I had a fog light burn out and went to parts house to get a new one. I found that there was a 55 watt and a 100 watt. Has anyone installed the 100 watt and has it caused any problems with the extra heat.

 

It may not be legal in your state, or a state you might travel to.

 

well since you dont say what housing you plan on putting them in its hard to say if you will have heat problems, another concern is the extra power draw. Like said before it will be illegal for on road use in most places. Honestly i would ditch the halogen bulbs and go with a 35W or if you are feeling baller a 55W xenon set up. lower temps, lower power draw, and most times brighter.

 

I would NOT put 100w bulbs in the fog lamps unless you upgrade the wiring to them. Assuming you are talking about the 99 in your info there the fog light wiring is very similar to the headlamp wiring in that the full current draw is pulled through the switch.

I built a harness style upgrade as well as upgraded the wiring to 12AWG on my fog lamps, and ran 100w bulbs for a while. Personally I went back to the 55w when they burnt out because I couldn't tell a difference at all on the higher wattage bulbs V/S the stock other than the fact they burn out quicker and cost more.

 

I love "vs" threads, no matter how strong my conviction to ONE of the objects being compared, I somehow always manage to let a forum full of strangers I've never met convince me otherwise.

I enter this thread a "55 watt" guy, by the end, I'm sure I'll be a "100 watt guy"

Gosh I sure hope there's never a thread titled "Gay vs. Straight"

 

From your vehicle specs in the drop down it looks like your rocking some stock fog lights, upgrading to 100W bulbs on stock wiring is a VERY bad idea...unless you like (hopefully) blowing fuses and not starting a fire. If its aftermarket lighting, then find out how big it is, and whether the housing is plastic or metal. Its its at least 14AWG wiring and a metal/glass housing then go for it, other then the legalities of the "Only for Highway" use bulb you should be fine.

 

very helpful please continue youre valuable insight



to the OP my experience with the 100 watters is that the additional amount of heat caused within the housing will cause bulb failure in a couple of weeks

 

For a fog lamp, less is truly more. When I fitted my Hellas (amber bowls & lenses - the rectangular form. 550?) I immediately pulled out the 55W bulbs and put in 35W - I've done it before with good results.

You do not want to fit 100W bulbs in fog lamps - even with amber bowls/lenses, you'll get plenty of "flare" and lose vision! 55W I would consider a practical maximum, and I probably wouldn't use it in anything that isn't louvered for a slight downcast (like Per-Lux lamps.) Straight-out beams? Go about 35W, if you can find them.

Save the 100W "super bright" bulbs for proper driving lamps. Try to use them in fog lamps, you'll feel like you're inside a ping-pong ball (with about the same visibility.)

 

X2
This is the best and the right answer!!!
For fog light you don't want to go to bright. Like 5-90 said save the 100w for the driving and off road light.

 

100w is going to be illegal on the road most everywhere.

I have 55w fog lights and they are borderline too bright.

Not sure which wattage you'd want to use if you go HID as my 35w HID lights are brighter than 100w lights. Maybe the temperature makes the difference?

 

Yes 55w bulbs are bright as ****

 

Thanks for the input everyone. I will just stick with the 55's since they are oem lights, but they are wired with 12 ga and individual relays for each light.

 

Sounds like they're wired up right - but, just because you've got the wiring to support them, the purpose of a fog lamp negates the utility of an extra-bright bulb.

If I'm on the road alone and get socked in, I'll cut my vehicle lights to running lamps and drive on the fogs - I can see better that way!