I don't understand how the fog lights will help in a fog or rain - aimed too low?
 

After I did my fog light re-wire mod the other day, I decided to see how the output was WITHOUT my low beams. Upon turning on the fogs, I noticed the light was very focused near the car's front bumper. So for the 02-03 Maxima owners, when our HID is useless in snow, rain, or fog due to the color of the HID, how can the fogs help? The light is so close to the car and not forwarded to the ground, and when the HID light is scattered in rain, snow, and fog, then how can the output of the fogs help? :confused:

eh, they are pretty worthless on maxima's, always have been. They just look good rolling fogs and side markers without headlights :cool:

our "fog lights" are more or less cosmetic. I mean, they are 35-55w. "Real" fog lights are 100+ watts usually (like the Hellas on my triumph) and have a specific beam pattern (which our "fogs" don't have)

traditionally fog lights are yellow, which provides better "cut-through" in fog,rain, and snow. They are aimed low because in fog, usually the fog layer stops about a foot from the road and the idea is for the beam to go "under" the fog.

and here so many bishin about the 6th gen integrated fogs. I know the oem bulbs were worthless, but my yellow PIAAs sure help a lot. When on, I see a nice wide range about half as far out as the HID beam. during inclimate conditions, HID is gone, yellow lights the way.

irish, never heard/thought of lighting beneath the fog. I figured the lower, the less chance of glare higher up. yellow still yields less refraction in the moisture.

But what I don't get is, with the light so low, and the HIDs useless, how is the light output going to be enough? :scratch:

like Irish said, our fogs are more or less cosmetic. I think the best fogs on new cars are lexus IS300 fogs. Those things reach out FAR (relative to mine at least), and they light up the road perfect. I've driven next to ISs at nights on wet roads, and their fogs are amazing.

Then again, we have "decoration/ Mickey Mouse" fog lights, and IS fogs have gold PROJECTORS... I want those fogs :sadwavey:

If you can't see them on the road past your bumper, they are aimed to low. Re-aim them so they hit the ground just before where your headlights do. That will increase visibility in the rain and fog by lighting up the road a bit more directly in front of you.

Proper aiming of your lights is more important then the type of bulb you use.

On every 4th gen I've seen with 9004, the H3 fog lights are brighter and the headlights are pretty much useless. On the 5th gen it is the exact opposite. The fog lights are useless while the headlights are bright.

:sprint: .... I couldn't stand that at all. That's why my 2nd mod ever (after STS) was 9007 conversion. Now with 9007 Piaas its incredible lighting, and the foglights I stuck some ricer APC superwhite bulbs. So at least now they match.

To get back on topic, Last week I did something to my driver fog light that literaly doubled the output (and now I can even see a cut off from them)...
I opened up the driver side fog, cleaned off all the rust/crap that was inside the glass, on the metal, removed the old reflective material that was more like aluminum foil. Painted the metal with black engine enamel to prevent rust, laid out aluminum tape (for reflective material), and jb-welded the housing back together. The output of the driver side fog is literaly twice that of the passenger's. I'll take a pic of the output tonight HOPEFULLY, but here's a before and after of s0ber's passenger fog housing.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4...fogb4after.jpg

imo, the lower the light the better in bad weather. Have you ever wandered why/how the semi trucks do 70 mph in heavy snow when you can't see $hit in front of you? I believe it's because the truck driver sits much higher then his lights thus avoiding the light cirtain(sp?). I might be wrong though....

this is so true. my boy has an is300 and he did his fog light mod... leaves it on without the headlights and the lights are near PERFECT output (even distribution, VERY wide, and has a fairly long output). while driving behind him, his beam lights up the whole WIDTH of the road and further.

i'll try to take some pics. it's 35w halogen in projectors, nothing more. it works well because it lights up a large area of the GROUND and the ground only, which makes driving easier during fog/rain/snow.

They are a must-have here in PA, where people keep em lit when there is no fog at all. Hopefully one day Nissan will kick it up a notch and copy Volvo, Jaguar, Rover, Audi and put a fake rear fog on the car so we can annoy other drivers just as the above do. Nissan did, after all, put those annoying cornering lamps on the 2nd and 3rd gens, back when Saabs were cool and had them too. :thumbsup:

I find my foglights very useful. Of course they would be better with brighter bulbs but I know they have helped me a lot with nighttime vision in snowstorms and fog. I like where they are aimed too because I can see more of the road in front of me before my headlight beam starts which helps when there is slush/snow/ice on the road and its snowing like crazy. I can see where the tiretreads are easier and where its safest to drive.

fogs are not designed to project far or be extremely bright. they are supposed to be low and wide with a sharp cut off. stock fogs are a joke, but they are low, wide, and have a decent cut off. they are better than nothing and far better than many gm (ie 893) lights. the problem is the H3 bulb.... it lacks in every department, especially when compared to an H7 bulb.

just do what i did. re-aim the beam. there is a screw at the inside/top corner of the lamp. a few turns clockwise and your fogs are functional. i gave mine about 4 turns.

Good article on how to aim em here:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

Discussion on fog light color:

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...1&postcount=65

Hope that helps in addition to what everyone else has said....