Never had a set of foglights that were any damn' good in the situation they're intended for - fog. Visibility about ten yards - better with regular dipped beams.
Mind you, most cars do look better with some extra glassware on the front (not those 'orrible bonnet spotlights on the MINI though). And if you're a real plonker you can leave the switch on so that whenever you turn your lights on you have your fogs on too, showing the world you're a hard man that really means business and dazzling oncomers (with your lights' brilliance, not yours).
And while I'm moaning about lights, I really want xenons on my next motor: a) they look really cool, and b) I'll stand a better chance of seeing where I'm going when ill-aligned xenons come the other way (and there seem to be quite a few these days).
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Hello Mad Maxy,
IMO Foglights are nothing more than willy extensions and God, they must need them along with either the baseball hat, (normally worn the correct way these days), or a wooly hat, (without the bobble of course.) They wouldn't want to look stoopid would they??
Very Best Regards.
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I had a S3 with Xenons a while ago. One night I was on a fairly windey road that I didn't know. I though they we ****** useless on that occasion. Okay the rest of the time. What's more a few road user think your the cops coming up behind them (i.e. in an Omega). At least they get out of the way, he he.
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My E320 has Bi-Xenons and they are superb. I would definately specify them again but my freinds Lexus has normal Xenons and they are no better than normal lights.
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My Alfa has xenons and I think they're brilliant. When I drive the GFs car Im staggered at how duller the lights are.
BTW I thought Bi xenons meant that both the dipped beam and full beam were xenon bulbs? If so I cant see how normal xenons are any different to bi xenons except when you have the full beam on?
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Maybe when this filters down from top luxury cars to the rest of us we'll all be a bit safer. Quote:
The Deville is also available with Night Vision, a heat sensing system that lets the driver see thing which are invisible to the naked eye. Night Vision works ! It is not just a gimmick or creative marketing, Night Vision does all that it says ? it is truly revolutionary technology.
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Bi-Xenons are a much brighter light output but the lamp is shielded so as to dull it. The shield is then lifted when full beam is applied and the light output is amazing.
My light output on my freinds Lexus seemed to stop at about 10ft away from the car which is why they were hopeless. I think that they were badly set up.
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Foglights. They illuminate a patch of fog on front of you. You can't see anything, BUT oncoming traffic will see the illuminated patch before they see you or vise versa. That's how I thought they worked anyway. I find them mostly useless as they could only be properly used for some portion of a journey on 1 day a year.
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I'd rate Lexus xenons as about the best of the lot. Xenons tend to have much tighter beam pattern than halogens and even if they're half a degree too low can be very dangerous.
I've encountered a LS400 which had positively suicidal headlights but all they needed was a proper adjustment and they were superb.
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Save money and just drive at a speed that matches the distance that your lights illuminate. It might just save more than money come to think about it.
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The new 5s "steering" lights are superb - they will be one of the meany options I go for. The current 5s xenons are also superb.
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Hmm. I think one day xenons will be like ABS: most cars will have them.
In the meantime, why are they such an expensive option? £700 or so? For a coupla lights? Ya gotta be kiddin'! I'll stick with the old yellow-ish ones. They light up my passage OK (if you understand my meaning).
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In the meantime, why are they such an expensive option? £700 or so? For a coupla lights?
That's where the profit is these days, in perceived sophistication, it can be seen in everything from a toothbrush to a mobile phone...people will pay a lot more for very little more.
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Hella do some legal Xenon retro-fitting kits for BMW 5 series and Merc E class amongst a few others, I think the kits alone are around £1500 as the lights must be self levelling with sensors on the suspension and have headlight washers in addition to the lights and control electronics. So, maybe £600 - £700 is a bit of a bargin, especially if they're the bi-xenon variety which also have motorised sheilds which drop for full beam, headlight wash is £150 - £200 option on most cars when specified on it's own.
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Halfords now have after market xenon bulbs for non-xenon headlights. I found them on the shelf while perusing, like you do. They are 12V and retrofit for halogen bulbs.
These are not the bulbs as shown in the powerbulbs site and I think these are not the full brightness of the manufacturers set ups described earlier.
From their site:-
Performance Bulbs
Our range of performance bulbs already offer unbeatable quality and value - now we're going one better with the launch of new and exclusive Super Brilliance Bulbs. These xenon bulbs offer 50% more visibility than standard headlamp bulbs. Available for most makes of car.
They also do halogen bulbs with laser blue tint, for a cutting edge look.Hmmm
Incidently, we are not discussing xenon foglights are we, or have I got hold of the wrong end of the stick?.
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The bulbs Halfords sell are still halogen, the 'Xenon' refers to them being dosed with xenon gas. Xenon/HID (high intensity discharge) is an entirely different kettle of fish and is very difficault to retro fit and certainly not economically worth while.
If you are looking to improve conventional halogen performance I'd say go for either Osram Silver Star or Philips vision Plus (as sold by Powerbulbs), anything else is of too variable a quality to be worth bothering with, see Auto Expesses headlight bulb survey on their website.
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On another thread discussing fog light usage, it was mentioned that except in fog, there is a maximum power output allowed for lights on the front of a car ie. 2 x 55w headlights = 110w
Whilst i assume that xenons do not breach this, perhaps it is time to change this rule so that the maximum output is measured in lumens (actual light output) rather than the wattage.
Personally i find mis-aligned or awkwardly angled (such as heading up a hill towards cars cresting aforementioned hill) xenons to be much more dazzling than mis-aligned halogens
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On another thread discussing fog light usage, it was mentioned that except in fog, there is a maximum power output allowed for lights on the front of a car ie. 2 x 55w headlights = 110w
My Sierra as standard on "main beam" has 2 x H4 and 2 x H3 which I am sure is double 110W.
IIRC other cars I have driven retain dipped beams on when main beam is selected.
Was the 110W refering to just dipped headlights?
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Was the 110W refering to just dipped headlights?
Yes, I composed the post about it. However, I was quoting what plod had told me, so I have no idea if it was 100% true or not.
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