Snow fog lights

S

SoCalBurt

New member
I know there are a ton of threads on lights and fog lights i've gone through mist of them. I wanted to know if anyone could chime in on what color fog lamps are good for snow driving??? Yellow seems to look cool coming down the road but i can't say i know how they look while driving inside the cabin. What's the best brand out there?? I've tried some in the past in other cars only to have them last 1 yr at most. A local tuner shop told me that is due to not buying the proper wiring harness which is plug n play and around $18 for the pair. He said they protect the vehicle switch from overheating and the back of the bulbs from melting or prematurely burning them out. Well no shops in my area have any in stock, gonna purchase online but was wondering what you guys are running or are you running true H.I.D's for fogs??? Thanks.



P.S. Here is some eye candy, my rig today 4x4 in the snow. Its a base SR5 but damn thing handles everything i throw at it. It handled awesome today in deep snow, I just needed better lights.
 
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While I can't say how good or bad Toyota factory fogs are, most factory fogs are terrible when compared to top quality fogs.

As to color, the best is called selective-yellow but it isn't made any more. Modern yellow bulbs can be worse than not using fogs at all so just stay with white. Keep the wattage to 55w. Stay clear of Xenon, HID and 'blue' for fogs as well.
[EDIT]
Almost forgot, the best lights on the market (fog or otherwise) are Hella. It's why they're used by almost all WRC, Baja and Dakar Rally teams. Cibie come in second. Everything else are just "also ran". But be prepared for sticker shock, Hella's aren't cheap!!! Mine cost over $100 over 12 years ago and will be taken off my current vehicle when I sell it.
[/EDIT]

Check how they're aimed, most are aimed poorly. They should fill in the area between the vehicle and were the low beam take over.

For good info on lighting in general check out:Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
The best source for Hella lights I've found is: Susquehanna MotorSports
 
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I am running lumnics yellow fogs I had them in my old 4runner for 2 years never had a problem I am also running silvers stars for highs and lows. I lived in europe for awhile and alot of people run yellow headlights because of the fog. I do agree stay away from blue or xenon or hids for fogs. I have a post on here somewhere with a pic with my bulbs in
 
I think my 3k HID fogs work great. Their as yellow as they can get.

hids.jpg~original
 
I have that same setup in my Camry and love it. I never use the fogs unless I need them. They play and optical illusion and makes it feel like you can't see as much down the road.
 
Great suggestions guys.

@ adio3x i'm liking your HID set up.
is everything wired through the factory
switch? I would love to slap on a HID kit
for the fogs that i could operate independent
from the headlights. With a nice oem looking
switch that would be cool. Now i'm looking at
HID kits for the fogs.
 
Yup everything is wired through the factory fog switch. Xenondepot sends a nice harness thats a direct plug n play. You'll need a completely different harness to have an independent switch for just the fogs, I haven't done it, but I've seen other trucks do it.
 
SoCalBurt said:
I know there are a ton of threads on lights and fog lights i've gone through mist of them. I wanted to know if anyone could chime in on what color fog lamps are good for snow driving??? Yellow seems to look cool coming down the road but i can't say i know how they look while driving inside the cabin. What's the best brand out there?? I've tried some in the past in other cars only to have them last 1 yr at most. A local tuner shop told me that is due to not buying the proper wiring harness which is plug n play and around $18 for the pair. He said they protect the vehicle switch from overheating and the back of the bulbs from melting or prematurely burning them out. Well no shops in my area have any in stock, gonna purchase online but was wondering what you guys are running or are you running true H.I.D's for fogs??? Thanks.



P.S. Here is some eye candy, my rig today 4x4 in the snow. Its a base SR5 but damn thing handles everything i throw at it. It handled awesome today in deep snow, I just needed better lights.
Click to expand...
Sounds like your tuner shop is trying to sell some wiring harnesses. Cheap bulbs last don't last long because, well, their cheap. The wiring harness wont help that. The harness will allow you to add a switch and relay for the lights. This will prevent overheating the switch due to the current draw of the lights. In turn, you will also have less voltage drop before the lights, making them brighter. You can quite easily add your own relay, fuse and switch for less than $32.
 
For years I have tried all different brands and was never really impressed with performance, especially in driving snow. I did something a few years ago that works very good, at least for me. I ride mtn bikes, especially in the evening, and several places on the trail I ride are very shaded and as the sun goes down it gets hard to pick the correct line. Oh, this section is extremely rocky. A friend of mine was riding with me and he stopped, popped his lenses out of his glasses and put in yellow lenses. He stated that he could see much better in this light and even wears them while driving at night in the rain, fog and snow. I bought a pair, tried them and now I just keep a pair in the glovebox and every time I drive and one of those conditions occur I put my yellow glasses on and can see much better and pick out detail farther away. Needless to say, no more worrying about fog lights. Anyway, works for me and you can get a cheap pair and try them and if they work you can get a cool pair lol.
 
1engineer said:
For years I have tried all different brands and was never really impressed with performance, especially in driving snow. I did something a few years ago that works very good, at least for me. I ride mtn bikes, especially in the evening, and several places on the trail I ride are very shaded and as the sun goes down it gets hard to pick the correct line. Oh, this section is extremely rocky. A friend of mine was riding with me and he stopped, popped his lenses out of his glasses and put in yellow lenses. He stated that he could see much better in this light and even wears them while driving at night in the rain, fog and snow. I bought a pair, tried them and now I just keep a pair in the glovebox and every time I drive and one of those conditions occur I put my yellow glasses on and can see much better and pick out detail farther away. Needless to say, no more worrying about fog lights. Anyway, works for me and you can get a cheap pair and try them and if they work you can get a cool pair lol.
Click to expand...

I ride a motorcycle and have always used yellow lenses in my glasses for night riding. It's the closest to daylight riding that you can get.
 
Up here in New Hampshire the weather is miserable and I had the Putco Yellow fogs in my 4runner and it really lit up the snow! Yellow are def. the way to go!
 
I have always heard a blue tint is the best in the snow. Blue reduces glare from visible white light (such as light reflected from mist, fog, snow, water)

Lightforce also sells blue covers for their lights that are for Snow.
 
Novice question: How much is involved in changing out the stock bulbs for these Putco yellow bulbs? It's just a bulb change-out, right?
 
I am surprised nobody has mentioned that fog lights should be used in just that...FOG!:D

So if you want to run them all the time, you should convert them to a driving light of some sort. Then run a cool blue type bulb or even a overlay, that would give you the best light for snow conditions. Yellow is good for hazy, overcast or foggy days.
 
XenonDepot said:
Literally a direct replacement for your stock bulbs.

Seve
Click to expand...

Forgive my ignorance, but in the setup you posted earlier, did you perform a bulb change out with the Putco bulbs and do an HID conversion?

Or were you talking about 3000k yellow halogen bulbs?

Are these fog bulbs 9006s?
 
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