Fog lamp installation on my Maruti XL6 for better visibility

The immediate surroundings and road edges are so well illuminated that one can easily carry speeds confidently.

BHPian Leoshashi recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Increasing the Visibility: Part 3-Fog Lamps

I don't have much driving experience in fogs, and recently when I encountered it for perhaps the fifth time in my life, I was shaken. High Beam was creating a white wall in front of me (tried it out of desperation), the low beam was slightly better, but the stock fog lamp was absolutely useless. No difference if it was turned on or off!

A friend who owns an Ertiga 1.5D was driving along, and he has IPH Projector fogs installed with 4300K HIDs. While his setup absolutely rocks in normal conditions, it struggled badly in that fog. Just two beams were visible, but even he wasn't able to locate road/divider edges properly. It was so bad that I nearly crashed into a divider despite being at 20kmph speed. I needed something which spreads the light lower on the road rather than focusing it.

I was actually eyeing this projector setup, but after my recent experience, I was shocked. Started exploring some old school options, and swapping LED stock units with Reflector based units was an option high on my list.

Now almost everyone I asked opined that stock halogen fog lamps were useless. Also during casual browsing on Boodmo, I noticed that the fogs by Valeo had quite a dense reflector design. Hoping that it would translate to better spread, I placed an order. Link: Valeo Fog Lamp

My guess was right, and the Valeo fogs had awesome quality and the reflector design was also quite rich.

DBHPian ProcRJ was quite worried if we'll need to remove the bumper to swap fog units/bulbs. XL6 has lots of space and one can easily reach the 3 screws on each side to remove the unit. Well, this pic is for you buddy:

Bulb swapping is a 10-second affair:

Stock LED fog vs Valeo:

Even with Osram 19W H16s which came with the Valeo Fogs, it was evident that light spread of this unit was way superior:

With the Fog lamp shortlisted, it was now time to test different bulbs. I tried Philips Ultinon Pro9000 H11 LED Fog, Osram H11 LED, Philips Xtreme Vision Halogen 55W H11s, Osram Night Breaker 55W H11s. I had the Philips Xtreme Vision H11 Halogens with me, while all others were new purchases. After testing them all, I decided to stick to Philips Ultinon Pro9000 LEDs. Bought it offline from a Philips distributor at a decent discount. Thus my entire setup costs Rs. 11k.

Osram H11 LED was extremely VFM at around 4k for the set, but decided to return it because of the following demerits:

A dangling controller:

Extremely loud fan, it was so loud that one can hear it even with the engine running! With the engine off, it's irritating:

Throw of Philips was slightly better, although not enough to command a 2x price difference. It's your call.

Osrams were rated at 6000K while Philips is 5800K and matches the Headlamp colour exactly.

Still, for someone on a budget, I highly recommend Valeo fogs+Osram LEDs. Throw wise they are as good as my setup.

Pics of Philips Pro9000:

Osram H11 vs Philips H11 LEDs:

Pics post-installation:

Note the sideways throw:

High Plus Fogs:

High Only:

Low Only:

Spread is almost 180 degrees:

Light spreads even below ORVM, who needs a cornering lamp!:

Final Look:

A video showing how nicely a new fog setup makes a difference:

Some important points:

• Entirely plug and play. No warranty will be void.
• Stock Maruti fuse is 20Amps for XL6's fogs. So it can comfortably take 55W bulbs also.
• Since swapping bulbs is so easy, I used to carry halogens and have swapped in dense fog. White light or Halogens made NO difference to the visibility.
• The feeling of helplessness one felt earlier in well-lit conditions, or when the opposite vehicle came with high beams on, is now gone. The immediate surroundings and road edges are so well illuminated that one can easily carry speeds confidently. Headlamp beams still disappear but the fogs now feel substantial thus helping a lot.
• Another reason for not opting for IPH projectors was the crude installation process. It's not as clean as the Valeo swap. Plus the quality is a hit or miss.
• XL6 uses just 3 screws per fog, thus any heavy unit like IPHs or Hella Knight rider vibrates when going over bad roads. Yes, had tested Hellas too!
• Took me around a month to test and narrow down to the best option.
• This setup will not help in long-range visibility or throw as projectors do, for that, stock headlamps are decent. This setup illuminates immediate surroundings beautifully, and that's its USP. Scattered light lower on the road helped better than focused output projector fogs give in foggy conditions.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.