Better fogs?

The stock bulbs in the fog lights are 55 watt bulbs and it looks like these are, too. There may be a small increase in brightness if they are more efficient, but probably not too much. The most noticeable difference will be the color, as these will appear whiter than the stock bulbs. Probably the best improvement you can make is to switch the bulbs to yellow, which will help you to see a bit better. Yellow has two advantages: the longer wavelength produces less scattering (glare) of the light in fog (there is some debate over how much difference this makes) and, since yellow is near the middle of the visible spectrum, our eyes are more sensitive to yellow, helping us to see better. This is what I have done on my MkV and I also drive a lot in fog (I'm in coastal Maine). There is also, I believe, a way of increasing the brightness of the bulbs using vag-com, but I have not tried that. You can buy bulbs with higher wattage rating, but you run the risk of overloading the stock circuitry, etc., so that is not advisable.

Redshift said:

The stock bulbs in the fog lights are 55 watt bulbs and it looks like these are, too. There may be a small increase in brightness if they are more efficient, but probably not too much. The most noticeable difference will be the color, as these will appear whiter than the stock bulbs. Probably the best improvement you can make is to switch the bulbs to yellow, which will help you to see a bit better. Yellow has two advantages: the longer wavelength produces less scattering (glare) of the light in fog (there is some debate over how much difference this makes) and, since yellow is near the middle of the visible spectrum, our eyes are more sensitive to yellow, helping us to see better. This is what I have done on my MkV and I also drive a lot in fog (I'm in coastal Maine). There is also, I believe, a way of increasing the brightness of the bulbs using vag-com, but I have not tried that. You can buy bulbs with higher wattage rating, but you run the risk of overloading the stock circuitry, etc., so that is not advisable.

Click to expand...

I was just thinking the same thing, try out yellow!

Seems to be yellow is more of preference than anything, since I've yet to read any technical evidence that yellow is in fact better.

Unfortunately, the reasoning with less backscattering is false:

"Fog droplets are, on average, smaller than cloud droplets, but they still are huge compared with the wavelengths of visible light. Thus scattering of such light by fog is essentially wavelength independent. Unfortunately, many people learn (without caveats) Rayleigh's scattering law and then assume that it applies to everything. They did not learn that this law is limited to scatterers small compared with the wavelength and at wavelengths far from strong absorption."

But, I do believe that since yellow is essentially dimmer than a white counterpart, this may cause less glare, and essentially give the eye better conditions.

Anyways, this topic has been beat to death and the debate with continue on and on

I'll try and see for myself!

volcano said:

x2 on yellow

Click to expand...

word,

I'll try them out

got some on ebay for $15

Re: Better fogs? upgrade to projectors

kootenaydub said:

Just wondering if these bulbs will be an upgrade (brighter) over the stock mkv fog bulbs.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_V--2.0T/Lighting/Fogs/ES11131/

Any suggestions otherwise for an upgrade?

Click to expand...

Yes, if you truly wish to upgrade the performance of your fog lights
you should upgrade the stock reflector 9006 fixtures
to VW oe projector fog lights.

Sell your oe reflector fogs in the classifieds individually,
be patient, someone will eventually break just one from a rock or an impact
and you can get better return.

Projector fog fixtures use an H11-55W bulb.

Don't be fooled by the aftermarket projector fogs that use a 9006 bulb,
those do not perform at the same level as the factory projector fogs.
In other forums, there have been thorough posts on the topic
with photo documentation comparing ECS supplied oe H11 projectors fogs,
Parts4rEuro 9006 projector fogs, and stock 9006 reflector fogs .
The oe projectors stood out with a very clean and well defined cutoff

kootenaydub said:

I drive in fog/snow all the time, I think it will be worth while to get the best.

Seems to me like they would be, and have a HID look opposed to the halogen look of the stockers.

Click to expand...

First off,
the oe fog light bulb,
the whiter (blue tinted) color match bulb,
or the yellow bulbs
are all 55W halogen bulbs.

The color shifted bulbs
accomplish their spectral shift by coating or embedding color filtration.
They all start with the same glowing filament
and the color shifted ones filter something out.
The rest is common sense as to which type puts the most lumens on the target.

Swapping bulbs is not going to upgrade the performance of the fixture.

I have been running Nokya 9006 2500°K bulbs in my stock reflector fogs.



The bulbs function and hold up ok.

In my opinion, the beam pattern of the relfector fog
is uselss in fog or blowing snow, regardless of bulb choice,
relegating fogs to strictly cosmetic duty.

I run DRL as fogs, daytime and is the only time you will see mine lit.
In real fog or blowing snow, the HIDs alone work better than HIDs with reflector fogs.
Just fogs is really bad - and it shouldn't be,
but the poorly controlled beam puts too much light in the wrong places.
OE projector fogs will not have that concern.

And switching to HID replacement bulb kits in reflector fogs is making a small problem worse.
The poorly controlled beam pattern just makes them put more light where you do not want it.
Strictly a cosmetic upgrade at the expense of function.

Redshift said:

...
There is also, I believe, a way of increasing the brightness of the bulbs using vag-com, but I have not tried that. ...

Click to expand...

Redshift is correct, the fogs are set to operate
at 92% brightness from the factory.
The drop in brightness is barely perceivable
but the increase in lamp life is significant.
Just the same, no harm in picking up your extra 8% with a controller tweak.

My archived 'as delivered' fog light brightness VAG-COM screen shot


Current setting (Note newer version of VAG-COM has updated the way this byte is displayed).