any decent yellow H4 bulbs out there?

[bowlofturtle]

I'm looking for a halogen H4 bulb for my fog lights. I kinda like to try Yellow. I like the looks of the lexus GS300 and ES300.

Anyone know of solid brands for a reasonable price

 

[ChrisW]

You sure your fogs use the dual-filament H4/9003 size?
Hella Yellow Star on Amazon if you want something that is 'legally' yellow

or if you want something more goldish/yellow: optilux yellow H4 on Amazon I have these in a H9 for my fogs on the Mazda6, and they're pretty yellow, I imagine more yellow than the Hella bulbs. They've been going strong for over a year now.

The PIAA bulbs can get pretty yellow and are ok in my opinion, but I'm not going to pay $40/pair for bulbs that can burn out just as quick as a $18 pair. Another option would be to run the brightest/highest wattage clear bulb without melting harness/reflector you can in your fogs, and applying a yellow film to the lenses (yellow lamin-x).

 

[getnpsi]

I got some yellow stain glass paint and hit my plastic fogs 4 years ago and they still look decent. Remember fogs aren't for you to see better it's so others know you are coming.

 

[bowlofturtle]

100% sure my fogs are H4. They are not low mounted. They are Fogs/highbeams for me. I have OEM HID for low beams so i rarely have the usage for highbeams.

Tinting the lens is out of the question, i did it to one of my cars and i love it but i dont want to do it with this housing.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: getnpsi
I got some yellow stain glass paint and hit my plastic fogs 4 years ago and they still look decent. Remember fogs aren't for you to see better it's so others know you are coming.


Maybe North Americans are so used to poor foglights that they think "the only purpose MUST be for others to see me, because these sure don't help me see in fog!" But its not true.

A well-designed fog light absolutely positively FOR YOU TO SEE BETTER IN FOG. That's why they're mounted down low and aimed nearly horizontally and have very little upward stray light (at least the good ones), so that the beam produces less back-dazzle as its passing through the fog while still providing some level of illumination of the roadway. Other people seeing you better doesn't even factor in very much to foglight design- if that were all that was needed, you could turn on your high-beams and that would work 20x better than fogs. Sure, you couldn't see squat, but other people could darn sure see you. Fogs are used in conjunction with low-beams, and the low-beams DO have design criteria for others seeing you... so they cover that base.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: bowlofturtle
100% sure my fogs are H4. They are not low mounted. They are Fogs/highbeams for me. I have OEM HID for low beams so i rarely have the usage for highbeams.


Fog and highbeam are totally incompatible functions. You really can't combine those into a single lamp design.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: bowlofturtle
100% sure my fogs are H4. They are not low mounted. They are Fogs/highbeams for me. I have OEM HID for low beams so i rarely have the usage for highbeams.


Fog and highbeam are totally incompatible functions. You really can't combine those into a single lamp design.




Largely agree, but the Germans do love those "bi-xenons" that serve dual-duty as low and high-beams by way of a moveable shield.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: getnpsi
Remember fogs aren't for you to see better it's so others know you are coming.

Says who (besides you)?

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: bowlofturtle
100% sure my fogs are H4. They are not low mounted. They are Fogs/highbeams for me. I have OEM HID for low beams so i rarely have the usage for highbeams.


Fog and highbeam are totally incompatible functions. You really can't combine those into a single lamp design.




Largely agree, but the Germans do love those "bi-xenons" that serve dual-duty as low and high-beams by way of a moveable shield.


That's totally compatible. The shield changes the functional beampattern from low-beam to high-beam (by the way, that's what I've got on the SRT-8 and they're just outstandingly good in both modes). Conceptually you could do the same thing with a high/fog where the shield and reflector worked to flip the beam from one to the other (although part of effectively functioning as a fog is for the lamp to be in the lowest-possible mounting location on the car). As I understand it, though, the OP wants to turn his high beams yellow and use them as fogs. Won't work- the backdazzle will reduce seeing over just using the low-beams, not improve seeing. Even when tinted yellow.

 

[bowlofturtle]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: bowlofturtle
100% sure my fogs are H4. They are not low mounted. They are Fogs/highbeams for me. I have OEM HID for low beams so i rarely have the usage for highbeams.


Fog and highbeam are totally incompatible functions. You really can't combine those into a single lamp design.



I know my car has a weird setup. But it how it came OEM.

Pull up anything for a 03-06 G35 sedan.

My headlight assembly is an all in one unit in which i have turn signal, low beam and HIGH/FOG setup. Low beam is a single reflector D2R bulb. My H4 are for FOG/HIGH Beam. I understand that if i change that bulb to yellow, i will end up with a yellow FOG and a yellow high beam. I dont mind this at all unless its somehow illegal. I rarely use my high beams much other then to signal to people to go ahead.

Back on point tho, this is one of those bulbs that i need to pull the fender liner to replace so i'm looking for a longer life yellow bulb. I'm liking the price of those Hella's linked above. I'll wait a couple of days to see if anyone has other suggestions before i pull the trigger on this.

 

[ChrisW]

I think those Hella's may be each, but they may be slightly less yellow than the Optilux (Optilux is actually a sub-brand of Hella as I understand). If the picture that Amazon shows for the Hella's bulb coating is relatively true, then I would venture that they will be less yellow than the Optilux although that may be desired if it's a high/fog lamp.

Below are the pictures of the Optilux in H11 (I was mistake in my earlier posting stating H9 for the fogs) for my Mazda6 fogs. I tried my best to capture the color without it being washed out from brightness (this was done on my iPhone 4s, not bad for a camera phone)

 

[440Magnum]

ChrisW- those look like very good foglamps. Hard to really tell that close to the target, but IMO looks great. Color is good too!

OP- still trying to understand how your car is set up. Is there a switch that flips "modes" on the high beam lamp assemblies from 'fog' to 'high'? Unless there's a filament change or a shield flips down ala BiXenon lamps, I don't see how a high beam can double as a fog. I see you did say it takes an H4 which is a dual-mode bulb, maybe I missed it actually having two modes and a switch somewhere. I still say that the mounting location for a high-beam is too high for a truly effective foglamp. But heck, many low-mounted OEM fogs are so crummy (the ones on my SRT-8, ones on older Ford Expeditions and most Ford pickups, ones on older Durangos, most Hondas just to name a few examples) that they might as well be mounted on the hood shining right in the drivers' eyes. In contrast, the Hella-built OEM fogs on my Ram are quite good as are the Mazda6 examples ChrisW showed.

 

[bowlofturtle]

infiniti did this silly design for 03-06 sedans or 03-07 coupes. Then they went back to original low mount fogs not attached to highbeams.


I'm just going to try out those hella's and see what goes.

 

[Spazdog]

My Hella fogs aren't quite so yellow

They are advertised as "selective yellow" but they aren't as yellow as I expected.

FTR, they are actually quite good in fog in spite of being mounted in the headlight housing. They point downward and illuminate the roadmarkers well.

 

[bowlofturtle]

^ works for me. ORDERED a pair.

 

[UG_Passat]

Quote:

I know my car has a weird setup. But it how it came OEM.

Pull up anything for a 03-06 G35 sedan.

My headlight assembly is an all in one unit in which i have turn signal, low beam and HIGH/FOG setup. Low beam is a single reflector D2R bulb. My H4 are for FOG/HIGH Beam. I understand that if i change that bulb to yellow, i will end up with a yellow FOG and a yellow high beam. I dont mind this at all unless its somehow illegal. I rarely use my high beams much other then to signal to people to go ahead.

Back on point tho, this is one of those bulbs that i need to pull the fender liner to replace so i'm looking for a longer life yellow bulb. I'm liking the price of those Hella's linked above. I'll wait a couple of days to see if anyone has other suggestions before i pull the trigger on this.




Get a straight yellow tinted bulb, ie... not the Yellowstar. The Hella Optilux Extreme Yellow are better.

PIAA's are overpriced anyway, but the only reason to go PIAA Plasma Ion Yellow H4 is that about 50% of the bulb is covered in the dichroic coating (the low beam portion). The high beam portion may be less yellow

Noyka Hyper Yellow H4 are a good value also.

ANd yes... those headlights are a PITA to service. I've done them on the first generation G35 coupe...

 

[UG_Passat]

Originally Posted By: getnpsi
I got some yellow stain glass paint and hit my plastic fogs 4 years ago and they still look decent. Remember fogs aren't for you to see better it's so others know you are coming.


properly designed, there are for you to see..,, in the fog... the fogs should be lighting up the lower sides of the road, so you know where the edges & lanes are.

French yellow... that's a different story

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
Originally Posted By: getnpsi
I got some yellow stain glass paint and hit my plastic fogs 4 years ago and they still look decent. Remember fogs aren't for you to see better it's so others know you are coming.


properly designed, there are for you to see..,, in the fog... the fogs should be lighting up the lower sides of the road, so you know where the edges & lanes are.

French yellow... that's a different story
PROPER foglights have a pattern designed to light the road directly in front and to each side but not the FOG above. A yellow color for the light may or may not reduce the amount of reflected glare from fog, snow, and rain. (The French think so) (The yellow is actually what's left after the glare producing BLUE has been filtered OUT) The only benefit I can see is that most US drivers will understand that the yellow lights are FOG lights, and that you are NOT some jackwagon with his/her highbeams on.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: bowlofturtle
100% sure my fogs are H4. They are not low mounted. They are Fogs/highbeams for me. I have OEM HID for low beams so i rarely have the usage for highbeams.


Fog and highbeam are totally incompatible functions. You really can't combine those into a single lamp design.




Largely agree, but the Germans do love those "bi-xenons" that serve dual-duty as low and high-beams by way of a moveable shield.


That's totally compatible. The shield changes the functional beampattern from low-beam to high-beam (by the way, that's what I've got on the SRT-8 and they're just outstandingly good in both modes). Conceptually you could do the same thing with a high/fog where the shield and reflector worked to flip the beam from one to the other (although part of effectively functioning as a fog is for the lamp to be in the lowest-possible mounting location on the car). As I understand it, though, the OP wants to turn his high beams yellow and use them as fogs. Won't work- the backdazzle will reduce seeing over just using the low-beams, not improve seeing. Even when tinted yellow.

Since the H4 is a dual filament bulb, I suspect the "low beam" filament is used for the "fog" function, and the "high" for "high". It is, to say the least, a little "unconventional". A properly designed H4 low beam in a good housing has a very good and sharp cutoff.

 

[UG_Passat]

Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
Originally Posted By: getnpsi
I got some yellow stain glass paint and hit my plastic fogs 4 years ago and they still look decent. Remember fogs aren't for you to see better it's so others know you are coming.


properly designed, there are for you to see..,, in the fog... the fogs should be lighting up the lower sides of the road, so you know where the edges & lanes are.

French yellow... that's a different story
PROPER foglights have a pattern designed to light the road directly in front and to each side but not the FOG above. A yellow color for the light may or may not reduce the amount of reflected glare from fog, snow, and rain. (The French think so) (The yellow is actually what's left after the glare producing BLUE has been filtered OUT) The only benefit I can see is that most US drivers will understand that the yellow lights are FOG lights, and that you are NOT some jackwagon with his/her highbeams on.


Fog lights have evolved since... there is less focus on lighting up the road in front, more focus on lighting the sides.

French Yellow was NOT designed for fog lights in mind. It was for the French to easily differentiate French registered vehicles from other countries. The French stopped doing it, as the paint was carcinogenic.

In some forms of racing, yellow lighting is used to differentiate certain classes.

Unfortuntately, the new riceboy trend is driving with HID low beams and yellow high beams during the day time.