Auxiliary lights for foul weather

[buck91]

Going to be commuting in my '96 Mustang for the next year or so and I'm looking to upgrade the forward lighting in bad weather. Specifically snow and heavy rain for obvious reasons. And on top of that I need a setup that is compatible with low beam operation, or in other words that won't be overly obnoxious to oncoming drivers. Factory lighting is in very good shape, as in wiring and grounds and they actually work pretty dang good when its dry out, plus they are the old style headlamp lenses with the "textured" lens, not the newer clear style with bulb cap so I don't think an glare-causing HID drop-in is anywhere near appropriate (although much cheaper).

A long time ago I replaced the factory fogs (useless) with PIAA 1700X fog lights (equally useless I found out, but they looked nice). I would like to reuse the factory fog location and bracket which requires a rearward mount (instead of above or below). Really the only lights I have found that appear to offer ANY hope of quality and performance are the Hella Optilux, but the reviews are so mixed I am hesitant. I can get some better measurements but something in the range of 6x2in or smaller would work, and I'm not sure of budget but cost definitely matters. Any suggestions? I am not brand loyal at all, just want the best bang for the buck so I can actually see the pavement markings and whatnot during terrible weather. If I can at least match the performance of the factory foglights on my F150 for a reasonable price I would be happy, but of course better is always....better.


Edit: Oh forgot the mention. Factory fogs on the Mustang are wired up to relays to begin with, so voltage drop shouldn't be much of an issue, and I will probably splice in an extra or better ground wire.

 

[rfeir]

What OEM bulbs does your Mustang come with. Perhaps some better bulbs are out there that we can recommend; never PIAA coated bulbs, that's for sure.

 

[eljefino]

Optilux are LED from what I see. Particular model in mind?

The indirect one (like this: amazon) would be better for oncoming drivers than one with a visible LED driver (obnoxious) or filament.

 

[buck91]

rfeir, I am running Philips Extreme Power (or extreme vision, whichever is the older version) 9007 bulbs. Major improvement over Sylvania Xtravisions.

eljefino, I am looking at the Optilux 1200 and though I'm really not sold on them offering much improvement I can't find anything reasonably priced that looks any better either.

Also, a slightly different route which I am tempted to pursue something like these LED lights on Amazon. Customer images look promising but I'm pretty sure they would require either terrible aim or frequent switching off for traffic.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: buck91

Also, a slightly different route which I am tempted to pursue something like these LED lights on Amazon. Customer images look promising but I'm pretty sure they would require either terrible aim or frequent switching off for traffic.


Since one can see the LED driver straight through the lens they'd be glare city for oncoming drivers. Please, no.

 

[TiredTrucker]

I grew partial to yellow fog lights when I had to deal with bad weather and ice fog in Alaska. They seem to cut thru a little better than white. Since then, I only use yellow. My semi truck got yellow fog lights from the factory when I ordered, and I just got in some yellow film to do the fog lights on my 2015 Silverado 2500HD. Couldn't find a decent bulb or lens to replace on those, so will put on the yellow film this weekend. Also yellow does not glare at oncoming folks near as bad as white. Generally, once one uses yellow fog lights in a snow storm or heavy fog, they will not ever want to use white again.

 

[buck91]

Well, grabbed a NIB Hella FF 75 fog light kit for $55 shipped. Its going to be very close fit, not sure it it will work in the factory location but they seem to get very good reviews and the price was right. I'll try to (eventually) get some images up in case anybody else is curious as to how effective they are, but it will be a while.

Manufacture website link to Hella FF 75 Fog

 

[wrcsixeight]

I have some Hella Optilux 1450 Foglights I bought several years ago, before I knew better.

I have to say they are generally worthless. I only use them when idling down streets at 25mph or less, and shut them off as soon as I exceed 25mph. I can't remember the last time I drove in Fog.

Extra foreground lighting is detrimental to distance vision, but it does give some false warm and fuzzies, and people seem to live for warm and fuzzies, and hope to increase the intensity of their warm and fuzzies, by sharing their warm and fuzzies.

Obligatory Daniel stern fog light link:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/lights/fog_lamps/fog_lamps.html

My Hellas came with h3 bulbs, Some Made in China junk bulbs.

I originally used the 16 or 18awg wiring harness provided by Hella, but more recently upgraded the cheesy relay to an Actual dual 87 output Bosch, and the wiring to 10awg all the way into the housing itself, and even these junk bulbs are noticeably brighter.

I did not remove the bulb cap like all the nimrods who reviewed the 1450 lights on Amazon said to do.

I'll be eventually getting some Osram bulbs for them, when I'm feeling rich or desiring something coming for me in the mail again.

But really Fog lights are only useful in some conditions, and they are abused by the masses who like the warm and fuzzies of excessive foreground lighting, or merely think they look cool.

 

[eljefino]

The nice thing about fogs hanging in the bumper area is they increase the 3D effect of lights-on-snow-shadows. Especially if they're yellow fogs. Helps me "read" snow and slush furrows and mounds immediately in front of my car, when I'm driving slowly anyway. The lower the angle of the lights are compared to my eyes, the more shadow shows.

I wound up cutting the plastic in my under-bumper to fit fogs there and have them protected by the surrounding, mostly-fake-ornamental plastic air dam stuff. Since I smash through mounds of snow that would otherwise rip these lights off, they need some help.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
The nice thing about fogs hanging in the bumper area is they increase the 3D effect of lights-on-snow-shadows. Especially if they're yellow fogs. Helps me "read" snow and slush furrows and mounds immediately in front of my car, when I'm driving slowly anyway. The lower the angle of the lights are compared to my eyes, the more shadow shows.

I wound up cutting the plastic in my under-bumper to fit fogs there and have them protected by the surrounding, mostly-fake-ornamental plastic air dam stuff. Since I smash through mounds of snow that would otherwise rip these lights off, they need some help.
I notice the same effect. I had two 7 inch yellow Marchal lamps on a 240 Volvo which produced a nice tight patter. I still have them, but nothing with a bumper strong enough to hold them.

 

[BULLDOG221]

I make my own driving light. I used to buy the old fashioned tractor light at NAPA for about $9 each(the ones with the rubber housing) I would remove the tractor light sealed beam and replace it with Wagner 4509 13volt aircraft landing light. They are now about $16 each at NAPA but you can find them on line for about $6 each. I upgrade the wiring and you have a nice light in a rubber housing. I also using a relay in the wiring

 

[meep]

Agree with TiredTrucker and Eljefino - Yellow lights really makes a huge difference in reading snow, as does placement. It's also so much more kind on long night drives and in dealing with precipitation. Avoid any lamp where you can see the bulb or LED directly. they glare too much, and tend to just "vomit" light--- getting it all out everywhere but little focus on the road. Oddly enough, the old 2"x6" walmart specials - the large rectangular ones with the metal bulb shield and chrome bodies which rusted after 3 years had surprisingly good output and focus and cutoff, especially compared to the vast majority of newer offerings out there today. The best fogs I've come up with have either been old school housings like those, or build your own using projector housings so you can control the upper cutoff.