HID's in fog lights only?
 

What are your thoughts on this?

55W 6000K kit in the fogs only, so you can use them only when needed?

Will I be able to notice enough of a difference to justify it?

It won't do much other than create bright light right in front of the truck for about 5-7 feet. Not really going to help you see that much because the fog lens/reflector housing isn't made for distance, it's made to scatter light down low to keep it from reflecting off of fog/mist. By the time you saw something (like a deer) in your fog light beam it'd be too late to do anything about it. You're better off getting some off-road lights and mounting them behind the grill or on a bull bar to supplement the high beams.

It'll only work infront about ten feet max, and most and look good with the parking lamps on.

Aha, so its a no go until I pony up for the entire kit for the fogs and a bi-xenon for my headlights.

Thanks guys!

My plan is to do a projector retrofit on the stock housings and do 4300K-5000K bixenon HID's in those, then do 3000K HID's in the Fogs. I'm going with Lightforce HID's on a bull bar for the off-road lights. That's my ideal setup, I don't know what you're ultimate goal is though.

I have had HID's in the fogs only before and I really liked that set up. Obviously they're going to be a lot brighter than the stock bulbs, but I found them especially useful for lighting up the sides of the road. They've helped me avoid hitting plenty of deer that I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Nemo, the problem is that the fog lights only throw light in any usable quantity up to 10 feet in front of your truck. If you're traveling at 50mph, you'll be traveling somewhere around 74ft/second. That means by the time you see/recognize a deer in the light of the foglights, you have less than .2 seconds to react. In that .2 seconds you must see it, brain must process it, muscles must activate to move the steering wheel/brakes, and the truck must respond. Very doubtful that you will avoid a deer by the light thrown 10 feet in front of you. Not saying they don't help light up the roadside, just that it isn't likely to help you avoid a deer.

Now some off road lights might help you see that deer further down the road, but the fogs are stictly made to disperse light to keep it from reflecting back up off the moisture in the air into your eyes, which reduces vision as your pupils will close trying to block the light thereby reducing vision.

That is our science lesson for today folks!

I don't know anybody that goes 50mph when they can only see 10ft in front of them.

The fog lights will only light up so far in front of you. With (35w 6000k) HID's I'd say I can see clearly 20-25feet without headlights, but that's not the point. Anybody relying on fogs only, HID's or not, deserve to hit that deer. The headlights are for seeing down the road. The fog's let you see what is on the sides of the road almost as well as highbeams, without blinding oncoming traffic.

"55W 6000K kit in the fogs only, so you can use them only when needed?"
I found it very useful/helpful to me, and it was worth the cost to upgrade. If most of your driving is city/suburb/highway you might not need it so much, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the upgrade.

I agree, I was speaking in terms of the stock halogen fog lamps. I also don't recommend anybody go 50mph with only foglights on, but that was just a number chosen to represent driving down a country road with the light output of the fog lamps helping you see a deer; you can lower it to 30mph/deer 20ft in front if you like (deer in sight of your HID fogs) but the time to react won't change much as you will still be moving at 44ft/second giving you .5 seconds to react. You will get slightly more distance with a xenon bulb, but my point was simply that they don't help too much spotting deer with enough time to do anything about it. HID's are certainly worth the upgrade, though doing ONLY the fogs would be pointless.

My foglights produce more light then my headlights IMO. But i have a 2004 with the square lights. My dads 09 just projects a little light in front, but if you have square fog lights then you should be good to go.


We are both running 55w 6000k in the heads/fogs.

W.L.B- Your are running 55W 6000k in both the headlights and the fog light... What brand of lights did you go with? And for the fog lights was it a kit with ballast and the whole nine yard or was it just bulbs replacing the factory? Do you have a pic?

Thank Man
Txboy

Fog light kits have ballasts. And btw, they do make a bigger difference than those on here would lead you to believe. I did my fogs a couple weeks before I did my headlights, and I loved it!

My headlights and foglights are from www.retro-solutions.com. They are a little more expensive but have a lifetime warranty and I know they work. Todd, the owner, is a great guy to work with.

My off road lights are running the kit from DDMtuning. They too have a lifetime warranty and are much cheaper. I just dont have the experience with them yet to give a full reccomendation. I like them so far and have not had any problems yet. But the off road lights are not ran near as often as my headlights/fog lights.


And for a reference on the fog light brightness. For 3 months I drove without my headlights because I had a wiring problem and didnt feel like tracking it down to fix it. My fog lights worked fine and I never had a problem with police or not being able to see. I traveled from houston, dallas, Matagourda, etc. It might have been since my truck was lifted it was less noticable.

I like my hids 6K in the head lights with 8k in the fogs. I have to agree with the others as far as the stock lenses only throwing the light out 8 to 10 ft max with the fogs. The head lights are night and day difference. I know I saw about a year ago some clear projector type fog lenses replacements for my body style on ebay for like $60 but haven’t be able to relocate them =( The others might be right with clear projector fogs it might get a little bright for others on the road but when you need to see LOL. I’m sure you can find aftermarket clear lenses for you body style sense it’s newer and more popular now.

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Cool man .. I appreciate the knowledge.... I'll be doin something very similar as well... I do alot of highway driving considering im moving back to houston.... Thanks man... Im gonna check out the web sites !!

-TXBOY