Cos I've lost a fog lamp on my MY00 (stone through the lens) I started thinking about converting to driving lamps. Looked at all the kits and they seem to be £200+.

Started flicking through my Demon Tweeks catalogue, and noticed that you can buy the lamp units that are used in rally lamp pods. You can get them from Cibie, Hella, PIAA etc at around £40 - 45 each (+VAT). I know you can also get universal mounting rings. So would I be right in thinking that you could get a pair of these and a bit of wire, relay and fuse and DIY it, for about £120 all in?

Has anyone tried this?

I don't think it's as easy as that, or everyone, including the dealers, would do it that way.
IMHO, the problem lies in mounting. You need a stable system, with easy alignment, (and DON'T get me started on THAT little problem:D: ), and it's the mounting know-how you'll pay for.
The Hella 1000FF units are very good in halogen form, and outstanding in HID. Cibies are also pretty good. Scoobysport do the Hella HID conversion for those with deep pockets or understanding credit card companies, and also a Cibie kit. Either are very good.
Prodrive do a Hella halogen kit which is good value, but CAN be a pain to set up, and I couldn't stop mine vibrating on the move, which gives a weird lighting effect at speed. I have seen others on here who love them though. I sold mine on, and bought different.
As far as wiring is concerned, you can get what you need from a local carshop/auto-electrician for less than £10.
TIP: whatever you buy, GET SOME CLEAR COVERS FOR 'EM!!!
Scoobysport do ones for the Hellas, and also the Cibies. Well worth the money, and you can't tell they're there when they're in place.
Alcazar

Hello, sidewaysmatt that doesn't see, (joke !).
I bought myself driving lamps from Ring, it's a set of two lamps with bulbs and so for 20 £. I know thats cheap but hey, we're ,not WRC drivers, just guys that want to see a little more.
I made a connection from the lamp to the bumper with a metal strip, see my topic, some guys have done it also, maybe you should contact them ecause I'm from Belgium and we have other autopartsshops over here.
I find it a waist to pay 200£ for a fog lamp or the same for a driving lamp when you know that they can be damaged every time you go out. Even with a protector, you still have the chance to break one, ore some stupid who will park in front with his tow bar in your light...
just thinking aloud..
Cheers m8

I have done what wallys talking about...

To be honest, its so worth doing that I can't stress it enough. And for £20 you just can't go wrong (and these are more powerful than the standard headlights). Obviously, you can't compare them to £200 jobbies, but they are a major step up from the fog lamps.

The only thing is adjusting the beam, which shouldn't be too difficult (I haven't had the time to fine tune yet!)

Hmm, thats what I thought. I must admit I've not pulled the foglight out yet to look at the mounting arrangement.

akshay67, which kit did you buy then and where from?

They're from Halfords and called 'RING Visionline driving lamps' - Only £19.99. Standard bulbs outdo my £16 headlamp bulbs by a longshot (on an MY99). Now I'm considering upgrading the driving lamps to use better bulbs.

Quite easy to install - I used a pair of metal strips from DIY shop and screwed them into the existing fog lamp holes. Then attached the lamps to the strip, so no mullering of scooby!

Cheers akshay67. I'm off down to Halfords to have a look!

and you can use 100w bulbs without a problem, just make sur you isolate the wires good, I used some wire from an iron, thats heat resistant...

I used a set of Hella lamps from Halfords - came with relay, wire and covers. (Now sprayed green to match the car :D so the car doesn't look quite so silly & cheap ;) )

I made a very simple bracket for the lamps by using a piece of flat iron that bolted diagonally across the old fitting holes, and the driving lamp bolts to the flat iron. There is up and down adjustment from the standard hella fitting, and left and right adjustment by shimming one or other mounting bolt with washers.

Simple and quite effective.

And there's a guy on the "For sale" section selling a set of HID's for cheap money!!!
Alcazar