I'm may be being a bit dum over this but whats the diff between em? I was under the impression driving lights were not as bright as Fogs or is the other way round, and the driving lights come on with the mainbeam and do not need or have a seperate switch? Whenever someone is behind or coming towards me with thier Fog/driving lights its still blinding and annoying.
Lastly are the front lower Fog lights on a P1 Driving or Fog lights??

 

From what i remember from being stopped in my teens for these being on
The possitioning is what tells them apart,driving lamps sit directly below your main headlights and foglights sit further in towards the middle.
Dont know of any other difference (maybe wattage) but thats what the coppers told me so i moved mine out to underneath the headlights cos i got fed up of getting a round of f@*ks for em being on

 

I thought driving lamps came on when main beam switched on, but they're relayed so you can over-ride them with the foglamp switch. Foglamps illuminate the road directly in front of the car and the roadside so you don't end up in a ditch.

anyone coming towards you with them on is just simply a tw@t.

 

Foglights have a wide, flat topped beam to illuminate the road directly in front of the car, and the verges. The do not illuminate much more than 20 feet in front of you.

Driving lights are like headlight main beams: a sort of flattened oval in shape, and illuminate the road from where the dips leave off to ..........well that depends on the type. My HID's shine about a mile or more

Fogs are switched so that you control them at all times by the single switch, but in general, they're wired so that they won't come on without sidelights being on first.

Driving lights MUST be wired , by law, in such a way that when you select dip beam, they go out. They can also have a switch, so that when you select main beam, you have a choice as to whether they come on, or not.

Agree wholeheartedly about idiots who drive with fogs on all the time. I wish the Dibble would target them as diligently as they do speeders:

The lights you mention on a P1 are driving lights, the owner had a choice of halogen ones, or a cost option of HID. You can still get the HID sets from Hella, Demon Tweeks, Prodrive etc.

Alcazar

 

Its not about being a **** messiah,10 years ago it was a trend/fashion same as hair styles and clothes but obviously i grew out of it like most people do
I agree its stupidity and when younger you dont know any better(or just dont give a toss) but you must have noticed most that do it are rebellious young ricers lol

 

Has to my biggest bugbear, front fogs

So which do I have the Driving or Fog? Not they are ever on.

 

One difference......

Grown ups have fog lights and use them in the extremely rare case of it being very foggy.

D1ck He@ds have driving lights and drive about with them on all the time 'because it looks better innit' oblivious to everyone they dazzle.

I overtook a Scooby on the A33 last night with it's fogs on and just thought why? You can almost understand it on a 17 year olds Nova, but do you really need to do it in a scooby?

 

Driving lights only should only ever come on if the headlight main beams are also on. So if you see a car driving along with the driving / fog lights on but no main beams, they are either fog lights, or illegally wired driving lights.

 

papascooby,

you obviously don't know the difference. all the dickhe@ds you refer to are driving around with fog lights on. Driving lights are usually 120w+ and you'd know all about it if you had these in your face on a dark road.

Driving lights are for drivers who want maximum light for safe driving along unlit roads and should only be used with main beam.

Krade,

I'd say you have driving lights, but they'll either be Halogen or HID. Looking at the bulb would tell you. If they only come on with main beam, then they are defo driving lights or someone's been naughty with the wiring harness.

Stefan

 

Yeah I know, but people call their fogs 'Drving lights' if they're of the persuasion to run them all the time

 

Yeah I know. They're just muppets and should be given a slap

 

I once stopped a moron on the motorway in an Astra with his fog lights on. I asked him why he had them on and he replied that they were "Motorway Lights". When I told him that they were fog lights and totally useless at motorway speeds he wouldn't have it. He insisted they were "motorway lights". Whilst booking him up, I gave him a producer for his documents. I also told him that if he brought the owners manual in and it stated that they were motorway lights I would let him off. Needless to say he "couldn't find" the said book!!!!

 

Driving to work this morning, 8.30am, bright sunshine - sunglasses firmly on. D1ckhead in an Audi A8 pulls out of a side turning to follow me with, you guessed it, parking lights and foglights on.

Why FFS?!? It was bright enough to get a suntan!

 

I reckon it's Ford's fault. In the early '80's they had foglights on the GL models, no foglights on the L models. Most reps got a Escort L company car. But the reps who fiddled and bribed enough orders to get a bonus got the "reward" of an Escort GL. They then had to drive everywhere with the front foglights on all the time so they could show all the lesser reps how clever they were. That's my theory anyway. Not sure why people still do it though.

 

I reckon half of them do it out of ignorence, they dont know the rear fog lights are on and they dont know what the red light on the dash means.

I used to pull up along side people with thier rear fog lights on and wind down the window shouting
"Jack/Jill? Jack/Jill is that you?"
They look at you quizickly and say something like
"Nah mate you got the wrong guy/girl"
"Oh its quite hard to tell in this fog" I reply
"its not foggy mate????"
"Then why have you got your *%$&ing Foglight on then!!!!!"

Not the most friendly way but fun every now and then. Nowdays I just window the window ask them if they realised thier fog light was on?
Most dont even realise its on, appologise and turn them off.

The front fogs are another matter I think its a case of Sheep mentality most people have them on because everyone else does. The rest do it knowingly just to pose.

I can't understand why they have them on as they must know its a distraction to other drivers after all they must suffer from it the same as we nofog users do.

 

...but I always turn on my rear fogs (of course when it's foggy) when the bozo behind has their front fogs on! Of course I always forget to turn them off again (not).

Graham

 

fog lamp covers

they look much better, and ive had mine on all the time

 

If I remember my Highway Code (it's a long time ago) fog lights should only be on under conditions of fog or falling snow.

 

I think there is something about the height from the road with driving lamps and the distance from the edge of the car, fogs can be low but not driving lamps.
Pet hate is front or rear fogs on all the time..........
STEVE.......

 

My fogs are smashed and I'm going to replace them with Driving Lights.

Just one question about the HiD ones, I read somewhere that they don't like being turned on and off often - surely not good for something that comes on and off with the main beam?

I have HiD dipped beams so I tend to use the fogs if I'm just moving the car at night etc...

Or is what I read just a load of bull?? I wouldn't mind getting HiD ones for the driving lights too.

Cheers.

 

Krade: Those are almost certainly driving lights, (the car looks the nuts too: )
Have a look through the lens at the bulb: halogen is a glass envelope with filament inside, HID is longer, and has a thin wire running from top to bottom outside the envelope. Yours LOOK like halogen.

Bedhog: I haven't heard that about HID. The man to contact for a definitivwe answer, is Nick at Autolamps online.

What bugs me is folk whose car has front and/or rear fogs obviously left on after poor weather because they forgot to switch them off when they stopped and switched the lights off. Lights back on = fogs back on

On my wife's Xantia, if you stop with main beams on, and then switch the lights off, when you switch them on again, the main beams have defaulted back to dips. Same on the lad's Clio.

Why can't manufacturers fit a similar system to cars so that when you switch your lights off, the fogs default back to off, and have to be reselected if you actually want them??

Alcazar

 

Cant say I let my life be ruled by other people having front fogs on. Rear fogs, thats a different tale - they are bloody annoying.

I used to use my front fogs on the MR2 on unlit country roads, shock horror, even when it wasnt foggy.

Reason being, that car was not terribly good over potholes etc, and the fogs helped me to spot them by illuminating the road in front. I would turn them off once out of the unlit stretch though, so I suppose thats the difference.

 

The P1 driving lights were an awesome weapon against the fog light on brigade..!!!!

If someone had fogs on a quick flash with the main beam normally retaliated with by a flash from their main beam... So let rip with the driving lights and that seemed to get the point accross...!!!!

 

Oh dear and i was just going to say
the difference between driving lights & fog lights is about £100

 

They do... it's just you have to buy a Vauxhall Astra.

 

I find front foglights quite useful in some cars if the road is narrow and has imprecise edges and potholes and no road/street lighting.

I always turn them off if I catch another car or turn onto a bigger/better road though..... well, usually I remember.

I find rear foglights an utter PITA. People put them on, on the m'way when it's raining slightly FFS. Spray + foglights = no vision at all and you can't easily distinguish their brake lights if they're slowing down.

PS: Neither my scoob or AXGT has front fogs.

Jeremy.

 

this is a gr8 thread....in fact i was thinking about starting one off myself.

I get the impression that some people (inc some on this thread) take real offense to seeing a car drive past them with the front driver/fogs lights on.........why does it bother them soo much ??? they don't throw out enough light to bother a badger (in fact less light than a headlight)
I had a lorry drive past me the other day (comming towards me) and the driver gave me the finger....lolol....I laughed so much I nearly crashed...in fact i think i might drive with them on 24/7 just cos i get such a gr8 reaction from 0.0001% of the public, I only caused slightly more "outrage" by having a green mohican back in my punk days.....lol....some people just need to take a chill pill and lay down in a dark room for an hour.

 

Fog lamps can only be used in adverse weather conditions ie less than 100 metres visibility and the lensese are marked with a "B" near to the E number and can work with other lights on
Driving lamps can only work in conjuction with main beam and must go off when main beam goes off and the lenses are marked H1 near to the E number
maximum penalty at court £1000 or non endorsable fixed penalty ticket
Happy motoring

 

I've never had a problem with people using front fog lights. If they're positioned properly they are unlikely to dazzle. It's the rear fogs that annoy me. I think that in a convoy of traffic in poor visibility (fog), it should only be the car bringing up the rear with the fog lights on. When I'm in traffic in foggy conditions I'll have my rear fogs on until a car comes up behind me, then I'll turn them off. I wouldn't want to dazzle the driver behind me to the extent that he doesn't notice my brake lights coming on.

 

At risk of being jumped on from a great height, here goes-
Why are people so offended by fog lights being on at the wrong time ?
OK it is contrary to motoring law...so is speeding !!! Do people have them on to inprove their visibility to other drivers, if so I have no problem with that, Volvo have been doing it for years! If it's a fog light then it can't be in oncoming driver's eyes, the beam does not go up.
I just don't have a problem with it, possibly a minority view but so what.

JBL