Hello,

I recently bought some fog lights from eBay (http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=110867899666). After about a month I started noticing the discoloration in the attached picture. Strangely the lights still work though it looks as if they are burnt.

I'm looking for some better fog lights. What would you recommend?

cheers - Noela

 

They are decent lamps. what bulbs did you have in them?

 

Are the lenses glass? Do they say "DEPO" on them? If they are depo's, they should be fine. Another question, did you put clear laminx covers over them? I had covers on mine and they did the same thing that yours did.

I, along with many others, went with 35 W hid fogs from ddm tuning

 

Now we are getting somewhere. Yes, the lens have Depo on them and I did put Laminx cover on them. I can't recall the bulb in there - but I wouldn't mind having a Yellow fog light.... so what should i do now:

1. How do I get rid of the brown stain or is the housing completely destroyed?
2. Can I just swap the bulbs with a yellow one from here: http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/H3-LEDH3-LED-Bulbs

Thanks - Noela

 

If they are depot lamps and you used the bulbs that came with them, they should have never burned like that. They are glass lenses. I would pull the lamin-x off and see if it comes off.

 

yes, I pulled the Lamin-X off. The housing is fine (except a slight crack).

So the culprit is the Lamin-X. It had the brown burnt marks as shown in the attachment.

Given that the new fog lights has already cracked, what else can i do to protect them? Are there other fog lights that are more resistant?


Thanks - Noela

 

I had the same thing happen to me with Lamin-X. If I was you, I would just replace the cracked fog light and don't use the Lamin-X again. When I emailed them about it, their response was, "fog lights are not meant to be on all the time. Turn them off whenever the car is not moving."

Also, since then I've switched to a 35 watt HID kit, and they seem to run much cooler than the stock halogens did.

 

Thanks, Pearlmax: I should look into the 35 watt HID kit then. Which one did you get ? Is this a direct swap or retrofitting is needed ? Any instructions around?

thanks - Noela

 

The 35 w hid kit is the way to go. IIRC a kit from ddmtuning.com is around 40 bucks. If you want yellow, go with the 3000k kit. They run much cooler than other bulbs. My Laminx burned because of my PIAA bulbs I had in mine, so I think I'm going to give the Laminx another try with my HID's

 

I tried the lamin-x with my depo's and they still cracked in a short time. I swapped the cracked one out, peeled off the lamin-x from the other one and ran without them. I think the lamin-x is useless.

Just need to take a chance.

 

Laminex is not 100% for I too have a new oem cracked lens that had laminex in it. First, I had a brown spot on my laminex develop,
I just cleaned them every once in a while with Plast-x and the dark spots wiped right away. Second, I was running 55w HID when my lens cracked. 55w is hot - I recommend only running 35w in fogs (going to have potential for a lot of glare as it is) and running H3c (shorty) bulbs to ensure clearance to reflector and further minimize heat.

 

@Noela

This is the write up I used when I installed mine, but instead of reusing the rubber grommet for the wires at the back of the housing, I just got rid of it and used silicone to seal the hole. Also, I used heat-shrinking butt connectors from Radioshack instead of heatshrink and solder.

http://forums.nicoclub.com/2k2-2k3-m...d-t243013.html

And this is the kit I bought.

 

Good writeup and especially true about the note of the Depot lights. It took a while to figure out why mine wouldn't light up.