Choosing which auxiliary lights to install on your truck or any kind of vehicle entails a few more considerations than which box of lights on display at the local Wal-Mart or Auto Zone is the cheapest. Buying auxiliary lights isn’t like buying gas where it’s virtually all the same to your vehicle’s engine.
You should first ask yourself what types of adverse driving conditions do you find yourself in most frequently: Rain? Fog? Snow? Does your after-dark driving consist mostly of city streets? Long, open stretches of Interstate? Country roads?
Those questions helps narrow down the type—and quality—of lights that would suit your driving needs best because the really good aftermarket lights have been designed to handle very specific needs. Therefore, choosing the “right” light may entail mounting more than one type of auxiliary lights on your vehicle to get the most benefit when visibility matters most.
What I’ve found over many years of driving in a multitude of weather conditions and over vast types of terrains is the typical sportsman’s vehicle needs a minimum of two types of auxiliary lights: fog and driving. A pair of each will suffice –if they are of good quality.
FOG CUTTERS
Good fog-type lights are worth their weight in gold when the weather turns sour. The best ones project a very wide, well-defined punch of penetrating light out 75-100 feet and covers both lanes of a two-lane road as well as a dozen yards off the shoulders. They also show a distinct cut-off along the top of the light beam that prevents light glaring back in your eyes when thick fog, rain and snow wreak havoc on visibility.
But not all fog lights are the same when it comes to quality. The key to good fog lights is two fold: 1) reflector design, and 2) lens quality. Scrimp on either in their production and the light pattern that makes fog lights so worthwhile is diminished. So skip the cheap off-brands and focus your shopping research on the well-knowns when buying fog lights.
One good choice is the rectangular ARB IPF 840 Series fog lights (www.arbusa.com). They provide bright, amber light and a lens design that focuses it in such a way to provide really good foul-weather lighting.
Another excellent fog light is the PIAA 540 Extreme White model. They are round, but the fluting of the lenses provides an excellent fog beam pattern that keeps back-glare to a minimum while throwing out a bright, white light pattern to illuminate the road immediately ahead of the vehicle and surrounding area.
If you prefer inconspicuous, yet remarkably powerful fog lights, install a set of PIAA 2100XT Xtreme White Series. They are phenomenal performers and would work excellent in many of toady’s smaller SUVs and cross-overs.
The new Hella 500 Series rectangular fog lights are also a fine upgrade. They are a little less expensive than the PIAA and IPF models, but price doesn’t seem to make affect how well they perform.
LONG DISTANCE LIGHTS
To really light up the road when there are no on-coming vehicles and the weather is clear, flip on a good set of driving lights. (Make sure of your state’s vehicle laws, first.) They throw out a tight, well-focused light pattern that can light up deer eyes and refelectors up to a mile away.
Like fog lights, quality and technology make a difference. A quality set of driving lights reach out two- three-times further than conventional headlights, and the ultra-high-end HID models even further. HIDs, despite their enormous cost, do the best job taking away the eye strain driving after dark,.
It’s in this arena, driving lights, which the watt-wars and sales pitches flourish. Don’t fixate on watts (read sidebar, “Watts Better” for an explanation.) Rather, concentrate your shopping on 1) the efficiency of the light; 2) the quality of the housing and mounting system; and 3) the type of beam it projects.
There are several types of “driving” lights. The standard garden variety throws a fairly focused, high-intensity beam that reaches out maybe a 1/4-mile. Then there are the more aggressive pencil-beam or “spot” driving lights that have an even tighter light pattern that lights signs up a good half-mile or so out.
A few ultra-high-end HID spot-style driving lights are said to project enough light to reflect off an object nearly two-miles distant. Then there are also models that offer adjustable or dual-beam modes to provide a combination of beam patterns and reach according to driver needs.
Another buying factor is the inclusion and quality of the wiring kit. The good driving light kits, like those of fog lights, provide everything needed to install the lights so they are wired properly.
Most of the better kits include pre-assembled wiring harnesses that have the relay, switch, and connectors already in place. All that’s need for installation is following the instructions and plugging in the connections. Cheaper kits may only include the lights, leaving you to figure out the rest.
AVOID ROOF-TOP BARS
Another word of buying advice: Avoid buying a “light bar” to put an array on the roof. A brace of driving lights positioned high above the cab looks all off-road racer like and allows the lights to get a little more distance in clear driving conditions.
Such positioning renders them almost worthless in snow, dust, rain, or fog because their beams of intense light reflects off the moisture- or dirt-laden air right back into the driver’s eyes.
A light bar with four- five- or six big, heavy lights also places a lot of stress on the roof rails, and they tend to vibrate a lot shortening their life. Lights mounted atop a roof are also a lot more susceptible to being damaged by overhanging limbs and low parking garage entrances.
A much wiser move is to mount those driving lights on the top of the front bumper, level with or slightly above the headlights. This mounting location minimizes the chances of glare while maintaining their long reach.
MANY GOOD CHOICES
There are a number of good “first choices” in driving lights. It all depends on what style turns you on so to speak.
The new PIAA Dual-Mode 525 Clear High & Plasma Ion Low Beam Kit are a dual-mode designed to wire directly to the headlight circuit, operate both as daytime running lights and full-on driving lights when the high-beams are kicked on. On low-beam they throw out a bright wide beam much as would fog lights—but on a slightly broader overall scale. On high-beam they punch light a long way up the road.
ProComp’s Slim Profile driving lights are nice because each is only 2 ½ inches deep, yet the 7-inch diameter housing throws out a powerful, well-defined beam similar to the PIAAs. This makes installation and mounting easier on vehicles that don’t have a lot of space between bumper and grille.
But for the most powerful driving (and fog) light, nothing compares to the HID (High-Intensity Discharge) models the serious off-road racers are using. Several types are available, including a dual-mode model from Warn, both fog and driving models from KC HiLites, Vision X, and a monster light-maker from LightForce that throws out enough light that you can read a newspaper 1300 yards away.
The downside with HID lights is despite their unbelievable efficiency they are quite expensive. You can easily drop $1,000 for a set of these lights.
WATTS BETTER
Some manufacturers lead buyers to believe there’s only one term that matters when it comes to the quality of aftermarket lights: watts. They use the term like vehicle manufacturers use horsepower. Such marketing tactics are very misleading.
Watts is only a measurement of current draw (Volts x Amps= Watts); it’s the automotive equivalent of how many gallons of gas per hour an engine uses—not the miles-per-gallon the vehicle the engine is in gets driving down the road.
For example, a set of 100-watt off-road driving lights are far more effective lighting up the road than a pair of 100-watt light bulbs sitting on your bumper. The difference is in how the bulb’s light output is focused.
Such output is rated in candelas (The term “candlepower” is outdated and was replaced by candela in 1948) or the intensity of the light measured on the lens face at the center. The higher the candela rating the more efficient the bulb/reflector/lens package.
So when you find driving or fog lights on the market that consume the same or less power (watts) and have a higher output of light (candela) than a comparable brand, you know which to buy.