PFB

I bought this 2001 ES300 back in October of last year, and so far its been perfect. My Fog lights however are a bit of a mystery.

They do come on, and they do work, They look bright enough at night when you look at them head on, BUT their light output is extremely low. Its so low infact, that when I drive I can't even tell if they are ON or OFF. So basically they do absolutely nothing, and at this point their functionality is nothing more than cosmetic.

I have not looked at the Fog light bulbs, but I am assuming (maybe wrongly) that they are original Lexus,

My car has the original HID head lights. Would that make a difference in terms of the HID lights being much stronger than regular head lights and as such they overpower the Fog Lights?

So my question is basically whether this is normal or not?

Thanks

Phil

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

Yes HID's will overpower them comparatively. The output on HID's will be greater than the fogs.

I guess it doesn't help when you see a pure beam of white from the headlights, and a glow of incandescent white from beneath, it would be hard to notice.

I am not sure if it is normal, but all the other ES300 with the OEM HID option is see, that the bottom's would be far dimmer.

I have a 6000k kit in my OEM NON-HID lamps, and with standard bulbs [white] i woudln't even notice they were on, and i have the yellow JDM-STYLEZ yo! bulbs and i too have a hard time noticing they are on sometimes, unless you look closely.

If you want better output, get another HID kit, or some of those super-duper Sylvania super-bright bulbs.

mmlex1987

Thats awesome, you have factory HID's on your 01. I have seen other ES's with your setup, and yes, the standard fogs do seem to do little in terms of effectiveness when compared to the factory low beam HID's. There are options for you and I would suggest searching around this forum.

PFB

Thanks guys. At least now I know that that's normal for a Lexus with HID Headlights.

03 ES

its very normal...
i have oem hid headlamps and i can barely notice if my fogs are on (and i have yellow bulbs in them)...i can see a faint glow of yellow at the very bottom of my light path, but not much beyond that.

vassey50

I also have the OEM HID's on my 01 ES but was able to notice when the fogs were on. On the actual foglight when it is taken out of the bumper housing you can see that the aim is adjustable. Maybe your aim is a little off. Now the HID's will overpower the fogs where the HID's are supposed to aim but where they are not aiming is directly down near the first 5-15ft of the bumper.

The fogs do indeed light this up well, especially in snow. However I have a severe problem with all lights on my car and make sure I can light up the road like Vegas. I put in a H3 HID kit into the fogs and boy does it light up the road. Aimed properly of course so it does not produce glare for oncoming drivers. It lights up the first 5-20 ft just incredibly and adds more punch to the Lows. And with the 2001's the fogs lenses are clear which makes the output very good.

I took a lot of pics of the install and afterwards in different conditions i.e. fog, light rain, snow. Probably the best light mod I have done. There is some good write ups in here and they are the reason I had confidence in doing the mod. I should post those mods too, I'll try and get on it.

V

tuan92129

Try a 35 W ddm H3 hid kit in your fogs.
Light output of the fogs really depend on the quality of the fog light housing.
the 94-99 fogs have a fluted lens that makes them pretty much worthless in terms of light output.

here are the 92-94 fogs w/ halogen bulbs (oem) for comparison.

Basically, the light reaches about 10-15 ft ahead (3 parking spaces) while the low beams (55 W 5000k) go.....a lot farther (based on how they are aimed)

swifty562

wow you have 55w lows? geez is your headlight housing still intack? lol.

anywho, with the fogs, you can always adjust the height( which will make a big difference). i have 3k yellow on my 2000ES.. with height adjustment i can see it light up a few feet ahead where the headlight doesnt shines.