jginnane

You've got 23 lights, count 'em, on the outside of your TSX!

(Want 6 more? Read on ... :-)


When we recently traded in my wife's MB SUV, the old car had PIAA 959 fogs ("Ion Projector" amber-colored, 16,500 candlepower) which nicely complemented the halogen low beams.

The TSX's OEM foglight kit at 55 watts looks like it's only going to put out about 8500 candlepower -- and next to the 4300K HID low beams, isn't going to be good for much. Especially driving in fog. :-(

So I've been doing my research to find decent amber fogs -- that'll fit inside the TSX bumper shroud, not underneath -- and these are the "good" choices so far:

1. PIAA 1400 Ion Crystal (amber) in black housing, about 15,000 candles, kit cost about $165.

2. PIAA 1500XT Ion Crystal (amber), fairly similar, about $190.

Many other PIAA models which fit either are low-output or blue/white (which is useless for actually driving in fog).

A few nice PIAA selections which DON'T fit, because they're too tall for the TSX's openings, are --

3. PIAA 60XT Ion Crystal (amber), about $165, and

-- (my fave so far) --

4. 90 Pro XT Dual Ion Crystal (amber fog) and driving light -- $420. The fogs have a 120-degree pattern, 15,000 candles, and the driving lights have an 18-degree spread, 111,000 candles. This is almost worth cutting the plastic bumper for.

There's actually one more PIAA option, but it's not available in the US -- the PIAA P3000 tri-beam (Driving light, spot light, and side marker blue "wedge" light). In the UK catalog, you can replace the driving light with an Ion Crystal (amber) bulb and lens. Again, it doesn't seem to be available in this specific configuration around here. But the P3000 housing will actually fit inside the bumper shroud, so if you want both narrow-beam spots and fogs, this might be the way to go.

Any exercise in installing 3rd-party lights will require the fogs to be able to go on with the parking lights. (If any combination sets are eventually selected, the spot or driving lights need to work with the TSX's halogen high beams.) PIAA claims there are full installation instructions in their kits, but I'm a wee bit skeptical.

Has anyone already worked this all the way through?

jiggaman

sounds like you've done your homework. look forward to seeing the final product!

jginnane

Still working on it ... I just emailed a copy of this post to "service@piaa.com" and promised I'd copy their reply here.

I think the UK version P3000 would probably be ideal, and it's about $100 cheaper than the 90 Pro to boot.

The third set of lights -- blueish side marker "wedge" lights -- is what actually put me off from this set at the beginning, as in "rice". But heck, it's not like we're doing neon, plasma, or strobes. Good fogs are actually useful, especially if you're about twice the age of the demographic target audience here. ;-)

yuhoo22

Any word on this? I want to install after market fogs also...was thinking about Hella Kit like in this link which I though looked amazing compared to the OEM kit: Hella Fog Light Installed

Please keep us updated and post some pics

sauceman

Sorry to burst your Bubble, jginnane, but I've tried for years to be a PIAA believer, and actually was one for a while before I had to admit to the evidence. They are not close to being worth the money you buy them for.

I've had the kit 1400 with black casing, and they were the least "problematic" of the bunch of foglights I've tried. But, the bulbs were very fragile to impacts, and they kept on cracking and bursting. If that didn't happen, they would be burnt in less than 3 months.

That has actually been a rule of thumb for me, no PIAA lamps whatever the type, would last me for more than 3 months. It was actually okay, because I kept on having them replaced on warranty, but it also meant that I constantly had lights burnt out on my car.

Then, the problem was to get some replacements. Stocks were always low, and half of the time, the lamps I needed were B.O. I actually had to support a stock of reserve bulbs for myself in order to be able to make quick replacements.

I went on to buy a 1900X kit, because my 1400s had bolts jammed, and when I tried uninstalling them, I broke the casing. Then again, it was 1½ years old, and all jammed in rust, even though I cleaned them with WD40 when I replaced the bulbs.

The 1900X kit was a disaster. I swear bulbs in that kit didn't give much lighting, and I remember both of the bulbs had blown in less than a month. That was the original stuff. Replacements blew even faster.

And so on for my 1700X kit.

And I won't start on my headlight bulbs, you get the picture. Same story.

I solved the problem, salvaged a Nissan 4100K HID kit, bought new sealed beams, and installed the package, combined with 110w Hella high beams, and finally ended up with some decent light in front of my car.

My before anyone else gets by PIAA.

jginnane

To cut to the chase, I awaiting momentary delivery of a pair of CIBIE (French) Cesar "Model 175" clear spots. I'll install them in the place where the OEM fogs go, and then probably get a second set of spots for the center cowl (under bumper) location, too.

How I got there from looking at PIAA and Hella fogs is a long story. I'm going to put it all together in one nice, neat, new thread -- I swear. But thanks to a lot of good reading I did on the Net, and what I hope is common sense, I realized that no fog light was going to help the kind of driving I do (in deer country) as much as being able to augment the HIDs at about 200+ yards distance. (The halogen high beams are good, but you need a slightly wider spread.) And the HIDs were actually very useful at short-range peripheral viewing, too -- so I didn't need the 90-degree spread of a "standard" fog lens.

Look for the thread coming soon...

sauceman

I came to the same conclusion, which is why I took off the fogs on my old Accord once I had the HID's on, and didn't buy any for the TSX.

jiggaman

Are there any aftermarket foglights that are worth the money and would look good on the TSX near the front grill/front license plate area?

sauceman

The whole question is "worth the money".

With PIAA, I'm afraid not. Unfortunately for other brands, I've been burned with PIAA, and haven't yet gathered the will to start spending on some again, not even OEM.

jiggaman

that's pretty sad that there are no quality fog lights out there. i would think there has to be

Canyonball

"Looking good" is subjective. Some don't like the Catz XLD that I have (great lookin and functioning lights IMO) but others do. Personally, I think the orange/amber fog light and hyper white driving light match the TSX headlight projectors perfectly. Dichroic crystal lenses/lights last forever. I've had both Catz and PIAA's on my Integra and like stated earlier... PIAA doesn't have longevity and in some cases, decent illumination. Next to HID fog/driving lights, Catz is the best IMO. Raybrig is right up there too, if not a close second.

Jack Slate

I had PIAA 1100X on my old Integra for a number of years with no problems. In fact, they lit up the road even better than my stock 9004 bulbs(that I replaced with PIAA superwhites).

jiggaman

how about these puppies?

http://www.eautoworks.com/html/ORD-1-1-1-15.cfm

Canyonball

They're nice. It doesn't say the wattage, but any Raybrig lamp with 55 watt output will outperform ANY PIAA with "110/55watt" output. Keep in mind, Raybrig makes OEM lights for alot of Japanese Manufacturers, so you know they're quality...

If you're in the market, I'd search Ebay for Raybrigs or Catz. I got my XLD's for $150 ($280 I believe MSRP) PLUS 8 dichroic lense replacement bulbs (like $380 worth), AND I got to pick out what colors I wanted for the replacements...

As a matter of fact, JBendit@aol.com is the one who sold it to me. Recieved them in two days...

cruzingsilver

could you put up some pics of your cars front end
cant see it very well in your avatar