The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

I agree the fog mount is terrible! The oem fogs did the same but the output of the halogen lights are so poor, you don't really notice the jiggle. There is a retaining clip on the painted/plastic bumper cap but not on the chrome ones, the bezel just clicks in place... just barely. Plus the retaining clip does not help much.

The zip ties have to be very tight but will do the trick, for how long is unknown. The TRD pro guys have the same problem with the Rigids and some have fab'd up angel iron to mount the fogs more secure. Someone actually makes a mount for this but you have to have lights that mount on a bottom pivot point.

 

The SS3s are available with bottom mount brackets like a normal pod, though not with the OEM mount cupped bezel as a single purchase. But in theory, if you got the bottom mount SS3 brackets you may be able to use the bottom mount Tundra fog solution you mention.

 

So I swapped in the clear lens into my yellow SS3 pros. The light is crisp and clean. But honestly, to “my” naked eye, the yellow has just as much output as the light does with the clear lense.... it’s just white on the road. Ultimately, I went back to the yellow. The output is just as good and it certainly gives the truck a more distinctive look, albeit with a far more useable fog light.

2nd to last picture is oem led low beams only.
Last picture is low beams and SS3 Pro fog.

 

Thanks for being the Guinea pig and saving me the $60. I eventually would have asked myself if I should get the clear covers

 

Diode Dynamics did well in optimizing the yellow lights with 4000k emitters, so there is only a 9% loss using the yellow optics by my measurements. Meaning there is not a big gain to be had by switching to clear lenses. The switch to clear would be for those that want a white light, but not in the high color temp typical of LED fogs/pods.

 

Anyone have experience in these? Just curious

 

Yep. See post number 2 in the thread below, ignore the H9s on the charts for a fog application. The GE bulbs do a bit better, best H11 is the GE Xenon +120 which has the least performance reducing blue coating.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...11-projector-headlights.589465/#post-19689309

 

First heavy fog this morning since I installed selective yellow. The light cut through the fog like a hot knife through butter. I'm embarrassed that I was so ignorant of how color temp impacts the amount of reflected light. Not sure why more manufacturers don't use yellow for factory fog light applications.

 

Just ordered a set of the SS3 Sports in Yellow today to replace my SR5 OEM Fogs. Pretty stoked. How do the Sports do in snow? are they hot enough to keep snow from building up?

 

Saw this on Facebook. Looks like the DD pods will work great in snowy conditions.

 

Just ordered DD SS3 pro yellow’s. Glad i happened to check this on the last day of the 20% off sale! @crashnburn80 thank you so much for the excellent reviews/photos/writeups. Without members like you the tacoma community wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is! Your work is greatly appreciated. Thanks for putting in the time and effort! @Diode Dynamics Thanks for putting in the work and effort to produce a product so many (including myself) are thrilled to purchase. Can’t wait till they get here!

 

SS3PRO on 18” TRD sport. Paired with D2S 5500K projectors. I did read about the spill from these fogs above the cut off line but I can tell by the pictures attached (you can see car lights reflecting bact me and they are parked way above the lowbeam cutoff. I want to use these lights everyday but I am afraid of blinding other drivers. Does anyone have problems with glare from the Pros? Might be going to SS3Sports since they have a crisp cutoff
p.s these are angled all the way down.

 

Yours are aimed a bit high. Drop back about 20’ and adjust the top of the fog pattern to where it’s just below the bottom of the low beam drop off

 

They are angled all the way down. I followed the install instructions (kept the bracket all the way back so I could angle it as much down as possible). Idk what else can be wrong. I believe My lowbeams are angled lower than what they should be. I have to go to a shop to check everything.
I love the lights so much!

 

Ill say it again and again. Aiming is very important!

The fog cut off should NOT be higher than the fog light height on your bumper. THIS IS IMPORTANT. otherwise the cut off beam on the fogs with rise with distance blinding other drivers.

there are tons of write up on this. find a wall, measure 25ft back. measure height of fogs on bumper. mark the height of the fog on wall. aim 4" or so below that line

Please don't aim fogs "just below the low beam cut off", this is just wrong.

 

When you say all the way back in the bracket, are you pushing the lights as far back as possible, or pulling them as far forward as possible. Pushing the light all the way back may limit tilt due to bracket interference on the pod body, and all the way forward may limit tilt due to interference on the bezel. I mounted mine in the center of the bracket and had no issues aiming them down with room to spare.

 

He is clearly running the Pros to resist that level of freezing punishment.

 

how well do you think the Sports in amber would hold up in the snow? I mean clearly the pros run much much hotter but is the heat output of the sports enough to keep them from icing up in milder ca winters in the Sierra’s? Or am I going to be getting out and clearing them constantly. Will a ceramic coating over the lens help at all keeping snow off?

from someone that tests these lights is ceramic coating lights for protection and hydrophobic properties a bad thing in regards to light outputs and patterns?

 

You can see in my SS3 post I recorded the selective yellow sports at 111 degrees F lens temp at about 65 degree ambient. Filtration lenses (yellow) absorb light, and since light is energy the law of conservation of energy says energy cannot be created or destroyed, that filtered energy is converted to heat at the lens. The white sports would not be adequate for snow use as the body is cool and the clear lens is too efficient to generate heat. The yellow lenses do get warm, my measurements stay 46 degrees over ambient in a stationary test. Having the lights mounted on a moving vehicle in cold weather, the actual numbers will be lower and the light will be getting blasted with cold air and snow providing increased cooling. The yellow sports would likely work in mild snow weather conditions, but they just don't have much heat generating power with their low power draw. It isn't just the lens either, the recessed OEM mount design basically creates a snow scoop, on the Pros that outer aluminum bezel becomes hand burning hot, which will prevent snow accumulation. On the sports, it does not. If snow is a major concern, I would opt for the Pro model. I would not recommend applying coatings to the optic to help prevent snow accumulation.