kennycoulter

so when i went to the autozone to get some replacement h3's, the guy said only go with the 55w. the 100s are illegal....AND that they might over heat the glass and let it break. or make it break. anyways something will break. is that true? or are the 55w good enough? i dont know what are in there now....but its about as bright as running the regular headlights. only now i only have one. so are the lenses and housings in our cars strong enough for 100w? or are the 100w not needed anyway? thank you.

ACG

Kenny,

I think that you are going to have a greater problem first of burning up the wires with the 100W bulbs...before you will actually encounter the problem of overheating/cracking the lenses.

I am still running the 55W foglamps....but switched over to IceShark's H4 55/60W Cibie headlamps....and they are more than adequate for my needs here in the (always seems like it) dreary wet NW weather.

Good luck in your search for lighting nirvana

(I believe nirvana can be achieved using IceShark's 100W H4s with the groundwire update)

triscadek

I've been using 100w h3s that I got from Iceshark about 2 years ago and haven't broken or burnt anything yet. The only but is that I don't run the fogs all the time my headlights are on I think thats rude, but use them daily at dusk and rainy poor visibility days as DRLs so I do use them fairly often.

Stick 'em in and don't worry about it.

IceShark

Ok, you have an '85 944 so just have single cell fog lights. Are they the OEM ones or aftermarket? The heat issue of going up to 100 watt is if the construction of the lens, reflector and housing is robust enough to take it as Paul just noted he has been running 100w in his single cell fogs with no problems. And I don't know of anyone that has cracked an OEM quailiy fog lens running 100s.

Wiring: the stock wiring isn't very good but the fogs do have a relay installed so provided your stock wiring is in OK shape I don't think you will be melting the fog wiring anytime soon. But you *will* have a big voltage drop and not put out as much light as you could. And I think this is one of the reasons the small lenses survive the 100w heat - they are not burning anywhere near as hot as they would if you had very good wiring.

It is true that 100w are illegal for the street. Which to use? 100w will give you more light backscatter off fog and rain into your eyes and degrade night vision more than a 55 watt bulb. Some people like the 100s and don't seem to be bothered with the increased light backscatter in fog as compared to 55w. Try them both out and see how you react. You can tell which bulbs you have now by pulling one out and looking at the metal base - the wattage will be stamped there.

Fogs give a wide, low beam pattern that doesn't go very far down the road. So if you are thinking that 100w will help you see a mile down the road, forget it. In the end, 55w is probably the way you want to go unless you really want to light up the sides of the road and don't care about light backscatter.

If anyone has the dual lens driving/fog light on the turbo/S2, heat from 100 watt is not a problem at all as far as damaging the lenses.

kennycoulter

yes they are original lenses. i never thought of the fog issue like driving with my brights on. thanks. i think ill just go with the 55w.

kennycoulter

ok i bought sylvania... i hope thats ok. and for all you porsche nuts, it says theyre made in germany. i dont care.

Porsche-O-Phile

I'm currently running the 100w H3s up top (round lights) and the 100w H3s in the fogs. Since I've also heard that the 100w fogs can distort / degrade the reflective material on the back surface of the lamps, I'll switch back to the 55s - I tend to like to run the fogs as driving lights - on most, if not all the time. I figure the more chance you give someone to see you, the less likely you're going to be hit by them.

Eventually I'll get Iceshark's wiring harness and let you all know how it is - heck I might just do the entire system he recommends, just depends on allocation of $$$.

IceShark

Sylvanias are just fine and a good bulb. Sylvania is now a subsidiary of Osram so the bulbs you got were probably made by Osram and put in a Sylvania package.

Porsche-O-Phile, this degrading issue you have heard about is why I noted you better have a high quality lens if you are going to run 100 watt. With a metal reflector and quality reflective coating you shouldn't have a problem with the reflector. You may metl the plastic housing for the light, but that is another issue. However, lot of the reflectors are made out of high temp plastic now and there is a pretty good chance you will ruin them with a 100 watt bulb.

jeeper31

Is there a way to change the fog lights to driving lights? About how much would that cost if it is posible?

IceShark

You would have to find new lenses and reflectors, which might be tough and certainly uneconomical. Sort of like buying new parts to build a car from scratch.

Your best bet would be to get some complete driving lights that will fit in the opening dimensions.