Okay guys, first I want to say that the older I get, the more sensitive to glaring light my eyes become. I say this because there are tons of folks in my town that drive with the brights on 24/7 & they have poorly aimed factory fog lights also on 24/7. Fog lights, are just a stupid idea in the first place. Driving lights are directional and have FAR less glare to oncoming traffic. I will only mount lights on my truck that I would be able to live with if they were coming toward me on a 2 lane road at night. Don't even get me started on the cheaper hid kits which have TERRIBLE glare to the sides & deserve all the tickets they get.

Okay, rant out of the way so I will get to what I am here for. Driving lights. Not hid or glare filled fog lights, but driving lights. I am curious of some alternative ideas that some of you have had. I have considered 7 inch round headlight assemblies like the 1970's gen 1's had with replaceable bulbs as an upgraded option, then mount them with a home made adjustable screws in front of the radiator behind the grill, so they would not be visible for the most part until they are on. I was thinking about that & have them wired to be on bright when they are on. My notion with these is to use them on country roads or black out conditions & driving snow storms but never with oncoming traffic.

Your thoughts?

 

My thoughts: Being behind the grille you'll get lots of scatter no matter what else you do, and that will fill your near field with light, constrict your pupils, and make you effectively night blind anyway. Get those lenses out in the air where they belong.

Next: Be careful to aim whatever you get so that they don't light the near field, and for the same reason. If you've got a bright patch on the road within a hundred feet, you're night blind even if your vision is perfect.

More: Tie the driving lights into your high beam circuit (use relays) so you have only one switch to twiddle when you have oncoming traffic. Of course you also want an easily accessible switch so that you can turn them off -- giving you as options always-off and on-with-brights.

Still More: Bright lights in driving snow? Bad idea. VERY bad idea. Don't do that. Use high quality fog lights, aimed properly for fog lights, instead. The reason is very much the same as for avoiding a bright near field, but magnified about a thousand times. Don't do that. Wire 'em up as for the driving lights but tie them into the low beam circuit so that if you pop on the brights the fogs go off. That's the hot ticket for mountain driving, too. When you're in the slow twisties you run the fogs with low beam so you get better coverage in curves and for deer fixing to jump in front of you, and on the long straights you've got drivers with high beams.

Afterthought: Go with PIAA lights if you can afford them.

 

Good advice. I like the idea of behind the grill for solid mounting to the radiator core & stealth, but I am not glued to it.

 

I remember growing up my dad had fog lights with yellow lenses. Do they even MAKE those any more?

 

Yeah, they're around. Not that yellow makes any difference unless you're driving around in WWII France.

 

are you looking to get better nighttime visibility when your lights are on bright?

consider two things-
LMC headlight harness with relay to deliver more power to your lights
(i don't have this yet)

Brite Box device that turns on dims and brights at the same time
(i have this and love it. no it does not overheat, no it has not damaged anything in the 5 years that i've had it).

edit - yes, it has a power wire directly connected to the battery to eliminate high power draw through the headlight switch.

http://innovadd.com/bb.main.html

 

The bright box sure would be nice.

 

Amber lights have been shown to enhance your visual acuity under all driving conditions, but are especially effective during inclement weather. Notice how even todays endurance racing like LeMans 24 hr, racers still run yellow lamps.

 

I love that quote about tow mirrors Jimythefan haha its so true. People always ask me why I dont fold out my tow mirrors and now I have an awesome response.

Okay about the lights. I run hella lights mounted directly to my front bumper. When I first installed them I aligned them per DOT regulations and they sucked, definitely not what they were meant to do. So I just aimed the beam where I wanted it and now they reach farther than the highbeams. I also have the fog/highbeam mod so I can have all 6 lights on at once. I always turn the highbeams and hella lights off well before another car gets close to me though cause I would easily blind them.

I find that more people leave their highbeams on when they're behind people than when they approach an oncoming car. That pisses me off cause it glares big time off my mirrors.

 

i dont have the front bumper inserts and was wondering if that would be a good location for some aux lights.