Fog Lights

[Gene]

I have one yellow fog light.  I want to install a pair of lights instead.

The one yellow doesn’t seem to do much.

Any thoughts on yellow verses clear.

What do you have what are your thoughts.

Thanks for your thoughts

Lost

[Paul Mossberg]

There’s an old wives’ tale that yellow fog lights are better than white. It’s malarkey. Color makes no difference.

 

What matters is the beam pattern. And the mounting location. Fog lights should be as low as possible. And the beam is a low wide spread pattern designed to shine below the fog.

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

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[Johnny L. Baxter]

I agree with Paul. The yellow lights are a myth and the French not only believed it they passed a law that all vehicles will have yellow head lights. This law is about 50 years old and makes me remember why I lived in Germany for eight years and not in France.

JohnnyB

[John Black]

Hi Guy,

Like Johnny B I lived in Germany at the time the French had the laws about the Yellow lights. What is more they enforced the law and the Gendarme (sp French po po)  gave on the spot fines. The British military at the time warned everybody about this  you could purchase headlamp sized pieces of yellow film to go over your lights. What fun!! What with the yellow film and those yellow night driving glasses it was very surreal!!!!.

John De Brit

[Bob]

My car had a pair of yellow fog lights when I got it and I prefer yellow over clear for a reason I’m not sure makes sense, but I like the idea anyhow. Being seen by other drivers. I know it has been something talked about by some motorcyclists, using a colored headlight instead of just white. However, modulated lights might be more reasonable for the purpose since reflections, other light sources, etc., could mimic the same yellow colors of a motorcycle headlight and once again that might be meaningless. I don’t have any strong opinions on the matter.

What I have noticed with my fogs, being turned on and off at night, is that the yellow color really contrasts with the headlights and I can see exactly where their beam is on the road. Makes white roadside lines look something like yellow center lines, if very visible to begin with. But I do have to wonder if that’s actually dimming them. Have yet to compare to a foggy day or night, all being times of clear air.

[John Simion]

Do you guys seriously drive these cars in the dark in the fog?  I mean, the basic headlights are so weak that is disqualifying IMHO all by itself.  I look at this as primarily a cosmetic issue.  There is no way I’m taking this car out after dark.

[Johnny L. Baxter]

Hey again guys. I’m also a motorcycle guy(2007 Kawasaki ZX14A ninja). I always ride with my high beams(all four xenon bulbs) on in the day time. I also like the high beam strobes. Now back to yellow lights.

JohnnyB

[Bob]

😆 Yep, these sealed beam headlights are mediocre at best. To think everyone had them decades ago. That’s why I use high beam as much as possible, albeit I’ve only driven it after dark a few times.

From what I can tell the yellow fogs don’t do much at all (nothing??) for distance seeing, just illuminate the road near the car well enough to see both sides… which the headlights themselves fail to do.

I think mine are something like 5 3/4″ flat type I’ve seen most other MGTDr’s have.

Side note again about motorcycles, only because I saw one between two others today with what I thought was a headlight out. Seemed to be aimed so wrong it didn’t appear lit until nearby, not dim and yellow either. Maybe they knew and were riding together that way on purpose, but should have taken next to nothing– maybe a torx– to aim it right, so who knows.

[Tom Vilardi]

Discovered today that what I thought were plastic cased yellow foglights on my BCW are actually painted metal cased lights with chrome glass surrounds and then some sort of cheap looking plastic mesh front cover over the fronts. 

Plastic cover pulled right off but for the life of me I can’t figure out how to open thse things up.  I tried a thin screwdriver at the top and proceeded to pop off a little paint.  Do the chrome fronts unscrew? Some other trick to it?

This is not a photo from my car, but these are the same exact types I have but on another BCW.

Tom Vilardi
BCW Model 52
South Orange NJ

[Paul Mossberg]

Just guessing…
Is there a screw, set screw or some other attachment on the bottom?
Might even be hidden by the mounting bolts.

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[Bob]

Looks same as what I have, they’re flat on the back.

Lenses with small circled JF on right side and vertical HALOGEN on left side.

There’s a small Phillips/crosshead screw at the bottom of bezel holding the lens, next to bracket.

Since yours was painted maybe that got covered over…?

If not, I would think the lense or bezel must twist at least partway to remove those. But then I have no idea if any of the different ones could just snap off and on. Might want to look for any identifying marks like mine to learn more.

[Tom Vilardi]

I felt all around the chrome bezel and didn’t notice anything.  

They had been encased in this ugly black plastic lense protector which made me think they were some sort of cheap Jeep-type add-on (which I had planned to get rid of) but once I pulled the plastic protectors off and realized they were actualy metal, I liked the look of them.  Here’s a photo with the clunky plastic protectors still on.  

 

Tom Vilardi
BCW Model 52
South Orange NJ

[KentT]

I second Paul’s suggestion. There’s likely a screw on the bottom, perhaps hidden by the mounting bracket. That’s how mine come apart. You have to remove it from the mounting bracket before you can remove the screw.KentT2016-01-27 12:57:03

Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
Slowly coming back from the ashes...

[scubasteve]

Like many have already said, I’ve driven my car only a couple of times after dark. Like owls, bats and other night creatures, it seems speeding semi’s like the dark, and being the smallest car on the road becomes frightening.
 I hate driving in a fog (I saw a very bad multi car crash happen in the fog) even in my full size car, so would never drive my TDr.
 I think the fog lights are more of a cosmetic addition. but they DO look COOL!:cool:

Amor Conquista Todo

[Tom Vilardi]

@ Kent and Paul.  The bezel’s actually pry off from the bottom, but you do need to remove the light to see that.  Bulb looked fine, so it’s probably an electrical issue.

Tom Vilardi
BCW Model 52
South Orange NJ

[greg press]

I totally agree fog light make you car look good . It becomes scary driving after dark . To many deer and other night things . I guess my car gives me a 8:30 curfew .

[Author]

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