It was foggy last night and i was musing about fog lights as i was driving. I can see the purpose of rear ones but whats the exact purpose of front ones? I’ve had 3 cars with front fogs now and i cant really see they help much. They fill in below the normal headlights a bit but apart from that not a lot.

If its really foggy you get some glare back from normal headlights and the fogs dont improve this, unless the point of them is to drive with just the low level fogs on??

They came in handy last year when both my headlights suddenly went pop on an unlit A road!

drive with just the low level fogs on. The idea is that they light up at a very low level heightwise and so don’t get as much glare back. They help you pick out the kerbs etc.

Or at least that was the original idea. Now they are designed to help you identify morons.

I like mine though.

fogs penetrate further through the fog and with less reflection and thus improve visibility/safety.

In theory they fill in more light without increasing the the light reflected back by the fog.

In my experiance they can be good – or absolutly no different.

Of course – if you enjoy driving arond your local town centre at night they can also be used along with side lights instead of dipped light to announce the driver is a t*****.

My company car switches the fog light on the side you a steering into. Why, I don’t know.

They work well if used only with side lights otherwise they don’t really work

They have another name. 😉
Google search.

Does posting a link to a Google search that wouldn’t pass the swear filter count as swear filter avoidance ?

The headlights on my old Vectra B were really bad when out driving around on unlit roads so I would occasionally put them on to try and see the edge of the road better, did not use them in town though.

“If its really foggy you get some glare back from normal headlights and the fogs dont improve this”

Well, car designers and engineers have got it all wrong then……….

I can’t help feeling that if they gave any genuine safety gain that they’d be mandatory spec and not a bit of jingle jangle on the options list.

Deviating slightly – rear fogs: Are they not compulsory in some/most territories? In most cars the switch for them is amongst the blanked switches where optional extras would go. In my motor its hidden by the steering wheel and not that easy to reach, you just have to feel around blindly for it.

Get on a dark foggy road, put your front fog lights on, and turn your head lights off/down as low as you can (sidelights as we used to call them :wink:)

then you’ll see how they’re supposed to work 8)

Thanks Zulu, I was wondering what ‘sidelights’ were

There appears to be alot of confusion about when fog lights front/rear should be used.

Alot of people think you should put them on when its dark, or when its raining. In fact people tend to use them at every point apart from when they are actually intended.

They only truly make a difference on dark roads ie no street lights when your reduced to a crawl because you cant see 20ft infront. With main headlights on you just get a wall of light and can see bugger all. Switch just to side lights and fogs and you can generally see a bit more.

The muppets that use front and rear in heavy snow or rain need shooting though, as do those who just drive round with side lights and fogs.

Odly our Seat does the fog light on thing when you go round a corner, even if you dont have the fogs switched on! Why I dont know as it certainly doesnt help you see any better.

Fog lights used to give a wide flat beam of light with a sharp cutoff to avoid light being reflected up and back into the drivers eyes. Modern headlight beam technology has done away with this to some extent, but under some conditions it’s still beneficially to turn off the headlights to reduce reflected glare and drive on just the foglights.

Does posting a link to a Google search that wouldn’t pass the swear filter count as swear filter avoidance ?

Not when the swear filter nobbles the link!

The headlights on my old Vectra B were really bad when out driving around on unlit roads so I would occasionally put them on

😀

Selective quoting, so much fun.

I’m not sure, but I’m of the thought that it’s actually illegal to drive without headlights but with fogs, even in fog.

I like my fogs for use at the same time as full beam – my fogs do a good job of lighting the immediate road (immediately in front + maybe 30ft) MUCH brighter than my headlights which tend to cover the distance a bit more. Dont use them with other traffic though.

Driving around with front fog lights on, preferable when there isn’t actually any fog, makes you look like a lad……..with a hint of ‘rally driver’. It certainly impresses me.

Which therefore, makes them quite indispensable to the Halfords Set.

The corner fog light thing is to aid low light and low speed turning i.e. turning into a tight space or drive…the extra light afforded by the lit fog is meant to improve visibility so you don’t skelp the edge.

I have them on my car – the police have stopped me once to tell me a fog light is out and refused to believe me when I said it was designed to do it…a few moments later a similar model to mine came round and did the exact same thing…they still didn’t believe me but through I was switching them on and off…

I don’t tend to use mine at all – if I am driving on a dark road and it’s proper black, I tend to have the full beam on – if I switch the fogs on I then lose my main beam so I get a lot of light right in front of the nose, a lot of light waaaay out front and nothing in the middle where I’m looking.

I just don’t use them as luckily I don’t drive much in real thick fog (but if I were to then I’d use them).