Fog Lights: Essential or Outdated? Let’s Chat About Winter Visibility!🌟

[LASFIT]

With winter sneaking up on us, we all know what’s coming—foggy mornings?️, rainy evenings?️, and those eerie, snow-filled nights. When you’re driving in these tricky conditions, every bit of visibility helps. But here’s the thing: not all vehicles, especially the newer models, come with fog lights anymore.

So, let’s get into it—does your ride still have fog lights? If it does, do you find them useful when the weather takes a turn for the worse? Or, if your car isn’t equipped with them, how do you tackle driving in low-visibility situations? ?

We’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts and tips. Winter weather can be unpredictable, but we can all be a bit more prepared by sharing what works (or doesn’t) when visibility drops!?

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[Buck99]

Interesting question…… I have fog lights on my 22 xlt, but honestly forget they are there. Turn them on from time to time but don’t seem to make much difference….. lots of rain and fog in Pacific Northwest in winter

 

[harringtondav]

They are useful in Iowa night time snow storms where even low beams reflect back and worsen visibility. I think the low placement of the fog lights improve the view of the road ahead.

 

[JohnnyO]

I leave them on all the time but I don't think they do much, especially in actual fog.
I did enable "Bambi Mode" in Forscan so the fogs stay on with the high beams. Bambi is a genuine road hazard in PA and will tear up your rig and you need all the help you can get.

 

[bostonburner]

I switched from the factory lariat led fogs to amber fogs from diode dynamics and the difference is incredible. The short story is the white fog lights are useless in the situations you need fog lights because your eyes can't see as much contrast with them. Switching to amber lights makes it so you can see much more detail in foggy or wet situations. Haven't tried them in the snow yet but I assume it will be the same story.

 

[scarchild35]

I have fog lights on mine and they do improve visibility in all conditions.
I can definitely tell a difference when they are on or off.

 

[TJC]

When I purchased my 2020 Ranger XLT new, one of the first things I did was switch out the fog lamp with LED amber bulbs. They really are not needed too much in central NC. We rarely see serious fog here.

I recently took 2 trips from central NC to upstate NY, taking I-81 through the mountains of PA. The stretch of I-81 from Harrisburg, PA to Binghamton, NY is notorious for very heavy fog. Going up was heavy rain from Helene, and coming back a week later we encountered extremely heavy fog banks from Syracuse, NY to Hazelton, PA. The speed limit signs are digital and change based upon the weather/fog conditions.

The fog was thick, near zero visibility at times.

Those amber fog lights got me safely through that stretch of road. High beams were impossible to use as they blinded you. Low beams were better but unsafe. The amber fogs did the job.

 

[REDWM]

They are useful in Iowa night time snow storms where even low beams reflect back and worsen visibility. I think the low placement of the fog lights improve the view of the road ahead.

I agree!

 

[Ninong]

I switched from the factory lariat led fogs to amber fogs from diode dynamics and the difference is incredible. The short story is the white fog lights are useless in the situations you need fog lights because your eyes can't see as much contrast with them. Switching to amber lights makes it so you can see much more detail in foggy or wet situations. Haven't tried them in the snow yet but I assume it will be the same story.

Same here. I have used mine in snow and they work great. One of the best upgrades I have done to my truck.

 

[dozxab]

I used Forscan to set Bambi Mode. The fog lights really illuminates the sides where all our wildlife tends to dart out from. Deer, javelina, coyotes etc. are everywhere at night here in the AZ mountains. Not a lot of rain and snow but when it does, they help a bit.

 

[OFC Ranger]

I use my fog lights to cut through forum spam across multiple websites.

 

[Frenchy]

This will be a fun one to say the least and I will definitely give my input with my experience over the last 5 years.

To start I have found that with Vehicles that come equipped with Halogen Reflector Housing, you will find it to be best to keep the Halogen Bulbs in there(of course replace it when it burns out). When you install HOD or LED Bulbs in a Reflector Housing designed for Halogen Bulbs, you will get immense light scatter. With that light scatter you will not have the light focused where you need it and it can cause the light to be reflected back at you in a snow storm(ask me how I know).

Now there are some vehicles that have LED Lights from the Factory that use a Reflector Housing, but those are specifically designed so it is much different. With those you don't have the light scatter issue.

Many vehicles with LED and HID Lights from the Factory will have a Projector Housing. Many aftermarket Headlight Assemblies like Alpharex and Morimoto will provide Projector Housings with LED Lights. These surprisingly do not have the Light Scatter issue, but thanks to the light color of the Aftermarket Lights and many LED Lights you run into a different issue.

The Light Color is certainly more important along with the Headlight Housing design. If the Light Color is too White/Blue, then you have a high chance of it not cutting though Dense Fog, Heavy Snow and other Adverse Weather. I experienced this issue with many different Lights that were not OEM. That also includes the Alpharex Headlights.

As for Fog Lights, I have found this to be the same idea. With the wrong color light and lense, you will have more light reflected back at you in extreme adverse weather.

My thoughts in the end? I find the Factory Lights to be best.

 

[Fazzie01]

I have my fog lights on all the time on my XLT, they light up directly in front of the truck and off to the sides which is pretty important when driving around at night. The XLT headlights alone are pretty garbage as they seem to only light up a patch about 75ft in front of the truck. The fogs help light up everything in between there. I have tried driving without them on a few mornings on the way to work and I do not feel comfortable like that, especially turning where it's almost impossible to see where the truck is headed.

 

[RangerTX]

Country driving, especially at night and in snow, they are VERY USEFUL and I depend on the added visibility.

 

[Awg9Tech]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Rangers fog lights are “real” fog lights. In that, you can have the fog lights on with the headlights off.

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