Any opinions on whether fog lights are worth the money? I hope to pickup a TSX this weekend and am debating on adding the fog lights.

 

It depends if you like them that much and you simply can't do without them. I personally passed on them due to the fact the the dealership wanted to charge me $500 (installed) for the lights. I like my "HID" lights better anyways. You could install your own fog lights for much cheaper (if you have the skills). Just remember that it's what "you" like and how much you want to spend. Either way the TSX is a very nice car! Enjoy your new ride and happy motoring!

 

Functionality: 5%
Cosmetic: 95%

 

If you use the search tool, you will turn up at least one or two threads that have dealt with this in the past.

 

and there damn sexy, so i recommend em!

 

yeah its mainly cosmetic, im prob gonna go hyperwhite on the bulbs soon like RMAtic did... Loses pritty much all function, but looks good

Acura Defiantly doesn't follow FL Wright's - "Form Follows Function" Philosophy

 

the car looks a lot better with them. especially if you've got the oem kit. be careful though, they break easy. mine are shot to hell because of rocks.

 

I have them...my right fog light has been shattered for a while now...
Overall...I like them

 

I have them and like the look. I also recommend getting some protectors for the lenses so they don't break; I know it has saved me many times. I'm running Hoen's H11 bulbs, but I honestly never use them.

 

i have them, i used them once and couldnt tell if they were on or not. Then a rock went through one of them and turned yellowish. Waste of money plain and simple

 

I like them but for a reason not many people mention...they are great a lighting up potholes and the like on the road ahead at nite. And if you live in NJ around this time of year there are plently of potholes. Definitely get the headlight protection kit it's like $59 for the one I bought and you can use the scrap leftover for the foglights!

 

how can you not notice if they are not on? on a dark road, if you turn them on, you will notice the front corners brighten up.

anyway, i have them and love the look, especially when i put on the body kit

if anyone have info on the Lexus-like yellow bulbs for our fogs, lemme know

 

I've had fog lights on the last four cars I've owned and never found them useful.
On one car, they keep being cracked by stones and were a PITA.
However, in a previous thread on this topic, there were others who did find them useful.
Do you find yourself driving in foggy situations alot? As for me, until I have my first cup of coffee in my car in the morning, I'm always in *very* foggy situations ;o)

 

I have the fog lights and I do a lot of highway driving. I have had one or the other replaced 3x's over the past 18 months because stones break them. Now, they are both broken. They were replaced under warranty before but they gave me a hard time the last time I was in. I will see what they say this time, I might get them removed. You cannot just replace the lens, they whole unit must be changed.

 

Fog lights do help a little bit during night time. But like other people have already pointed out, they are mainly for the look of the.

If you spend that much money to get the TSX, why not spending another $500 that will make your car even better? Sure it's 500 bucks, but it's very little comparing to how much the rest of the car costs.

 

is there an aftermarket fog light that looks similar to the oem??

 

they replace them under the warranty even if broken by stones? how did you get this done?

 

Our fog lights would be a hell of a lot more functional if Acura had made them able to be turned on independently of the headlights. The whole point of fogs is to get underneath the fog/snow/rain and thus not blind you with backscatter glare. This is why they are mounted down on the front lip. Having the headlights on at the same time as the fogs almost completely defeats this purpose.

I recently got a set of H11 yellows for the OEM fogs on ebay. Here is an auction from the same vendor, for the same bulbs:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=36476

Haven't put them in yet though. I have a complete set of LED bulbs for the rear end, some 8500K deep blue Xenons for the HIDs (ours are 4500K white), some 4500K bright white H1 high beam bulbs, and these new yellow fog bulbs. I'm going to put them all in at once and shoot some photos when I do for a before/after comparison.

 

Fog lights are useless. They only look cool.

 

cool deal man. post pics when you install them

 

I sweet talked them. I'm a good customer.... When I take it in to have them replaced again (they are both broken now) I'm going to try to get them to do it again. I don't think I'll have much luck this time around though.

 

And IMHO the OEM fog lights on our TSX look all that cool... are there different ones that are retangular that would fill the retangular opennings better? What I am picturing is like the JDM fog lights for the 97-current Prelude.

 

 

The OEM accessory foglights on my 03 Accord work great. They send out a *wide* low beam. They really shine way off to the sides and easily light up the median on highways. They've also caught the glint in deer eyes more times than I can count. And they work great in the rain. You know how street lights reflect off the wet pavement and you can't see the lines? The foglights light up the lines in the road.

I would hope the TSX's fog lights worked the same. Maybe their mountings are too recessed to be functional or maybe the HIDs more precise optics light up areas my standard headlights don't?

Either way I'll get them.

BTW - My Accord is all highway traveling typically, um, somewhere above the posted limit. I haven't had any problems with cracking lenses. Again, maybe the way they're mounted on the TSX has something to do with it?

The shape of the TSX's fog lights looks the same as my Accord's. If they are the same assembly, you can buy the lense only from www.handaaccessories.com - H and A Accessories, "handa" not "honda". Better than replacing the entire assembly. Hope that helps.

 

i didn't get them because i didn't think that they looked better and i knew i would never use them.

 

Actually I do find the Xenon on the TSX very good headlights. They are definitely lighting up wider angles than normal headlights I've used in other cars, and also wider and better aimed than the Xenon on the 325i I had before too. So based on that, I haven't considered adding fog lights to my TSX for functional purposes... maybe only for appearance, but then I've already gave my about the OEM ones in my previous post.

 

Fixed again, under warranty. Don't know how, maybe because it cost me $1000 to have my (not even) 2 yr old car inspected! brakes, tires, 50K service....Ok, so I drive a lot and I'm hard on brakes (50K out of a set of brakes is a record for me). I think they felt sorry for me.

 

hm... I'm leasing mine and I've asked about installing fog lights. The agent right away told me that it's not worth it as I drive highway a lot and he's pretty sure they'll break a lot of times. He also mentioned that Acura warantee doesn't cover road hazard anymore unlike before... So maybe 2005 new ones aren't covered and the 2004 and before ones are?!?!

 

Can someone post pics of their tsx with the fog lights on?

 

 

Because of the sharp cut off in the HIDs, the street signs don't reflect well but when I turn on the fog lights, it helps.

 

Are you sure they sell just the lens? I didn't see it on their website so I bought the whole assembly again.

 

I just bought my '05 TSX 3 weeks ago. i decided to have the dealer install the foglights (paid 600 for them) since I didn't feel like getting an aftermarket pair and drill holes in my bumper. I definately think that they make the car look alot better since not many of TSX's down here have foglights. As far as enhancing my visability, I do notice a difference when i turn them on/off. Who doesn't love the Xenon headlights, but something that i am a little unhappy about it the fact that the foglight aren't xenon as well. I'd like to maybe buy the HID bulbs for the foglights, but I haven't had a chance to start taking the car apart to figure how things fit/work.

Does anyone have any idea if:

1. the foglight bulb replacement is a simple procedure? how would i go about doing this?

2. will the HID bulbs melt the housing? (i purchased bulbs for my 04 Altima, but couldn't figure out how to replace them, the DEALER told me they wouldn't install them because they would melt the housing)

3. which bulbs would be the best ones to best-match my headlights?

 

Since I just ordered a HID kit for my OEM fogs, I'll take a crack at this:

1. Since I use a wheelchair I don't do much to my TSX without the help of my awesome friends. The fogs are accessible by getting up under the front bumper. In fact, it's probably easier to just take the whole damn bumper off so you can work on the fogs with all the room you need (they're bolted to the front facade piece). It's just a bunch of clips and screws. Doesn't take too long to take it off or put it back on again, because it's lightweight, flexible plastic.

2. The H11 Halogens in the fogs are 80 watt bulbs. As incandescent lamps rely upon a hot filament to produce their light, a great deal of that wattage is dissipated as heat. Feel the lens of your fogs sometime after they've been on a while. Better yet, don't, but check them after driving in the rain - they'll boil the water off slowly.

HID lamps, on the other hand, use a gas discharge to generate their light output. This results in large majority of the energy being dumped into the bulb exiting it as light, rather than heat. The H11 HID kit I got has a pair of D2S Xenons rated at 35 watts each, and damn near all 35 of them are going to be shot out the front of the car as light. HID lamps produce much less heat and much more light output from a given wattage, and that light output is also superior to incandescent Halogen lamps because of its spectral quality and color temperature. If you put a HID kit in your OEM fogs like I am about to, your fogs will run a hell of a lot cooler (slightly warm to the touch) than they do now (get your ass to the ER if you touch them).

3. The OEM fogs use H11 sized lamps. This means that you can buy any ready-made H11 HID conversion kit and it will work in your fogs. Here is the HID kit I ordered, in 8000K (deep blue, to match the 8000K bulbs I put in my HID headlights, which look great since my car is an ABP TSX)

http://www.hidexpress.com/index.asp?...PROD&ProdID=29

Haven't installed mine yet but I'm going to have the dealer do it when I go in for my next oil change. Hope this helps.

 

That actually answered alot of my questions and then some! thanks for the help RM Really appreciate it.

 

No problem. I plan on posting a thread with pics when I finally do this mod.

I just re-read your question and I can't believe your dealer said that HIDs would melt the housing. That's complete and utter BS. HIDs use less power and run a LOT cooler than halogens, all while producing a more intense, higher quality beam of light. The drastically reduced load on your electrical system won't hurt, either.

 

Minor point, but it was Louis Henri Sullivan, the master of Chicago architecture, who said "form ever follows function" when he was writing about the design of tall buildings. He was, of course, FLW's mentor and boss until he was fired for moonlighting.

 

oops - Henri Lous Sullivan, had the names reversed, if anyone cares.....