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Prius OE fog lights.

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by yeldogt, Nov 27, 2015.

  1. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

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    My 2011 Prius came with factory fog lights -- its a five with LED headlights. Last winter the driver side glass cracked and it finally fell out over the summer. I recently bought Lexus CT -- They come with factory fogs ... and thankfully LED DRLights

    The Fogs in both cars are worthless ... just so you know. I was talking to my neighbor who owns an older Prius and she wanted fog lights ... I told her the OE fog lights were worthless. She really wanted DRLights -- for our dark county roads. I use my LED headlights as DRLights as mine also does not have DRLights

    Today was fog light day. Discovering that most Toyota fog lights have interchangeable mounts -- figured I would try and get a better set for the new Lexus and move the Lexus fogs to the Prius ... I bought a set of aftermarket fogs for my neighbor to be wired as DRL.

    The Lexus OE Fogs are a hunk of plastic with an adjuster and H16 bulbs -- I was surprised how cheaply made they are. No wonder they don't do anything. The H16 bulbs are not as bright as the H11's. Don't know why they make some with the H16's. The OE Prius lights are much better made then the Lexus -- all glass ... more substantial and they take the higher watt H11 bulb. Thankfully, all the mount holes are the same -- the Lexus lights fit perfectly in the Prius and the wire connectors are the same for both bulbs. I purchased a set of lights from the guy on this site through e-bay -- they are more of a projector lamp -- glass and metal. They work much better and take the H11 bulb -- fit right into the Lexus opening. The set I got for my neighbor off of eBay are all plastic and similar to to Lexus set -- $50 bucks -- we got a set of lower wattage H16 LED bulbs to use as DRLights.

    The Lexus now has better fogs -- really a bit on the side of driving lights. The Prius has the crappy worthless Lexus lights -- at least it has them ... and my neighbor now has DRL. I should have bought a second set of the LED bulbs and just used my cheap OE fogs as DRL .. too late.

    It takes no time at all to switch out the lights -- a few screws and clips and the access cover is loose on both cars. The Prius lights clip in on one side --- held with one screw -- funny Toyota puts two screws in the Lexus. They all mount the same. My neighbors set came with the fog holders - so the new lamps fit in with no problems -- fogs work great as DRLights.
     
  2. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    If you bought the projectors that priuschat member Chiezy is selling, then I can vouch that they are good quality projectors. Yes, they are more or less driving lights, as the beam spread isn't wide like a true fog light.

    H11 bulbs are interchangeable with H16 bulbs, at least in the Toyota/Lexus universe. ;) I've even modified 35w H8 halogen bulbs to fit into the H11 foglight mounts for use as DRLs in the past. Link in my signature below shows what modification needs to be made to an H8 bulb to use in an H11 housing.
     
    cheizy and apt5020 like this.
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    So there's a replacement bulb for the stock Prius fog light that's an improvement? Still a fog pattern, brighter?
     
  4. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    The reflector based oem prius foglight is really bad as a true foglight. The reason is that they lack a beam cutoff, so light glares up and is reflected off the fog into the driver's eyes, similar to the lowbeams.

    Here's a pic of the projector foglights' nice cutoffs against my garage door:

    [​IMG]
     
    #4 xliderider, Nov 27, 2015
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2015
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  5. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Here's a pic of the oem foglight compared to Chiezy's projector foglight:

    [​IMG]

    There is one cautionary note though. At least one priuschat member had his plastic foglight shrouds melting from the concentrated/magnified rays of the sun through the projector lenses when parked in the sun. I believe he was in So. Cali.
     
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  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    What I've got. It's basically just possible to tell they're on. I'm not in too much of a lather about it, just curious. So a bulb upgrade wouldn't be that effective, might blind oncoming drivers?

    image.jpeg
     
  7. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Yes, putting a brighter bulb in the oem reflector foglights makes more glare to other drivers.
     
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  8. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

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    The H16 bulb will fit into the H11 fogs .. but the reverse is not the case. I bought a new set of H11 bulbs for the Prius and when I went to install them in the Lexus fog lights they would not go in. I was not familiar with the H16 bulb .. when figured it out I released that I had installed the H16's in the projectors on the CT. SO ... I had to open up the CT again and switch them out. It could be that forcing the H11's into the fogs built for the H16's could cause them to melt. The Lexus units were not as deep and all plastic -- The H11 bulb would be closer to the plastic
     
  9. nedear88

    nedear88 My 1st Prius.

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    I bought the ESUSE LED fog light, it's a complete assembly it works better than the OEM fog and the projector type, this give a super wide flat beam pattern and it's 5K in kelvin color. It will match pretty close to your LED head light color.

    The retrofit source has the XB fog which is plug and play, it is expensive but it will out perform the OEM fog light and it will last for a long time, the good parts is it consume only 9W of power vs the stock H11 55W, check it out.

    https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-headlight-fog-light-housings/morimoto-xb-led-fog-lights-toyota.html#.Vlsn0OIjE_c

    Some 4runner owner did an install write up, take a look at the beam pattern.
    Direct Replacement LED Fog Light Assemblies for 2014 & Other 5th Gens - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum
     
    #9 nedear88, Nov 29, 2015
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2015
  10. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Those XB foglights do have an excellent beam pattern, wide with a good cutoff.

    However, as true foglights, color matters. 5000k is too bright white and would cause some glare off fog. 2500k to 3000k would be much better for contrast. Unfortunately, LEDs don't have those color options.
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    My head's spinning a bit. Is there then a good choice for replacement fog light, something that will be in good color range, keep the beam down low (not blinding oncomers), improves the brightness and stays in "fog light" category, not driving lights?

    Again, I'm likely not going to do anything, I'm really hesistant about "upgrades", but it's good info to have out there.
     
  12. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

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    Do seem to be many options!

    The point of my post was two fold. 1. The stock Toyota fogs are worthless. I have a weekend place out in country -- I need good headlights especially when the deer are around ... thats all the time with the recent population explosion. So ...I was trying to warn people if they think they are going to get any benefit from the OE fogs .. forget it. 2. The mounts for all of these Toyota fogs are all the same.

    The standard LED headlight on the Prius Five was the reason I bought that trim level -- they work very well. Our other cars have discharge headlights .. and driving the stock halogens on the 11 was a downgrade. I was not able to find a 2015 CT with discharge headlights without a lot of stuff I did not want ... I was not going to pay 40k for a CT. The headlights are available as a "stand alone" option .. was not able to find any. The projector halogens are decent and the high beams are very good. I was surprised that the OE fogs on the CT provided less light then the Prius fogs -- on removing them it was easy to see why .. very cheap and low watt bulb. Toyota should be providing better lighting on the cars .. it is a weak spot for them .. especially when compared to the european cars.
     
  13. texasboy77904

    texasboy77904 Junior Member

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    Were these straight replacements from your OEM fogs? No added components like ballasts or any other HID parts in the pictures?

    Just wondering if its worth get a whole HID kit or not.
     
  14. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Yes, straight up replacement of the oem or oem style foglights. They come only with the two projector housings, no bulbs, no wiring harness, no switches. Just the projectors.
     
  15. texasboy77904

    texasboy77904 Junior Member

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  16. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Those are HID Bulbs, you will need ballasts to use those.

    I use Nokya H11 2500K Yellow halogen bulbs from Amazon. That's what's in the foglights in my picture above.

    Additionally, you stated in another post that you have 50w HID in your lowbeams. That's a lot of bright light, you don't need HID in your foglights too. Besides, the projector foglights you are getting will keep the light down really low to the road, where they are only lighting up the area in front of the car. You don't need the extra brightness that HIDs will produce, right in front of the car, regular halogen bulbs are fine for that.
     
    #16 xliderider, Feb 3, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 3, 2016
  17. texasboy77904

    texasboy77904 Junior Member

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    Thanks again for your insight xliderider! Sounds like ill be ok with the projector foglights from member cheizy if they're still available with the Nokya's your referenced.

    So much to learn and not enough time haha.
     
  18. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Here is a picture I took last night with the exposure turned down.

    [​IMG]

    You can see that the projector foglights light up the ground in front of the car. If the road surface was wet, then the light would reflect off the road surface due to the very narrow angle of light to the road, like when you throw a stone at a flat angle to skip it across water. Putting HIDs in there, which are about 3x brighter than halogens, is overkill.
     
  19. texasboy77904

    texasboy77904 Junior Member

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    Thanks for the pic mate! That really helps!
     
  20. texasboy77904

    texasboy77904 Junior Member

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