Booyah

HID kit in the Fogs are freaking awesome!! plus they match the HID low beams--looks fantastic

bobinwash

Thanks for the info...my low beams are an HID kit and I love them, but my fogs are still the H3 bulbs and I have been round and round trying different halogen bulbs (PIAA, and others) only to have them burn out in a few months (and not have much useable light). We recently had some thick fog here near Seattle for about 5 days in a row and I got to see how (un) effective my fogs really were. So I have been looking at the Hella Micro DE fogs and others, wondering how/where I could mount them. When I remembered I had heard about somebody using HIDs. A few googles later and here I was back on Club Lexus looking at this thread.

It sure seems like the HIDs would be a cheaper and better option. I have been considering the yellow color, but need to do some research to see what works best for this northwest wet/fog/snow weather. The only thing holding me back is the work to make the kit fit in my factory fogs, but I can probably do it. 1.5 hours estimated here = 4 hours and at least two trips to home depot and a couple beers after the install for me.
Don't mean to hijack this thread but wouldn't mind hearing any thoughts on the colors that work best for people.

Still love my GX and thanks for any advice

Booyah

Xenondepto HID kit with 3K bulbs (yellow) will be perfect for your thick fog--White light reflects back but the yellow cuts thru the fog. Its really not to much of a hassle to install the kit into your fogs, there is a few threads around, I even did a write up on it. Trust me, HID fogs throw the light to the ground you will love it

As you experienced using those Piaa's and cheap "blue" bulbs are CRAP--dont last over 6 month and really produce very little light--they are Junk

RCsGX

Maybe in a well light city but too much foreground light in a rural / low light area is not good for your eyes at night. Notice how when your head lights are on at night the GXs cluster dims the white LEDs and the Navi screen turns from a white background to a black background, it's because it's too much foreground light.


Regarding color I personally like 3000K since it gives a nice contrast. To each their own...

Booyah

Dont know about too much light issue--but I like all the light my HID's put out on my dark dim/unlit roads--I have no issue with it at all.

Yellow fogs look good

RCsGX

To be honest I don't think hid fogs will work well, heck I don't think fog lights work as fog lights very well. I have HID projectors in my GX so I have an even / brighter spread of light compared to the kit you're using. Even w/ my OEM HIDs and Lexus H3 yellow glass capsules in my fogs I still had a very hard time seeing in some thick fog we had here the other night and as you can see I have some good useable light, lows and fogs.





HID projectors include foreground limiters or curved cutoff shields for a reason...to limit foreground light. Look how straight my fog light cut off is in relation to the bottom of the SC cutoff. Look above at the GIF and you'll see the lack of foreground light.


You can drive w/ hid fogs but the fact is a lot of foreground light is not good for your eyes during night driving. There's a reason why vehicles don't come stock w/ D2S / D4S HID fog light projectors. If someone needs more light in front of them while driving really slow then yes hids in fogs would work well but if you want useable driving light hid fogs are worthless. The further you can see down the road the more reaction time you'll have to stop / swerve etc. so foreground light is not what you want.

Most people put hids in fog lights to match their hid low beams or for eye candy.

Booyah

I agree HID "Yellow" fogs are not a light thrower like a standard 5K HID fog kit would be, the yellow is for fog purposes as I always understood. There is a nice difference to me between when I had standard bulbs Vs my HID kit in my fogs--lots of usable light to me. I went and looked at the new GX with their LED headlights and LED fogs and they are just like HID's to me--very nice

XenonDepot

iTrader: (11)

I run 3k in my 4runner fogs.

Steve

bobinwash

Thanks for your help Steve, I'm going to purchase one of the 3K "Volt" kits to use in my fogs on the GX. Didn't think the Extreme Digital made enough difference, but I could be wrong, so I will wait to hear your response.... Do you have any feeling on which to use (Volt vs Extreme) in my case and why?

Booyah

Get the Extreme kit because of the Relay harnesses it comes with....ALLOWS THE THE HID TO TURN ON AND OFF WITH THE CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE'S LIGHT SWITCH ---DRAWS POWER FROM THE BATTERY -NOT THE VEHICLE'S ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

***Im not yelling lol--I just copied and pasted the info and it was all caps

bobinwash

that's kind of a big deal. I want to be able to use my stock fog light switch to turn them on/ off

Booyah

You will be able to use your stock switch regardless---the relay helps in when you turn them on and I think its a necessity to use a relay for HID lights--Dont hesitate to PM or call Steve he will explain it more but I say get the Extreme kit, you will be happy

RCsGX

Aren't you using a relay w/ your low beam HID kit? If so the relay works the same way as a fog light HID kit would. If not you should be using one.

XenonDepot

iTrader: (11)

Honestly a relay harness is optional but when you do install one it does help to ensure you get 12 consistent volts at all times so there is no drop in power otherwise it can cause them to flicker which can cause the HID bulbs to burn out.

Your still connecting the relay harness to your factory bulb plug so your lights will function the same way.

Danny

bobinwash

sorry, but now I am somewhat confused...

The Volt system seems fine for my fog light application and has smaller ballasts to hide (and it sounds like I can wire to my fog switch on the column).

The Xtreme seems like it is the best you can get, but pricier of course (and more wiring/ballasts to hide). But the description makes it sound like the other Volt system is a less than desirable choice with flickering and a non-constant 12v power through the relay harness. Not sure if the fogs would benefit from this upgrade or not

Am I inviting problems if I purchase the volt system? even though the fogs are not used 100% of the time. Or would the Volt system be just fine in the fog light application?