Are fog lights necessary?

[johnsmellsalot]

I think driving lights are the normal ones. It's the fog lights that blind me. In that wikipedia link you provided, it even says that fog lights can cause glare to other drivers. But I'm beginning to think they are not necessary. Fog lights are a $300+ option at dealerships.

"Use of the front fog lamps when visibility is not seriously reduced is often prohibited (for example in the United Kingdom), as they can cause increased glare to other drivers, particularly in wet pavement conditions, as well as harming the driver's own vision due to excessive foreground illumination."

Originally Posted By: Carbon
Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
People drive with them at night all the time around here. It makes it hard to see. From the distance, it looks like they have their high beams on but as they near, it turns out to be their fog lights.


The lights you describe are "driving lights" AKA "driving lamps". They are a type of high beam. Contrast http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_lights#Driving_lamps with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_lights#Front_fog_lamps Proper fog lights light up the road and not the eyes of oncoming drivers.

Fog lights that will not light without the headlights on are slightly helpful and mostly gimmick for appearance.

 

[rslifkin]

Mine are set up as proper fog lights, so in good weather, they do pretty much nothing, and remain off. They help a bit in heavy rain/snow/fog. If it's really bad, I can drop to parking lights and fogs (proper fog light usage, although illegal in many places), and the glare from the low beams disappears entirely, although the fogs still light about 90% of the distance the low beams do.

However, occasions to use them aren't that common, probably happens about 6-8 times a year (mostly in the winter).

Driving lights are a whole different story. I keep a set of 100w pencil beams mounted to the front bumper, triggered with the high beams (and a switch, so I can run just highs, or highs and driving, but highs have to be on for driving lights to come on). They're great on long, empty roads at night, but only in clear weather. In more than very light rain, they're worthless due to glare.

 

[bigmike]

Proper fog lights are nice. Especially mounted on a motorcycle. The typical "show" fog lights on most cars are just there to lighten your wallet about $2-300.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I leave mine on all the time. The HIDs in my car light things up pretty well so I can't tell if the fogs add much. There's a yellower patch of light immediately in front of the car when they're on.

 

[southernjeeper]

I use my hella 550s on the front of my jeep for excellent deer watching lights for when driving any type of backroad, hwy or interstate during the deer hunting months because deer are always moving looking for the rye grass and clover that is abundant beyond the shoulder of the road.

I can then have somewhat of a better reaction time if one looks like it is about to cross in front of me.

Other than the fog lights I have the Hella headlights as well so that makes illumination of the road ahead a little easier at night.

kudos to Hella.

 

[Thermo1223]

Fog lights on the Subaru(very effect fogs lights BTW) allowed me to drive at 65 MPH in dense fog on the PA turnpike to get home at a decent time. Now I know everyone else on the road thought I was mad man but I could easily see in front of me.

I actually had a pack of cars trailing me mimicking my every move. We all made it through quickly & safely.

I wish they were a lower color temp though.

Now the fogs on the 3 are USELESS with HID lights. You can only turn them on with the lows as well.

 

[InvalidUserID]

The only car that I've driven that had fog lights is my '96 Camaro and even in fog, it didn't make much difference. Since the buggers are so hard to replace and expensive to purchase, I rarely use them as I rarely see fog in my part of the Bay Area.

I recently put black-out fog light covers on them too to prevent rock damage (had to replace one for a brake & lamp inspection, was pricey).

 

[jeepman3071]

I have fog lights under the bumper of my Cherokee. I use them for fog, snow, and rain. I also use them as a daytime running light, and find people tend to not pull out in front of me as often when I have them on. Its sad that I need to use lights during the DAY so some chick texting doesn't hit me.

 

[SHOZ]

I put 55w HIDs in mine and wired them so they are only on with the hi beams. The hi beams are 55w HID too. With the OEM 35w projector low beams it is an amazing amount of light.

 

[VK56VD]

A lot of manufactures incorporate these "fog lights' as part of packages and are mostly for show. Some of these so called fog lights aren't even defined properly. In truth, they are actually "driving lights" due to their beam pattern and not at all true fog lights. True fog lights should be around 3k in color as the yellowish light helps preserve driving vision and don't reflect off of snow or rain water on the road.

True fog lights should also be mounted as low as possible to the road where they can illuminate below the fog line which is usually inches or feet above the road.

 

[sciphi]

They're nice. Country roads and inadequate side lighting make for a lousy combination.

 

[Throckmorton]

I don't know if they are fog lights, or auxiliary driving lights, but on the Chrysler 300 they do improve one's visiblity and make it easier to spot deer lurking in bushes and shrubbery next to the road.

If you live in area that isn't foggy, I think being able to illuminate the areas to either side of the road to see deer, coyotes, or any animal that might run into your path is often more important than being able to further down the road.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: Throckmorton
I don't know if they are fog lights, or auxiliary driving lights, but on the Chrysler 300 they do improve one's visiblity and make it easier to spot deer lurking in bushes and shrubbery next to the road.

If you live in area that isn't foggy, I think being able to illuminate the areas to either side of the road to see deer, coyotes, or any animal that might run into your path is often more important than being able to further down the road.


Agreed.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Take a look at the isolux for a VERY good fog lamp: Hella Rallye 4000. This is likely one of the best beam patterns you'll find for a fog lamp in the industry. It only illuminates out to about 35 meters (114 feet) and about 20 meters (65 feet) to the sides, with a nice hot spot about 5 meters in front of the lamp.. This is a good fog lamp. The junk OEMs stuck on your bumper will have much lower performance, but we'll use the good fog lamps as a fantastic baseline for this discussion.

At 70 MPH, you're traveling at 102 feet per second. Given a driver reaction time of about 1 second to identify an impending collision and another second for the driver to apply an input (brake or steering) and the vehicle to react to the input... you're already 100 feet PAST what your fog lights were illuminating. This is before you even start to slow down or change direction!

This is why fog lamps are intended for use in "foul weather" conditions. Conditions that already have you driving slower than you normally would. At 70 MPH, you are outdriving the lighting provided by a set of good fog lamps by a large margin. It's too late to react to whatever the lamps were illuminating. If the weather is so poor that you *need* fog lamps, you probably *need* to be driving 35 MPH as well.

Now, compare the Rallye 4000 fog lamp to the Rallye 4000 driving lamp. The driving lamp throws light out to 400 meters. That's a 1/4 mile! This is the lamp you want at 70 MPH. Lighting up the part of the road that you can actually react to when you're traveling at high speed.

Running fog lamps in anything other than foul weather is nothing more than posing. You may get a placebo effect that it's helping your lighting situation, but it's likely not, especially if it's an OEM lamp.

 

[aussiek2000]

I run mine any time there isn't street lighting. They improve the lighting between my front bumper and where the main headlight beam starts.

 

[countryboy9799]

The Chrysler 300 are also some of the more annoying and blinding fog/aux lights out there. I guess one could make a point that high beams also help you spot deer and other critters and the Chrylser 300 are pretty darn close to most high beams in my opinion. I do a lot of night driving.

Originally Posted By: Throckmorton
I don't know if they are fog lights, or auxiliary driving lights, but on the Chrysler 300 they do improve one's visiblity and make it easier to spot deer lurking in bushes and shrubbery next to the road.

If you live in area that isn't foggy, I think being able to illuminate the areas to either side of the road to see deer, coyotes, or any animal that might run into your path is often more important than being able to further down the road.

 

[Michael_P]

My 2 cents based on my experience. The taller your vehicle is, the more useful they are. I have only had cars with OE fogs. Although the old Omni GLH I had looked like they were aftermarket from the factory.

 

[Throckmorton]

Interesting. I guess all oem fog lights are not the same.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
I live in Texas and it never really gets foggy here.

and that's fairly light fog.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I think fog lamps should be able to be used without the low beams on.


Totally agree. Alas, lighting in the USA has been stupid for more or less forever, and fogs are really just a fashion accessory that people turn on because they think they look cool.

I do think the front of a car looks more finished with fog lights...

Kind of like euro tractor trailers look more finished with a ton of lights...