Yay...another fog light thread. I'm sure some of you have seen my talk of wanting halogen projector foglights to go with my E46 bi-xenon projectors. Well, I was going to buy the CE ones and call it day, but, they're now gone...they are sold out and as far as I know they are not getting any more. So I must look elsewhere. My questions are for those of you lighting gurus who might have some insight.

I still want halogen projectors, there's no getting around it. I want to replace my stock fog housings entirely, no retrofits. I have my own ideas to dress that up and make it look good, but for now, whatever. I've been looking on eBay and have come across stuff like this:

Projector Fogs


Would these work as well as the CE fogs? I'm not looking for anything spectacular in the way of performance...just something with a better pattern/cutoff than the stock housings that will look nice paired with my HIDs. I was inparticular looking for something that had brackets already on it so I could just bolt it to my stock foglight bracket and call it a day. I also have ideas for using all the stock foglight wiring, unmodified, plugs and all

But will these work ok? Or are they going to be complete junk? Like I said, not looking for anything spectacular...just something that might compare to the CE units.

 

Ok, forget it, I went ahead and bought them at the suggestion of another .org member who is an "expert" on the topic. I'll update when I get them

 

Nice!! They should look awesome if you pull it off.

 

Yeah, I plan to do the yellow film over the lenses, and I have ideas to use the stock fog wiring completely unmodified (although perhaps grounded better). I plan to make a shroud of sorts that covers up the hole but lets the fogs poke through, and it'll be flat black so it looks almost factory-ish.

 

Make sure you have some back up fuses and all incase you burn something out using the stock foglight wiring. Good luck with it and show us the outcome.

 

Yeah +1 on pics.

 

Why would I burn anything out? It's rated at the same 55w as the stockers

 

Just remember that putting any sort of film or tint on the lamp will diminsh its performance.

 

Eh...no real big deal. These are mostly for looks and to help me see a tiny bit better in fog when my HIDs are teh sux0rz

 

Gahhh...predicament. I have had those fogs on for a few weeks now, and the one lense ended up cracked from the inside (somehow). One of the bulbs also blew already. The way the bulbs are held in, it's impossible for me to just change bulbs. So I've now wasted $22.

So...moving on. I still want fogs, but those ones were next-to-useless. They basically just looked good, that's it. I lived with it, though, because they were cheap. Well this time I don't want to go cheap(ish).

I've found these Hella units...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HELLA...temZ8021061428

They look to be sturdier, but I worry the same cracked lense issue is going to happen. I'm also not paying that much for them if they're going to have the same crappy output as my last ones.

Any thoughts? Any personal experiences? Any other reccomendations under $50?

 

look, just put back the stock ones with a nice super white bulb and it'll look great!!! Also Piaa has lifetime warrenty on the bulbs and so does silvania(i think). I think you should go that route. Those pointy one don't suit it i find. Eitherway, do what you please because it's your car and not mine. I have to admit, the little ones are really bright

 

The stock ones look like crap next to my headlights, hence why they're gone. I actually broke the mounting tab to the passenger's side stock fog anyway when I took it out (the bolt was overtightened for some reason) so I can't really put it back in. Either way, I'm not throwing those stupid blobs back in and putting rice bulbs in them. Please stop talking to me like I'm some nub with silverstar bulbs in his headlights.

Anyone else?

 

hella makes good stuff. i read the best is their MicroDE but expensive. they have another line thats around 50. i didn't look at your link cus ebay is blocked at work but i've seen a few sets of hella projector fogs for around 50. i bought a pair of the CE projector fogs but never got around to installing them. good thing i bought them when i did, now that i found out they're gone.

 

Good. The ones I have linked are like $30+shipping.

 

IMO stock fogs are the best looking fogs for our cars cause you did say you were primarily going for looks....those fogs look like crap on our cars.....just my .02

 

how can they be any good for a total of $20? what yellow film are you talking about? and finally, what do you have to do to make them work with the stock wiring?

 

OEM fogs in OEM bumper >*

 

i had a set of opliux's as well. non-projectors tho but the lens cracked on one of them within 2 weeks. it complete cracked the glass lens.

 

I actually like the look of projector fogs, so long as they are done right. At this point though, it looks like I'm either gonna have to have crappy ones, fragile ones, OEM ones, or none at all.

Looks like I may be trying to fix my OEM ones...

 

search of Hella 1180 projectors. It looks exactly like the ones CE projectors. I think they re the same too. O and the CE projectors actually put out really good beam and light. Unlike ur ebay ell specials

 

Those look good, but they're really pricey and look to be awfully fragile I don't want to lay down $50 and have them crack on me.

 

hmm, i cant speak on behalf of being fragile or not but i have these too and a couple of orger members have them on their cars too. Nothing happened to their's and i think darklegen had it for 2 years and never cracked the lens.

Its up to u tho. I m gonna put the CE on end of this month and post some pics. Hopefully it wont crack on me.

 

I think I'm gonna stick my stockers back in and see how yours go. Thanks!

 

Projectors in OEM housings FTMFW

 

I agree, but taking apart the OEM fog lamp is a pain You can't bake'em and pry them apart like you can w/ the headlamps.

Another thing about those projector fogs, the lense might be prone to cracking. Once its cracked, its no good. Retrofitting the projectors into the fog lamps gives the projectors an added layer of protection.

 

I would love to do that, if only I had the skill. Not to mention the lenses of the stock fogs have a pattern etched into them, so I'm not so sure that would be easy to get rid of. Oh well, we'll see I guess...

 

Good luck w/ your projectors

 

Try the Bosch mini projectors!!

 

Oh yeah, I wouldn't get ready to work with my dremel if I didn't have more than one set. I also didn't think about the lense Tatanko.

Looks wise, that would LOOK the best no question.

 

You need to put projectors down there with HID's.

 

You be quiet I'd love to do that, but this is all just way beyond what I want to spend. I'm going to fix up the OEM fogs and put them back in with some 3000k bulbs and call it a day likely.

 

I have the hella optilux chrome housing foglights for a month or so and they are really sturdy. The mounting bracket and screws were made of thick metal and are holding up well. One of my foglights had a bad seal and let water in. Had the foglight filled with water for a day or so with no cracking. I have gone through some puddles on my way to school when the foglights were hot(on for a while) and no cracking issues with the lenses yet. Another plus is that these foglights (yours included I think) have an actual cutoff shield, so you have an actual projector cutoff. Just a bit of info from my experience

 

yea i was thinking about getting hella projectors also, maybe sumtime early summer ill start that project