Hammed_Man

I just bought my RDX over the summer and as weather gets worse (Pacific Northwest here) I find my fog lights to be a necessity. On my old WRX they worked great at illuminating road lines and hit all the reflectors down the highway. With the RDX... not so much.

Visual inspection shows that the lenses appear cloudy (though uniformly so). I've been looking for all kinds of RDX pictures online but am having a hard time finding pictures of installed fog lights that are off.

Can anyone tell me, in a 2007 RDX, should the fog light covers be 100% transparent? If so, I assume I should look to replace or recondition mine?

RDX10

Mine are perfectly clear thankfully. I find the HID's to be ridiculously good and when I put my fogs on, they overpower the HIDs. Your fogs shouldn't really be aimed high enough to illuminate road signs so kind of confused on this one. But when mine are on, I can see very very well in the area directly in front of the car upto about 20-30 feet.

Hammed_Man

Great to hear that the fog lights are so good! Unfortunate to hear that mine need some work. My fog lights on the WRX illuminated road *lines* not signs . Right now, when I turn on the fog lights, all I get is a barely noticeable bump in brightness... right in front of my bumper.

Any thoughts on fixes? I'm assuming the covers are glass and separate from the actual lamp housing...

RDX10

oh haha you totally did say lines....why did I read signs? The brain can be so stupid sometimes...really.

Check the bulbs first, maybe buy a new set and then replace them and see what happens. Even with a mildly foggy lens, they should be much brighter than that. They are pretty darn huge for fogs and also pretty high up on the bumper. Then again, the WRX had stupidly large fogs sop you know all about large fogs!

I don't know if they are glass, but I am tempted to run out to the garage and check. I expect them to be plastic no? If plastic, go to canadian tire or part source and pick up a turtle wax headlight restoration kit. The one with the 4 numbered pads. Stay away from the ones that need a drill. I almost ruined my headlights and also seriously marred the paint on my fender...will need to repair it this spring.

RDX10

So just went out the garage and checked. It is in fact glass not plastic. All I have to say is wow that is a dense glass! Also on closer inspection the glass is not perfectly clear, it is sort of bubbly and has an irregular surface.

mrgold35

I can see needing driving or fogs lights with old Halogen headlights; but, not so much with HIDs/LEDs now days. You can't turn on the fogs without turning on the HIDs. I would only upgrade my fogs if they burned out and I wanted to color match closer to the HID temps (fog is not an issue in the southwest compared to seeing a 100-300lbs of wildlife on the side of the road as far out as possible).

The RDX has pretty good HIDs. I really haven't felt the need to upgrade them like I did in my MDX. I find the fogs are only good for lighting up just in front few feet and either front side of the RDX. I use my fogs just for looks compared for needing them for driving.

There could be a chance the fogs were changed out to a lesser bulb or you can upgrade to a brighter set of lights? Maybe the previous owner put a film that starting to haze?

schen72

The fogs on my 08 RDX are perfectly clear and made of glass. I almost never use them as I find the HIDs to be more than sufficient. When I turn on the fogs, I can barely tell they're on.

RDX4M3

Mine are hazy. Took a look at them
when i did the lip spoiler. Was gonna
take the them apart and clean the
inside. Couldnt see how i could do it
without screwing them up. Gonna
do the outside and see if it at least
looks better.

WRXtranceformed

Yeah I notice the foglights on our RDX really just provide some downlighting and a little bit more lower side visibility. Ours are definitely clear too. Agreed with the bulb swap, they might be on their last legs. If it still really bothers you and you're willing to spend the $, I would imagine there are HID retrofits you could do. The Retrofit Source was one I relied on for my TL-S and the owner Matt is a good dude from what I remember.

Also agree with the quality of Acura HIDs; the lenses they use are some of the best in the business. Super crisp cutoffs even when compared to my Jag, my old CTS, pretty much any car I've had with them in the past.

6MTSSR

Another option is LED bulbs for your fogs.There are some good kits out there.

trent_ky

Get an hid kit. They are available cheap and are plug and play. I used led fog lights for a while and they don't put out much usable light and my fog lights built up water from condensation not burning off due to very little heat output on the leds.

thoiboi

So exactly what they're supposed to do

You defined what fog lights are for

Hammed_Man

Very valid points here. I wasn't used to HIDs in my older WRX which would explain why I perceived such a large difference in light output with fogs on vs off. Not the case with HIDs in the RDX so maybe it's just not an apples to apples comparison.

Pricing out HID kits vs replacement H11 bulbs. Looks to cost only about $15-20 more for the pair depending on how high quality (or just cost) you're willing to go. Also, are our fogs compatible with HIDs so far as light direction is concerned? I don't want to blind drivers or negate the advantages of fog lights in actual fog.

WRXtranceformed

Fog lights are not meant to provide a little bit of side and down lighting. A good set of fog lights are meant to be used in heavy fog, rain or snow to be able to fill the gap between where your low beams cut off and the ground, and be able to illuminate all the way to the side of the road. This helps aid low speed turning. I don't think I have ever had a set of OEM fogs that have successfully accomplished this.

lawls

does anyone have the Morimoto XB LED foglight on their rdx?

trent_ky

The fogs work great with hid just get a 35 watt kit. Same light pattern as the halogen bulb just brighter and you can see even better than before.

karlmax

For restoring glass fog lights, you can wet sand them then polish using ceriglass.

senuod

I bought some last year, but haven't installed them yet. I'm just waiting until I have some time to drop the bumper and install.


I did install Morimoto LEDs in my DRLs....and I love them.

Mr Marco

+1

35watt hid 4TW

RDX10

Holy crap! Welcome back from the dead!

Midnight Mystery

Is this the new LEDs with the attached ballast? I believe they're called "CREE" and they're as bright as HIDs...

My highbeams are too dim and not spread wide enough for me to see, so I'm driving my memory sometimes...

Here are some pictures I got from Google...
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lawls

Let us know whenever you install them. I emailed retrofit source and they stated that it will not fit 07-09 rdx but it will for 10+. If it fits I'm thinking of purchasing a set.

OhRDX

I have a passenger lens destroyed. Anyone know where to find a decent price on a new fog lense?

I have checked the usual place so far and can find them cheap for 2010+ but seem to be slim pickings for 2007. Does anyone know the difference between 2007-9 and the 2010+ foglights?
I have a couple emails out to some pick and pulls and waiting for response. Weird I can get a new pair for $40 and only a single lense for older models are $120+.

thoiboi

then why not just buy a new pair

RDX10

I "think" he means 2013+ models are $40 while the older 1G rdx fogs cost $120+.

thoiboi

maybe..

OhRDX

Correct. But it is 2010+. Not sure what the big change was in 2010 for the fog lights. I know the front bumpers changed but don't think the fogs changed much if at all. They do have new part numbers but that doesn't mean anything. Wondering if they are compatible....

RDX10

I had a 2007-2009 model, the fogs are very rounded in the front. The face lifted 2010-2012 models look like they have flat fogs. That, or due to the complete redesign of the front end, the fogs have completely different tabs around the fogs and won't even fit into the opening.

SlowNsteady

My 100% stock '07 RDX had glass fog lights. They never clouded but are very expensive to replace if you ever end up cracking one. The headlights clouded up but that was easily fixed with some polishing. Good luck