is HID for cl9 foglight too hot?

[Mr.DC2]

hi guy

i remembere reading a thread about HID for cl9 foglight being too hot? that the foglight housing is too small and there is no breather hole on the back so the foglights get very hot with HID and when you drive into a puddle of water you can crack your fog light lences ?

does anyone know or experanced this ?

cheers

[afgmoh]

I have 55W HIDs in my Fog lights (pre facelift CL9). Yes they can get hot but nothing too extreme to damage the housing or anything as such. And no, I don't think you could ever crack your fog lights that way seeing as unfortunately, i've driven over a few potholes after prolonged use of the fog lights and mine are fine :) So you're fine mate

[curtis265]

Hey guy,

No, HID's do not run hotter.

55w is not more than your halogen globe's power draw anyway

[natnat]

Good quality HID should not run too hot... dunno about the cheap ebay ones.. some of the cheap ballasts could actually burst into flame.

[wammies]

You should be fine. I've read about people's lenses cracking and whatnot, but I've never had a problem.
Running 55W HID's on my foggies, been through heavy rain, thick fog, even washed it with the bulbs on to see what would happen.

Like what Curtis and Natnat said, they shouldn't run hotter than your halogens, I don't know if it'll be the same for the cheapo eBay ones, but if you wanna get HID's for your foggies then spend a little bit more money to get decent ones.

If you're a bit more serious and want better light output, you can try a projector retrofit for your foglights. Essentially, you're almost getting double the output on the road (you'll have 2 cut-offs which can be annoying at times, but there's a massive difference between just putting in HIDs and doing it properly with the projector lens and not blinding the crap out of everyone).

[dirlok]

What type of bulb is the CL9 preface foglight? I wanna give an HID swap a try :)

[wammies]

It's H11, but you can use H9's with minor modifications with almost 2x the light output.

[dirlok]

awesome, thanks

[Mr.DC2]

The h11 globe has a rubber ring around it to stop water from getting in does the h9 have them too ?

[Mr.DC2]

If its brighter then it's hotter wouldn't that crack ?

[curtis265]

depends on the power output

[wammies]

55W should be fine, if you're scared about it getting cracked, do a foglight HID projector retrofit (think there's a thread where some guy's chucked in lexus ones). But if you're really anal, you can put a protective plastic lens in front of the projector.

As Afgmoh and I have said, we've been running 55W HID's and it's fine.

[wammies]

The h11 globe has a rubber ring around it to stop water from getting in does the h9 have them too ?

They should, but even if they don't it's very unlikely water's going to get in there. Even if you drive through a puddle, just the way the car's designed, it's hard for water to get into the fender well.

It's more of a concern for people that have CAI's and having the risk of hydrolocking their engine, but I think I can speak on behalf of others that you'll be fine. As long as you don't drive in flood waters or something stupid like that then you'll be fine.

[dirlok]

I do apologies by going off topic a little, but doing a foglight HID conversion, where are you guys mounting the ballasts?

[wammies]

Take off the bumper if you haven't already, just makes it so much easier. You can mount it on the bumper supports..

Alternatively, if you don't want to take the bumper off, I suppose you can mount it on the bumper on the inside using 3M double-sided tape. Though I'd rather mount it somewhere where it's not going to get too much shock or likely to get water/dirt going into it.

Just take your bumper off and it'll give you a lot more options as to where you can mount it.

[wammies]

Also, you should have a relay harness for the foglights if you're doing a HID conversion, especially if you're gonna go 55W, as the stock wiring was only designed for halogens.

To be honest with you, putting HID's on the factory foglight housing won't really improve your light output as the light's going out everywhere, it'll be more brighter to the sides.

If you really want to do it properly, get HID projectors. I think retrofit source in the US are going to have a foglight projector for the Euro out soon, not sure if it's out already. I'll contact Matt and ask for you if you want.

[dirlok]

Thanks wammies, I'll definitely be taking the bumper off. Mainly I'm just looking for a uniform light colour for all lights more so than light output. I don't use the fogs often, but I just like to know the colour is the same :)

[afgmoh]

No real need to take the bumper off, I installed the ballasts sitting right ontop of the plastic guard behind the bumper/fog lights.. secured with cable ties firmly. Never had an issue, over huge puddles, heavy rain, bumps, nothing. easiest way to do it :)

[wammies]

well you can do it like how afgmoh did, but some people rather do a proper job and securely bolt/screw it down. Please don't go buying the cheap ebay shit. Spend a bit more money and get good decent HIDs.
I don't suggest getting 55W, you're not going to be using it since you won't really see it. And since you just want it for the looks, go with 35W. Get Moritmoto's. They're pretty good if you can't afford getting Philips or Osrams.

You can colour match if you get the same power rating and kelvin temp. for the headlights.

I would recommend 5000K or 6000K with colour modding your projectors if you haven't done so already.

Anyways, let us know how you go, been busy so haven't been able to contact Matt from TRS, but I'll get back to when I can about the foglight retrofit for the euro.

[curtis265]

TRS is the way to go (Y)