I love my 2013 Mustang, with one exception. In my opinion, the headlights have overly limited range when on low beam. My car lacks the optional fog lights.

Can anyone advise me as to whether addition of the fogs will alleviate this problem and, if so, to what extent?

Thanks!

 

Strange because my 2013 has much better range and light than my 2006 had. The HID's on the 2013 seem to be very bright.

 

Maybe they need to be adjusted slightly. If so, it's a 2 minute job.

 

Fog lights aren't driving lights. Fog lights have a short, wide pattern and are basically to provide some contrast to see the edges of the road in thick fog and/or heavy rain at night where lower wattage and lower degrees Kelvin are better suited. Driving lights have a long narrow throw for distance similar to that of a high beam where higher wattage and/or higher degrees Kelvin (to a point) work better.

Perhaps you may want to try a replacement bulb with different specs before adding another circuit.

 

What YerBuddy said.

It's fairly common for cars to be delivered with the headlights aimed a bit on the low side. I've probably reset the aim on every single car I've ever bought.

There may be some benefit in setting the passenger side aim just a little higher than the driver side aim. This helps keep any dark patches in the individual headlight illuminations from lining up. It also allows for greater "reach" on the gutter side without putting as much light into oncoming traffic as setting the same aim on both sides would.

If you do get fog lights, they can also be used for close-in "fill" lighting that's quite useful.


Norm

 

Thanks all.

JimC: Interesting point. I was predisposed to question the lights’ coverage since it is one of only a few faults Consumer Reports had for the new V6 Mustang (perhaps the V8s have different lamps?). I agree that my lights are very bright; they just don’t throw that light far enough ahead.

Back in the day, fog lights were yellow. Now, what I presume are fog lights (and thought were driving lights) on so many cars are clear. Whatever they are, they seem to be always on when the headlights are.

True fog lights will definitely not address my complaint. The first thing I’ll try will be a minor adjustment of the passenger-side light if I can figure out how to do it.

 

Standard halogen lamps are typically in the 3500K range. I switched to Silverstars (4000K) and Silverstar Ultras (4100K). I put some 5000K lamps in my SUV and put the Ultras back in because I was having trouble seeing in dark and wet/foggy conditions. I suppose it's age related but you lose effective light at the higher Kelvin (cooler) temps and older eyes have more problems with those higher temps.

All of my vehicles fog lights are 2500K.

 

My 2006 lamps are set too low as well. I need to adjust them myself.

 

True fog lights have always been defined by the pattern (which you can usually tell by looking at the fluting in the lenses). Amber color is only a secondary thing that most likely is a hold-over from the long-established French auxiliary lighting manufacturers - Marchal and Cibie off the top of my head.

There are people who leave them on just for appearance sake.

But like I mentioned above, they're great for filling in a little more light up close to the car, out to a hundred feet or so. Mine are on most of the time when it's dark enough to see the pavement being illuminated for precisely this reason. They're also a cooler color temperature than my (OE) HIDs, and my eyes have seen a few decades too.


Norm

 

I think the headlights on my 2013 are very bright, very clear, and aimed just perfectly! I honestly love them