Lets talk about FRS lacking fog lights, why does everyone want them?
 

So my friend owns a BRZ limited, I have the FRS without fogs. Straight from him he says the fogs are pretty much useless. I've ridden in his car at night and the HID's are nice but I can't tell the difference between fogs on and fogs off.

So my question to you guys, what the hell is the big deal? I've seen the cost to import the JDM fogs, and it isn't cheap. For the amount you guys are going to spend on fog lights why don't you do a proper HID retrofit (projectors!) and drastically improve your night time driving?

I could see adding fogs if the option comes up and it's affordable ($200) but even then that's 2/3's the cost of a proper HID retrofit.

Is it just a visual thing?

There is a reason why they are called "fog" lights.

They are very useful in medium to heavy fog.

I sort of have to agree. I have had fog lights on my two previous vehicles and never noticed much of a difference during 'foggy' conditions. The only thing that they did for me, in my opinion, was give my vehicle an more aggressive/complete look on the front of the vehicle. I was originally going to pay to get the fogs installed on my BRZ, but then I started to realize that I would rather spend that money on something more useful. Just my $0.02.

Here is their suppose use as per wiki.

Front fog lamps provide a wide, bar-shaped beam of light with a sharp cutoff at the top, and are generally aimed and mounted low .[10][11] They may produce white or selective yellow light, and are intended for use at low speed to increase the illumination directed towards the road surface and verges in conditions of poor visibility due to rain, fog, dust or snow. They are sometimes used in place of dipped-beam headlamps, reducing the glareback from fog or falling snow, although the legality varies by jurisdiction of using front fog lamps without low beam headlamps.
Use of the front fog lamps when visibility is not seriously reduced is often prohibited (for example in the United Kingdom)
The respective purposes of front fog lamps and driving lamps are often confused, due in part to the misconception that fog lamps are necessarily selective yellow, while any auxiliary lamp that makes white light is a driving lamp. Automakers and aftermarket parts and accessories suppliers frequently refer interchangeably to "fog lamps" and "driving lamps" (or "fog/driving lamps"). In most countries, weather conditions rarely necessitate the use of fog lamps, and there is no legal requirement for them, so their primary purpose is frequently cosmetic. They are often available as optional extras or only on higher trim levels of many cars. Studies have shown that in North America more people inappropriately use their fog lamps in dry weather than use them properly in poor weather.

They were standard on a lot of boring GM vehicles in the 90's such as Sunfire, Grand Am.

On my Accord EX-L V6 they came standard and a rock shattered a lens on the highway. Cost me over $300 to get an independent garage to install the replacement Honda part before returning at lease end.

A coworker of mine drives the identical car that I had and he also has a shattered fog lens. Why they used glass I dont know. Maybe because it is profitable replacing the part regularly.

That's what I think of fog lamps.

Dunno. My BRZ has fog lights and they are piss useless at their low height.

I have had them on multiple cars, and never noticed much of any difference in lighting. They are mainly aesthetic now, and I want them for my car because of that reason once they are readily available.

fogs just aren't what they used to be...

My GTI has fog lights. I never use them. Don't really see the point since the regular headlights (xenons) are fine in foggy conditions.

The main idea of the fog lights is to have them lighting up the nearby road surface from a low position. The assumption is that you are driving slowly in real fog, so what you need to see is the just the road surface for maybe a hundred yards max. They are also set up to spread the light in a wider pattern to help illuminate features at the side of the road so you can better see the stripes or road edges. Finally the low position helps minimize the the amount of fog that gets lit up by the lights. With the low lights, you get to look over the lit up fog. Imagine if the fob lights were above the windshield how much it would light up the fog right in front of you. You wouldn't be able to see anything through that bright lit up fog.

My only hang up is I don't like space that is fake. If a space is made for fog lights, there should be fog lights there. If there's a space made for a radio, there should be a radio there. An example all of us with FR-S's live with is: if there's a gaping hole in the top of your console there should be a cover for it. I got mine in the mail yesterday. It really dresses up the cabin nicely.

You are basically paying for the aesthetic appeal of them. I've got factory fog lights on my tC and the past couple nights have been quite foggy so i turned them on. Did they help? Not really, certainly not $400 worth, they do help complete the look of the front of the car though.

Just my $.02

Honestly I like them for cosmetics purposes.
I like how it adds depth, while also enhancing the line movement in the front-it compliments the front bumper on the frs :)
I know that sounds like bs-*shrugs* my eye notices things like that.

Why does everyone want them?

Because everyone wants what they don't have.

Just like everyone in NA wants a limited (86 GTS) trim. Because JDM!

For myself...because they look cool

they look nice. and by nice, i mean super sexy.

I prefer to have them, not only to be able to see better in fog (see above as to the explanation by Ron--they provide more light without reflecting it directly back to your eye), but to make me more visible to other drivers. More light = better visibility to other drivers.

And, yes, I think they look good on the 86 :D

I've had fog lights on larger cars before. They do help in low light, foggy, or rainy conditions. As low as the FRS/BRZ is though, fog lights are almost useless on this car. They will make a little difference, but not a lot (definitely not worth the price). Most people put them on for aesthetics. Not worth the money in my book (i think people spend way too much money on aesthetics these days i.e. wheels, lowering kits, fake hids, etc...mostly things that ruin the car). I bought a premium BRZ and i personally like the way it looks over the limited with the fog lights.

Most useful in areas that are foggy or dusty all the time. I have them on my Jeep and without them in a cloud of dust or fog the head lights being so high...you need them. This car is so low to the ground...I just don't see justifying the expense. It was crazy foggy in CT for the last 3 days...the HIDs were great...if you're going to spend money anywhere swap assemblies (it's a direct swap right?)

The whole idea with fog lights is they're set low enough to be below the fog layer. Your headlights are up in it so the light is dispersed, whereas the fog lights will hopefully be below it and will light up the road surface better.

So, if you have dense fog resting six inches or a foot above the road surface, they work really well. If it's so foggy it goes right to the ground then they won't do any better than your headlights.

They are handy when the conditions are right. Outside of that they just look cool.

Gotta throw my lot in with the majority. I mostly want them for appearance. I think the car looks better with them.

I would like to have the the fog light mounting kit and instead of installing foglights, use the install kits to create a ram air kit for the car. Other than that...........I dunno.

Fog lights are yellow. The ones on the FR-S are "driving lights". They are useless because they are so low and not very bright.

Doing a high beam bulb swap really helps.

I prefer the look of the FR-S and BRZ without fogs.

Misconception--per Cheddar's post earlier:

i'll be putting 4k HID's in my fogs so they are mostly for cosmetics anyways. hopefully the hid's will be brighter than the stock bulbs.

I live in an area where sand can blow across the highway (60mph winds, no joke). So, I like fog lights for the extra light, for the way I think they compliment the front end of the car, and quite frankly, I think that for the price they are asking, the car should come with them.

I've always had fog lights because I like to have the closer areas and side areas that the low beams don't reach lit up. The more light the better. Plus, it looks better in my opinion. And I have a feeling that it helps other oncoming cars notice you a little more easily. Plus, if you're following someone, they'll know you aren't a cop and won't slow down since no cop around here has fogs.

I live south of San Francisco where fog and mist are common on cold mornings, and sometimes throughout the whole day.

However, I barely notice a difference in light illumination with my Corolla that is equipped with both Halogen low beams and fog lights. On my Prius with LED low beams but halogen fog lights, I can see the difference and it's not that big of one. There is a "dead spot" close to the front bumper of the car where the low beam fades because of the cut-off point. When I turn the fog lights on, this space is illuminated by the fog lights.

The main reason I want them so bad is because of appearance. The front of the FR-S looks too plain with the faux vents on the side, the fog lights make the front stand out a bit more (in my opinion). Also, in the night, I've always found it nice when I see a car with both low beams and fog lights on, it looks more upscale (in my opinion).

My FR-S isn't even driven in misty or foggy conditions to be honest. So there, I want it for looks.

With my '92 Supra I ran fog lights all the time; made a huge difference in visibility at night.

I want them because you can't see the stripes on the road when it rains without the stupid things, it all gets lost in the glare from street lights.

They're supposed to help show the road in front of you during conditions of heavy fog or snowfall where the weather condition ends up making your standard headlights mimic shining against a wall 2 feet in front of you. But in the end, if your headlight is just making a wall of fog more visible in front of you, the foglight is just making the wall of fog more visible at the bottom.

And in the grand scheme of things, all they really end up doing is just brighten up that dark spot between the front of the car below the headlight and projected light that is reflected off the ground a few feet in front of you (since the light is 'beamed' outwards, theres a dark spot under the beam that the light does not get to)

The only time you'll really notice any lighting difference is during those long stretches of highway or dark roads where there is no streetlamp to help shine the way. But high beams work better in this situation (as long as there is no one in front of you going the opposite way, or isnt close by). Plus when i activate my highbeams, the fogs get disabled anyways, since the high beams just makes everything a ton more visible making the fogs redundant.

Think of it this way. imagine you are staring straight down a road through a monitor. and the monitor is split horizontally in 3 (not evenly, probably something like 80% middle section, 10% for both top and bottom sections). the top section and botton sections are both blacked out. the middle section is not. The middle section is your headlight. the foglight would make the bottom section visible, so anything that would be hidden by that 10% is shown.

After seeing the way they've been implemented I want nothing to do with them.
For me, I would pursue something custom but I'd rather put my efforts and money elsewhere.
Useful fog lights to me is having sufficient illumination to drive with them alone. That is, provided they are aimed correctly and don't blind oncoming motorists.

Now would be interesting is if Toyota released a brake cooling kit using the fog light opening like Ford does with the Boss. I'd be interested in that.

If they actually installed the proper color temperature Yellow bulbs they would work properly, my 97 Legacy GT had fogs i put yellow bulbs at 3000K and during crappy weather it cut through the haze, same with my E36 325is, and E36 M3 had yellow bulbs in fogs and they did make a world of difference. also because fogs just look cool. but umm they weigh to much because race car.

On my 1995 M3 the fog lights made a huge difference. The stock headlights suck on low beam anyhow. Fogs made up for it.

BUT on my 2003 330i w/xenons, there is no difference.

I put a set on my Range Rover Classic as well because the stock lamps suck so bad.

Fogs are cool, but if you don't need them, you don't need them.