What do I need to know about fog lights?

[970rap]

Hi - I have a 2018 screw and, after getting over a bit of sticker shock, am considering adding fog lights in the stock pocket locations. I would be doing this primarily for looks, just to make the front look finished and fill in the holes, and for additional on-road (so legal/non-blinding) lighting when situations require. I see there are all sorts of brands, types/styles, and colors (amber/non-amber?). Could anyone point me in the right direction about what lighting set(s)/types would match what I am looking for? And are the amber lights simply for looks or is there some functionality I am missing? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Kashoggio]

You are about to have more sticker shock when shopping for lights then. Check out the light section for lots of info but the lights that everyone seems to do is three pod lights in the bumper, the brand and light patter are your choice. The yellow lights most people run helps cut through dust, rain and fog really well over the traditional white light.

 

[OffroadAlliance.com]

@970rap

There's definitely no shortage of options out there for fog lights! The majority of the lights available are considered off road use only. Lights that are designated as SAE are approved for on road use. While SAE lights are not incredibly bright, most SAE lights produce a good useable fog light and do so without blinding oncoming traffic.

The current LED lighting leaders are Baja Designs and Rigid Industries. There are a ton more brands out there like Vision X, Rough Country, KC Hilites and Diode Dynamics to name a few. All of them come with a warranty, some even offering a lifetime warranty if that's something you're after.

Pricing will vary. A complete Rough Country kit with three pairs of lights, mounts and wiring can be had for $299.95 but are not rated for on road use. Stepping up to arround $550, you can grab a triple set of Rigid Radiance (those are the ones that have the cool amber backlighting which look great with the Raptor's OEM running lights), mounts and wiring. Again, not rated for on road use. Up again around the $800-900 price point, you can get a great setup with a combination of street legal and very bright/off road use only lights with mounts and wiring. Prices will continue to climb for there depending upon overall brightness and brand.

For mounting options, we offer two in house options that are both designed and manufacture in the USA. Constructed from stainless steel, our first is our universal bracket. Capable of holding three pairs of lights, it offers the user nearly limitless adjustment to make sure you can align all of the lights to your exact desire. We also offer what we call our bezel kit. This kit provides a huge chunk of stainless steel designed to hold three pairs of lights and completely fill the bumper openings for the OEM fit and finish look. Both are bolt on, no drill mounts.

Our industry standard wiring harness offers a simple installation and is plug and play with wide variety of lights. Some brands offer pre-packaged wiring harness, but ours is custom designed and built specifically for the Raptor.


We carry tons of brands and keep lots of lights in stock to make sure your order ships out quickly. If we can help, please let us know!


PH 888-466-8991

Web OFFROADALLIANCE.COM





Our univeral mounts with three pairs of Rigid Radiance:






Our triple bezel kit with Baja Designs:

 

[Ruger]

Two things:

You are very likely to use your fog lights most when on the road and they therefore should be DOT compliant. You don't want to spend a bunch of money on your new fog lights only to incur the ire of your local constabulary and then spend more money on a citation, on replacement DOT compliant lights, or both. Read product description/box. (Note: There is no such thing as DOT approved lighting. The US Department of Transportation does not test and approve automotive lighting. They issue specs, and manufacturers may or may not follow those specs. If they do, they will tell you that their lights comply with DOT guidelines. If they tell you that their lights are DOT approved, they are lying.)

You will want to choose whether to go with LEDs or halogens depending upon where you live. Halogen lights produce enough heat so that accumulating frozen road gunk melts and slides off the lenses. They are, in effect, self-defrosting. LED fog lights, being more efficient, do not produce enough heat to do that. So if you live where snow and ice come with winter driving you would be well advised to choose halogen fog lights. As fog lights are mounted low on the vehicle they sure do tend to pick up more freezing spray from other vehicles on the road, so this is more of a concern for fog lights than for driving lights.

One other thing: the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the US Department of Transportation are not the same folks and do not necessarily communicate nor agree. Also understand that your state is empowered to enact legislation more stringent than the DOT's guidelines. For example, in Nevada it is illegal to have more than 4 white light emitters pointing forward on your vehicle, and that includes the factory headlights. Do your homework.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

Welcome to the club. I'm sure we can help you out with lighting, as it's what we do all day long.

Since you want to use them on road i'd recommend the Baja Designs Squadron SAE. These give you street legal lights that won't blind others. You can then have a 2nd and 3rd pair a little brighter for off-road use OR if you're alone on the road and need to light things up.

Our triple fog light kits include everything you need. We manufacture our own brackets right here on Long Island (NY) and designed them after trying out lots of other options on the market. These brackets give you the most adjustments out of any bracket on the market, which will be important for you (so that you can aim the lights precisely where you need them). Our wiring harness also makes it easy to install everything as it's "almost" plug and play (we say almost because you just have to crimp 3 wires onto your upfitters, but that's easy). Made out of stainless steel our brackets are also the only ones on the market giving you our Raptor Lifetime Guarantee, no matter what.

Check out your options here. You can also do kits from Rigid Industries BUT the Baja Designs kits are the most popular. I'd recommend the following setup to get you started without breaking the bank:

Squadron SAE Wide Cornering
Squadron Sport, Driving/Combo
Squadron Sport, Spot

The SAE will be lights you use normally on the road. Then the driving/combos can be used when you want a brighter/wider pattern (that also incorporates a spot lens). The spots will help shine light down the road.

It's a great kit to get into, without spending a lot.

https://www.4x4truckleds.com/2017-f...ght-kit-w-baja-designs-lights-build-your-kit/

Head over here and just check out all the great reviews on our kit.

Here are some examples of Raptors with our kits:



These smaller lights are S2, but are not "street legal" although the S2 won't really blind anybody either.

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Hi - I have a 2018 screw and, after getting over a bit of sticker shock, am considering adding fog lights in the stock pocket locations. I would be doing this primarily for looks, just to make the front look finished and fill in the holes, and for additional on-road (so legal/non-blinding) lighting when situations require. I see there are all sorts of brands, types/styles, and colors (amber/non-amber?). Could anyone point me in the right direction about what lighting set(s)/types would match what I am looking for? And are the amber lights simply for looks or is there some functionality I am missing? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I went somewhat budget minded and went with some Rough Country lights. I wouldn’t say I gained any distance over my lights when on bright, but it filled in all the holes the headlights left. My next investment will be some lights either mounted on the bumper or that A-Pillar to get some more distance.

 

[DanT]

View media item 15211Baja Designs - triple light set up from 4X4TruckLEDs.com - ask for Adam.

 

[Donm]

As with anything you get what you pay for. I went with a less $$$ expensive brand and was not thrilled. Lucky for me my dealer gave me full price refund and exchange to move up to the Rigid Pro pods. One Rigid Pro Driving pod put out more light than all 3 of the off brand pods!! Now I was impressed. The amber Fogs will not cause any glare in snow and rain like a white light can.

 

[kskr]

Hi - I have a 2018 screw and, after getting over a bit of sticker shock, am considering adding fog lights in the stock pocket locations. I would be doing this primarily for looks, just to make the front look finished and fill in the holes, and for additional on-road (so legal/non-blinding) lighting when situations require. I see there are all sorts of brands, types/styles, and colors (amber/non-amber?). Could anyone point me in the right direction about what lighting set(s)/types would match what I am looking for? And are the amber lights simply for looks or is there some functionality I am missing? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I didn’t want lights so I bought these off Amazon.

 

[01Moch1]

I went with some Baja designs SAE in amber on the outside. Pro driving combo in amber on the center and a pro clear spot in the innermost spot. I got to amber lights because I live in the PNW and we have wet roads a majority of the year and the amber helps reduce the glare. When I turn on the two pairs of pro pods it completely eclipses my factory low and high beams. I use the SAE kinda like a driving light and they are on most of the time. If you want to save some money and aren't in hurry, can save some money on the most expensive fog sets by waiting for black Friday sales/rebates. This last year the rebate was $50/pair plus whatever sales the vendor was running. Saved my several hundred dollars. Last year's rebate: https://www.bajadesigns.com/home/blackfriday.asp