Snow Rain and Fog light suggestion

Hello all,

I have been looking into buying some yellow or amber fog lights to replace the OEM ones. I want the best rain snow and fog visibility, not the cool factor. I have looked at PIAA, KC, Cali raised, and a few others but what is on paper and what actually works are usually two different things. What are some of your suggestions and pics to go with along will be gladly appreciated.

 

In my 30+ years of driving, I've never (or can't recall) seen Amber fog lights. I've made it through that many winters & fog with OEM on whatever vehicle I had at the time, including my Tacoma now. I see no reason to change.

Just my experience and opinion.

 

I just added these to my truck on the advice of @crashnburn80 as I already had the yellow film on my fogs. I had Sylvania ZXE H11's in that I thought were bright but these were brighter and a little wider beam.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/122249380674

 

Point well taken but to me the stock white lights seem to leave a lot of glare compared to the KCs I had on an older Tacoma. It might have something to do with me being color blind to reds and greens.

 

Have you had any issues with your light housings getting hot with the 75w?

 

Nope not at all but you could try his Ultimate Fog Light Upgrade if you like.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-upgrade-not-led-or-hid.435419/#post-12592662

 

Understood.

 

Gaze my friend & Happy New Year!

 

Do you think they're better than stock?

 

And Happy New Year!

 

Well, their used for a different purpose. I'll explain: One Easter weekend I was heading from Calgary to Medicine Hat. Freak snowstorm hit out of the blue, complete white out. Had a Greyhound bus ahead of me & he had one Amber fog on out back & I had my two. Talking on the CB he could see me & I him. They illuminate the front road part only so the snow is kinda 3D. Next best thing from avoiding someone swerving into your lane is their ability to see you. Bottom line, they work.

 

I too like the standard stock Toyota fog lights. I’ve had several toy trucks with stock fogs and find they work as well as any. When conditions get really bad it doesn’t make any difference what lights you have. Here in the California Central Valley we get heavy tule fog often in the winter. It is sometimes so thick you can’t see beyond a couple feet in front of the truck. That is not an exaggeration.In the mountains we have equally poor visibility from heavy snow storms. In those conditions it doesn’t matter what light you have, it ain’t going to increase visibility. In more moderate conditions I just haven’t noticed any difference between oem and after market as far as penetrating fog or heavy snow.
At night and poor conditions I drive with my fogs on all the time, I like how the illuminate the areas out to the side of my truck. They definitely help in foggy and snowy conditions but their effectiveness is limited by the severity of the conditions.

 

Wow! I really wasnt expecting such a mixed bag of opinions. Which is a good thing. Maybe I need to sit down and do some more homework on whether or not if the yellow does actually help, hurt, or nothing. Thanks for the opinions and time. I need to borrow another Tacoma and park it side by side with mine in rain snow and fog

 

I have the Piaa plasma ion yellow bulbs in my fogs. I like them and think they do work better then white lights for cutting fog.

 

Here’s an interesting short read on fog lights. I found this on the net a couple years ago.
A foggy roadway presents one of the most hazardous driving conditions out there. Fog is similar in its makeup to a cloud at ground level. Water vapor in the air condenses and forms suspended water droplets when the temperature reaches the dew point; the water droplets in the fog act as small mirrors, often reflecting the light of normal headlights back into the field of vision of drivers, making driving a real hazard.
The Hazards of Fog
Fog scatters or reflects light — this is why you should not drive in fog with your high beams on. Visibility is also severely limited in foggy conditions, sometimes to a quarter of a mile or less. A driver’s perception of speed and distance is also affected in fog, because contrast is reduced. Our ability to accurately see objects is based on the brightness of the object in relation to the brightness of the background. This reduced contrast causes a driver to judge motion to be slower, making it more difficult to tell the difference between moving and motionless objects. Drivers are also likely to underestimate their own speed when dri'ving in fog. Speed is judged by a driver’s movement in relation to objects in their field of vision, such as the perceived effect of telephone polls “zipping by” when a driver is going fast. With the lower contrast and visibility caused by fog, it becomes more difficult to judge speed.
How Fog Lights Work
Many lights are marketed as fog lights, but they are not all equally effective in helping a driver see in foggy conditions. The light pattern is what makes the difference in a good, effective fog light. Fog lights should have a wide beam pattern of 70 to 120 degrees, with a flat cutoff on top to reduce the amount of light directed up into the fog and thereby reducing the reflection of that light into the driver’s field of vision.
No light can penetrate fog. Fog lights should be mounted and aimed to illuminate the road under the fog, which tends to drift a foot or so off the ground. Fog lights should be mounted at bumper lever or lower and aimed straight ahead or slightly down, to be most effective.
The Yellow Wavelength Fallacy
Each color in the light spectrum has a different wavelength. Air molecules scatter colors of shorter wavelengths more so than those of longer wavelengths. White light contains all colors, the argument has been made that yellow light, with a fairly long wavelength, will be less likely to be scattered. The problem with this argument is that the moisture droplets that make up fog are too large to selectively scatter different wavelengths of color. This being the case, yellow light holds no advantage over white light.
The Disadvantage of Average Yellow Lights
Almost all yellow fog lights are made of a white light bulb with a yellow filter or lens. By putting a colored lens over a white light the output is reduced by as much as 30 percent, which makes the average yellow fog light less effective than the average white fog light.

 

I use PIAA PLASMA ION YELLOW 2500K.