recently I came across some articles stating that from a rigurously scientific point of view the yellow fog lights are only a myth. According to the theory yellow the light does not penetrate fog any better than normal driving light. Yes, yellow goggles filter some of the blue and offer a better contrast but the yellow light does not filter anything (!)

any comments? I want to purchase a pair of new fog lights to replace my mangled IPF's and I am not convinced if I should go for the yellow or the "normal" glass.

thanks.

w.

I would go for the clear. But if used for fog, mount them as low as possible on the vehicle so they are illuminating the road and not the fog.

I've heard the same thing about yellow lights. I wanted to replace the fogs on my Camry because they're worthless. The guy at the shop told me yellow actually is worse for vision except for others to see you.

Oh, yes! I second that. The lower the better. I had clear fog lights below the bumper and they seemed pretty efficient in the fog. I was just wandering if it pays to switch to yellow for the replacement ones?

w.

I have both on my rig and I can honestly say the yellow illuminates the road better than white. Especially when they are mounted closer to the pavement. The fog light is not intended to open up visability a great distance in front of you. A correct colored yellow bulb should illuminate the reflective lines and signs on the road as well as the immediate area in front of your truck. My PIAA ion bulbs have done just that and have been worth their weight in gold on more than one occassion.
Here's a good article you should read:
http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/lights/fog_lamps/fog_lamps.html

I had yellow lights on my 96 and I hated them. In my opinion, they diddnt produce any useable light. I turned them on, but the stupid yellow light just make things harder to see. I would have much preferred white lights.

have you ever been driving through fog or dust and had someone come at you with white lights on?? it's blinding. the yellow does not do this...thus the true "fog lamp"

Jacob

I wonder if the yellow lights are more efficient...
Don't get me wrong here, but first I am concerned with what I see and second with what the other guy sees. I am always mounting my fog lights as low as possible, usually way bellow the bumper, I always switch from high beam to low beam, way in advance, when a vehicle is approaching from the other direction and I always switch off any additional driving lights I may have installed either on the bumper or onthe roof rack. At night, on city streets, I use only the daytime driving lights and the lanterns,seldomly use the low beams, so I am definitely not the one to flood the world in front of me with blinding lights. But I do care about what I see first, before what the other ones see.

BTW don't you just love it when you see 4Runners equipped with OE fog lights rolling around in the city, on the main street, or getting out of the mall parking, on a nice clear summer evening, with their fog lights on? Or, even worse, with an assortment of additional driving lights on?

regards,

w.

It is my understanding that the yellowish tint put on the lenses is for others to see you easier in the fog, not to increase the viewable area for the user. White light and yellow light do have different wavelengths, so there is some difference in their light producing ability, I'm just not sure it would be noticeable by the human eye. I think it all boils down to personal preference of color choice here guys.

Brian

I use yellow fogs strickly for others to differentiate my vehicle from others on the road....don't want ta blend in with a string of white lights <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />...when viewing other vehicles with yellow, they do stand out.
I would like ta know what's best for blinding snow.

shaggy