NB8B Foglight upgrade/replacement help

guss_bruss · Postby **guss_bruss** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 7:24 pm

So I want to upgrade the foglights to something bright, and it doesn't really matter how bright they are because I only use them on backroads at night, so not really caring about legality for the foglights. So this post is really just a post asking for what people have done to the fog lights and was it successful/did it achieve your goal? Ill post a bit more info on my situation below.

originally I wanted to change out the stock foglight assembly/housing for something like a LED floodlight but i've realised I might not need to do this to achieve effective lighting. Currently I have 35w HID's in the lo-beam projector which are great brightness and don't dazzle other road users. I have just ordered 40w LED hi-beams which look promising (I got LED's due to the constant on/off nature hi-beams go through) But i am still unsure about what I should do for the foglights so i'm just seeing if anyone has done anything to the foglights and turned out successfully? I'm thinking i want to go for a 55w HID which should not be too bright for glare off of road signs, but should be bright enough to clearly illuminate the sides of the road clearly. BUT Depending on how far the hi-beam LED's throw light, my main goal for the foglights would be spread light down the sides of the road not throw distance down the road, which is what LED's should be better for.

Anyways let me know if you've got any experience with changing the fog lights please!

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 10:59 am

with your HID setup i guarantee that you dazzle oncoming drivers.

LED's are utter useless as headlights/highbeams in housings not designed for LED, you will be bitterly disappointed with the outcome...

As for fog lights, they are exactly that used for foggy conditions. They have a wide and low beam spread. Saying that TRS has just realise some LED fog lights designed for the NC, I'm sure you could retrofit on the NB

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/compl ... l-FpITUlBw

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:09 pm

Are you in melb?

I think I still have a pair of NB8B foglamps in the shed (might have alreayd given them away, can't remember)

They're no good to use as is (bracket broken from accident, bulb holder melted from a short) but they would be a perfect candidate if you wanted to cut them up to make something custom to house the LED while looking OEM.

guss_bruss · Postby **guss_bruss** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:58 pm

Regie wrote:with your HID setup i guarantee that you dazzle oncoming drivers.

LED's are utter useless as headlights/highbeams in housings not designed for LED, you will be bitterly disappointed with the outcome...

As for fog lights, they are exactly that used for foggy conditions. They have a wide and low beam spread. Saying that TRS has just realise some LED fog lights designed for the NC, I'm sure you could retrofit on the NB

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/compl ... l-FpITUlBw

I set them up properly when I installed them, I have also never been flashed and I also have had friends drive past me and tell me if they are annoying. but anyways headlights are not the topic here.

I have done a bit of research on the topic and aftermarket LED headlights have come a long way since they were first released, If these don't work I will be surprised as I have seen lots of comparisons between LED / HID / High quality halogens and they seem to be equal to HID's most of the time, which are obviously much better than the Halogens.

well this is Brisbane so we barely get fog, I just want to clearly light up the sides of the road so animals etc are easier to spot, Thanks for that link, retro fitting them would definitely require fabbing up a bracket and i doubt it would sit flush with the bumper and for $185USD i'm not taking that risk with our current exchange rate haha. Will continue researching, depending how well these LED's work will determine if I got LED or HID in the foglights

hks_kansei wrote:Are you in melb?

I think I still have a pair of NB8B foglamps in the shed (might have alreayd given them away, can't remember)

They're no good to use as is (bracket broken from accident, bulb holder melted from a short) but they would be a perfect candidate if you wanted to cut them up to make something custom to house the LED while looking OEM.

Thanks for the offer that would have been perfect but I am in Brisbane

guss_bruss · Postby **guss_bruss** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 2:00 pm

i'm still looking for any experience anyone has had with their foglights if they have changed them!

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 2:19 pm

guss_bruss wrote:Thanks for the offer that would have been perfect but I am in Brisbane

Fair enough.
If you do want to use them i'm happy to send them up for the cost of postage.

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 8:06 pm

guss_bruss wrote:I set them up properly when I installed them, I have also never been flashed and I also have had friends drive past me and tell me if they are annoying.

May i ask how? As far as i know myself and Tien are the only ones with proper HID retrofits.

guss_bruss · Postby **guss_bruss** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 3:53 am

Regie wrote:
guss_bruss wrote:I set them up properly when I installed them, I have also never been flashed and I also have had friends drive past me and tell me if they are annoying.

May i ask how? As far as i know myself and Tien are the only ones with proper HID retrofits.

I had a workshop align them properly after installation, like yeah maybe that still might not be 100% great but again i've never been flashed and i've dríven behind friends and they say the lights weren't annoying at all. at the end of the day a lowered mx5 is lower than everyone else so the chances of dazzling them is so much less than if i was putting it in a higher car for example a 4x4. and also because we are so low nearly everyone else dazzles us and it's not even that annoying tbh. also cops have said they were fine when pulled over once before although that was general good cops not the revenue safety regime.

You are such a HID nazi Regie hahah i see you in so many of these threads bagging out HIDs like Props to you for taking the extra time to make sure everything is legal but sometimes it's just not worth it haha

hks_kansei wrote:
guss_bruss wrote:Thanks for the offer that would have been perfect but I am in Brisbane

Fair enough.
If you do want to use them i'm happy to send them up for the cost of postage.

Thanks so much! ill probably buy some replacement HID/LED lights for fogs later this week when I see how good these LED's go and if they don't turn out good i'll get them off you so I can experiment, Thanks again!

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 9:24 am

Regie got it right.
Its a good plan not to have make up your mind without listening to advice.
Long range driving lights are easily procurable with spread or penccil beams and are mountable. There was also a very small hid driving lampmade by Hella.
The way to change a fog to a driving lamp is to change the insert and makers often offered this but I doubt if there is one for the Mazda. I would also guess that being so low the fog location is wrong for long range
An accessory bar is readily available eg see Police cars many use them. With the bar mounted behind number plate just legal lamps and use legal switching. If I was regularly on bush roads I can see the value of driving lights

Postby **Okibi** » Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:17 pm

I've ripped my foglights out.

I did have some spotlights on my Red NB (mounted where the licence plate goes) and they helped a bit late night driving in the hills, I had them spread wide so I could see better into the corners.

I'll be interested to see your final solution.

guss_bruss · Postby **guss_bruss** » Sun Dec 13, 2015 3:33 am

I received the LED high beam lights yesterday and installed them today so I went and tested them tonight and am pretty happy with the light they produce. They are as bright as possible without road signs producing too much glare, but, as I originally thought, LED's aren't great at throwing light far down the road, they throw the light far enough for high beams but I want something better for the fog lights I feel. Because of this think I am going to go for a 35w or 55w HID which, I'm still undecided how bright I want these to be, so I will let more experience and night time driving help me decide what I need. I feel like i'll probably go with the 55w's but I will update this thread with a comparison of the final decision!