The area around Olympia,WA is very very foggy at night.It's pretty dangenous driving on a country road for 60mph with only low beam on.Visibility is very very low(I can only see things that are right in front of my car)Using high beam in the fog is not wise as the fog just reflects all the lights and makes it even worse,so I decided to install a pair of fog lights myself.
Can anyone share their ideas about how to install the fog lights?Is it a very hard job to do?
That will be a great help if some of you can tell me what I need to do and what I cannot do.Thanks.
What kind are you getting? Hella 500s are a good price and kick ass. Factory fogs pretty much blow. Just follow the box instructions
I don't know much about the brands,but I will take your note .I read the owner's manual of my car and it says the fog light bulbs should be 55w each,so I am getting one box of those with 55w bulbs.
What my problem is to do the wiring.I am afraid I would make some kind of mistakes and got a short circult(I hope not)or other problems that will affect my car.Because this is my very first try to install something on my car by myself,so I wanna finish it without blowing any stuff up.
I like Hella. They use a relay. It is good to have a relay. Some cheaper lights don't. Only thing, when I wired mine according to the instructions, if you flash the bright lights, the fogs go off. Good thing is when you shut off the engine, the Hella's would shut off. The cheap fogs lights I have on my Sentra stay on until you switch them off. Ran the battery down one time after forgetting to turn them off. When I installed Hella on my 92 Mazda pick-up I also purchased the remote kit. It means you don't have to run wires through the firewall, so it will be a little neater under the dash. But it might be tight to install the remote box in the engine bay. My truck had lots of room. Plus was more expensive. Here is where I purchased mine:
What my problem is to do the wiring.I am afraid I would make some kind of mistakes and got a short circult(I hope not)or other problems that will affect my car.Because this is my very first try to install something on my car by myself,so I wanna finish it without blowing any stuff up.
Hella also has good instructions and good support at their website. Wiring is not that bad. They include a fuse or fuses so if you do mess up, it will just blow the fuse. If you follow the instructions, and take your time, you probably won't have problems. I ran my wires through the rubber grommet on the drivers side of the firewall (to the left of the brake master cylinder). I think I just cut a slit in the grommet enough to get the wires through, then put the grommet back in place. When mounting the switch, there are several little plastic panels along the dash. I just removed one, drilled a hole, installed the switch/connected wires and pushed the plastic panel back in place. The hard part was installing the lights on the bumper. Lights come in various shapes and sizes. Before you get the lights, it my be a good idea to measure the area where you would like them to be. I did not have to worry about airbag sensors, so I drilled holes in the bumper and screwed them in. They have stayed there the last 7 years. They are a little crooked, if you look closely at the picture. Also, I like to use cable ties to secure the wires so they do not dangle and stay out of the way. They come in various sizes and are available at hardware stores, Wal-mart, etc.
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Not sure how you would install Hella 500 series lights I saw. Looks like they would need to go on top of the bumper due to there size and mounting bolt. Maybe someone else could direct you on those if you are interested. I once had a set of fogs with a yellow tinted light. Supposed to give better visibility. They may not reflect back as much. Just make sure the wiring stays away from anything hot, and you will do fine. You may be able to find Hella lights at a local store instead of online according to Hella.
I put on fog lights because I just did not seem to have enough light, especially at night. In the last few years I changed my light bulbs to Xtra vision light bulbs. I can tell a difference. Now I only use my fog lights during…fog, or when it rains and visibility is poor. It may be a way to boost your visibility besides the fog light idea.
I bumped into this info when looking for the Xtra vision light info. Looks like mounting the fog lights below the bumper/level of the headlights will give you the best visibility.
I saw the picture.Looks like it's not small enough to fit in the "hole" of the bumper.I saw there are fog lights for sale in Walmart.They are in blue color and cost around $20-30.Do they have good qualities?
They probably will not have a relay. It should say on the box. However, they may be OK for your needs. The current set I have on my Sentra was from Auto Zone. It probably will be good to see the lights, if you want to fit them in the area where OEM ones go. The cheaper ones I had came with a wiring harness, a fuse, and a switch. You may need to turn them off with the switch. The way Hella has you wire them they turn off when the car lights are turned off (or put on high beam as described earlier). On a budget I may try the Wal-Mart ones. The blue color lights may be good. I think Hella has some blue ones that put out a yellow light. This may help with visibility. There are other Hella lights on the links I posted. They list the dimensions when you click on them.
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just get the courtessy nissan fog light uprgreades, i heard the light up the road really good.
These ^ sound like they would look nice! If you do go with the Wal-Mart fog lights, one thing to make the install job look neater is split flex tubing. It is about 1/2 diameter plastic tubing with ridges. It has a slit on one side where you can stuff wires into the center. Saw it a Home Depot for $1.12 for 7 ft. This will hide the wiring harness wires. It is black. Seems like you would like things to look nice. My lights are functional, but under the hood is a mess. My aftermarket cruise control came with this stuff, and I am using to hide my computer wires.
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Guys,many thanks for all the infomation.I decided to get a pair of Hella Amber fog light(which I understand is yellow lamps).I saw 3 choices on ebay:Hella 450,Hella 530 and Hella 550.Which one is better and is the most suitable to put under the bumper?I will go for rectanglar ones because it looks nicer on the sentra.
Guys,many thanks for all the infomation.I decided to get a pair of Hella Amber fog light(which I understand is yellow lamps).I saw 3 choices on ebay:Hella 450,Hella 530 and Hella 550.Which one is better and is the most suitable to put under the bumper?I will go for rectanglar ones because it looks nicer on the sentra.
Not sure where you found them on Ebay, but here is the link from the website I used that shows the 530 lights.
I went out and looked under the bumper. The thing is, it has a bolt and nut. The only place I saw you could drill a hole, (as best as I could see 4 am in the morning), in the plastic part of the bumper at an angle. Do not see how you could do it drilling into the horizontal part of the bumper. How would you spin the nut on, unless you have an open space to access the threads? May be good to get under your bumper for a looksee.
Check out these customer support links. May answer other questions. You may even write them an email or call. They may direct you on what is best.
These are some big lights: Size: 7 3/8"W x 3 1/2" H x 2 15/16"D.
I did not realize they were so big. You may have to tap into metal to give the proper support. With vibration, the plastic may not hold. Personally, I think the lower profile Optilux lights may work better for your application. I think these 530 lights would work better on a truck, like Pathfinder above. I know the smaller profile ones will hold in the plastic, but they probably weigh 1/3 or so less, and will be easy to mount on the bumper.
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Truth alone triumphs, not untruth. :)
.I read the owner's manual of my car and it says the fog light bulbs should be 55w each,so I am getting one box of those with 55w bulbs.
just get the courtessy nissan fog light uprgreades, i heard the light up the road really good.
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