Best LED fog light replacement bulb

What is the best LED replacement light bulb to improve nighttime visibility for fog lights?

Something that is plug and play. I don't want to customized anything.

It's for a SUV.

 

Absolutely none of them.

/thread.

 

Forgot to add there are H11 bulbs.

 

Bad weather would be an amber light.

what housing is the fog light. Some are wide angle, some are different output pattern reflectors. So some of the output pattern might get thrown out different.

you looking for side lighting, front lighting, high / low lighting

so just an led might not help when the fog light housing itself might be the driving variable in what you want or don’t want

 

Diode dynamics SS3 SAE pro’s or max’s

 

Op did say bulb ~ type. Not sure he wants to do that also it’s not for a Tacoma

 

I got no clue what type of housing I have. The SUV is a 12 RAV4.

I just want it brighter to improve night time driving and in bad weather I was just planning to shut the fog lights off.

 

If I was planning on keeping the SUV longer, then I would.

 

https://www.bajadesigns.com/products/Toyota-RAV4-Lighting-Kits-2018-and-Newer.asp

 

That is quite literally the opposite of how fog lights should be used.

More light near the vehicle is comforting, but it also constricts your pupils, reducing your ability to see objects at a distance. During normal driving conditions, this is a bad thing, because you need to see the things that are 200 and 300' down the roadway when you're traveling 35mph, much more than you need to see things 50-100' away.

Fogs should be kept turned Off in good weather. Ideally fogs should be used without the lowbeams (because lowbeams allow for up-light, light above their cut off, whether a soft cutoff or a hard projector type cutoff) which causes issues with seeing objects at mid-to-short ranges, and at speeds less that 20mph. They are usually characterized by a very short, very wide beam pattern with a very hard cutoff and little to no uplight, so that a driver can see the edges of the road while driving very slowly.

It sounds like you want to improve the lowbeams of your wifes vehicle.

If the headlamps are OEM and still in good condition (no hazing or crazing), then ensure they are properly aimed (visit this link for a thorough explanation how: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html ). If they are beginning to haze or craze, but the reflectors are in good condition (no dull/ashy appearance, no pitting or obvious physical damage) then polish off the external crazing and clearcoat them in something like outdoor rated uv stabilized clesr gloss polyurethane (easiest) or a UV curing UV protective hardcoat product like LiteRight. Then ensure proper aim.

Next comes bulb selection - a quick google says the 2012 Rav4 uses a 9006 lowbeam, and a 9005 highbeam bulb.

9006 and 9005 are both older bulbs. There is a newer, optically and electrically compatible halogen upgrage for each. You can use HIR2/9012 bulbs in place of the 9006, and HIR1/9011 bulbs in place of the 9005 high beam bulbs.

The 9006 produces 1000 lumens at 55w (+/-10%). The 9012/HIR2 produces 1870 lumens (+/-10%). The 9012 is a much higher flux bulb, and the result is similar to replacing an H11 with an H9 (think of CrashnBurn80's 3rd gen headlight testing thread). Similarly, 9005 produces 1700 lumens from 65w, whereas the 9011 produces 2300 for the same power draw.

Best bang for your buck lowbeam upgrade without messing with fogs, trying to add auxiliary low beams, etc.

 

It makes a lot sense.

The fog lights can only be use when the headlight are on. In fog, with both fog and headlights on visibility isn't all that great. I basically use just the headlights in fog condition.

The headlight lens were yellowed but I sanded and polish them clear. There's crazing on 1 lens but it's so minor, and doesn't take away from the light output. I may try to remove the crazing.

I'm going to take your advice and upgrading the headlight lowbeam to 9012/HIR2. Which brand of headlight would you choose?

With the upgraded 9012, is there a decrease in hours being more light output?

Does heat become an issue?

Thanks, for the in depth reply!

 

If you polished the lenses, make sure to clearcoat them. I've used the outdoor rated high gloss polyurethane method on about a half dozen cars over the past 10 years, it works well and is easy to fix if there's a mistake in application.

My understanding (from talking to others on other forums) is that the Vosla +120 HIR2/9012 is the best current performing 9012 on the market. Lifespan is about 300 hours. Heat should not be an issie, these are not higher wattage bulbs, the HIR standard was developed around using an IR reflective coating which heated the filament more, allowing it to be more intense and efficient. Later iterations of HIR standard bulbs don't necessarily use the IR coating, as some changes to bulb envelope (the glass/quartz) allowed for much the same effect.

For specific recommendations I would reach out to Dan Stern at the email address on his website, the one I linked the aiming article on. The Vosla bulb is the best on the market to my knowledge, but this is 2nd/3rd hand info and there may be a better option. Stern will sort you out.

Edit- and I hear you about not being able to use solely the fogs. Some states don't allow fog/running lights only on the roads (I know PA in particular doesn't) which negates the effective use of Real fogs in Foul weather. Its a pain. The law is out of date about so many things.

 

When weather cools down I'm going to try to completely remove the crazing from the lens. Then I read about 2K clear coat spray.

Are the Vosla easy to come by, beside Ebay?

I'm going to email Dan Stern to see what he have to say.

 

thats the way to go. I have the pros and I might get the max sometime soon

 

I have the pro’s and I can’t imagine having the maxxesthe pro’s are already stupid bright

 

Speaking as one who's gone from Pro to Max, you won't be disappointed in the output. The biggest difference is the improved beam pattern on the Max. Less up light.

Remember, power corrupts, but absolute power is, well, kind of neat. They are a bit pricey though.

 

Oh I’m sure I won’t be disappointed, I’ll just be even more mind blown than I already am

 

Don't bother with Baja Designs, their output isn't much better than even the stock h11 Tacoma fog lights. Get the Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro SAE Fog with Selective Yellow lenses or MAX if you want to drop the coin. Check out this link for ALL LED options and how they stack up. Hint nothing comes close to the performance and price of Diode Dynamics. I believe you have the same style mounting as the the Tacoma, but I'm not 100% certain. Many Toyota fog lights use the same mounting so they don't have to completely change a design and it streamlines production and cuts down on R&D cost.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

I personally have the SS3 Pro SAE Fog Selective Yellow in our 21 Subaru Ascent. Contrary to what others say on here it absolutely helps with eye strain even in good weather. Ours has the OEM LED headlights and with the selective yellow it reduces the appearance of the bright white light and reduces fatigue while driving at night with an added bonus of helping light the ditches well. They made a massive improvement in poor weather (rain and snow)!! So much so that my wife even commented on how much she liked them, she rarely notices anything I do on our cars. haha

Here is a picture of the SS3 Pro's on our Ascent. This is before lowering them a bit since they were a smidge high when I took these photos.

The wall is about 30-40ft away in these photos.



This one the wall is about 100ft away.