Anyone replace foglight bulbs on MAZDASPEED3 with higher watt bulbs?

[voiceKoil]

Over the years I have done a lot of research about lights in cars and I got to tell you you had made the biggest mistake ever.
That Metal thing as you call it is a light direction stand. It helps direct the light produced by the bulb to the back of the fog light or any given headlight. What it does concentrates all the light produced by the bult in to one direction which is the mirror finish reflector.
So you removed it and now your bulb is producing light with no direction to go. Just about 20 % of the light now is been reflected to the back of the foglight if not less.
The way to enhance the way a foglight projects more light to the road is to change to a higher lumen bulb, not necessarily watts mean light specially in a car.
What you need is a better bulb with better clarity and the right amount of lumens to immitate the light the sun produces and that way you will see better.
Sorry man, but you messed up the foglights.

Zzinggg, I was thinking about that too. I thought thats what they did but I wasnt sure enough to say anything.

As for everything else Im pissed I just sold my 9006 silverstars on ebay, they woulda worked perfect, ah Ill just buy something else! I was too lazy to go look in the manual, I looked at sylvanias light guide online and it only showed the one bulb, I figured they wouldnt fit anyway, and after they sold I find out they do, those lights were sitting around here the whole time Ive had my car and I finally put them up for sale, and sell them, and literally that same day I found out they fit!!! My luck lol

 

[Rotus8]

Over the years I have done a lot of research about lights in cars and I got to tell you you had made the biggest mistake ever.
That Metal thing as you call it is a light direction stand. It helps direct the light produced by the bulb to the back of the fog light or any given headlight. What it does concentrates all the light produced by the bult in to one direction which is the mirror finish reflector.
So you removed it and now your bulb is producing light with no direction to go. Just about 20 % of the light now is been reflected to the back of the foglight if not less.
The way to enhance the way a foglight projects more light to the road is to change to a higher lumen bulb, not necessarily watts mean light specially in a car.
What you need is a better bulb with better clarity and the right amount of lumens to immitate the light the sun produces and that way you will see better.
Sorry man, but you messed up the foglights.

I hear what you are saying and I will give it some thought. However, the shield is not directing the light, it is absorbing most of it. It is made of metal with a grainy dark surface. It has a small gap so some of the light goes toward part of the reflector, but most of the light is blocked. After removing the shelds and putting in the SilverStars, the pattern is brighter and more useful, at least to my needs. They were really useless stock and even just changing the bulbs didn't help much.

Thanks for the insight - I'll think about if there is a different way to improve the lights, possibly just a modification of the shield?

 

[Japaneezy]

you are both right, the shield does help to project light and focus the beam and it does also absorb light. It blocks the light rays from spraying out the side, and lets only the light that needs to get to the reflector to create the intended beam pattern hit the reflector. by removing the shield, it will appear brighter from the top and sides, but it will also still have the same illuminating power where you need it most, where mazda inteded the beam to project. this is also a safety feature to prevent oncoming motorist from being blinded. the only way to increase the practical functionality of the fog lights while still being courteous to other drivers would be to switch to a brighter bulb, or to switch them out for better after market fogs.
i just popped these in today

Polarg B1 Super Yellow 12v55w=100w HB4/9006 bulbs. They work wonders! also if you need more light and don't mind risking frying your harness (though you probably won't) you can try the Nokya Hyper Yellow ones, i believe those are 70w bulbs.

 

[MM3Canuck]

Or if you have money to burn...replace them with a HID kit, 300% more light output, less heat, less power consumption, 3 times the bulb life.

 

[CosmoMS3]

Or if you have money to burn...replace them with a HID kit, 300% more light output, less heat, less power consumption, 3 times the bulb life.

I'd be interested in installing HIDs. Did anybody try this? How much money are we talking about? A friend told me I can buy some chinese HID bulbs online for about $150 per set. Are they reliable?

Thanx. (uhm)

 

[M3_Zoom]

Nice! I installed HELLA XY (Extreme Yellow) Xenon 55w Foglight bulbs. At first I was iffy, but this morning after leaving for work a little early I see the difference. Also they are allot brighter than the factory sylvania bulbs and I didn't even modify them. I guess I'll need to get my camera out.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

Nice! I installed HELLA XY (Extreme Yellow) Xenon 55w Foglight bulbs. At first I was iffy, but this morning after leaving for work a little early I see the difference. Also they are allot brighter than the factory sylvania bulbs and I didn't even modify them. I guess I'll need to get my camera out.

Bump so more people can find this.

 

[enganear]

Over the years I have done a lot of research about lights in cars and I got to tell you you had made the biggest mistake ever.
That Metal thing as you call it is a light direction stand. It helps direct the light produced by the bulb to the back of the fog light or any given headlight. What it does concentrates all the light produced by the bult in to one direction which is the mirror finish reflector.
So you removed it and now your bulb is producing light with no direction to go. Just about 20 % of the light now is been reflected to the back of the foglight if not less.
The way to enhance the way a foglight projects more light to the road is to change to a higher lumen bulb, not necessarily watts mean light specially in a car.
What you need is a better bulb with better clarity and the right amount of lumens to immitate the light the sun produces and that way you will see better.
Sorry man, but you messed up the foglights.

Did you even glance at this light before making these statements??? You could not be more incorrect. The shield is obviously there to attenuate the light by shading the element. It has small windows to the rear on the sides that only allow light to reach the rear of the reflector. The light pattern from the element is omni-directional It is not"directed" or "concentrated" by the shield, only selectively blocked. To change the direction of light would require the use of a lens or reflector and this shield is neither. The extra output you get from removing the shield is due to the unmasking of the bulb such that light can not only be reflected outward by the back of the fog light, but can also directly shine from the bulb through the front lens. As Rotus8 says, The shape of the fog light housing prevents much increase in the vertical divergence of the beam. but the horizontal output shout be much higher. I plan to do this as soon as possible. Light output should improve dramatically and it is FREE.

You state that you have done much research. Your statements indicate that you did not understand the results of said research.
-enganear

 

[jodacoto]

SSShhhhhhh. please

 

[2ManyCars]

Nice! I installed HELLA XY (Extreme Yellow) Xenon 55w Foglight bulbs. At first I was iffy, but this morning after leaving for work a little early I see the difference. Also they are allot brighter than the factory sylvania bulbs and I didn't even modify them. I guess I'll need to get my camera out.

Do you have a link to where you got them or the specific part numbers?

Thanks

 

[Rotus8]

Thanks for the backup enganear. The resulting pattern is interesting in that the pattern to the side is indeed a bit higher than the pattern to the front. It is not going to bother anyone approaching from the front. You do get a bit of glare if you stand about 50 degrees of the center, but in my opinion it is not high enough or bright enough to be a problem. I do believe that to the front the pattern is brighter and still low and flat.

 

[jp4130]

Stop, stop! You are embarassing me...
(Here's a snapshot from my garage )

Dude that 7 is awesome, I want to build one up someday; Is it as fun to drive as I imagine.

 

[enganear]

I have autocrossed a built 13B Rotus. I thought the front end was coming up several times! Biggest adrenaline rush ever!
-enganear

 

[2ManyCars]

I just replaced the standard 9006s with Krypton JDM Yellow 9006s from Luminics. These are a very cool upgrade. I did a side-by-side comparison with the existing bulbs and they are considerably brighter...

 

[wisniaPl]

where you get them from??I want violet....

 

[2ManyCars]

www.luminicsusa.com

 

[wlaquerre]

www.luminicsusa.com

i have an 08 ms3 now i have heard with the projector headlight set up you burn through bulbs like no tomorrow a friend of mine went through three sets of silver stars in a month an a half bulbs came out looking like the over heated bluing of the metal. How well have the luminics bulbs held up?

 

[2ManyCars]

i have an 08 ms3 now i have heard with the projector headlight set up you burn through bulbs like no tomorrow a friend of mine went through three sets of silver stars in a month an a half bulbs came out looking like the over heated bluing of the metal. How well have the luminics bulbs held up?

They have only been in for a couple of weeks so I cannot really tell.

 

[rednofive]

I know this is an old thread, but since a lot of folks come here to read about fog-light options, I thought I'd post some of my experience with them after repeating what Rotus8 did in his write-up (found on the first page of this write-up):

The first attachment is the Luminics JDM Yellow Krypton Series 9006 12V 55W bulb vs. the stock 9006 white bulb:
(as found here, FYI: https://www.amazon.com (commissions earned) )

Second attachment is just a rough comparison of brightness and beam height/angle of full max (yellow) vs. stock setting (stock white).


I've noticed the following with the luminics mounted in the maximum upward angle and the light shields removed (as done in the write-up made by Rotus8):

• no complaints from other drivers (so far anyway)
• much improved viewing to the sides, though it might be better if I lower them a bit below max-up but not as low as the stock position
• little light wasted to the ground (I don't have two bright yellow spots on the ground and the useful light is getting out)
• the light I get back seems about 1.5X brighter, but only slightly yellow in appearance EXCEPT for the regions out to the sides - the luminics do a much better job out to the sides than did the stock fogs or the low beams (as one would expect, right?)

I can make more pics to show the side-performance or look if anyone is interested, but I think others have captured the general appearance in other photos...

 

[2ManyCars]

Unfortunately, one of the bulbs I replaced just burned-out. Disappointing that it did not last very long. I had read this was the case in other threads but figured it was worth a shot. Lesson learned.

Correction: After looking at this further, the plug had signs of overheating (heat damage) which seemed a bit alarming. I cleaned it up and replaced the bulbs (with Sylvania) and it works fine again. Not sure if the actual bulb was blown but I'm not putting back in to find out...