rj777

One of my fog lights is out, but before I replace it with the same bulb, I was thinking about getting something whiter and/or brighter. I was looking around on 928 Motorsports (to see if the Pikes Peak book is still available ), and I noticed they have 100 watt fog & running light bulbs for sale.

Other than fitting a more robust fuse, are there any other issues I need to know about?

Thanks.

Rick

Lizard928

on an S4, I have heard reports of the extra heat from the 100W causing the glass to break.

nsantolick

How about HID conversions then? They run cooler, right? Shouldn't risk glass & there are a ton of cheap ones on eBay. They even have h4's with shutters to act as high & low beams... I was planning on changing them all over soon...

Bob Rouleau

/rant Why the heck make those bloody fog lights brighter? All they do is blind oncoming drivers. Used in real fog, the additional light is going to reduce your ability to see, if you are among the very few who restrict the use of fog lights to fog, heavy rain or snow. /rant off

aggravation

I never can remember, on the S4, the insides are fog and the outside are running? Which ones come on with the brights?
On my car the headlights have been replaced I think because they are a more pure white color, more modern looking and I'd like to get the fog/driving the same warmth/color..
I'd use them as low beams around town instead of popping up the headlights and would like to change them for that reason too...not necessarily brighter but more focused as a low beam instead of wide splash of yellowish light.

Sailmed

I did this with the 86.5 and never used the headlights....

Alan

First on a USA car the insides are the fog lights the outsides are the Aux headlights - they only come on with high beams.

Fogs should not blind oncoming drivers with standard bulbs - with higher wattage (100W) H3's they should also not blind oncoming drivers unless they are badly aimed... the whole point of fogs is that they cut under the fog without reflecting back & spread really wide so you have a chance of following the curb and road markings. This is achieved partly by the low mounting location and partly by the flat & wide cut off beam profile.

ROW cars have the fogs outboard - which to me makes more sense for their function (both width of beam and acting as a corner marker to oncoming vehicles...)

The problem with 100W bulbs cracking lenses is most pronounced if you use thick plastic lens covers like stongard.

I have installed a HID system in my fogs - this requires some modification of the shield due to capsule size and modifications to the reflector due to differences in orientation and light concentration profile of of the H3 filament (horizontal wrt bulkb axis) and the HID arc capsule (vertical wrt capsule) the capsule bright points are at the end of the arc and the filment bright point is the middle so the optics are not ideal...

However if you carefully experiment and blank out a portion of the reflector that creates upper scatter you can achieve quite acceptable results - if you do nothing it will create unacceptable glare. HID's are approximately 5 times brighter than 55W H3's and run at lower power (~35W). These yield fog lights suitable for city street driving and good DRL use. They are good as supplemental low beams - but don't have a long enough throw for high speed driving.

H5 bulbs have the same filament/arc orientation issue as H3's while H4's are oriented the same way as HID capsules and so yield rather better replacement results wrt optics.

If all you care about is color you can get alternate color temp H3 bulbs in standard or uprated 70W or 100W versions - look for ~5800K color temps for a whiter look (but not really blue).

Alan

bcdavis

Yeah, just get some Silverstar H3's...

68W...

dr bob

No matter what, don't make the fuses bigger unless you also upgrade the wiring at the same time. Fuses are sized to protect wiring, not bulbs.

Ispeed

Broke both of my lenses the day I put stone gard over them...

Tony

Did mine years ago...not an issue even here in the heat.

mdarney

I did mine as well with 100W bulbs. No problems and good lighting. I use them when I am in traffic and don't need the headlights, they work great.

rj777

Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate the info. One of the previous owners of my car put in blueish-looking headlight bulbs that produce a whiter light on the road. But the yellowish light put out by the the inner-mounted lights (the ones that come on when depressing the button directly 'under' the headlight switch) does not match the color of the light put out by the headlights. I honestly probably don't need 100 watt light bulbs, but I *would* like to get something that is a better color match for the headlight bulbs. Sounds like the 68 or 70 watt H3 bulbs in the 5800k color temp range will be fine for my needs. Thanks again.

Rick

M. Requin

Question about this. On my 86.5 my fogs come on only when the low beams are on. I just replaced the fog light switch, and before that, the fogs would come on independently of the headlights, which is what I want. Looking at the circuit diagrams just made my eyes cross - anybody here know what's going on?

bdstott

On my 86.5 the fogs can be on with the parking lights only, or low beams. Turning on the high beams turns off the fogs.

The fogs will 'flash' if the headlights are not on (pulling on turnsignal stock). If the headlights are on, the high beams do the flash.

I think this is correct. Car is stored for the winter now...