Fog Lights anyone?

[KingMike]

Hi all! :wub2:

 

 

Okay so I want to install fog lights on my 12' Edge Sport. Actual fog lights. Those strips at the bottom bumper (to spite popular belif) are not fog lights, they are just LED strips.

 

Now, my question is, has anyone installed fog lights on their Edge? I'd like to see pictures so I could have placement ideas.

 

 

My dad had a 95 Mustang and he put his fog lights in the grille on the left and right side of the Mustang Horse Emblem. So I'm looking to see where a good spot would be to add a hole for fog lights. It's tough on a body style like the edge.

 

So, has anyone done this and have pics??

[kc300c]

Hi Mike, I've been on the forum for about a year and have never read of anyone installing round fogs on the 2011+ Edge. You're right about tring to find a good spot to put them without it looking like a real hack job.

 

You mention that you want to instal real fog lights, meaning amber colored, right? If that's the case and the lens color is amber unless you really recess them back into the hole, the yellow lens will really stand out. In my humble opinion this will look really awkward on your Sport. Again, just one opinion. With that said, I am a big believer in that if you like the look and/or function of a mod, it doesn't matter what others think of it.

[KingMike]

Trust me, I agree.

 

I've spent days, maybe even weeks worth of hours sitting there and staring at the front end of the truck, looking for any angle that it would look right... And I haven't come up with anything yet. That's why I was hoping maybe someone else has done it and maybe had an idea that I didn't see.

 

I live in New York but my parents and a friend of mine have summer homes in PA, so I drive up there fairly often and the truck doesn't always offer a great amount of light when it is muggy and foggy out, so I was hoping to install round (white) color fog lights.... But just don't know how to do it, and if I can't come up with something that looks good, I'm just not going to do it at all. No sense in ruining the car.

 

Plus if I could (or someone else already has) come up with a good idea for placement, it would look pretty bad ass.

[Edgieguy]

I run these in my Polaris RZR-S and was considering them for flush mount through the lower plastic grill (black honeycomb grill). They throw a lot of light, use little power. There are actually a few LED Offroad lights that I like, thought i'd share.

 

http://www.rigidindustries.com/DuallyD2FlushMountDrivingPair-p/51231.htm

[KingMike]

Sounds interesting, but hard to picture haha. Be sure to post pix!!

[kc300c]

Just make sure whatever lights you use do not project the light up any higher that the hood of the car. You want the light on the surface of the road underneath the fog/mist. If the light goes up too high it will reflect off the mist directly in front of the car obstructing the view worse than no fogs. The bright white color of LEDs is the worst color lighting source to use in a foggy atmosphere. A white glare causes more discomfort in your eyes than a yellow glare. I'm not saying a white LED light source does not make for a good fog light, you just have to be sure it is focused toward the ground and does not leak light upward. A projector lamp is the best option. Edgieguy, the Rigid lights you mention are driving lights and by the look of the LED reflectors in them they do not have a narrow or focused beam spread, but a wide or flood type beam spread,

[Edgieguy]

There are several different types. Some floods, some focused. I use the floods on my RZR, but when its pitch black and youre offroad you want light everywhere!

[KingMike]

I just wanted to say... I left my Sport at the dealer for service a few days ago and I miss it so much =( Riding around in their stupid Ford Fusion....

[mtbalser]

Just ordered a hella FF75 fog light kit from amazon, 91 bucks. Very compact should fit in lower grill (2X6).

[Dingo]

Hell, I have a pair of those in my toolbox.

[mtbalser]

No good, or just didnt look good?

[Dingo]

They worked great. Had them on an explorer I sold in 2005.

 

Wait... Mine are ff50s.

[mtbalser]

Almost everything you would want to know about automotive lighting - danielsternlighting.com

[mtbalser]

Have a question for all of you that have removed 11/12 grills from your edge. When the grill was off did you notice if the diamond shaped inserts are hard attached or are they pressed fit in utilizing pins or tabs. I would like to remove the bottom grill (without removing the whole front facia) to install fog lights. Hope this is clear enough for your understanding.

 

Thanks!

[mtbalser]

Edited October 21, 2012 by mtbalser

[cjd3]

Looks good so far, I'd like o see them at night when you are done.

[PrinzII]

I'd like to see what the front looks like when they are on.

[mtbalser]

I will post pics when completed.

Edited October 22, 2012 by mtbalser

[fishx65]

M, looks like you just mounted them infront of the lower grille insert? How did you attach them and do they get the dreaded shake while driving down bumby roads? Been wanting to do this for a long time since my 2011 is now my Northern Michigan bowhunting vehicle. My 35/5000 HIDs have been fantastic in the woods but I could really use more side illumination from a set of foggers. Just about clipped one of those SUICIDAL DEERS the other night while heading back downstate!!!!

Edited October 22, 2012 by fishx65

[mtbalser]

Actually, I used a dremal and cut out part of the grill so lamps would sit back further in the facia too protect them from carwashes and and look more OEM.

Drilled hole through grill and facia and bolted supplied bracket through both. Not sure about shake yet since not completly wired, but seems secure.

Will update with pics when complete.

[mtbalser]

OK, here are a bunch of pics. Fogs are not aimed 100% yet. You can see that the factory HIDs do a good job in lighting up the road and fogs don't add much, if anything. With fogs on, it is a wider beam, and since foggs are supposed to stand alone so you don't get glare reflection. I think they will work good in fog,snow and heavy rain. I have not had the oppurtunity to test in any of those conditions and really don't look forward to it. You can see that I have HIDs, brightlites eyebrowe lights and led parking/turn signal lights that gives the intense white light. The fogs are halogen 55 watt. I did not use the switch that came with the kit because of placement clearance issues, bought of the shelf switch at Rallies and bent prongs almost 90deg. Any questions let me know!

 

FISHX65, no shake!

Edited October 25, 2012 by mtbalser

[PrinzII]

I like the ones Edgieguy posted but am wondering what the light output is. Also, I am wondering if they come in amber/yellow.

[mtbalser]

Supposed to be clear as human eye sees white light better without as much glare. If you look at the true european fog lights, they are clear and pattern does the work.

Edited October 25, 2012 by mtbalser

[mtbalser]

Tech

 

What are Fog Lamps Really For?

A good fog lamp produces a wide, bar-shaped beam of light with a sharp horizontal cutoff (dark above, bright below) at the top of the beam, and minimal upward light above the cutoff. Almost all factory-installed or dealer-optional fog lamps, and a great many aftermarket units, are essentially useless for any purpose, especially for extremely demanding poor-weather driving. Many of them are too small to produce enough light to make a difference, produce beam patterns too narrow to help, lack a sufficiently-sharp cutoff, and throw too much glare light into the eyes of other drivers, no matter how they're aimed.

Good (and legal) fog lamps produce white or Selective Yellow light, and use tungsten-halogen bulbs. Xenon or HID bulbs are inherently unsuitable for use in fog lamps, and blue or other-colored lights are also the wrong choice.

The fog lamps' job is to show you the edges of the road, the lane markings, and the immediate foreground. When used in combination with the headlamps, good fog lamps weight the overall beam pattern towards the foreground so that even though there may be a relatively high level of upward stray light from the headlamps causing glareback from the fog or falling rain or snow, there will be more foreground light than usual without a corresponding increase in upward stray light, giving back some of the vision you lose to precipitation.

When used without headlamps in conditions of extremely poor visibility due to snow, fog or heavy rain, good fog lamps light the foreground and the road edges only, so you can see your way safely at reduced speeds.

In clear conditions, more foreground light is not a good thing, it's a bad thing. Some foreground light is necessary so you can use your peripheral vision to see where you are relative to the road edges, the lane markings and that pothole 10 feet in front of your left wheels. But foreground light is far less safety-critical than light cast well down the road into the distance, because at any significant speed (much above 30 mph), what's in the foreground is too close for you to do much about. If you increase the foreground light, your pupils react to the bright, wide pool of light by constricting, which in turn substantially reduces your distance vision—especially since there's no increase in down-the-road distance light to go along with the increased foreground light. It's insidious, because high levels of foreground light give the illusion, the subjective impression, of comfort and security and "good lighting".

US-DOT headlamps have historically tended to provide relatively low, arguably inadequate levels of light in the foreground and to the sides. Many US DOT headlamps have what seems to be a "black hole" in front of the car, with essentially the entire beam concentrated in a narrow band or ball of light thrown into the distance. With headlamps like these, a decent argument can be made for the use of fog lamps to fill the "black hole", that is, to add-back the missing foreground and lateral-spread light when driving at moderate speeds on dark and/or twisty roads. Of course, lamps to rectify inadequate foreground light must be thoughtfully and carefully selected, correctly aimed and properly used. Otherwise, they're useless at best and dangerous at worst.

In some places, the law prohibits the use of fog lamps without the low beam headlamps also being on. Whether or not this is the case where you drive, it's vital to realize that fog lamp beams, by definition, have a much shorter reach than headlamp beams. If you drive in conditions foul enough to call for the use of fog lamps without headlamps, it's essential to have good fog lamps that are up to the task and are properly aimed, and it's imperative that you slow down because even with high-performance fog lamps, you can't see as far with fog lamps and in poor weather as you can with headlamps and in clear weather.

If the road is wet or slick with ice, but there's no falling precipitation, fog lamps should be used with discretion. Their extra downward light can help compensate for the tendency of water to "soak up" the light on the road from your headlamps. But, this extra downward light hitting a road surface shiny with water or ice will also create high levels of reflected glare for other drivers. Since we're all "other drivers" to everybody else on the road, it's well to think of roadway safety as a cooperative effort. In most driving situations, fog lamps are neither useful nor necessary, but more people use their fog lamps when the prevailing conditions don't call for their use, than use them when the conditions do call for their use. Nobody thinks your car is cool because it has fog lamps, and glare is dangerous, so do yourself and everyone a favor: choose them carefully, aim them properly, use them thoughtfully, and leave them off except when they're genuinely necessary.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Even if the fogs don't add any light, they look pretty darn good! Great pics. Did you tap into the existing lighting circuit, and how did you route the wiring?

Edited October 25, 2012 by WWWPerfA_ZN0W