Does anyone make a decent fog light anymore?

[Derek G]

Pardon my rant, but I remember ten years ago when you bought a pair of "fog" lights they were actually designed for FOG! It seems today that all of the lights I've had in the past that I liked have since been discontinued. The Piaa 959 is no longer in production (my favorite) I can't find the Hella 500 in amber anywhere, and every light I see from what I thought were quite respectable light manufacturers in the past advertise a "fog" light that doesn't seem to have any properties that you would want while driving in inclimate conditions. I have a pair of Piaa 520's with the ion crystal bulb on my 4Runner which seem to perform pretty well, but there has to be other options out there. I don't need show-off xeon, blue ultra white super bright colored bezeled just for show junk, just a good pair of amber lights designed to cut through the muck and the snow. Ok, I'm done now.



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HokieRunner]

Pardon my rant, but I remember ten years ago when you bought a pair of "fog" lights they were actually designed for FOG! It seems today that all of the lights I've had in the past that I liked have since been discontinued. The Piaa 959 is no longer in production (my favorite) I can't find the Hella 500 in amber anywhere, and every light I see from what I thought were quite respectable light manufacturers in the past advertise a "fog" light that doesn't seem to have any properties that you would want while driving in inclimate conditions. I have a pair of Piaa 520's with the ion crystal bulb on my 4Runner which seem to perform pretty well, but there has to be other options out there. I don't need show-off xeon, blue ultra white super bright colored bezeled just for show junk, just a good pair of amber lights designed to cut through the muck and the snow. Ok, I'm done now.



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I run the PIAA 510 Ion Plasma Yellow fogs and love em. They're a huge help in snow and fog I've driven in lately. I'll be outfitting my grill LED bar with an amber/yellow cover to add a little more lighting distance.

 

[Derek G]

I run the PIAA 510 Ion Plasma Yellow fogs and love em. They're a huge help in snow and fog I've driven in lately. I'll be outfitting my grill LED bar with an amber/yellow cover to add a little more lighting distance.

I've got the 520's and do like them, I'm just looking for something different for my Subaru Outback and thought about trying something different. I'm just shocked at how few options that are out there now for a light that is designed for fog, which I seem to be driving in A LOT lately.

 

[HokieRunner]

I've got the 520's and do like them, I'm just looking for something different for my Subaru Outback and thought about trying something different. I'm just shocked at how few options that are out there now for a light that is designed for fog, which I seem to be driving in A LOT lately.

I'm not sure how it would work but you could look at RIGID D2 (or similar LED lights) with the amber cover or some lamin-x film?

 

[Derek G]

I'm not sure how it would work but you could look at RIGID D2 (or similar LED lights) with the amber cover or some lamin-x film?

I've got a Rigid on the back with red LED's that I use as a rear fog light, unfortunately they don't make a light in a fog pattern, only flood driving and spot. I've got them on the front of my motorcycle with amber lenses which actually work well as a driving light because it cuts down on the lumens so that you're not blinding everyone. On the back roads I just take off the filters and light up the road.

 

[riceandpho]

do you want a darker yellow bulb? theretrofitsource.com has some osram all weather yellow bulbs, i have them in my highs and they are nice and yellow.

 

[Derek G]

do you want a darker yellow bulb? theretrofitsource.com has some osram all weather yellow bulbs, i have them in my highs and they are nice and yellow.

Do they sell them in standard halogen? Looking at their site it looked like everything was HID.

 

[riceandpho]

here you go
Osram Halogen Bulbs - HID Bulbs from The Retrofit Source Inc
you can always call them or email first.

 

[Derek G]

here you go
Osram Halogen Bulbs - HID Bulbs from The Retrofit Source Inc
you can always call them or email first.

Thanks! I think that will allow me to retrofit some Hella 500 fogs with some amber bulbs since they don't make an amber lens anymore.

 

[NuclearN8]

I have a pair of rigid dually d2's in amber with clear covers. I can't imagine a better fog light setup for the money...

 

[Derek G]

I have a pair of rigid dually d2's in amber with clear covers. I can't imagine a better fog light setup for the money...

The beam pattern is too high and not wide enough in my opinion. It doesn't cut under the fog and reflects back.

 

[Derek G]

Another problem with the LED lights is that they don't generate enough heat to keep the snow off of the lens.

 

[kevinpt]

I use winjet yellow fogs in place of OEM. love the visibility and look of them.best $40 I spent

 

[awdjunkies]

Piaa 959 Clear Elliptical Projector for Light Kit 9590 with 85 Watt Bulbs | eBay

Piaa 959 Clear Driving Lamps New | eBay

Expensive but, as you know, you get what you pay for. :hatsoff:


With that being said, I am not sure why you aren't keen on HIDs, if it does the job, then I would think it would be in the best interest, especially though thick FOG like we have from time to time.

Here are mine as an example.

 

[Derek G]

Piaa 959 Clear Elliptical Projector for Light Kit 9590 with 85 Watt Bulbs | eBay

Piaa 959 Clear Driving Lamps New | eBay

Expensive but, as you know, you get what you pay for. :hatsoff:


With that being said, I am not sure why you aren't keen on HIDs, if it does the job, then I would think it would be in the best interest, especially though thick FOG like we have from time to time.

Here are mine as an example.

You definitely get what you pay for and if you look at the original post, these were the best fog lights I ever owned. I didn't search the 959 specifically on eBay but I guess I should have. I have no idea why piaa discontinued these.

 

[Derek G]

Piaa 959 Clear Elliptical Projector for Light Kit 9590 with 85 Watt Bulbs | eBay

Piaa 959 Clear Driving Lamps New | eBay

Expensive but, as you know, you get what you pay for. :hatsoff:


With that being said, I am not sure why you aren't keen on HIDs, if it does the job, then I would think it would be in the best interest, especially though thick FOG like we have from time to time.

Here are mine as an example.

My objection to HID's is purely based on cost. I get about 12 to 18 months out of a set of lights before I have to replace lenses and bulbs with the conditions I drive in. Both lenses on my Piaa 520's need to be replaced. Don't understand why the don't make a cover for those either.

 

[NuclearN8]

The beam pattern is too high and not wide enough in my opinion. It doesn't cut under the fog and reflects back.

I've never had this issue with mine. Maybe we have or you've seen a different beam pattern than the ones I have mounted. (opinions are subjective too so....)

As far as Rigid LED's getting hot enough to keep ice from forming on them... I've never had this issue in central PA where we get lake effect snow all the time, it's not Colorado or Manitoba or Alberta cold per say but it does get pretty brutal here and I've had to drive in it with the Rigid's... never have seen ice on the Rigid lenses. IF this is an issue you could always spray some of that anti-icing windshield stuff on the rigid lens (or lens covers) to prevent it from forming overnight... but like I said, have never personally experienced this issue. My rigid d2's are mounted in my lower grill area.

 

[TNRunner99]

I know what you mean about the 500s. I used to have the 500 fogs and loved them. I upgraded to PIAA ATPs thinking they would be even better, and sold the 500s.

 

[gshadow325]

I've got a Rigid on the back with red LED's that I use as a rear fog light, unfortunately they don't make a light in a fog pattern, only flood driving and spot. I've got them on the front of my motorcycle with amber lenses which actually work well as a driving light because it cuts down on the lumens so that you're not blinding everyone. On the back roads I just take off the filters and light up the road.

In dually d2 there is spot, wide and flood pattern. Also a whole choice of color filters.

The beam pattern is too high and not wide enough in my opinion. It doesn't cut under the fog and reflects back.

I would beg to differ. I recently drove to Vermont from Philadelphia. The fog was so bad I could not see 2 car lengths in front of me. All I had on was my parking lights and my rigid dually d 2 on and it lit up the road the way it should.

Another problem with the LED lights is that they don't generate enough heat to keep the snow off of the lens.

I didn't know that they didn't generate heat enough would be a problem lol. Even when I was driving back on that same trip from Vermont in the snow the ridges did not have snow buildup on them the entire ride back

 

[Derek G]

In dually d2 there is spot, wide and flood pattern. Also a whole choice of color filters.







I would beg to differ. I recently drove to Vermont from Philadelphia. The fog was so bad I could not see 2 car lengths in front of me. All I had on was my parking lights and my rigid dually d 2 on and it lit up the road the way it should.






I didn't know that they didn't generate heat enough would be a problem lol. Even when I was driving back on that same trip from Vermont in the snow the ridges did not have snow buildup on them the entire ride back

I've got some Rigid D2's with the amber filter, but I moved them to my motorcycle. Don't get me wrong I think they are a high quality light, but when I ran them on my T4R in the snow and fog I got a lot more scatter (especially in the snow) than I've had in the past with previous high-quality designated fog lights because of the beam pattern. If the snow had any real moisture content to it the lights were completely blocked out by snow within 20 minutes and had to be cleared. The red D2 that I have as a rear fog light doesn't get blocked with snow as often because it doesn't have a filter and transfers a little more heat to the lens than the filtered lights. I also have it mounted to the roof rack so it sits up and out of the vortex which causes the snow to stick to the back of the truck.