Boston_Runner
New member
That was an interesting article, there seem to be mix opinions about yellow fog lights. One thing I can say for sure is that other drivers will see the yellow fog light much better in the fog due to the contrast, a little added safety feature.
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07runner
Guest
The results published by the Alaska science division is accurate. Yellow light is not the magic color for fog, That article from Daniel Stern lighting should serve as a warning that lots of false information gets published on the web.
sharp4runr
New member
seancgn68 said:
Too bad the DRLs turn off soon as the head lights go on and you have to turn the head lights on if you want fog lights.
I've wired up my Hellas to go on when my driving lights go on so I can at least run that way.
Here's my personal experience....
The factory fog lights are pretty much useless. They illuminate the road right in front of the bumper so there is no benefit in seening objects down the road. It does however shed more light on the sides where the white/yelow fog lines marking the lane boundries.
Now we had some terrific rain storms a few weeks ago and I drove home in the dark on some twisty mountian roads. I decided to try my PIAA 580 driving lights and compare them to the high beams and fog lights. Here's my findings:
High beams are very good from the factory. They cast a good forward pattern as well as a spread all around pattern. IN the rain and I suspect in fog, they cause more back glare from the all around light pattern.
The fogs did add some measure of light onto the road right up front for more visibility--more is better, but could be more useful pattern.
The big surprise are the PIAAs. The 580 uses 85w to make the equivalent of 135w light source. IT casts a veyr bright white, "extreme white" light. The beam is at about 25 degree spred. Pencil lights narrow the beam to about 5 degree. I have adjusted the PIAA to project foward to the beam coverage starts where the low beams cut off. It therefore produces an internediate type of pattern, starting where the low beams cut off and covering up front to where the high beams would dead center. It is so bright I cannot have it on as it would blind oncoming drivers. However, the narrow beam, the sharp cutoff, and tight focus on forward projection produced much less back glare than using the brights. I had better vision in the rain using PIAAs and low and fog than using high beams The PIAA cuts through the rain sheets giving me a good view of hte twists nad turns and harzards without eye strian from the falling rain drops.
I have encountered light to medium fog and the PIAAs have worked well, projecting those twin super white beams with less back glare than high beams. I have no doubt that pea soup fog would lower the PIAAs effectiveness as well.
Just my 2 cents.
The factory fog lights are pretty much useless. They illuminate the road right in front of the bumper so there is no benefit in seening objects down the road. It does however shed more light on the sides where the white/yelow fog lines marking the lane boundries.
Now we had some terrific rain storms a few weeks ago and I drove home in the dark on some twisty mountian roads. I decided to try my PIAA 580 driving lights and compare them to the high beams and fog lights. Here's my findings:
High beams are very good from the factory. They cast a good forward pattern as well as a spread all around pattern. IN the rain and I suspect in fog, they cause more back glare from the all around light pattern.
The fogs did add some measure of light onto the road right up front for more visibility--more is better, but could be more useful pattern.
The big surprise are the PIAAs. The 580 uses 85w to make the equivalent of 135w light source. IT casts a veyr bright white, "extreme white" light. The beam is at about 25 degree spred. Pencil lights narrow the beam to about 5 degree. I have adjusted the PIAA to project foward to the beam coverage starts where the low beams cut off. It therefore produces an internediate type of pattern, starting where the low beams cut off and covering up front to where the high beams would dead center. It is so bright I cannot have it on as it would blind oncoming drivers. However, the narrow beam, the sharp cutoff, and tight focus on forward projection produced much less back glare than using the brights. I had better vision in the rain using PIAAs and low and fog than using high beams The PIAA cuts through the rain sheets giving me a good view of hte twists nad turns and harzards without eye strian from the falling rain drops.
I have encountered light to medium fog and the PIAAs have worked well, projecting those twin super white beams with less back glare than high beams. I have no doubt that pea soup fog would lower the PIAAs effectiveness as well.
Just my 2 cents.
Guys, ya'll are missing the point!!
If the roads are that foggy...STAY HOME and have a brew! From my experience driving in Europe...5 foot visibility fog, near white out snow storms, day and night, I tried both yellow and white "fog" lights.
I have read all your arguements/points and all have a bit of truth and a WHOLE LOT of personal preference.
For me, the yellow DID appear to have less glare...but then I realized it was just a dimmer glare--but a glare none the less. lol
As for the white fogs, they seemed to work as good as the yellows...with a brighter glare...are y'all seeing the recurring theme....FOG = INCREASED GLARE, period.
Now, that said...I'll most likely get flammed based on the responses I have read so far, so....get what you believe will work for YOU. For me, yellow fogs mounted higher on my runner worked good. On my wifes car (Volvo), white lights worked equally well closer to the road surface.
In my opinion, el cheapos fogs from (insert your favorite discount store here) worked just fine. I had a set of Hellas I bought from the BX. Some of my friends had PIAAs, which in the conditions that I observed, worked no better than my 40 dollar Hellas (again from the BX).
So, in conclusion to my lengthy reply, yellows APPEAR to work better up high and whites APPEAR to work better lower to the ground. Buy what will work for you and don't be influenced in buying high dollar items merly for keeping up with the Jones. In driving in fog, drive no faster than is prudent, which almost always is NEVER the posted speed limit! Be safe!
Now, if long range driving lights are what you need (as I do in driving on dark highways) and you need to slice through the darkness, INVEST a bit of money on QUALITY lights. The el cheapos will not cut it (no pun intended!) been there, done that. The lens design and light output are far inferior to the QUALITY light of your choice.
Happy Holidays!
If the roads are that foggy...STAY HOME and have a brew! From my experience driving in Europe...5 foot visibility fog, near white out snow storms, day and night, I tried both yellow and white "fog" lights.
I have read all your arguements/points and all have a bit of truth and a WHOLE LOT of personal preference.
For me, the yellow DID appear to have less glare...but then I realized it was just a dimmer glare--but a glare none the less. lol
As for the white fogs, they seemed to work as good as the yellows...with a brighter glare...are y'all seeing the recurring theme....FOG = INCREASED GLARE, period.
Now, that said...I'll most likely get flammed based on the responses I have read so far, so....get what you believe will work for YOU. For me, yellow fogs mounted higher on my runner worked good. On my wifes car (Volvo), white lights worked equally well closer to the road surface.
In my opinion, el cheapos fogs from (insert your favorite discount store here) worked just fine. I had a set of Hellas I bought from the BX. Some of my friends had PIAAs, which in the conditions that I observed, worked no better than my 40 dollar Hellas (again from the BX).
So, in conclusion to my lengthy reply, yellows APPEAR to work better up high and whites APPEAR to work better lower to the ground. Buy what will work for you and don't be influenced in buying high dollar items merly for keeping up with the Jones. In driving in fog, drive no faster than is prudent, which almost always is NEVER the posted speed limit! Be safe!
Now, if long range driving lights are what you need (as I do in driving on dark highways) and you need to slice through the darkness, INVEST a bit of money on QUALITY lights. The el cheapos will not cut it (no pun intended!) been there, done that. The lens design and light output are far inferior to the QUALITY light of your choice.
Happy Holidays!
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07runner said:
Sorry about the last post, to answer your question in heavy snowfall any light will reflect off the falling snow. I experienced somewhat better visibility w/fogs (Hellas) than without. In my opinion, they really didn't help out all that much--wouldn't buy lights soley for the fog/snow again. Driving lights would be a better investment.
Good luck in your quest!
Koz
New member
The MOST important factors in the effectiveness of fog lights are mounting them as low as possible, the beam pattern; which should be a very thin 1" to 2" in height and as panoramic/wide angle as possible, and focused/aimed to light the area between the bottom of your low beams and the vehicle. By following this criteria you will have the least reflection/glare by concentrating all the light in the most critical area on the road. If you think yellow is better, use yellow but try to get a bulb that doesn
atomic punk
New member
agreed about the foglights lighting up the sides of the road, that helps you stay in your lane. But if they only project 5' out in front of your vehicle, you can't possibly be staring straight down and see anything in front of your vehicle also.
useless factory fogs....
sharp4runr: 'love your setup. I might look into something like that.
useless factory fogs....
sharp4runr: 'love your setup. I might look into something like that.
