What is the point in fog lights?
Discussion
Recent weather has got me thinking. Is there any point in them? They aren't any brighter than normal headlights, they are often misused and I have never thought in foggy conditions "ooo I can barely see that car with their normal headlights on, wish they would put fogs on"
They don't make any real difference at all.
Rear fog perhaps does make a difference but certainly not front.
They don't make any real difference at all.
Rear fog perhaps does make a difference but certainly not front.
OK I´ll bite
Front fog lights are for your use, not for other people to see you. They provide a puddle of light closer to the front your car so that, when travelling slowly in low visibility conditions, you can see nearer obstacles and features.
With most cars I´ve had with fog lights they have been considerably brighter than the headlights, hence why they´re so annoying to others...
Awaiting usual PH-style arguement and disagreement
Front fog lights are for your use, not for other people to see you. They provide a puddle of light closer to the front your car so that, when travelling slowly in low visibility conditions, you can see nearer obstacles and features.
With most cars I´ve had with fog lights they have been considerably brighter than the headlights, hence why they´re so annoying to others...
Awaiting usual PH-style arguement and disagreement
The fog is often just above the ground level.
The regular lights just give you glare of a bank of white reflection coming back at you making the edge of the road hard to see, particularly at night. So I find it much better with just the dipped beam not full beam.
And even better with fogs too to help illuminate UNDER the fog IYSWIM.
This is country lane driving mostly.
Probably not much help on a straight motorway lane.
The regular lights just give you glare of a bank of white reflection coming back at you making the edge of the road hard to see, particularly at night. So I find it much better with just the dipped beam not full beam.
And even better with fogs too to help illuminate UNDER the fog IYSWIM.
This is country lane driving mostly.
Probably not much help on a straight motorway lane.
I have to agree with the OP and can't remember the last time I used my front fog lights.
I read somewhere about trying high beam but with the level turned right down & found this more effective than fog/dip beam combination - unfortunately cannot do this with Xenons.
Again, country road scenario, parents used to live near Four Lanes in Cornwall - anyone local will know the relevance of this!
I read somewhere about trying high beam but with the level turned right down & found this more effective than fog/dip beam combination - unfortunately cannot do this with Xenons.
Again, country road scenario, parents used to live near Four Lanes in Cornwall - anyone local will know the relevance of this!
I used to think the same as you, then I was abroad somewhere and got caught in proper foggy weather where I literally couldn't see the road. The foglights then (with headlights off) were really useful to light up underneath the fog so I could see the road while I trundled along at about 5 mph.
The rear is useful for misty conditions on fast roads, but unfortunately to get the rear one on, I have to click through the front one too, so people probably think I'm a moron driving along with both my dipped headlights and front fogs on.
The rear is useful for misty conditions on fast roads, but unfortunately to get the rear one on, I have to click through the front one too, so people probably think I'm a moron driving along with both my dipped headlights and front fogs on.
generationx said:
Front fog lights are for your use, not for other people to see you. They provide a puddle of light closer to the front your car so that, when travelling slowly in low visibility conditions, you can see nearer obstacles and features.
I think the first half of this is the thing a lot of people seem to miss which leads to their misuse. Front fog-lights in practice project at best a few meters in front of the car; if the visibility is good enough for you to do more than about 20mph, they are useless because you wont have time to react to anything revealed by them anyway. In my experience they're only useful in situations where you have to switch off dipped beams to avoid being dazzled by your lights. Why manufacturers set cars up so you can't turn on the rear fog-lights without the front, I've never understood. In my 18 years of driving I've wanted front fog-lights once, compared to tens if not hundreds of times for the rear ones.
GravelMachineGun said:
generationx said:
Front fog lights are for your use, not for other people to see you.
That is their intended use but you never have any problems seeing a car in poor conditions if they have their headlights on. IMO anyway.If you can't see the point of them, it's probably because you have never experienced very thick fog. They then come in very useful.
MrBarry123 said:
They are annoying and completely pointless nowadays.
More annoying though is the trend I've seen over the past couple of days of people leaving their full-beam on when it's foggy. Cretins.
My, admittedly (>20yr old) 968 doesn't allow you to turn the rear fogs on when the front fogs aren't on. That and the lack of a "you've left your lights on" buzzer are about the only things that annoy me about the car.More annoying though is the trend I've seen over the past couple of days of people leaving their full-beam on when it's foggy. Cretins.
Seeing as it's regularly foggy where I live in winter time (half way up a mountain), I find them incredibly useful.
As the OP mentioned, they light up the area immediately in front of the car, rather than way ahead. My normal xenon's are much better than the old halogens however in thick fog, headlights end up just blinding the area in front of you leaving you with zero visibility.
The fog lights are much better at just lighting up the immediate road ahead as mentioned so at least you can drive slowly and carefully.
I'm not sure how modern headlight technology can resolve this unless the car can sense if there is fog and dip the lights further.
As the OP mentioned, they light up the area immediately in front of the car, rather than way ahead. My normal xenon's are much better than the old halogens however in thick fog, headlights end up just blinding the area in front of you leaving you with zero visibility.
The fog lights are much better at just lighting up the immediate road ahead as mentioned so at least you can drive slowly and carefully.
I'm not sure how modern headlight technology can resolve this unless the car can sense if there is fog and dip the lights further.
beanbag said:
I'm not sure how modern headlight technology can resolve this unless the car can sense if there is fog and dip the lights further.
I don't think that would help because they'd still be mounted too high up. Fog lights work because they're almost at road level not because they point downwards. Depending on the car I sometimes find it easier to see on-coming traffic with their front fogs on, but mostly not.
Rears are good but annoying at the same time. People seem to have an inability to turn them on and off when needed e.g. in a queue of traffic or with someone following behind you switch them off. In a country road with nothing obvious behind you keep them on.
Overall as long as visibility is <150m I don't complain when cars have them on, I get more irritated by the complete idiots who have no lights on or just DRL's.
Front fogs on my F13 6 series are useless, the Xenons are great though.
Rears are good but annoying at the same time. People seem to have an inability to turn them on and off when needed e.g. in a queue of traffic or with someone following behind you switch them off. In a country road with nothing obvious behind you keep them on.
Overall as long as visibility is <150m I don't complain when cars have them on, I get more irritated by the complete idiots who have no lights on or just DRL's.
Front fogs on my F13 6 series are useless, the Xenons are great though.
I have found that cars with xenon lights are pretty good, but if the car has regular headlamps the fog lamps make a significant difference in lighting up the road without resorting to main beams. I had an X3 with regular lamps and those small projector fog lamps made a night and day difference.
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