Foglights [was: Cats and Audi's and rear fogs]

[Larry C Leung]

Actually, front fogs project a flat topped (rather than spread) beam that
is wide which makes it's intensity lower due to the wide area of
dispersion. They usually are of the same power as low beams. THIS is why
miss-aimed fogs are SOOO bad, if they are aimed high (eye level) they
can't miss anyones eyes that are in front of them. Fogs can be mounted up
higher on the car (witness Mercyless Benzes of the past, and an optional
set up of A1 and A2 Golf's and GTi's (I own a set, but it has the
original driving lights in). They actually would get more forward
projection with a higher mount, but there is more risk of back glare (the
"wall of light you described) if mis-aimed or of poor design (this is
where I have found Hella fogs to be superior to most. They actually have
a mask to physically block light from the upper beam, as well as good
optical design. A VERY clean crisp cutoff, even the non-projector models.


LL - NY

On Tue, 11 Dec 2001 10:57:36 -0700 Zsolt <zed123 at telusplanet.net> writes:
>I am wondering how many regions of the North American continent have
>conditions where rear fog lights would be an advantage. I am guessing
>
>the coasts, and by the Great Lakes.
>
>Here in Alberta, Canada we rarely have fog, and even if there is, it
>has
>never been that bad that rear fog lights would have been essential.
>(that is since I lived here since 86)
>
>In Europe however I have seen fog so thick, that I had to open the
>door
>to see where the line was on the road and I could barely see beyond
>the
>nose of my car.
>
>In fog like that one should really have the rear fog lights on, unless
>
>they want to get rear ended.
>
>The front fog lights (in my opinion) should only be used when one
>can't
>see properly with the regular headlights. The regular headlights light
>
>up the fog in front of you and it becomes a "white wall". Fog lights
>on
>the other hand are positioned low, they scatter the light instead of
>projecting it, and low wattage. They will allow you to see through the
>
>fog and see the road, which is what you will concentrate on because
>you
>don't know where you are going.
>
>The miss use of fog lights really annoys me. The front ones most
>people
>have on for the "cool factor". (Really. how much cooler is it going to
>
>make you?) I bet in case of rear fog lights, majority of the people
>who
>have them on are not even aware of it. The rear ones are a bigger
>problem, because they are way to bright to be used under normal
>conditions and they are easily misread to be brake lights as well...
>
>...but maybe it's just me.
>
>Zsolt
>
>
>Larry C Leung wrote:
>
>> Probably the lowest common denominator method of traffic code design
>(as
>> evidenced by this) is why US manufacturers don't even bother with
>> including rear fogs.
>>
>> LL -NY
>>
>> On Sun, 9 Dec 2001 14:45:45 -0500 (EST) Brett Dikeman
><brett at cloud9.net>
>> writes:
>>
>>>On Sun, 9 Dec 2001, George Selby wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>At 09:13 AM 12/9/01, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>That is a great point, I suppose we can point the blame at the
>>>>>
>>>sales goons
>>>
>>>>>that are not informing the buyers of all of the features these
>new
>>>>>
>>>cars come
>>>
>>>>>with, and their proper use..
>>>>>
>>>>I don't think it's the salesman's responsibility to go through the
>>>>
>>>owner's
>>>
>>>>manual with a new owner page by page to explain the vehicle to the
>>>>
>>>new
>>>
>>>>owner whom just purchased it.  It is the owner's responsibility to
>>>>
>>>READ the
>>>
>>>>owner's manual, and understand the product he just bought.
>>>>
>>>Actually, you're BOTH wrong.  Joe Fritz spent a few years at Ira
>Audi,
>>>and
>>>we occasionally did lunch when I was in town.  One time, I was
>making
>>>noise about the morons in the area leaving their rear fogs on, and
>>>why
>>>didn't the dealers do something?
>>>His response(from memory so it may not be word-for-word):
>>>
>>>"We DO.  When they come in to pick up the car, we spend about an
>hour
>>>with
>>>them going over everything in the car, top to bottom.  We emphasize
>on
>>>the
>>>front+rear fog switches etc."
>>>
>>>"Ah."
>>>
>>>"However, we'll get a call from them a few weeks later.  'Hi, this
>is
>>>so-and-so, this Audi's already got a broken taillight, I want it
>>>fixed.'
>>>No, sir, thats your rear fog light.'  'No its not, its the brake
>>>light.'
>>>'Sir, go downstairs, turn on the car, and push the little button
>with
>>>the
>>>light picture on it and the yellow light in the middle, its on the
>>>center console, up top.' <clump clump clump. <long pause> <clump
>>>clump
>>>clump> 'Well, Ill be damned.'  'Have a nice day, sir.'"
>>>
>>>Personally, I think the solution to the problem is to spread an
>urban
>>>legend about how inner city gangs go into the 'burbs during the
>night
>>>and
>>>go looking for people with their rear fog lights on(aka, the whole
>>>urban
>>>legend about gangs driving around with their headlights off and
>people
>>>who
>>>flashed at them would get shot at etc.)  As demonstrated by the
>fact
>>>that
>>>everyone on the planet has heard this little urban legend by now, I
>>>think
>>>it would work great :-)
>>>
>>>Another option, of course, is for NHTSA to get off their lazy asses
>>>and
>>>revise stuff on the books regarding automotive lighting.  A big
>step
>>>would
>>>be to "sync up" with canada/europe/australia/japan on the
>>>subject(accounting for RHD/LHD of course), the same with crash
>>>standards.
>>>Take one guess why this will never happen...US automakers would
>have
>>>even
>>>MORE competition, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?
>>>
>>>If I recall, parts of Europe have stiff penalties for improper use
>of
>>>fog
>>>lights, front and rear facing.
>>>
>>>B
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>