This shouldnt have been a problem based on other posts. Replaced the stockers with Luminincs Hyper White H10's and the Factory Plastic was shot in less than 4 Hours of run time.

Best option seems to be replacing with an aftermarket like the PIAA 510. Has anyone done this and just connected directly to the factory harness with the 55W Bulbs?

Any pics of custom mounting brackets would be good to see also.

 

the general consensus is that ANY 55w bulb in the factory fog lights is just too hot.

dilloncawthon just put some PIAA fogs in his 08 tho. said it was pretty easy. not sure about the 09/10s tho

 

35w HID is the way to go. brighter then any 55w halogen and not even close to as hot.

 

you needed to go with 55 w hid's to run them in the fogs with out melting them. halogens burn very hot and thats one of the advantages of hids

 

Frm what I've read, the 55W HID's aren't that much brighter than 35W HID's and significantly reduce the life of the HID bulbs. Agree with above though, upping the wattage of a halogen bulb in a housing as small as a fog lamp is just asking for problems.

 

Oddly enough the Luminics bulbs are marked 42 W. I thought it wouldnt be much different than a 9145 sliverstar but you can find those in my neck of the woods.

I saw dilloncawthon's thread. Heres to hoping that the housings are similar on the 09/10's.

 

I tried something similar in my 07 and melted two sets of lenses before just putting the stockers back in.

I get flashed enough with this truck while running the fogs, I don't think they need to be any brighter. I get flashed ALL THE TIME, sort of pisses me off but the visibility for me while running the fogs at night is much increased.

No leveling kit, no raise, STOCK.

 

How often does it get foggy where you live. 4 hours is a long time to be running fog lamps. Or are you running them in the clear day time and clear nightime which is not what they are designed for. Again this has been debated and you have worse visability than with them off.

Read below. The only thing you gain from running fogs when not needed is to **** of people coming towards you.

more foreground light is not a good thing, it's a bad thing. Some foreground light is necessary so you can use your peripheral vision to see where you are relative to the road edges, the lane markings and that pothole 10 feet in front of your left wheels. But foreground light is far less safety-critical than light cast well down the road into the distance, because at any significant speed (much above 30 mph), what's in the foreground is too close for you to do much about. If you increase the foreground light, your pupils react to the bright, wide pool of light by constricting, which in turn substantially reduces your distance vision—especially since there's no increase in down-the-road distance light to go along with the increased foreground light. It's insidious, because high levels of foreground light give the illusion, the subjective impression, of comfort and security and "good lighting" which is the opposite of what you are getting.

 

Makes sense to me. I've only run my HID fogs a couple times since installing them because they are so bright.

- NCSU

 

Here's my two cents. You're wasting your time trying higher wattage / power bulbs of any kind in the new (2006 and up) round "fog" lights. The pattern they project is just plain junk. So, adding power just magnifys the poor pattern - as some of you have found out. The 2004-2005 rectangular fog lights were actually true fog beams (low, wide, flat, well defined beam pattern) and they also responded well to higher powered bulbs with no issues. But, the bean counters killed them.

I've decided that my "fogs" are just ornamental lighting used to provide a charming (but dim) glow in the area about 5 feet in front of my truck. Good thing the new headlights are light years ahead of the old ones to make up for it.

 

I have run Sylvania Ultra Star 9145's in my last three Fords. I am very happy with the white color and performance. One buddy ran 9005's which blinded everyone but did not melt the lamp. Those were in his Lightning fogs. I ran Silverstar 9145's in my F250 for 100k miles then swapped them into the wife's Explorer when I traded it. Both fogs have a nice useful beam pattern IMO for stock lamps. I heard PIAA quit making either the 510 or 520...?

 

Thanks for all of the feedback guys. My 4 hours of run time was at least 6 short trips. It is dark up here most of the day in the winter. 4-5 hours of daylight max and the roads are poorly lit, marked, maintained with lots of animals lurking in the ditches.

Almost all trucks up here light up the road to the best of their ability and over 75% of the vehicles on the road are pickups or larger.

I will go with a driving light pattern and go aftermarket.

 

I had replaced my headlights with Silverstars 2 months ago but waited on the fog lights. Mainly because no equal to the stock 9140 type bulbs.

I read on here some used 9145's. The same ones I put in the wife's Explorer.

When I was changing the fog lights on our 09 Platinum I noticed a set screw next to bulb socket. Since I did not like how the lights were adjusted I figured let's see if they move.

Small wonder.......I was able to adjust them up. Mine pointed pretty much down to three feet in front of truck and no forward projection.

New 9145 Silverstars and adjusted the lights are 100% better. Much brighter, they cast out and more to the side. Very pleased with the change.

 

You must have been the guy who blinded me with his fogs last night. You do realise they are low for a reason?

 

Heck try running silverstar bulbs and silverstar fogs and pulling a trailer ,, I get flashed by every car ,, And when I get behind someone I really brighten up the inside of their car