What are you guys doing for your auxiliary lighting.? Fogs or driving lights? My early E24 takes under bumper mounted lights. I have a box NOS set of amber rectangular Cibies that are a bit oversize but look neat, or I can get an original style rectangular set of Hellas either fog or driving in clear. I am leaning towards the amber as I haven't seen any and I thought they add character
Auxiliary lighting question
- Thread starter Bert Poliakoff
- Start date
Hella 140 fog
Last edited:
Not knowing nomenclature, are they fog or driving?
Fog has fluted lens, driving lights are clear lens
Interesting as Susquehana MotorSports is showing clear Hellas in either a fog or driving light with a bit of a premium as well.So amber has nothing to do with it. It is just the lens pattern? I had always thought amber was more efficient in fog
I have 135mm Marchal 642 Grand Portee driving lights with yellow bulbs. Slightly smaller diameter than the headlights. They blast easy on the eyes light far down the highway.
Yellow is generally a fog bulb but as Steve shows they can be used in a driving light too. There can be minor fluting but not much in a driving light. One fog and one driving, they can be mixed. I have Marchals as well but 6”.
This is what my Cibies look like. But as you can see, it's the lenses that are amber so I would have to go with a dedicated fog light? So back to the original question which is sort of a survey of who favors what. Is it a matter of practicality or aesthetics or just personal choice and there is not a real answer
Last edited:
Depends on whether you anticipate driving in foggy or clear night conditions. For me its the latter and they have come in handy on numerous road trips. Yellow light was thought to cut through fog better than white light, but this has been debunked. Yellow is definitely less fatiguing for my eyes and provides a nice canopy ahead. Fog lights are typically mounted under the bumper to better get under the fog layer and reflect less back into your eyes.
My Hella 140 fogs have a metal hood over the bulb inside the lights to keep the light cutoff low.
The goal with fog lights is to throw wide low light with minimal reflection. Reflection is the reason why you don’t use your high beams in the fog. The amber can help with the reflection, but you will find that all modern dogs are clear. The low mounting helps to illuminate the road while keeping the light below the fog layer.
Driving lights are generally spot/pencil beams, or just complete floods. They generally go above the bumper, and should be wired with your high beams. You want to be able to turn them off quickly without taking your hand off the wheel. I have wired mine on past cars this way. The high beam out from the stalk powers the auxiliary switch. The auxiliary switch (when enabled) powers the trigger on the relay.
Beyond all that, fog lights still help with clear driving, and generally don’t piss off oncomming traffic. I love driving lights but fog lights are more versatile.
Edit: As I typed this it is so foggy in Seattle that I can barely make out my neighbor’s house.
Driving lights are generally spot/pencil beams, or just complete floods. They generally go above the bumper, and should be wired with your high beams. You want to be able to turn them off quickly without taking your hand off the wheel. I have wired mine on past cars this way. The high beam out from the stalk powers the auxiliary switch. The auxiliary switch (when enabled) powers the trigger on the relay.
Beyond all that, fog lights still help with clear driving, and generally don’t piss off oncomming traffic. I love driving lights but fog lights are more versatile.
Edit: As I typed this it is so foggy in Seattle that I can barely make out my neighbor’s house.
Last edited:
Yours are Cibie 35's, they are also available with clear lenses fog and driving lights
Bert, I took this in my garage so not the best images but here are stock mounted amber fogs my US E24 ( switched by P.O.) and I think they are........swell.
