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Fog or Aux Light Color for Snow Storms?

James

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Ok, new Ahole lighting style.
Super bright red taillights.
As annoying as that super bright led bar strip on front bumpers.
Seen on an Audi. I suspect the guy replaced stock bulbs. I know there's a Euro standard for drivers side rear fog- a bright tail light. Don't think they're doing both.

Note to super bright tail light users when not in fog-
DUI drivers are known to get target fixation on bright lights. Like hitting cops on the side of the road. Using bright tail lights in clear weather can make you a target for drunks or impaired drivers.
 

JWMN

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Just noticed this thread. In the early 1970's I put Carello lights below the bumper on my new 1973 Mercury Capri. One clear driving, one yellow fog lamp. They were about 5 or 6 inches in diameter. The fog light threw a flat beam, about 3' off the ground, a long, long way ahead of the car as well as about 30' on each side. It worked really well in fog and snow. When I could I would turn the headlights off and just use the fog lamp in snow. It made the snow disappear. The driving light had a reflective range of 1 mile. They were great, but soon after became outlawed for highway use.

New this winter, the MN Highway Dept. was using a blue light for snowstorms. They said it allowed them to see much better. I don't know what it exactly was.

There are many times I wish I had that fog lamp again!

Odd one maybe but did some searching and didn't see much chatter about this topic. Was driving here in NC a couple weekends ago and it actually SNOWED in our mtns - around dusk into dark - windy twisty roads. We've got a 2008 Land Cruiser I recently got from a family member. Clear fog lights. Visibility wasn't ideal. I tried with fogs off and on, it was better with them on but the white light reflected back pretty bad against the moderate precip and beginning accumulation on the ground.

I'm curious if anyone has experience with a better fog color - Amber I guess? for snowy weather/frozen precip. We're also planning on adding additional lights this summer with a front bumper addition. We don't get a ton of weather here, but when we do, would like better viz.
 
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jzmtl

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I did extensive reading on this subject when I was looking for new LED replacement for my fogs, the conclusion is actual color makes no difference, the pattern is more important. I ended up going with white since for LEDs they are brighter than yellow, and I use fogs more as a cornering/wide lamp in unlit environments.

The reason you think white fogs is bad in reflection is actually because your eyes are more sensitive to white/blue light than yellow, so the perceived brightness is higher when you have white fogs even if they are same lumen as yellow.

With all that said my experience shows neutral white/4500k is the best color for vehicle lighting.
 

slowrider

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White light contains all colors of the spectrum and the whiter the light produced, the more it will reflect off a wider range of objects independent of their color. Bulbs with an output in the lower, amber Kelvin range work best in fog, snow or rain conditions to highlight objects and enhance contrast.
 

ScotsSkier

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a lot of you missing the point here. A major part of the issue "lights are too bright/ fog lights scatter" is down to people putting LED bulbs into reflectors that are designed for halogen bulbs. A bit like putting a 20 Din race binding one a touring ski.....they may fit but they are not designed to work together .

Led specific lights have reflectors designed around the LED lamp. Just sticking an LED bulb as a retrofit for a halogen changes the beam pattern and typically just increases the scatter and glare. My F150 has LED head lamps and fog lamps The fog lamps give a flat top cut-off as they should and also give good illumination to the side as designed. And yes they work great in snow with a white lamp... Oh and yes on Fords, using Forscan you can program them to stay on with main beams .... no need for an auxiliary light bar

Oh and one other thing I love, the auto headlamp dip function.....I would never have believed how good that was til I got used to it!
 
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Atomicman

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Ok, new Ahole lighting style.
Super bright red taillights.
As annoying as that super bright led bar strip on front bumpers.
Seen on an Audi. I suspect the guy replaced stock bulbs. I know there's a Euro standard for drivers side rear fog- a bright tail light. Don't think they're doing both.

Note to super bright tail light users when not in fog-
DUI drivers are known to get target fixation on bright lights. Like hitting cops on the side of the road. Using bright tail lights in clear weather can make you a target for drunks or impaired drivers.
Nope...German cars have rear fog-lights that are controllable separate from the the running lights. Standard on all the Audis I have owned and are stock on all 3 of our Benzes!
 

Atomicman

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a lot of you missing the point here. A major part of the issue "lights are too bright/ fog lights scatter" is down to people putting LED bulbs into reflectors that are designed for halogen bulbs. A bit like putting a 20 Din race binding one a touring ski.....they may fit but they are not designed to work together .

Led specific lights have reflectors designed around the LED lamp. Just sticking an LED bulb as a retrofit for a halogen changes the beam pattern and typically just increases the scatter and glare. My F150 has LED head lamps and fog lamps The fog lamps give a flat top cut-off as they should and also give good illumination to the side as designed. And yes they work great in snow with a white lamp... Oh and yes on Fords, using Forscan you can program them to stay on with main beams .... no need for an auxiliary light bar

Oh and one other thing I love, the auto headlamp dip function.....I would never have believed how good that was til I got used to it!
Auto dip is great...combined with Distronic + (Radar controlled auto speed adjusting cruise control) is fantastic!
 

ScotsSkier

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oh and yes, the Euro ultra bright rear fog lamps - which should ONLY be used in fog - are a dangerous PITA. Used to drive me nuts in the UK the # of idiots that used them all the time.....especially dangerous in rain (which is 50% of the time!) and when most euro spec vehicles had them on both sides ..... a good excuse to go to full heads, fogs and light bar if you get stuck behind them....
 

slowrider

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20200109_070610.jpg
 

oldschoolskier

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I’ve driven too many miles in adverse conditions and have tried both yellow and white fog and driving lights.

Personally I am a fan of well structured light patterns well aimed as bright as possible headlights. These reduce oncoming blinding in regular mode and excellent long range visibility in highbeam mode (and blind as deterrent if required)

As to auxiliary light my go to is driving lights (pencil beam aimed slightly low and narrow) with high wattage bulbs. Again aim not to blind to allow constant useage.

Modern lights on cars, specially LED and have poorly designed light patterns.
 

x10003q

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Fog lights that come with your vehicle are pretty much useless because US laws only allow fog lights to work when the low beams are on. Fogs work best without a low beam. LEDs can do a lot of adjustment on the fly, but they are not yet fully approved for the US market.
 

Ogg

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Fog lights that come with your vehicle are pretty much useless because US laws only allow fog lights to work when the low beams are on. Fogs work best without a low beam. LEDs can do a lot of adjustment on the fly, but they are not yet fully approved for the US market.
I can run the foglights without the low beams on my Silverado. :huh:
 

Bill Talbot

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Fog lights that come with your vehicle are pretty much useless because US laws only allow fog lights to work when the low beams are on. Fogs work best without a low beam. LEDs can do a lot of adjustment on the fly, but they are not yet fully approved for the US market.

That 'problem' is not hard to fix...
 

James

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Mine work without low beams. They’re still pretty useless.
 

dbostedo

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Auto dip is great...combined with Distronic + (Radar controlled auto speed adjusting cruise control) is fantastic!
Bit off topic, but...

I've only had both of these features on rental cars thus far... I love the auto dip headlights, but I hate the auto-adjusting cruise control.

I've had the auto-adjust cruise control in a few different cars now. What I like when driving frequently on a wide open 2 lane highway, is to keep a steady speed in the right lane until it's time to pass. I find that the auto-cruise control slows me down when still too far behind the car in front of me, even when adjusted to the closest setting. I'm not close enough that I would normally pass, and not close enough that it is obvious that I need to pass. (And no, I'm not talking about "tail-gating" distance. I'm just talking about getting close enough that it's clear I'm over-taking the person in front of me, so that I don't move into the left lane, then not wind up passing them.) I've turned it off and used regular cruise control, on cars that can do that.
 
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Atomicman

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Bit off topic, but...

I've only had both of these features on rental cars thus far... I love the auto dip headlights, but I hate the auto-adjusting cruise control.

I've had the auto-adjust cruise control in a few different cars now. What I like when driving frequently on a wide open 2 lane highway, is to keep a steady speed in the right lane until it's time to pass. I find that the auto-cruise control slows me down when I too far behind the car in front of me, even when adjusted to the closest setting. I'm not close enough that I would normally pass, and not close enough that it is obvious that I need to pass. (And no, I'm not talking about "tail-gating" distance. I'm just talking about getting close enough that it's clear I'm over-taking the person in front of me, so that I don't move into the left lane, then not wind up passing them.) I've turned it off and used regular cruise control, on cars that can do that.
My Benzes have Distronic Plus, I can control the distance behind the car in front of me from about 80 FT. up! Works great!
 

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