 

If you want them to be a driving light then just reaim them and upgrade the bulbs like some piaa brand bulbs. If you want them for rain/fog then I would get yellow luminics, or piaas like Iron Scim said, or do the yellow capsule foglight conversion. Meanbean has a write up in his sig.

 

I just put those in my car. They look hot contrasted with my HID headlights. Honestly, I can't say they light up the road or increase my side angle field of view any more then a good set of stock H3's. But the yellow color is excellent.

 

Pics?
......