Do the Fog's Do Anything? Better to light a candle.......

[MazdaTwo]

"The fogs on my miata are great! They fill in the space between the lo-beams and the car, and they widen the pattern at the front of the car as well.
Fogs are meant to do exactly that, aide in fog, when you're already driving slowly and need more definition to see the road itself.
Driving lights are what most people desire, they throw a narrow beam WAY down the road and are great for nighttime driving on highways and interstates. "

Yup, exactly. The U.S. M2 lights don't seem to accomplish what your Miata's do.

I'm looking for good fog lights. Not driving lights. Really.

And "Thanks", I'll have to take a look for a Miata to check out the design. What year is your's?

Re the rear torsion bar, I saw Corksport's bar and that is a very good price. I was surprised that they made it out of aluminum when steel is the usual choice. I've seen other rear bars of various diameters in steel by Autoexe and Ultra Racing. Just checking to see what was out there and if there were any other designs, including OEM.

John

I'm sure anyone who disagrees would tear me apart for this comment, but on a car this small and light, the aluminum is, by far, the better choice. The cost and weight savings alone is enough of a reason, but also; aluminum has not only come a long way as a material, in that particular "bar-style" density it's plenty strong for this application.

Aluminum doesn't flex like steel, so on a torsion beam it's a better application.

 

[brandini]

Yup, exactly. The U.S. M2 lights don't seem to accomplish what your Miata's do.

My fogs are Cibie stock Mazdaspeed miata fogs and stock headlights. They are a projector style housing so maybe changing to a later miata's headlights will improve to the point you don't need fogs often?

 

[Racebrewer]

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that Cibie was ever involved with MAZDA. I'll have to take a look for them.

John

EDIT: I'm back......... I did some research on Cibie Fogs on Mazda Miatas. Nice lights. Nothing like the decorative fogs on the M2 which have a H-11 bulb.

Now I wonder if I can retrofit them to my M2.....

If you don't mind, here are some questions.

What bulb do they take? What is the diameter of the lens? Is there a "glare guard" around the bulb?

Thanks,
John

 

[brandini]

looka like dis:
http://www.mazda-speed.com/gallery/MSM/foglight1

 

[Racebrewer]

Thanks for the link!!!! Good photos. I'll have to crawl back under the car, if it gets above freezing this weekend, and see if I can get some measurements in regards to the mounting screw locations.

From the photos, it appears that these are better lights than those on the M2. For a start the M2 fog lights have "glare guards" in front of the bulbs which probably block a lot of light. The M2's fogs also use an H11 bulb which has fairly low output.

I have found Hella fog lights that mount like the OEM Mazda lights and apparently Cibie has also had "modular" style fog lights for OEM's but I don't know where to get those. Saw them on an old Japanese web site. What did we do before the Internet?

Much appreciated,
John

 

[MazdaTwo]

The M2's fogs also use an H11 bulb which has fairly low output.

Have you checked out the corksport site? They've got a custom "HID/LED" style bulb for the Mazda 2 fogs that looks to really amp up the effectiveness of said "sub-candle" fog lights. Click Here to check them out.

 

[Racebrewer]

Hi,

Actually I have looked at those. I've also switched to brighter bulbs and the change made little difference. My gut feeling is that its just a lousy design and upping the bulb won't do much. Has anyone tried the Corksport bulbs?

John

 

[rchrist364]

What would be a good fog light bulb?

 

[Racebrewer]

Hi,

The stock bulb is an H-11. With about 2 minutes of modifications, an H-9 can be substituted.

The filament location is identical. There are slight differences in the socket area that can be modded with a utility knife. There are also three mounting tabs and one needs to be trimmed by using a pair of sidecutters.

Wattage/lumen difference is found here:

http://store.candlepower.com/h-9.html

Mods are illustrated here:

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=119161

The swap made a substantial difference in my wife's 2010 Honda Fit. Virtually no difference in the M2. If the weather is decent I'll crawl underneath and take another look at the lights/glare guard/aiming.

John

 

[muttsnutts]

Do what I did put 6000k HID's what a difference

 

[XCLR8TN]

There's a ton of room where the fogs go. I'm planning on mounting some projectors in there. I have some old 3" E55 projectors which would be free since I had them (except buying bulbs/ballasts).

The driver side has less room than the passenger side because of the washer fluid bottle, FYI. I will try and measure today how much room there is from the front of the fog cover to the washer bottle.

Edit, pics:

The oem lens sits about .125" in from the surface of the bezel. You have just about 5.5" flush to the bezel from the washer fluid bottle, Which should be plenty to mount some Projectors

 

[fam]

factory fogs do nothing...nada...good luck. I had HID's in the fogs on the mazda3 (non projector fogs) and it did basically nothing but light 5 feet in front of the car and the sides very brightly. Projectors would help but keep in mind unless you have projectors and hids up top they will be different and the cops could still pull you over.

 

[brandini]

it did basically nothing but light 5 feet in front of the car and the sides very brightly.

That's what they're meant to do.

If you want them to shine down the road a distance, you need 'driving lights.'

 

[fam]

Then their purposely made to be without purpose. ;P

 

[MazdaTwo]

That's what they're meant to do.

If you want them to shine down the road a distance, you need 'driving lights.'

Then their purposely made to be without purpose. ;P

People don't seem to realize that fog lights are not made to illuminate the road as much as they are used to increase your visibility to other drivers. Fog (which typically settles in about 1-2 feet off the ground) reflects your headlights back at you. That is why fog can decrease visibility for the driver (especially at night) and it's also why high beams are undesirable in heavy fog. Fog lights are made so that oncoming traffic can see your vehicle at a greater distance since fog lights sit at or below the fog line.

And as a perk, the fogs illuminate the road directly in front of and to the sides of the vehicle, which can enhance your visibility in fog.

In. Fog....... Fog. Lights.

If you want to be able to see clear to the next state, you should invest in some aircraft grade landing lights and mount them as driving lights like the Hale Motorsports guys did.

 

[Racebrewer]

Sorry, but I've had Bosch, Marchal, and Lucas fog lights and they did much more than illuminate a couple feet in front of the car. I've also had driving lights. I know the difference, what they do, and how they are used.

Mounted low, those fog lights with a sharp cut-off provide much better visibility in fog and snow and don't dazzle the driver. You don't have to worry about the M2 fog lights dazzling the driver, but they don't do much else either.

There appear to be three types of fog lights, crappy OEM, crappy aftermarket, and good aftermarket. Who knows, there may also be good OEM as in when Mazda sourced Cibie in the past.........

John

 

[Sweetums]

If you want to be able to see clear to the next state, you should invest in some aircraft grade landing lights and mount them as driving lights like the Hale Motorsports guys did.

Out of curiosity - do you have a picture or link of what you are referring to?

 

[fam]

http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...ill_in_a_b-spec_mazda_2_and_honda_fit-feature

and the facebook page you will LOVE

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Race-the-2/153081118071022

 

[Sweetums]

Ah yes...I had read that article. It was one of the things that inspired me to buy the 2. Anyone take the front bumper off yet to get in there?

 

[wreckerboy]

Mounted low, those fog lights with a sharp cut-off provide much better visibility in fog and snow and don't dazzle the driver. You don't have to worry about the M2 fog lights dazzling the driver, but they don't do much else either.

Yes, but the squirrels on the road are going to be blinded!

Well, at least illuminated. Dimly.

Would you believe make it easier for them to find the change they dropped on the ground directly in front of the car?