Best LED Bulbs for Fog Lights

Except they don't make sense.

You should not run LEDs in a halogen reflector like the fogs without doing a full Retrofit like the Morimotos. You can get away with it in your 3rd gen headlight projectors.

See this thread as to why:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

Additionally, those LED fogs only have an output of 600 lumens. One of the more dominant complaints in the reviews.

 

So significant downgrade from stock in terms of output.

 

It's understandable if performance is not what he's after. There are plenty of areas that have no need for fogs lights, so maybe he just wanted amber fogs for cosmetic purposes? Nothing wrong with that as long as he understands it.

 

You are correct, it is quite possible someone would choose cosmetic over performance. I often see vehicles with the 12k very purple headlights.

 

"Fog" lights are not just for use where there is fog. They provide a wide, flat beam pattern that's also perfect for driving on unlit county roads where one really needs to be aware of what's along side the road as well as down the road. They also work very well when driving when it's snowing.

As for lighting mods for "cosmetic purposes," maybe I'm getting too old, but I look at virtually every one of the exterior lights on my vehicles as more of a safety item. That said, the only modifications I make are aimed at improving the performance of my lighting. I would further clarify "improving performance" as putting more useful light on the ground where I want / need it and not increasing glare for oncoming drivers. And that little clarifier nixes most of the cheap LED (and HID) stuff now available for purchase and abuse.

 

Congratulations? Someone living somewhere where none of this is needed may want to change the color for cosmetic purposes. I personally would not do this as I agree with your performance statement, but that's not the case with everyone.

 

An old coworker had this sentiment exactly. 12k purple HID headlights in his G35. They barely lit the road. He couldn't have cared less. He would say, "All show, little go" and then argue that there was enough street lights where ever he drove. I didn't agree, but I understood where he was coming from. I would be thinking more safety than anything, but there are ones out there who don't.

 

Holy crap that's reckless!!

 

That's nothing. Back in the day when I tune and tweaked VW and Audi, many fellow owners never ran headlights, just the small 10w glow bulbs in their headlights. (The light that comes on when you have just the parking lights on in Europe) They fly double the speed limit around town without head lights. That was an accident waiting to happen , but never did. Here I am trying to pump up my E-Code lights and these fools run without them.

 

I have a 2018 Tacoma and looking to add LED fogs and low beams. What is recommended? H11 Silvania for both? H11 Hikari Phillips for both?

 

Don't waste your time with LED bulbs unless you actually want to decrease your lighting performance.

 

Decrease? I thought it would be more light, almost too much I was reading. Simply.. I’m looking for good LED lights to match the Stock LED DRL’s.

 

It isn’t too much light, it is a lack of light control. See this thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

Here is a list of all the actual SAE LED fogs:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

You might find these worth looking at, they are OEM and the least expensive LED fog option:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...fog-light-review.554813/page-37#post-20419703

 

The only place you'll see anybody talking about increased light from LED bulbs is in the Marketing hype most places use to sell LED bulbs. And as crashnburn80 has already said, if a particular LED bulb did indeed put out more light (which virtually all of them do not), then the problem would be where that light is going. Trust me, drop in LED bulbs for headlights are a total waste of time and money.

 

Run time and heat are also considerations. Higher output lamps often have 1/4 the hours of stock filament bulbs. Upping the wiring gauge to reduce voltage drop increases current and decreases hours even more. More current means more heat in the bases so consider ceramic connectors if you opt for HO bulbs. Quality led housings are current controlled so as long as the rated current is supplied, more voltage doesn't add any more current to the leds. There are sound reasons for either sticking with oem or doing a complete change over. Halfway usually means half assed.