Have to replace the bulbs. I've been looking for replacements, and I came across some LED fog lights. Has anyone tried them? Just curious. I also noticed the wattage on the replacement bulbs are 30W and not the 55W. How big of a difference is it?

I've yet to hear of anyone have real success with any of those drop in LED fogs..the general consensus is either go with HID bulbs or a full led fog light housing..

I got the drop in led fogs from JDMtoy, you can see it in this thread, and my avatar.

what-did-you-do-to-your-m-or-q-today-t480289-1260.html

Very happy so far

The problem with drop-in LED fog lights is that, they are not bright enough to be functional. One can also argue that most cars' fog lights are not functional to begin with and that they are merely there for aesthetics. I tend to agree with the latter. If you want to "dress up" your exterior lighting, I would say that LEDs are fine for that purpose. For truly useful light, you would have go with a true HID fog light retrofit. They have to be aimed properly in order to keep from blinding oncoming traffic. I hate drop-in "HID" bulbs for this reason. I keep mine off all the time as they really aren't useful and they turn on your headlights at all times if the toggle switch is on, which defeats the purpose having AUTO lights.

SwissCheeseHead wrote:The problem with drop-in LED fog lights is that, they are not bright enough to be functional. One can also argue that most cars' fog lights are not functional to begin with and that they are merely there for aesthetics. I tend to agree with the latter. If you want to "dress up" your exterior lighting, I would say that LEDs are fine for that purpose. For truly useful light, you would have go with a true HID fog light retrofit. They have to be aimed properly in order to keep from blinding oncoming traffic. I hate drop-in "HID" bulbs for this reason. I keep mine off all the time as they really aren't useful and they turn on your headlights at all times if the toggle switch is on, which defeats the purpose having AUTO lights.

That used to be correct but not anymore. The LED's that are now out rival the output of even HID's.

This is the set that I'm running and they look better compared to my factory HID's and are even brighter too

http://www.vleds.com/bulb-type/fog-ligh ... -pair.html

Since the bulb is A LOT BIGGER over the factory fog light bulb, you will have a bit of a hard time installing the passenger side since the washer reservoir is there on the way, but it can be done without removing the bumper like I did

SwissCheeseHead wrote: I keep mine off all the time as they really aren't useful and they turn on your headlights at all times if the toggle switch is on, which defeats the purpose having AUTO lights.

I'm the opposite lol. I drive with my headlights and fog lights on 100% of the time.

IlyaKol wrote:

SwissCheeseHead wrote: I keep mine off all the time as they really aren't useful and they turn on your headlights at all times if the toggle switch is on, which defeats the purpose having AUTO lights.

I'm the opposite lol. I drive with my headlights and fog lights on 100% of the time.

How? Any time I turn on my fogs, the headlights come on as well.

SwissCheeseHead wrote:

IlyaKol wrote:
I'm the opposite lol. I drive with my headlights and fog lights on 100% of the time.

How? Any time I turn on my fogs, the headlights come on as well.

No, I'm saying I drive around with everything on. It's like my version of DRL's lol.

lol. I hated DRLs when I had them on my Lancer (main headlights were DRLs when "off"). As a matter of fact, I hate that every car manufacturer has LED DRLs these days. There are too many models that have them because they can, not because it looks good.

Hid fogs 4300k or 5000k.is the only way I drive.

beachbum718 wrote:Hid fogs 4300k or 5000k.is the only way I drive.

I used to use HID fogs...never again. Too susceptible to wetness, etc. that low on the car. I switched to some plasma yellow regular bulbs and they are amazing. They are mentioned in my build thread (see my sig). They are also just as yellow and pretty bright.

JCesar wrote:

SwissCheeseHead wrote:The problem with drop-in LED fog lights is that, they are not bright enough to be functional. One can also argue that most cars' fog lights are not functional to begin with and that they are merely there for aesthetics. I tend to agree with the latter. If you want to "dress up" your exterior lighting, I would say that LEDs are fine for that purpose. For truly useful light, you would have go with a true HID fog light retrofit. They have to be aimed properly in order to keep from blinding oncoming traffic. I hate drop-in "HID" bulbs for this reason. I keep mine off all the time as they really aren't useful and they turn on your headlights at all times if the toggle switch is on, which defeats the purpose having AUTO lights.

That used to be correct but not anymore. The LED's that are now out rival the output of even HID's.

This is the set that I'm running and they look better compared to my factory HID's and are even brighter too

http://www.vleds.com/bulb-type/fog-ligh ... -pair.html

Since the bulb is A LOT BIGGER over the factory fog light bulb, you will have a bit of a hard time installing the passenger side since the washer reservoir is there on the way, but it can be done without removing the bumper like I did

The Vleds say 2800 Lumens total output per bulb. Is that "Calculated" Output or Measured Output? It seems awfully high to be Measured (actual) output.

Vleds responded pretty quickly to my question and said they're Calculated "Real World" Lumens. That's pretty darn bright!

They look a lil brighter over our factory HID's but look great! best bang for your buck

IlyaKol wrote:

beachbum718 wrote:Hid fogs 4300k or 5000k.is the only way I drive.

I used to use HID fogs...never again. Too susceptible to wetness, etc. that low on the car. I switched to some plasma yellow regular bulbs and they are amazing. They are mentioned in my build thread (see my sig). They are also just as yellow and pretty bright.

A properly sealed HID retrofit would not give you any issues with moisture on the bulb. The plug n' play HID bulbs in a housing designed for halogens is when you have issues with improper seal/moisture, plus the fact that the light glares all over the place and is blinding to oncoming drivers. To add to that, a lot of the bulbs and ballasts on the market is cheap crap from China. Yellow fog lights are actually the best usable fog light color temperature to have, as it actually penetrates the fog, unlike the white 5000K or bluer lights that everyone puts on for aesthetics.

I don't buy cheap China kits. I've spent $600 on HID's for my cars in the past using top notch products (Morimoto) from TheRetrofitSource.com. For the Y51, since it came with HID's, I just changed the bulbs a better quality bulb but the ballasts are still the stock ones.

As for moisture...not moisture in the bulb, moisture in the wiring/ballast connectors even using TheRetrofitSource sealed ballasts causing the ballasts to eventually fail or the wiring to fall apart after a year or two. No start situations and/or flickers. The bulb was always fine as I seal that up real good.

I've had 3 proper projector retrofits on previous cars (hand made - favorite was a 99 Maxima headlight with TL projectors and ZKW replica clear lens mode...man it was beautiful) and I'm very well versed on HID's, glare, reflector housings, etc. Even with everything I know and how I do things, I still decided to stay away from HID fogs on the Y51 and went for 3000k halogen bulbs instead. No regrets.

Questions - Do you have to remove the bumper to replace the bulbs? How easy/difficult is to access the fog light housing? If anyone has posted a DIY, I would love to see it!

Tiggaman wrote:Questions - Do you have to remove the bumper to replace the bulbs? How easy/difficult is to access the fog light housing? If anyone has posted a DIY, I would love to see it!

Don't need to remove the bumper. See the "Fog Light" section in the link below:

topic599891.html

You can check this out for yourself ... but .... I have read that fog lights that are 'white' coiored do very little to actually light up the roadway in foggy conditions. Makes one wonder why car companies provide white fog lights as OEM equipment. Seems lights in the 3000k range do the best job of cutting through fog and heavy rain condiitons to allow the driver to see lane markings and maintain proper position in the driving lanes. But US companies still are not required to provide DRLs, so that shows how up to date they are.
Although the newest HID designs can provide the same or even higher lumens than halogen fog lamps, they are still white. Lots of people like to drive 24/7 with the fogs ON. That never made any sense to me until I read why Ilya uses his. He makes perfect sense from a safety point of view and the fact that his are 3000k is even better because it is a different shade than other cars - making his car more noticeable to other drivers. Mine are also 3000k but I never use them (in South Florida, fog lights are almost never needed) and I have actual DRLs that I mounted myself for daily driving.
Here is my answer to DRLs:
*** Mind you, I have an 09 model with a different grille, but later models can be similarly modified to do this ***
first-mod-completed-t593726.html
post6608062.html?hilit=DRL#p6608062

That's exactly why I use them. Makes my car stand out.It's the same reason why motorcycle lights are always on day or night from the factory...easier to see.

I just swapped mine out w/ these.

Fog, http://www.ebay.com/itm/291224493658?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT
Backup lights, http://www.ebay.com/itm/191256756449?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

The new XBD LED are much brighter than the SMD type. The light beams go beyond the lines in the backup camera backing.

I'm happy w/ it so far.