Somnambulated

Purchased without... What are my options?

Anyone have aftermarkets installed? Pics?

panasoanic

Fog lights need to be low to the ground in order to work properly. The small cutouts on the front fender by the wheels are a perfect location for fogs. However, the opening is small, so you will need a fog light that can accomodate the opening.

I would go for Hella Micro DEs. These lights are the only ones I found that can be mounted in the location in front of the wheels without any serious modification. They aren't exactly cheap (~110 for a pair with a harness ) but will actually illuminate the road compared to the POS Walmart ones which do nothing more than glare other drivers. The Micro DEs have a glass lens, magnesium body, and take H3 bulbs which is a popular European standard. Compare that to the cheap plastic foglights you'll find at Autozone or Walmart.

Just remember, don't be a jackass and run the fogs when you don't need to. No matter how great the system is, it can still cause glare to other drivers. When other drivers lose their night vision travelling in the opposing lane and start to drift into your lane, you'll find that it isn't a good idea to run them all the time.

brownbanana

get the OEM ones from ebay or from a scion dealer.

RayDiz

hey panasonic, where did u get them???do u have them???

naztyTC

i personaly think the fact fog lights are ugly as hell and i wouldnt waste the money but that just my .2cents

RayDiz

hell yeah the factory ones are ugly. i had never seen them until i wanted fog lights but when i saw them i thought that they would put lights in the 2 slots in the front not have them be part of the grill.

Jdawg82

I put these fogs in.

SayNoToShadySalesmen

Where'd you get those? W hat was the price? Do they emit a light blue tint?

Bam

Aftermarket ones like ^ look like crap.

All that void surrounding the light just looks like ___.

ScummyMcOwnage

I like the location of those aftermarkets, but white light seems to be more useful

panasoanic

If you get ones with a clear lens and a black surrounding trim piece, I don't think they will look as bad.

I haven't bought the Micro DEs yet but I honestly think that they are the best on the market for the application I am talking about. No other fog lights with the optics of the Hellas. They are available at a lot of places including TireRack. Shop around and find the best price.

Blue fogs are okay if you want to have a show car, but they won't really do anything for your vision when you are driving. In fact, it will probably make it worse as blue light reflects off water and scatters, producing lots of glare. White or selective yellow (all blue removed from the light) are the colors to use in a proper fog light.

Somnambulated

Panasonic, thanks for the helpful and clear posts. $110.00 for a pair of good foglamps is not expensive, especially since I was considering going PIAA. I didn't really like the factory fogs, for the same reasons you stated.

Belive me, I know--Closer to the ground is better. I've driven up to San Jose several times in thick fog, and was happy to have PIAA bulbs in the factory fogs on my strat.

I like yellow fogs, and have been looking for true-yellow fog lights for a while, preferrably Projector-lensed.

panasoanic

The one thing against the Micro DEs is that they come with a clear lens and a clear bulb. You can get a replacement H3 bulb that has a dichroic coating on it so that only selective yellow light is emitted. However, the coating also has the effect of producing a blue haze when you view the light from the sides. The front remains yellow, but when off-axis, you'll see a blue light. I am trying to avoid having blue light as that is a sure way to get the police's attention while driving.

I've heard that you can spray a coating on the lens to make it permanently yellow. Daniel Stern, of www.danielsternlighting.com has mentioned this technique, but he did not mention specifics. Try asking him for a price quote on the Hellas as I know he carries them. He has excellent customer service and is really knowledgeable about automotive lighting. I wasn't keen on asking him on the specifics of the coating as I didn't want him to think I would go with a cheaper supplier once I had the knowledge. He did however say that you can spray it yourself and it won't cost very much to do.

Stern also sells HIR2 bulbs and has mentioned that it is okay to mount them in the tC as the headlight has a sharp horizontal cut-off on the left side of the beam (VOL) and is relatively low to the ground. HIR2s are much more powerful than the 9006 bulbs we have stock. You have to file down the tab on the bulb, but other than that they drop right in. Another poster has made a thread on this if you want to look it up.

HeartBreaker

Here are mine... a set of Pilot foglights from AutoZone for $19.95 with good wiring harness and switch included as well as clear instructions.



This is how they look at night

TC_Sweetie

now that's nice... the stock foglights are just too damn big if you ask me but that size is just right... and another question did you get overlays on the headlights to make it have that bluish tint to them?

Jdawg82

I got these from autozone for 59.99 they emit a light that is much whiter than the stock bulbs. Also they have an angel eye ring around them that glow white at night.

CraiggieB

Good taste on those fog lights. Looks awesome

nibrobus

What type of modifications would have to be made to install a pair of Hella Micro DE's? I looked them up on tirerack and I'm thinking about picking up a pair (only if I don't have to chop up my ride too much).

nastyxd

besides fog lights looking cool.. is the stock fog lights worth the money? and what kind of bulbs do the headlights use?

panasoanic

All you will have to do is drill one hole for the mounting bracket. Here are the factory instructions: http://www.hella.com/produktion/Hell...structions.pdf

nastyxd:

Factory fogs are overpriced and don't work as well as quality aftermarket lights. The problem is that most of the stuff on the aftermarket is crap.