Replacement LED Fog Lamps

[Stang70Fastback]

Replacement LED Fog Lamps

One of the first modifications I did when I purchased my BRZ was to do a full LED retrofit for all of the existing non-LED bulbs both inside and out. That is, all of them except the fog lights. All of the other bulbs I replaced are bulbs designed to be seen by others. This means beam pattern isn’t quite as important, and swapping to an LED won’t do any harm so long as it is bright enough. Fog lights, on the other hand, require an accurate beam pattern to properly distribute light. I wanted my fog lights to actually work, and I also didn’t want to blind other drivers. For that reason, a typical LED bulb-swap wasn’t an option.

Enter the Diode Dynamics Luxeon LED Replacement Fog Lamp Assemblies.

These are complete replacement housings for the factory fog lamps, and that offers several benefits over a simple LED bulb swap:

• The housings are specifically tailored to the LEDs, allowing for proper light distribution with a nice, sharp cutoff.
• They are heavier and much more solidly built than the OEM units, and have a thicker, stronger plastic lens, which will be more resistant to the barrage of debris that it is subjected to being so low at the front of the car.
• They have adequate cooling (with cooling fins), which allows the use of three super-bright Luxeon LEDs without risk of overheating.
• The lenses look way cooler than the stock multi-reflector, mirrored housings.

Installation takes less than 5 minutes per side. Turn the wheel fully to give you room. Remove the few screw poppers holding the fender liner in place at the front of the wheel well, and peel it back enough to reach inside. Disconnect the harness from the stock fog lamp. Remove the two screws holding the housing in place and it comes right out. Installation is the reverse. It’s one of the simplest mods I’ve ever done to the car (actually simpler than some of the other LED bulb replacements I’ve done.)

I apologize in advance for the terrible comparison photos. I installed these Christmas Day, and was holding up other family plans, so these were quick photos taken in less-than-ideal lighting. One side is in the sun, while the other side is shaded, but it still is an okay comparison.

One thing to note is that if you do purchase these specific units from Diode Dynamics, you will also need these H11 to H16 adapters.

One of my concerns about these housings was fitment. As they are “universal” fog lamps (not BRZ-specific) I was worried that they might not be quite the right size or something. My concerns were unwarranted. I think if anything it’s just that Subaru probably uses the same fog lamp assemblies across multiple models (why re-invent the wheel, right?) Anyway, the point is they fit perfectly, and look great. In pictures, you almost get the impression that they are smaller than the stock assemblies, but that is just because the illuminated portion of the assembly is smaller as it uses different optics. The overall unit is the same size with the lens filling out the entire opening.

Once they were installed, I parked the car in front of a wall to adjust the cutoff using a little screw on the back of the fog lamp housings and voila! Insta-LED fog lights, with a nice, crisp cutoff! As you can tell from this photo, they are plenty bright, and also actually whiter than my HIDs. Strangely enough, when looking at the car, the fogs and headlamps look to be about the same color temperature. However, from inside the car, the light output is different enough to be quite noticeable. It’s amusing because when my low beams and fogs are on, the road is now lit up in a nice white color. When I flick on my high beams (which turns off the fog lamps), it’s almost as if I switched to an old pair of yellow fog lamps. I used to think my HIDs were “white” but now they aren’t anymore! Maybe I’ll swap out the HID bulbs in the future to properly match everything.

Lastly, I’ve included a GIF which shows the amount of light the fog lamps put out. Any of you who have a BRZ with factory fog lamps know how pointless the stock units are. They’re more of a “visual accessory” for the car to denote a higher trim level, than an actual, useful feature (this is an unfortunate trend in the automotive industry as a whole.) You couldn’t actually tell when you turned them on, as they made no difference at all next to the light from the headlamps. By comparison, these LED units actually DO put out useful light. They do a great job of illuminating the road directly ahead of the car, and because the light comes at a much shallower angle, they help to exaggerate any road imperfections, making it easier to see the texture of the pavement. Think of it as HDR for the road ahead of you. They also nicely illuminate the sides of the road near the car. In the GIF below, the exposure is unchanged in the two photos.

[See the blog post on my site here.]

[norcalpb]

Did you put LEDs in the headlights as well?

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

Did you put LEDs in the headlights as well?

To quote my blog post:

As you can tell from this photo, they are plenty bright, and also actually whiter than my HIDs. Strangely enough, when looking at the car, the fogs and headlamps look to be about the same color temperature. However, from inside the car, the light output is different enough to be quite noticeable. It’s amusing because when my low beams and fogs are on, the road is now lit up in a nice white color. When I flick on my high beams (which turns off the fog lamps), it’s almost as if I switched to an old pair of yellow fog lamps. I used to think my HIDs were “white” but now they aren’t anymore! Maybe I’ll swap out the HID bulbs in the future to properly match everything.

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

To quote my blog post:

Oh ok. I have these fog housings as well and it makes my headlights look yellow just like what you were talking about. I was thinking about getting 5k HID bulbs to match...but I feel like I'll be decreasing overall headlight output just so people don't think its weird my lights don't match lol.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

Oh ok. I have these fog housings as well and it makes my headlights look yellow just like what you were talking about. I was thinking about getting 5k HID bulbs to match...but I feel like I'll be decreasing overall headlight output just so people don't think its weird my lights don't match lol.

That's EXACTLY the boat I'm in. Was considering 5K bulbs, but I'm more about form over function - especially when it comes to lighting, so I'm not sure I wanna do it. The lights match pretty well from the outside, so the only person who really notices the difference is ME from behind the wheel anyway.

[norcalpb]

I would love the OEM 17 headlights as those would match ok...but I would eventually get the bumper and the oem 2017 fogs are already LED so its like crap why did I spend all this money on the Luxeons haha.

I would be ok with putting LEDs in the headlights, but I don't want to blind people.

Fact of the matter is Xenon projectors require HID bulbs...so I'm probably going to do the 5k here in the near future.

[ryoma]

something that I want to point out is that you have to be careful of the foreground lighting (which the fog lights affect). if the foreground is too bright, your eyes will have trouble seeing further away where it's more dim so in the end it might affect your overall night vision. it will be different from person to person, but it is a possibility.

also if you want to switch out your HID bulbs, I recommend the Osram CBI's for a more "cooler" color output and a gain in actual lumens from the bulb.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by ryoma

something that I want to point out is that you have to be careful of the foreground lighting (which the fog lights affect). if the foreground is too bright, your eyes will have trouble seeing further away where it's more dim so in the end it might affect your overall night vision. it will be different from person to person, but it is a possibility.

also if you want to switch out your HID bulbs, I recommend the Osram CBI's for a more "cooler" color output and a gain in actual lumens from the bulb.

A good point. Having driven with these for a while now, I don't think it's negatively impacted my vision. I'm not actually looking at the ground right in front of my car. It's just there in my peripheral vision, helping me notice potholes and things more readily.

I was wondering what a good aftermarket bulb would be. So you're saying the Osram CBI's are brighter, so bumping up to 5K shouldn't really lose light output?

[ryoma]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

I was wondering what a good aftermarket bulb would be. So you're saying the Osram CBI's are brighter, so bumping up to 5K shouldn't really lose light output?

the CBI's are in my opinion the best bulb you can buy. they are at the very least as bright, if not brighter, than the normal OEM 4300k bulbs but just at a higher kelvin rating for the pure white light most people like. there are many great reviews on the bulbs that you can find on google. you want D4S for the BRZ: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...66440-cbi.html

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by ryoma

the CBI's are in my opinion the best bulb you can buy. they are at the very least as bright, if not brighter, than the normal OEM 4300k bulbs but just at a higher kelvin rating for the pure white light most people like. there are many great reviews on the bulbs that you can find on google. you want D4S for the BRZ: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...66440-cbi.html

Hmmm, my only worry is that 5500K might be a bit TOO towards the blue spectrum for me. The OEM 4300K HIDs already are VERY close to matching the 5000K fogs. 5500K might be swinging too far the other way. I'm not a fan of blue-tinted lights. Hmmm... decisions.

[ryoma]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

Hmmm, my only worry is that 5500K might be a bit TOO towards the blue spectrum for me. The OEM 4300K HIDs already are VERY close to matching the 5000K fogs. 5500K might be swinging too far the other way. I'm not a fan of blue-tinted lights. Hmmm... decisions.

it says that it is 5500K with a hint of blue, but it is not overly blue. I don't know if my eyes are colorblind or not sensitive enough but it looks pure white to me. it looks way closer to 5000K

EDIT: here are some pictures that I took a while back right after I swapped out the bulbs to CBI's and put in a clear lens:



the foreground on the last one is pretty yellow due to the fog lights lol.

here is one of my previous car with an HID retrofit with CBI's as well:




my MR2 pictures were taken with a really good camera while the BRZ ones were just with my phone... so you might notice a difference in quality lol. the MR2 was D2S while the BRZ is D4S. there shouldn't be a major difference but I don't think they're exactly the same except for the connector either.

[maui86]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

A good point. Having driven with these for a while now, I don't think it's negatively impacted my vision. I'm not actually looking at the ground right in front of my car. It's just there in my peripheral vision, helping me notice potholes and things more readily.

I was wondering what a good aftermarket bulb would be. So you're saying the Osram CBI's are brighter, so bumping up to 5K shouldn't really lose light output?

Adding my 2 cents here - I'm going to 2nd what ryoma said (for 2nd time in two days! ) and recommend the Osram CBI's. I have them installed in my D2S retrofit, and color is spot on pure white. I used to run 5000k CNlight's in different projectors, and found those good but a bit too "cool white/blue" for my liking. Decided to try the CBI's after a load of recommendations, and glad I did. White without being blue, and a bit more width to boot! Currently have them paired with a set of bi-xenon projector "fog" driving lights running 4300k CNLight bulbs powered by 35w Hylux ballasts and the down road output is, to put it plainly, AWESOME
(I'm saying this myself coming from the same Luexon fogs which worked great for me in adding mid range width and as DRL's before deciding to try my current setup.)

[norcalpb]

Are these OSRAM bulbs better than the ones from Diode Dynamics?

[Diode Dynamics]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

Are these OSRAM bulbs better than the ones from Diode Dynamics?

The Osram CBIs are considered by many to be the best

They are also considerably more expensive than other options

Nick C.