wally

Just bought e set of driving lamps from Ring by my local autoshop, something like your Halfords. The kit contain lamps of 170mm dia, all the conn. and 2 halo. bulbs of 55w, the instalation took me 45min as I used the original wiring of the fog lights ( and they are crap, those foglights ) But the most amazing thing is the price : 20 Euro's for the set. I tried them out in the dark and they work pretty well for me, of course I'm not Mcrae, and maybe I will change the bulbs to a higher wattage...
Merry Christmas Everybody

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Interesting...........are you saying they're mounted where the original fogs were? If so, there may be a few people on here interested in HOW you did it.
Doesn't surprise me that you like them, or that the price impressed.
I had some very small (60mm) ones from Raydyot, mounted either side of my number plate, and with 130 watt bulbs they were superb. Only cost £30 the pair. Unfortunately, I lost one lens to a stone, and they're no longer available in this country.
Alcazar
BTW:local auto shop? Not Norauto?

[Edited by alcazar - 12/26/2002 11:57:09 AM]

wally

Thats right, I've mounted them on the original foglamp holes : remeove the foglamp, place then the lampholder on the underside of the hole between the connection of the original lamp, then undo the cable from the foglamp and use it in your driving lamp, screw the lamp on the holder and finished, it's all difficult to tell but very easy when you see it, and I bought the lights in AUTO 5, it's a parts shop near Carrefour, some warehouse everywere in Belgium, but I used the original cabling and 55 watt lamps, anything stronger willl burn the lens they said : see also topic Burn the lens.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Depends what the lens is made of. If it's polycarbonate, I'd stick with Philips Vision Plus 50% brighter bulbs, which advertise as being suitable for plastic lenses.
If the lens is glass, you can go up to 130w, but you'd need to modify the wiring with a relay, seperate feed etc.
You really ought to do the above anyway, so as to have your driving light come on/go off with main beams. Don't know about Belgique, but over here it's the law.
Alcazar

akshay67

I have seen these lamps in Halfords for around £20 - sounds like a bargain actually because driving lamps usually cost about £200!

But the thing is dont you have to mount the driving lamps so the beam is dead straight or angled down slightly? How do you do this alignmen?

wally

Yes turn the screws of the connection between lamp and car not too tight... Wait until dark, goe to a very dark road and have a minute or two to make the ideal alignment for you...!!!

akshay67

Mate,

I'm probably gonna get a pair of these tomorrow - as drving conditions in the rain have been aweful of late.

Question is, do I need to do any drilling or mangling of the orginal fogs? I dont really wanna screw things up due to future resale...

Cheers

wally

You can place the lamp holder between the two lower holes of the original mounting of the foglight, and with some clever thinking you can use the complete original wiring too, if you use 100w bulbs like i do don't forget to isolate enough for melting !!!

I tried it out myself and had no problems, just don't use the driving lights long without driving ( for cooling ) .

akshay67

Wally, I have managed to mount them on without drilling the bumper.

I basically used a thin metal strip and attached it to the two fog light screw holes parallel to the bumper. I then attached the driving lamp to the strip. All I need to do is adjust the beams as they are a bit skewed at the mo - nothing that the odd washer can't sort out!

All in all very good - much better visibility than my headlights alone - and those bulbs cost bloody £16!

I'm not sure about the 100W route yet. I may just get some +30% H3's - will experiment some different bulbs along the way!

wally

Yo ashkay67 what do you mean by a metal strip, be more specific, I'm just curious to know.
You can use 100w bulbs without a problem, just make sure that the wires are isolated enough because of heat from the bulbs !!! Your wiring shal not melt, I've tried it now for almost two weeks without a problem..

akshay67

wally, you get a metal strip (I used the ones used to hold carpet down on the edges). The dimensions were 15cm long and 2.5sm wide (and about 3mm thick).

This strip fits nicely along the bottom of the fog light housing. You will need to make two holes at each end of the strip, which will screw into the original fog light holes (using the orginal screws). Then make an hole in the middle of the strip and attach the driving lamp to this, using the supplied nuts and bolts...

I also managed to use all the orginal wiring - its very very easy!

The only pain is adjusting the light so that the beam points on the right bit of road - but that only take a few minutes of tweeking, carefully removing and tightening the crap out of the screws!

Has to be one of best mods for £20 and they light the road about twice as far as my headlight bulbs, which alone cost £16.

wally

I was thinking of such a metal strip myself but at the time i was installing it was christmas and the local shop was closed, now today i bought the strips and i must say that the lamps are more tight then before.The beam doesn't shake anymore, when i have my digi-cam i will set some pics here...