The ultimate foglight upgrade H11 (not LED or HID)

Yes, the part numbers are for 15-17 Subaru Legacy fogs. But! There are 2 different versions of the 15-17 Legacy fogs and only 1 has the internal glare guard, the other is open just like the Tacoma fog. There are also less expensive aftermarket ‘replacement’ versions by TYC and others, but aftermarket lights never perform as well as OEM.

I purchased mine here:
https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/323354214374

Again, I haven’t installed these in the truck yet to test their fitment so there is no guarantee it will work.

 

Heading over the snowy passes tomorrow night after work. No time to wait and test the new bulbs due in tomorrow. Installing the setup now.

Here is an example of trimming the bulb collar with a Dremel cut off wheel. Trimming 2 tabs at 45 degrees is much easier than trying to cut a single one at 90 degrees to clear.

 

It fits! Not 100% perfect, right side is set back a couple mm compared to the left, but not something anyone would notice that doesn’t have their face 6” from your foglight.

 

Still not sure what I think. Subaru fogs in the driver side, KC G4 ambers on the passenger side.



Subaru fogs need to be adjusted up a bit and are quite a bit more yellow than it looks in the photo.



This is tested before using the higher power bulbs.

 

Now fully converted to Subaru fogs running 2300k H9 bulbs.



The pattern is more forward facing than I would like.





Another example of the internal tab trim to run an H9 on an H11 plug. The upper tab needs to be removed, I used a basic pocket knife.



In my 2 packs of 65w Xencn 2300k bulbs, I did receive one bulb I would consider ‘bad’.



It is subtle if you don’t know what to look for but the left most bulb, the capsule is rotated and not true to center like the other 3, meaning the filament is out of alignment. This will very negatively affect beam performance. I would consider this a throw away bulb and would not run it.

 

Most folks would never pick that up - or understand the negative effect it has on performance. Good catch! I wonder if that speaks to the manfacturer's level of quality assurance?

 

Uncertain if it is or is a fluke, though it certainly isn’t good. I have a handful more bulbs coming from Xencn which I will check out. All the filaments are straight though, which is more than could be said for some brands like Optilux, ARB/IPF and some others.

 

I'll take those KC G4 Ambers when you're done testing

 

I dig it! Looks like I’ll have another summer lighting project to go with my driving lamps. We are fortunately gaining daylight fast now, nearly 8 min a day, so in a couple weeks I won’t need headlights for much more than visibility until fall. I’ll be swapping my GE’s for stock bulbs to preserve them probably at the end of March.

 

I really like the cut off and the ability to run a high powered off the shelf H9, and I like the color but I think it may be too forward focused for my desired use case as I used the wide angle function a lot on the OEM fogs. I will likely end up pulling them and experimenting with something else.

 

Very interested in your driving impressions. I’m pretty interested in the set if you decide to pull them.

 

You're right @crashnburn80 I was behind a little bit, Just caught up! I saw the post in the Ultimate Headlight about the Subaru and must have thought I was here. Ive kept up on the Fog Review thread and somehow missed this original goodness. I am interested to hear your final thoughts on the latest mod. I really dig the yellow! And the plug and play LED's are out for me due to icing. With daylight savings, I drive to work in the dark everyday. Sometimes drive home at dark. Anyway its almost always below freezing, at night, during the winter months.

 

Another Subaru Tacoma fog output shot. Right beam is a bit high, doesn’t help the truck is on uneven leftover melting snow/ice.

 

Are you using the upgraded fog harness with these?

 

Yes, but with H9s a harness is not required. I just have it already installed from my high power H11s. More voltage with the harness is better for output.

 

What’s the projection look like vs OEM and the G4’s? Obviously less to the sides, but are they still wider than the Low beam? Do they have more distance projection than those fogs, and how does it compare to the low beams?

 

The SR fogs are much narrower than the TRD fogs. I don't have the SR fogs on hand or on file to compare projection width. The TRD fogs project nearly 90 degrees to the side of the truck, as in like straight perpendicular sideways, nothing competes with that extreme wide angle of there TRD units. The Subaru fogs are more forward facing than the KC G4 fogs, but they are wider than the OEM headlight beam pattern. On a 2nd Gen the fog side shooting hot spots somewhat frame the sides of the low beam pattern and fill in right where the low beam cuts off nicely, extending the projection width. These will have more forward distance projection than the stock fogs because these can run ultra high powered H9s, nearly doubling output power over stock, and focusing all the light forward vs wide angle leads to increased intensity. However, ultimately these fogs are not what I am looking for on my truck as I want the 90 degree ultra wide angle pattern, it is unfortunate that the pattern is not street friendly when upgraded.

I don't think any product exists on the market for my needs so I will likely run dual fogs. Baja Designs SAE LED amber/yellow forward facing fogs (once released) and work on a v3.0 version of the halogen fog upgrade that will be higher output but less street friendly in the ultra wide angle TRD assemblies. No way will I chance late night windy mountain pass crossings in chains required snowy conditions relying solely on LED fogs.

 

Hey there fellas, new guy here. I know this subject has been beat to hell and back, but does anyone have any experience with this dual led fog light from "deAutoLED.com". I dont care about the flashy strobe effect, just want a solid amber/yellow bulb for night driving in the snow and rain without losing the side projection of the OEMs. I've looked at and am leaning towards the Morimoto fogs, but then I saw these dual LEDs. These looked appealing....but so do a lot of shiny new, cash consuming things I find for my truck.

 

Yes, I have experience with color changing LEDs. They are beyond completely awful, as in the worst kind of LEDs you can buy. These kinds of half baked products are perpetuated by LED companies that know little to nothing about automotive lighting. Literally no legitimate lighting manufacture offers these products. I would highly advise avoiding any manufacture that offers such a product as it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding automotive lighting. See my review on the competing American Bolsa product in post #23:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/kickstarter-thoughts.579853/page-2#post-19367599

LEDs in halogen assemblies cause significant dangerous glare and loss of projection performance due to the improper placement of the LEDs and non-uniform light pattern of the LED chips. All these multi-color LEDs do is further move the LEDs out of alignment by trying to get 2 LED chips where there should be one, making neither aligned right. Causing even worse glare and worse loss in performance. Of course the seller will push you to believe these products are safe and legit.

See this thread to see what a "good" (still bad) LED looks like in a halogen reflector. Oh and look at the fogs and see whom is there. This is when LEDs are better positioned, when you do this multi-color garbage, results are far worse. Unfortunately the makers of these gimmicky LED products do not understand why they do not work, because they typically do not understand automotive lighting, the just understand LED.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

You were on the correct track with the Morimotos. You can see a full review of all the SAE fogs for the Tacoma here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

You are the man! Thanks, I've been looking at many of your posts and they have been extremely helpful. Thanks for keeping me on the right path man!