Mike Buck

Rear fogs are annoying if you are the driver behind. Ever been behind a LR Discovery or Jag XJ6 at night with those things on, I hate it. Most European cars have one, those models have two for some reason. If it’s a clear night they distract more than help. In poor weather I can see the benefit.

Damian in NJ

Iceshark, if you made a kit for 968's plenty of people would buy them. There is a fuse location for the rear fog in the fuseblock as well. This is a mod I've wanted to do, but haven't had the time. I was hoping one year to show up at our 968 Celebration with this done, but I keep missing the chance!

aribop

Beeg, the reason I ask is that I just picked up a Euro 944 and when I press the brakes instead of the lights closest to the license plate turning on I have the outermost bottom corners lighting up. The car was brought to US specs in Holland in '84 and some of the wiring is totally f*!k up. Wanted to compare with other ROW cars...

IceShark

Well I'm pretty sure that is all screwed up by anyone's market standard. The lower outboard cells are supposed to be running lights so people know where the edge of the car is and don't clip you. Usually the lower center cell was lit up for brakes on cars that were going to use the inboard cells for foglights. It is easy enough to change around - just look at the mounting plate and move the spade terminals around. I'd make the inboard cells brake lights, though. They are bigger and shine a lot brighter through the plastic lens.

Damian, but there are so few 968 cars out there, the product cost is tiny and it takes more effort to just keep track of people and box things up that it isn't worth it. I'll be happy to tell people what to do, I'd just rather avoid doing all the leg work. I offered to get people good exterior bulbs a month or two ago. Only 1 guy wanted some more so I'm done with that. The first time around there were plenty but seems like I picked all the cherries.

ApexCars

White bulbs in the back must not be illegal because my wife's '04 Jag S-type has rear fogs. I don't know if they will turn on anytime or just in reverse. I've never bothered to look.

aribop

Thanks, Dan. I've been concentrating on straightening out the nest of wires inside the car before I move to the taillights but you are correct, it's an easy fix.

Tony K

Please re-read my original post, noting the bold type:

The rear fogs on your wife's Jag are in fact red. It might also have auxiliary back-up lights, but no car sold anywhere will have white lights that you can turn on on the back of the car while moving forward.



Looks like Mike Buck has found himself behind some McMansion-owning, latte-sipping, wine-swirling, cell-phone-talking, nouveau-riche "Jag-ue-ar"-driving DINKs:
Mike, there is no better way to look like a moron than to drive with the rear fog lights on. This is offensive in a way akin to driving with your high beams or driving lights on in traffic. People who run with them on in good weather are either idiots or are inattentive (do not know the switch is on). You would think that if a person is going to have a fancy car, they would know how to properly use all of its features, but I guess that is not frequently the case.

As you may have noticed, you probably don't find yourself driving in foggy, misty, or splashy weather frequently enough to really warrant a rear fog light(s). Consider the climate of much of Europe, and how mountainous much of it is; Consider how much it rains in England and how much it snows in Scandinavia; over there, they have far more instances when a rear fog light would be helpful than we do here. The number of people who will never really need it vs. those who will in America ends up that we typically don't find them on cars here. Also, keep in mind that a rear guard fog light is not something you use around town; it is more of an open road/highway thing. I don't know, but I'd be willing to bet that the typical 1-point-something litre little box FIATs, Opels, Fords, and what not probably don't often have them, either. . (maybe someone from the UK or Europe can chime in here?) . . .

rickb20

I used to see kits sold in Performance Products and at least two or three other P-car magazines that allowed you to light these "dead" cells. The purpose was to add to the already dim taillights so that when you turned on your park or head lights the taillights gained an extra cell's width.

I think I recall that the kit was about $29. Usually you would find them on the same pages in the magazine as those rear lens panels that cover the area where the rear license plate mounts.

Sincerely,
Rick

IceShark

I did the taillight dead cell project a few years ago. I offered it again but no one was interested. Just for the dead cell light up it was way less than $29. More like $10.

The key is getting the proper bulb holder rather than the kludged together Flea-Bay soldered contraptions.

The VW part number is 111-945-265. There were 100 of them in North America in January 2005 due to a misunderstanding between me and VW. I was just asking about the availability and price and they went and imported them. So they are in the inventory system somewhere. Likely at Rudy Luther VW in Minneapolis.

gruntie

Let's try and clear up some confusion. In Euro 944's the lights are as follows:

Inner - red rear fog
Centre - tail light
Outer - Brake

Rear (red) fog lights have been a mandatory fitment on all new vehicles for several years. One is legally required, though a lot of manufacturers fit two. There is a specified minumum distance between the fog light lens and brake light lens to avoid the glare of the fog masking the brake light, which is why they are arranged this way on the 944 cluster with the brake light outermost.
In practice it doesn't work, 2 rear fogs illuminated means the brake lights are effectively invisible. More manufacturers are now fitting a single rear fog to whichever side of the car is appropriate for L/H or R/H drive. It's just as prominent a warning but the brake lights are more apparent. The rest of us just take a bulb out.
It's been illegal to wire them into the brake lights ever since they were invented.
As nature intended they are obviously appropriate in fog but are also invaluable in busy motorway conditions in rain, with a lot of airborne spray, even/especially in daylight.

Unfortunately as anything they are only as good as their operator. There are innumerable gormless nerks out there who forget to turn them either on or off, or even worse, think it's cool to drive about with them on all the time.

chilix

I need to wire one up, I'm tired of these SUV's tailing me in the rain...i have to gently tap the brakes with my left foot but not to engage the brakes to keep them off of me...

aribop

Gruntie, thanks for clearing that up. As I stated before, I have a Euro 944 and the lights operate as you just described...I just didn't know if it was correct....how do you turn on the rear fogs?

gruntie

Aribop, there's an additional rocker switch alongside the one for the front fogs. As noted by Tony K earlier it has an amber warning light and a slightly different symbol. Functionality is that the rear fogs only work when the front fogs are also switched on, I suppose in an effort to prevent aforementioned nerks leaving them on by mistake...........

aribop

Car has no front fogs...only driving lights in the bumper, but it seems that the fog light switch mounted in the center console is for the rear fogs. Cool!