Are the aftermarket 55-W driving lights any good or are mostly for appearance? I have the famous Ford plastic lenses and have polished them to the best they're going to get but still not perfectly clear. I was thinking about adding the accessory lights to make up for the dimiished headlights. If they don't illuminate for any distance I think I'll not go to the trouble of adding them. Thanks for opinions...

 

Like most fog lights, they are of greatest benefit right in front of and to the side of you. Aimed wrong (too high) they pi** off oncomming traffic and people will either flash their high beams at you or simply leave their highs on. If you're headlights are going dim, remember that over time this is normal aging of the bulb. Replacing the bulbs is the fix.

 

Most driving lights, properly aimed, only have about a 15 degree spread in front of you. Again, aimed properly, (and unlike fog lights) they illuminate FAR down the road and not so much to the sides...

I've got mine on a relay to come on only with the high beams(they way they should be). The way most are set-up, they have a fairly clear lens with no cover over the bulb (or on the bulb itself like a 9007), even properly aimed they can give lots of glare to oncoming traffic. Especially true on anything but flat straight roads.

Mine definately help. The left light is aimed properly down the road with the right side aimed slightly (not much) more to the right to get the side of the road a little better (deer). This also happens to be were my stock highbeams lack. Mounting them higher and and a little closer together(opposite of fogs) will usually get the best results.

The cheap ones usually aren't as efficient (read bright) and come with sub-par wiring (just make your own harness if you get some cheap Autozone lights) compared to hellas or the like. They still make a difference though.

 

Suppose to be off in Hi-beams.

They work pretty good. Depends what kind and how big you get

 

No, fogs should be off with highbeams, not driving lights. That's how it is in Texas and other states I've looked up anyway. Read chapter 547 sections 328, 330, & 333 here: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/tn.toc.htm

The cops apparently don't know this either, I now carry a copy in my truck and have had to use it.

 

I will be wiring them with an independent switch/relay because I'll only use them on long trips, not locally. I want to adjust them to shine the same distance as the low beams. They will be driving lights, not fog lights. Fog lights used to be yellow and when used, the headlights were turned off to prevent glare off the fog. . I driver could see pretty well with them.

 

You'd probably be happier with some clear "fog lights" mounted up a little higher than optimal for foul weather use. You get a better spread instead of a hot spot directly in front of you. This can make it harder to see what's beyond/beside (ie. kamikaze deer to the SIDE of the road ahead) the hot spot, (assuming your at HWY speeds and need to be looking beyond the low beams immediate pattern).

Experiment: Go outside in the dark with an adjustable beam flashlight (Mag-lite style). Make a mental note of how well you see off in the distance with the flashlight off. Now aim the flashlight on the ground in front of you and turn it on with the spot beam (simulating improperly aimed driving lights). Can't see off in the distance as well now, right? Same principal. Now change it to the flood pattern (simulating more of a fog pattern). It diffuses the light, reduces pupil shrinkage (that you would get from the hot spot of the improperly aimed driving lights) and utilizes reflection (onto objects on the other side of the immediate beam pattern) better. Better than with the spot pattern?

If properly designed, you also won't be exposing the filament of the bulb to other drivers as you would with driving lights. If you'd only use them with no other traffic around, then you should be using your brights anyway. If there's a flaw in my logic or something I'm missing please let me know, I'm pretty interested in this subject.

Oh yeah. Check out the "whiter whites, brighter brights" mod. You can find the link in this thread I started about some minor alterations to the original design: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s....php?&t=417231

My lights are ageing also (I've polished them but they're still cloudy), but with this mod and Silverstars they're still MUCH better than original. Looking for a good (cheap) solution right now.

 

I understand your anology but my thought is that with all the traffic on the interstates high beams can't be used much anyway so I want to have as much light as I can get out there in the low beam range. With the separate switch I can turn them off for local driving. After market bulbs may be the right answer but I still would have the cheap Ford plastic lenses. I never understood why they continued to use them for all the years. I would think that for $40,000 they could afford a decent headlight lense. ..............IMO.......