What's the hot set up for getting brighter fog lights without spending an arm and a leg? Are there any drop in bulbs that are brighter that have proven themselves to last? We have a 2013 FX4 and the fog lights don't really do much. It is never foggy here and I would like to brighten them up to supplement the headlights.

 

Any bigger bulb will melt the housing. Look at the Rigid Duallys and similar LED lights for other options.

 

I installed hids in my f250, got the ends capped, never melted and were a big improvement.

I've seen a few threads on LEDs now too, seem to be a big improvement, shouldn't be as hot either...

 

I don't have any personal experience with the LEDs, but I hear they are quite the improvement

ORACLE LED Headlight, Fog & DRL Bulbs

 

While not cheap, the best option is probably an HID projector retrofit with something like the Blazer projector which is a true HID projector specifically made as a fog light. They're not horribly priced, but there is work involved in doing the retrofit yourself. Another option I've seen is to fit the Fusion's projector fog lights into the spot for the stock fog light. I don't believe they're HIDs but they do help output compared to the stock halogens.

Without going to projectors, your best bet is probably a full LED fog light, though keeping a stock appearance will be slightly more difficult.

 

I've been through this.
Does your 2013 have HIDs? Mine does. They pretty much over power the fogs. I wasn't happy with the very yellow color of the OEM 9140 bulbs in the stock housing so I went and spent good money on Putco LED 9140 replacements. The color was great, a very close match to the HIDs, but the output was a frickin joke. Light scattered everywhere and pretty much just a cosmetic upgrade.
So I went on the hunt for a good, somewhat whiter, halogen bulb. You can safely step up to a 9145 bulb (it's 45 watts as compare to the 9140 @ 40 watts) as this won't melt the fog housing. A 50-55 watt bulb will compromise the housing.
I found the Philips Crystal Vision Ultra in a 9145 bulb. The color is still yellowish like a halogen, but it's closer to a 4,000K color (OEM HIDs are 4,300K). They are brighter with the 5 extra watts per bulb and they do throw a pretty good amount of light.

There are a few guys out there doing LED projector's retrofitted into the fog housings, but you're talking about an investment of about $500 to start. You can also custom fit your own Rigid Duallys into the stock location as well, but there is no plug and play for the F150 from Rigid just yet.

I've researched this a lot in the almost 2 months I've had my truck and I almost pulled the trigger on retrofitted LED fogs, but their output isn't anything to write home about as they too scatter a lot of lot...again purely a cosmetic upgrade. I'm happy to help answer any questions you may have.

 

The fog lights have a light cover painted on the bulb, rub that off. that will give you brighter fog lights.

 

Check my pics out. It also tells you what I got:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ilm-today.html

 

I had 9145s from my SD that i put in place of the stock 9140s and they haven't melted the lenses in over 3 years they've been in there and they are a little brighter. My .02