Workshop Index

Things to Consider Before Buying
Here are things you need to keep in mind before buying LED fog light bulbs.

Brightness
The brightness of fog lights is measured in Lumens, which indicates how intense the light is. A higher brightness level is usually preferred if you frequently drive at night and live in an area where fog is a common occurrence.

The brightness of LEDs varies significantly. Some fog LED lights may have up to 8000 Lumens, while others can be as low as 1,000 Lumens. Generally, 1,500 Lumens should be enough. However, it greatly depends on the environment you’re driving in.

Usually, brighter fog lights are more expensive than more dim ones, so it all depends on how much you’re willing to pay.

Cooling
Unlike other types of bulbs like halogen and HID bulbs, LED Fog light bulbs produce a significant amount of heat.
This heat can cause premature wear of the components if a proper cooling system isn’t used. Therefore it’s important to pick fog lights that are equipped with a good cooling system to ensure their longevity.

Brighter LED lights produce more heat and usually require more sophisticated cooling systems to extend their lifetime. The housing plays an important role in keeping the bulbs cool. Housing made of aluminum will provide you with good heat dissipation.

Lifespan
While it’s true that fog light bulbs aren’t used that often, it’s still important to pick LED bulbs that have a long lifespan. The lifespan of LED fog lights is measured in hours. Usually, your bulbs would be fine with a lifespan of 10,000 hours.

10,000 hours means that you can keep them on for over 400 days until they fail, which is something you probably won’t do. This means that these bulbs would last for years.

Ease of Installation
Installing some bulbs into your car isn’t supposed to take that long. That’s why you need to choose fog light bulbs that are easy to install.

You also need to make sure that the bulbs are compatible with your car’s fitments. This is usually indicated on the box and in the spec-sheet of the product.

Size
It’s important to choose fog lights that are compact to make sure that they don’t get knocked off by something, especially exterior-mounted fog lights.

Off-road Durability
Not all fog lights are designed to withstand off-road conditions. In case you frequently drive your car off-road, you many want to consider getting a pair of fog lights that have a waterproof rating of IP68 or higher.

Just keep in mind that these are usually more expensive.

Colour Temperature
A color temperature near the 6000 K mark will look great on your car. It’d be a good idea to match the color temperature of your fog light bulbs with your headlights. This will make your car look more sleek.

Efficiency
One important thing to consider before buying LED fog light bulbs is to make that their wattage is low. Low wattage means that the bulbs are more efficient and don’t draw a lot of power. This means that the lifespan of your car’s battery won’t be affected.

While it’s true that higher-wattage LED fog light bulbs are brighter and give a more intense light, it’s really not worth it. LED lights are quite effective even at a low wattage.

Beam Density
Another factor to consider when looking for LED fog light bulbs is beam density. Usually, bulbs with a higher density can pierce through fog more effectively than other bulbs.

Fog Lights – Frequently Asked Questions
Are fog lights legal?
The problem with fog lights is that they can blind other drivers due to their high intensity, putting them at risk of making an accident. Whether fog lights are legal or not depends on where you live. Some countries don’t allow them while other countries permit them.

However, even if they’re legal, there’s a high chance that using them for other purposes than their intended one isn’t allowed. One scenario is trying to blind another driver on purpose using the fog lights, especially if there’s no need to use them.

When should fog lights be used?
Just because there’s a fog doesn’t necessarily mean you need to turn on your fog lights right away. The Highway Code states that fog lights should only be used when visibility is affected by more than 100 meters.

It’s good practice to avoid using fog lights when there are other drivers in front of you, so make sure you use them wisely for your own and other people’s safety. You should also keep in mind that fog lights draw a lot of power, so use them only when it’s necessary.

How do I remove condensation from my fog light housing?
If there’s condensation in your fog light housing, there’s a high chance some sort of crack has developed on the fog light. Even a tiny crack can lead to condensation. The only solution you got, in this case, is to completely replace the housing.

However, if there’s no visible damage in the housing, remove the bulb and dry out the housing, then check the o-ring to see if it needs replacement. A blow dryer would be perfect in such a scenario. Use it at a distance of at least 6 inches and set it to “cold” to avoid damaging any of the components.

Conclusion
Our top pick (Lamp HQ) as the best LED Fog Light Bulbs are The Philips X-tremeVision LED fog lights. While they may not be the brightest LED fog lights around, we really like the design. It’s also compatible with a lot of socket types and they come at a great price. It’s just hard not to recommend these bulbs.

If you need more brightness, you can opt for the Marsuato LED fog light bulbs. They produce 2000 Lumens and they also come at an affordable price, making them a favorable alternative. They’re compatible with H8, H11, and H16 sockets. Nevertheless, all of the products on our list are top-quality and should get the job done effectively.

What Makes LED a Better Choice Than Halogen?
There’s a lot of controversy about which technology is the better choice for fog lights: LED or halogen. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, but we favor LED fog lights over halogen ones. The reason for that is pretty straightforward, LED fog lights are more durable and last longer than Halogen fog lights.

To understand how an LED (Light Emitting Diode) light is more durable than halogen ones, you need to have an idea about how an LED works. Basically, LEDs have no filament. The semiconductor materials that an LED is made of produce light when a current passes through them.

That’s not the only reason. LED lights are also more efficient than halogen lights, which means less frequent problems with the car’s battery. It draws a limited amount of power as compared to Halogen lights. Since LEDs produce whiter light than halogens, it was thought that LED fog lights are inferior to halogen ones. The reason for that is in earlier years, fog lights used to be yellow.

Yellow was generally preferred for fog lights due to the fact that its wavelength is longer than white light, giving you better visibility. However, recent studies have proved that both white and yellow light are effective for fog lights, hence the shift to LED technology. A third option would be HID fog light bulbs. These are brighter than LED light bulbs, but their lifespan is much shorter.