After toying with ways to do this inside the stock tailight housings (like volvos), I couldn't find a good way, so I just went ahead and bought a ready-made PIAA rear fog light (bright LEDs) for the car.

Before you say it: Yes, I drive into the mountains to ski ALOT and it is frequently snowing or foggy or cloudy up there. I almost got rear-ended more than once last year thanks to the Maxima's not-so-bright taillights.

So, here's the setup I settled on. It's not super-pretty or anything, but works well, is bright as hell, and I installed a rocker switch into the dash to control it with. For those who don't know, the law requires that a single rear fog light be mounted on the left side of the car, which is why it's there.

Feel free to comment, though save you're breath if you're going to say "that looks stupid"....I really don't care. Safety > being kewl. I'll put this "practical" mod up with the first-aid kit

Mounting position



Close-up



Dash switch (lighted)



twilight



twilight

 

night shots...much brighter than the taillights, for sure

 

interesting, how bright is it in the car when you are driving? does it bother you at all?

 

Is this a seasonal mod?

Good idea, better safe than sorry.

 

yeah, it will probably come off with the roof rack and snow tires in the spring. It doesn't get foggy here in the summer


I haven't driven with it, but sitting in the dark car with it on, I didn't notice anything. the tint on the back window "absorbs" the reflection of the light so it doesn't really light up the inside of the car.

 

Nice work, Josh. Getting rear-ended sucks.

 

looks nice. if i saw you around here though, id think your a dt. theres been a few sightings of maxima police pulling ppl over after racing them in nyc

 

it looks like the spoiler will block it a little bit...i guess its bright so it doesnt matter.
looks good

 

I think your just more likley to get rear ended. The light looks weird , people will rear end you cause they will be staring at it trying to figure out what the hell it is....

Looks like your driving with your brake light on.....


P.S. This is why brake lights were invented, and then came along the 3rd brake light ...

 

nice setup, and it IS BRIGHT AS HELL

 

If they're staring at it, that means they see me through the fog. That's the whole point of having it....

In thick fog, it's to increase the distance away that people can see you from, not to help them see you when they're driving right behind you already. Why do you think that almost most European cars come with rear brake lights (go over to Europe, you'll see that pretty much every car has one)? I guess those guys from BMW, Volvo, etc don't know anything though...

hence why it is offset to the left, and there's only one of them.

Brake lights only come on when you are on the brakes........the point here is to increase visibility to other cars when you'e driving slowly in the fog or heavy snow, but not necessarily on the brakes. When in heavy fog, it's real easy to come right up on the back of someone without seeing them until the last second....

 

From a BMW site:



From Volvo S60 owner's manual:

Volkswagon:

IIRC, all Mercedes (US and Euro-spec) come with a left-side rear fog light as well.

 

looks like ur spoiler might block the light in certian angles, but all in all very nice, how much it run ya? im looking ofr something similiar for my saturn

 

Ouh that's why I've seen some euros with only left taillight brighter .
Nice set up but i'd rather brake the rules and retrofit some bright LEDs w/ adjustable brightness in spoiler, though I don' have one.

 

I set it up so the spoiler will only block the light if the car behind me is a low sportscar or something. Usually when I'm up in the snow/clouds in the mountains there are SUVs behind me though

It ran about $50...I had some Paypal balance and was just looking for something to spend it on that would be useful.


Yeah. My Lancia had one integrated into the taillight and at first I thought my brake light switch was stuck on

Here in VA, its not a good idea to brake lighting laws....the Fairfax county police is pretty consistent at pulling people over for illegal lighting. The laws say the rear fog MUST be on the left side (if one) or one on each side (if two)...

I also toyed with replacing my left-side reverse light bulb with a super-bright red LED cluster bulb (I have one in the basement) like some Euro cars have (with only a reverse light on the right side). I might give that a try too, but it involves ghetto-rigging the bulb since it won't fit in the stock housing bracket.

 

awesome idea! And to those that say it isn't smart or think it's a bad idea.... I doubt he will drive with it on ALL the time (hence why there is a toggle switch). There is no point when it's clear out. It will def. help in snow or fog.

 

nice setup and definitely not a bad idea for those mountains

 

Cops up there are A$$E$. Lighting is a issue down here in fredericksburg too. I got harrased about my freekin headlights being too blue.....

 

or...cops actually do their jobs and enforce laws.
yeah, pretty sure there is some law about you having headlights that are blue and blind people.

 

Well then... If you really think you know EXACTLY what they look like. They aren't even HID. They are the Nokya bulbs. My poor a$$ can't spend the money on the HIDs. My lights aren't bright at all.

 

i dont care what they look like.
bottomline: the cop didnt "harrass" you for no reason. your lights are obviously illegal.

but you keep blaming the cops

 

OK well I have reasons for everything I say. If I had not been pulled over up there for going 5MPH over the speed limit then I would not have said what I did about police up there. I should not have made the general statement about all police up there. I have only met that one and he was a pr!ck. As far as me being harrassed down here... felt that way because after i was pulled over for "illegal lighting" I was asked to step out of my car then he asked my permisson to search it. All because of blue bulbs? If he was really wanting to get me for minor infractions like that then he would have gotten me for my tint also. I just feel that police sometimes are VERY stereotypical. That's all I was getting at. There is no need for you to jump to conclusions assuming that i blame police for anything. As far as I am concerned this is over because I'm not gonna take over this guys thread to have a pointless arguement with you. Please PM me if you have anything else to say

 

josh,
that large reflection that is on the rear window may be distracting when looking at your rear view mirror (or is that just the way it looks with the camera). there is probably a way to shield the sides of the light so the reflection is only the size of the light.

 

Why isn't your actual spoiler brake light not lighting?

 

none of his brake lights are on...those are the parking lights

 

I see hats in back decks all the time. If you don't mind a hat in the rear window (may take away from the clean look of your car) I would just set the hat bill over it whenever it's on. Just my .02

 

I checked....it's so low on the window it doesn't really show up in the rearview at all. Like I said above, the tint really reduces any reflection off the inside of the glass...

 

when i use to have my volvo id let people pull up behind me then id hit my rear fog light and blind em for a sec lol

 

I like the idea...it would've have been nice to integrate it with the taillight.

 

great idea, that way when they can't see you stopping they rear end you...lol. Must have been fun at stop lights tho.

 

why not a white light?

 

the point is for other people to see him...not for him to see them (which would blind them)

 

Ahhh... didn't noticed that lol.

 

so that light on the rear deck comes one with the park lights?

 

Man, I can imagine the kind of places you have to drive through if people behind can't even see your parking lights...

Question, how exactly do you see where you are going if you can't even see a light source?

 

If you look at his pics... there is a toggle switch that turns it on.

 

So far I've only seen rear fogs on an Audi at night.

 

On Audis the rear fogs come on automatically whenever you have the front fogs on, IIRC. At least my buddy's S4 is that way.

I have a bad habit of driving up into the mountains whenever a snowstorm is going on (when the skiing is good)....it gets to where you can only see about 20-30 ft in front of you sometimes. You just watch the road and drive slow. I've had some close calls coming up on the back of other cars creeping along because of their dim taillights appear out of nowhere right in front of you. Some people drive with their hazards on in those conditions also, but that tends to make a "strobe effect" when the snow or fog is thick because you're alternating bright and dark...bad for night vision.

I figured this is a cheap mod....it should do what it's supposed to, and certainly can't hurt. In the winter I'm not concerned with looks....with the roof rack, winter wheels/tires on, rubber floormats in, and car pretty much dirty and salty until March. The light...eh...it looks a bit cheesy, but I sure don't give a damn

 

If your in really bad fog shouldent the rear light be really low to the ground??

 

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