Recommendations on fog lights and driving lights

[eaneumann]

I’m looking for recommendations for fog lights and driving lights for my Toyota Tundra. I just put on an Addicted Offroad bumper, so it’s time for some lights. My last vehicle had Rigid D2 in a driving beam for my driving lights. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the color, it made my eyes tired. And no fog lights. I want to stay as street legal as possible. I’m responsible with my lighting, so don’t expect any issues, but these will be used on road with no other vehicles in sight.

My factory headlights are useless in serious snow conditions, so I’m looking for a compact fog light that I can run alone during heavy snow.

I live in the Colorado high country and do a lot of snow driving. I need these lights to not get iced over, kind of leaning away from LED because of that. My last vehicle also had LED Tucklites that didn’t melt snow.

As of right now, the new Rigid DOT fog lights look very promising. They would possibly get hot enough to keep the snow melted if they were left on. My Tucklites were on my Jeep so they had a whole little cubby that got filled with snow in the grill. My mounting options are very limited for the fog lights, they need to be small.

For driving lights, I have no idea where to start. I wasn’t impressed with the D2. I want something that shines further and hopefully a better color temperature. Plus, these were mostly turned off, so when I needed them in winter, they were packed with snow and wouldn’t warm fast. Maybe a clear cover would solve this? I’ve never used proper driving lights. I would prefer something with a cutoff that can be aimed in a driving pattern. I have a 40” light bar on my roof rack for the trails. My two mounting tabs are 10 1/2” apart and I have about 6” of clearance to my grill.

Im not opposed to halogen, HID, or LED. I just want something that will work well and hopefully look nice. I don’t mind spending the money if I’m going to be happy, I just don’t want to spend $1500 and be disappointed. The cheaper the better still.

Thanks for any input!

 

[paranoid56]

for driving lights i would check out the Baja Designs lights. They make some kick *** products that will light up the world. as for the fogs take a look at some of the led projector fogs that other companys offer.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

J.W. Speaker

 

[verdesard0g]

El cheapo halogens with 100W bulbs. the center driving lights are pencil beams and do shine way down the road, the outter ones are fog /driving for ditch or fog.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Tundra first gen or second gen? If no factory fogs, there are a bunch of mounting kits to put fogs in the factory location, or just buy factory parts for the mounts and then get whatever lights you want. Wire them through a relay to a separate switch, ignore the factory controls. For snowy conditions and instant-on with enough heat to melt snow, you probably want halogens. Halogens are instant, no warm-up required; good color temperature; reasonable prices; lots of choices in wattage, size and shape. And they don't throw random light all over the place like most LEDs do. I am a big fan of Hella lights and have them in driving, cornering, fog, and backup applications on my Power Wagon, supplemented by a Morimoto LED bar for broad & bright when I need it. You should probably call Susquehanna Motor Sports in PA and discuss your needs with them. They are a big Hella distributor and they are actually gearheads who drive a lot in snow.

My 2Gen Tundra daily driver still has factory fogs and headlights, plus a couple of smallish LED bars to supplement them. The factory lights are not that good, and the LEDs are just a stopgap until I can figure out what will work best. Mounting options on the Tundra are pretty limited without going to a custom light bar. I have an N-Fab bar on the truck now, but it's crap and will go away at some point.

 

[Buliwyf]

Actively snowing and you have the road to yourself? Nothing beats the Lightforce pencil beam with blue lens's mounted low over the front bumper in snow storms. (to everyone about to froth at the mouth about science, don't, just try them, they work way better than I ever imagined)

With traffic, stock headlights. Maybe aimed a bit lower than normal. Don't use bulbs too bright. The Rigid yellow tinted lights are still too bright for oncoming traffic.

Offroad driving lights? Fyrlyt are by far the most powerful lights I've ever seen.

I find snow wheeling easy. White lights up nicely.

 

[eaneumann]

Thanks for the replies so far!

Does JW Speaker offer anything self contained with mounting brackets? I’ve only seen OEM fog light and headlight replacements.

The DOT Rigids have a very sharp cut off. They won’t blind drivers if aimed correctly. They also have a DOT driving light that I’m considering, but don’t really care for the look. They are made with a 6” E series housing.

So far I’m thinking Hella 4000s in a driving beam, the Rigid DOT, Baja Designs LP9, or the Baja Designs XL80 for the driving lights. Baja does use a warmer color temperature than Rigid, but I haven’t seen them in person.

The truck is a 2nd gen. I’m using normal H11 bulbs. The scatter is still pretty intense in heavy snow. As mentioned, they are not great headlights. I also have the ability to aim them from in the cab. Even aimed super low, you can’t see in heavy snow. The light scatter is so bad. My fog lights will be wired to the factory harness, my switch has been modified so I can use just my fog lights.

Here’s some pictures of the bumper. Driving lights will be mounted in front of the winch on the provided tabs. Ideally fog lights will fit in the little spot next to the license plate, but could be mounted on a bracket off to the side of the bumper where it mounts. Not the safest location, but probably the best I can do with this bumper.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Yes they do offer bracket mounted light assemblies also some are heated as well.
https://www.jwspeaker.com/products/applications/off-road-4x4/

 

[IdaSHO]

Lightforce pencil beam with blue lens's mounted low over the front bumper in snow storms.

uh, Blue?

Not legal in most, if not all states int he USA

 

[Buliwyf]

If I used them in traffic, on coming traffic would go blind. White lens and they're still illegal as heck. The Fyrlyt's are even more so.

I use them on country back roads and way out in the park wilderness. No one in sight for miles usually. You do have to be careful. It's hard to spot oncoming light halo coming over a hill. So i turn them off approaching hills. Highway patrol catches you using them, you have some explaining to do. But way out on backroads, they're ok with it, assuming they're parked with their lights off, when they spot you. You blind them when they have their lights on, you get ticket. (In New Jersey you get a visit from the potato man)

Then again, I've seen shmucks in jeeps cruising down the highway with Rigid bars on. Blinding everyone around them. Hopefully they get caught.

 

[comptiger5000]

On my Jeep I run the following:

Headlights: stock Euro housings (glass lens, Euro beam pattern with good cutoff) with 100/80 H4 bulbs
Driving lights: 2x IPF 968 (100w) angled out slightly, 2x Hella 4000 Euro beam (100w) pointed straight forward, all 4 on a bar that sits them in front of the bumper to either side of the license plate. All 4 turn on / off with the high beams
Fog lights: 2x IPF 840 yellow fogs (85w) mounted in the stock fog light positions and triggered from the stock fog light circuit (can be on with parking lights or low beams)

I don't run with the fogs on unless the weather demands it (which sometimes leads to running just parking lights and fogs if the low beams produce too much glare). Not blinding people with the driving lights is easy, just kill the high beams and the big lights turn off too.

 

[Aria Jordan]

Recommendations on Fog Lights and driving Lights

Hey, The both fog and driving lights are helpful in their own way. As per your query, you should go for the good brand lights for your car which can give you dual nature in both weather conditions. It will cost you less as compare to both nes seperately. Search for that,I am sure you will get the solution soon.

 

[Happy Joe]

...I am going to be adding some fogs to the Jeep (the ugly originals were removed by a previous owner) eventually so I will try to follow this thread...no use for driving lights as I don't normally go much over 75-80 and then mostly on the interstate.
I figure on keeping the (probably flood pattern, LED) fogs low and will likely French them into the bumper.

Enjoy!

 

[cdthiker]

As to the rigid DOT/ SAE lights.


I got a set of their " fog" lights in this new configuration. I live in the mountains at 5 thousand feet and do a lot of driving back and forth to boise in the snow. We get snow about six months out of the year up here and I wanted something better.

Enter the rigid lights.

I went with the d series mounted on the front bumper of my tacoma near the license plate. They are attached to a metal bar behind the plastic this seems to work well.

These lights are Bright. and Wide. They are like having a second set of low beams but better. I set them up so they are aimed in the bottom half of my low beam pattern and below. At some point I will move them to the fog holes on my tacoma but did not have the time or money to mess with the bracket.


They way they are set up now. You could leave them on if you wanted with on coming traffic. it is about the same as the super bright BMW etc etc white lights.
about every tenth person will flash you. Most will not. If they were lower it would not be a problem.

If I am behind some one because they have such a sharp drop off, I will run them if I am far enough back. Think not far enough away to use high beams. Too close for just low beams 10 car leangths or so.


The best part about them is that they light up the ditches and we have a lot of deer. AND how they function in the snow.
I end up going back and for a lot at night and if the snow if driving hard i flip off the low beams and just run the rigids. They are great in dense fog too.
they really cut down on the glare from the falling snow and they cut through the fog nicely. AKA any time it is hard to see because of normal headlights and crap weather running just these is awesome.

Worth every cent for the D2 version of these.


I plan to move these into the fog holes once I get the brackets and run them full time. When I do this I will most likely get their driving light DOT Sae bar and tuck it into the bumper or behind the grill. It would need to be low or you would never be able to run it with on coming traffic. This I would most likely link to my high beam switch for headlights.

The current set up is designed to have highbeams on and the rigids fill all of the void that is under the highbeam and it works nicely.


I have been pulled over once when I was running them through the little one cow town I live in on the " highway" it was sleeting. State trooper said they were a bit bright. I mentioned that they were DOT legal and she said " that dosent really matter " I mentioned they were SAE fog lights and at that point she said that they had to be under x number of candle power for them to be legal aux lights in the state of idaho. They are under that limit. In the eyes of the law you are most likely fine. If you do get pulled over there is SAE/DOT etched on the bottom of the lense. She took a look at them and told me to run the nummbers to make sure on the candle power.

Needless to say, set up high, I try to flick them off when I meet some one on the road. If I cant, I am not worried about them driving into the ditch because they are so bright.


for your snow needs. If you mount them in the right spot they will be perfect.

 

[MNmtb]

Baja Design Squadron Pro with Skene controller

I like multi-purpose and clean looks. My solution for my ‘15 Tacoma was to install Baja Designs Squadron Pros (plenty of light 5000 lm on full). But then the magic of the system was to wire in one of these skene controlers

https://www.skenelights.com/online-store/Auxiliary-Light-Dimmers-c22720603

I have the three positions set at 20%, 50% and 100% power. This gives me great use as fog lights at 20%, then 50% for driving lights and 100% for off-road. Perfect solution, sleek and serves all my needs.