LED Fog Lights installed

[Don M]

NO, I didn't put them in the grill LOL. I bought a set of motorcycle LED/Projector fog lights and installed them in the 'blanks' in the bumper cover and they are bright as hell, what do you think? I know they look like they are aimed too high, but I've checked and they are not blinding to people in front of me or coming at me because of the tight beam from the projector lenses.

 

[evo77]

Don, unfortunately those are not fog lamps because they do not emit a proper fog beam pattern. You have spot beams.

A properly designed fog beam is oval in shape (flattened) with a clear cutoff so that light does not extend above into the low beam area.

A better LED fog beam is more of a rectangular shape and is extremely wide. This Valeo is found on the newer Mustangs.

Your spot beams are most definitely glaring other drivers. If any part of that light is illuminating above the cutoff of your lowbeam then it is.

US requirement says that glare cannot exceed 1000 candela at the specified test point. If you take a lux meter or download a lux meter app, measure the light from the height of a driver (about 3.5 ft from the ground) on the opposite lane from 20 ft away. If it exceeds 27 lux then you have too much glare.

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

Don, unfortunately those are not fog lamps because they do not emit a proper fog beam pattern. You have spot beams.

A properly designed fog beam is oval in shape (flattened) with a clear cutoff so that light does not extend above into the low beam area.

A better LED fog beam is more of a rectangular shape and is extremely wide. This Valeo is found on the newer Mustangs.

Your spot beams are most definitely glaring other drivers. If any part of that light is illuminating above the cutoff of your lowbeam then it is.

US requirement says that glare cannot exceed 1000 candela at the specified test point. If you take a lux meter or download a lux meter app, measure the light from the height of a driver (about 3.5 ft from the ground) on the opposite lane from 20 ft away. If it exceeds 27 lux then you have too much glare.

First off, Don, they look great! I'm sure it was a real PIA to install them... I once had a Chevy Malibu LTZ where the entire bumper cover had to come off just to replace the bulbs in the head lights.

@Evo, so how would you classify the "fog lights" on an S197 Mustang GT? I have to say mine are anything but oval/flattened. And as a matter of fact, when I'm running all 4 lights at once, people flash their high-beams at me... I'm not sure if it's really blinding them, or they're just not used to seeing all 4 lights on at the same time. But I can say with certainty, we Mustang owners, call the lights in the grill "fog lights".

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[Don M]

Thanks, they were a pain. Fortunately, the fog light blanks in the bumper cover pop out from the front and I was able to work on them off the car. I used a hole saw and cut out the covers and epoxied the lights in place. There wasn't much I could do in the way of aiming them, so all in all I think they came out great. I do wish they were just a tad lower, but all things considered they work fine and no one has brighted me.

First off, Don, they look great! I'm sure it was a real PIA to install them... I once had a Chevy Malibu LTZ where the entire bumper cover had to come off just to replace the bulbs in the head lights.

@Evo, so how would you classify the "fog lights" on an S197 Mustang GT? I have to say mine are anything but oval/flattened. And as a matter of fact, when I'm running all 4 lights at once, people flash their high-beams at me... I'm not sure if it's really blinding them, or they're just not used to seeing all 4 lights on at the same time. But I can say with certainty, we Mustang owners, call the lights in the grill "fog lights".

 

[evo77]

@Evo, so how would you classify the "fog lights" on an S197 Mustang GT? I have to say mine are anything but oval/flattened. And as a matter of fact, when I'm running all 4 lights at once, people flash their high-beams at me... I'm not sure if it's really blinding them, or they're just not used to seeing all 4 lights on at the same time. But I can say with certainty, we Mustang owners, call the lights in the grill "fog lights".

Paul, nice Mustang!:xyxthumbs:

So how would I classify your fog lights? That depends on their performance. Do you have any garage wall shots that you could post so I can take look at the actual beam pattern? Despite them being a round lamp, if they are genuine Ford part (and not aftermarket) they should have the typical fog beam that I mentioned. And most importantly, if they are aimed correctly, there will never be any discomfort glare to other drivers. If your are occasionally getting flashed then perhaps they are too high.

Remember, a fog beam is supposed to light up the foreground underneath the low beam. And while your fog lamps are in the grille at the equal height to your headlamps, I believe its safe to assume that many owners might mistake these lamps as a driving lamp and reaim them higher. Which is a mistake.

Here is a image for reference to illustrate the positions of the low beam and fog beam combo. A fog beam should never be aimed anywhere near the horizontal line that the low beam occupies. If there is any incidental light that falls above that line then that light should not exceed 550 candela.

Here are two lamps I have on my test bench. A reflector halogen fog lamp from a Cruze. And a LED fog lamp from the newer Mustangs.

This is the reflector lamp.

And as you can see it has the typical fog beam. For what its worth, this particular lamp is a cheap aftermarket one from China. It surprisingly has a decent beam however I have not tested the actual GM part for comparison. OEM lamps are built to higher standards and conform to the DOT FMVSS108 photometric regulations.

I've added a red line to indicate where the DOT has specified where glare falls onto the eyes of drivers. The incidental light of this fog lamp (weird V pattern) shining in that region is well under the photometric maximum.

This is the OEM LED fog lamp for the Mustang.

Since it is a projector it will have a superior sharper beam. And also a MUCH wider spread as well. Projectors will always control light much better than a reflector.


My concern with Don's fog lamp is that its the wrong tool for the job. And it will cause discomfort or even disability glare to other drivers. Since its a spot beam, the round halo surrounding the center peak intensity will fall onto the eyes of drivers. Even if it were aimed at the correct position which is 4 degrees down from H-V.

 

[Don M]

I understand your concerns about the glare from my lights, but I did drive my buddy's car both in front of mine to get the point of view from drivers I'm behind and head on from the other side of the street so I could see how they were to on coming traffic. They weren't blinding at all, in fact, what I mostly saw were two white "dots." I could tell the lights were on, but they looked more like white marker lights with no real brightness to them.

If I discover that others are bothered by the lights, they come apart very easily and the lenses are half-globes. Since they don't generate much heat, I could probably put electrical tape over the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the lens to give it a sharp horizontal cut off.

My concern with Don's fog lamp is that its the wrong tool for the job. And it will cause discomfort or even disability glare to other drivers. Since its a spot beam, the round halo surrounding the center peak intensity will fall onto the eyes of drivers. Even if it were aimed at the correct position which is 4 degrees down from H-V.

 

[Sizzle Chest]

A nice project Don. I like how they look in the 'blanks' that were there. Nice work!