Up Grading Fog Light Bulbs

pastorscott · September 14, 2009

Hey

I was thinking of just changing the bulbs out on my sqaure fog lights. Can I just up the bulbs size or do I have to change the whole unit out ? What bulb number do I have in there as the factory bulb

thanks

Scott

blue dave · September 14, 2009

Be careful about increasing the wattage of the bulbs if your square driving lights have plastic lenses like the round ones on my '02 GMC Yukon XL Denali.

I melted the plastic lenses from the extra heat of the higher wattage bulbs and ended up replacing both complete lights with aftermarket lights with glass lenses that put out much more light

team3-8 · September 14, 2009

On my 03 Silverado I changed mine to 9005 Silverstar ultra bulbs. Same as my high beams. Haven't had any problems and they work great.

Spurshot · September 14, 2009

If you're going to actually use them for fog, you may want to look into getting some yellow bulbs. I have white (5000K) HID bulbs in my fogs on the 08 truck. I really haven't used them much, but they are indeed bright. I doubt they would work well in the fog though.

ksaha1 · October 5, 2009

Help!

As a Newbie to this forum, I have similar questions.

2005 Yukon and I'd like to upgrade the brightness in my

9006 Low Beams and in my

880 Fog lights.

I want to just switch bulbs, no mods.

I saw on eBay (and bought already) some higher outputs for both. I just received the 9006 and am worried.

Stock 9006 are 55 watts. What I got say they are brighter and it says 100 Watts right on the bulb. Fits and works fine. I can feel no temp difference (I switched one first) between the stock 55 watt & the new 100 watt. Am I in risk of melting the Headlight assembly? Melting any wiring? They are a brighter white / blue tint and the box says for "Off Road use only"... which of course the eBay listing didn't say. Am I ok or in risk of a melt down? Legal?

Part two -- I haven't received the 880 replacements yet for the fog assembly's... Same question. It seems stock is 27 watts; don't know what the new ones will be. IF they are 55 watts... melt down risk? Wiring risk?

So what does everyone recommend for the brightest possible WITHOUT: being illegal; melting anything; blinding oncoming traffic? Or is the best option to leave 9006 & 880 alone and switch out 9005 Highbeams only?

Thanks

emwolb469 · October 5, 2009

My personal experience with higher wattage bulbs have been that they burn out VERY quickly, I had to replace mine on my other car several times and was disapointed. But I dont know if anyone else has had this problem.

Spurshot · October 5, 2009

Help!
As a Newbie to this forum, I have similar questions.

2005 Yukon and I'd like to upgrade the brightness in my

9006 Low Beams and in my

880 Fog lights.

I want to just switch bulbs, no mods.

I saw on eBay (and bought already) some higher outputs for both. I just received the 9006 and am worried.

Stock 9006 are 55 watts. What I got say they are brighter and it says 100 Watts right on the bulb. Fits and works fine. I can feel no temp difference (I switched one first) between the stock 55 watt & the new 100 watt. Am I in risk of melting the Headlight assembly? Melting any wiring? They are a brighter white / blue tint and the box says for "Off Road use only"... which of course the eBay listing didn't say. Am I ok or in risk of a melt down? Legal?

Part two -- I haven't received the 880 replacements yet for the fog assembly's... Same question. It seems stock is 27 watts; don't know what the new ones will be. IF they are 55 watts... melt down risk? Wiring risk?

So what does everyone recommend for the brightest possible WITHOUT: being illegal; melting anything; blinding oncoming traffic? Or is the best option to leave 9006 & 880 alone and switch out 9005 Highbeams only?

Thanks

Going from 55 watts to 100 watts is a big jump. I'm surprised the fuse hasn't gone yet. I don't think the wiring will go, if you are using the OEM fuse size for the headlight. But, the connector may overheat. Maybe not. That's the thing about aftermarket mods...you're the test subject.

There is a more moderate mod to put a 9005 bulb in place of the 9006. Then your high and lo beams would use the same bulb. Someone posted the link to the guy's website that has the adapter harness.

ScottyBoy · October 5, 2009

I just added foglights to my suburban since it didnt come equipped with them. But rather than use the stock 880 bulbs, or upgrade to a higher wattage bulb and risk melting the lenses, I opted for an HID kit like Spurshot did. I've searched and read that when people put higher wattage bulbs in the stock foglight housings, they melt the lenses. Some have upgraded to 35 watt bulbs with no problems, but other mentioned that 50watt bulbs got too hot and caused melting. So I odered my fogs and an HID kit at the same time and I never hooked up the bulbs, just went straight to the HID's. So if anyone needs some bulbs, I have two brand new GE 880 bulbs that came in my foglights. You can have them if you pay for shipping, just PM me.

Spurshot · October 5, 2009

BTW, I have a set of brand new VVME HID 9006 size retrofit lights that I'll sell.

ScottyBoy · October 5, 2009

BTW, I have a set of brand new VVME HID 9006 size retrofit lights that I'll sell.

what color temp, and how much? I've been thinkin of swapping my 800k HID's in my low beams as they are too dam blue for me.

Spurshot · October 5, 2009

4300k

ScottyBoy · October 5, 2009

4300k

Is it just the bulbs, or the whole kit? and how much you asking?

bersh · October 10, 2009

Help!
As a Newbie to this forum, I have similar questions.

2005 Yukon and I'd like to upgrade the brightness in my

9006 Low Beams and in my

880 Fog lights.

I want to just switch bulbs, no mods.

I saw on eBay (and bought already) some higher outputs for both. I just received the 9006 and am worried.

Stock 9006 are 55 watts. What I got say they are brighter and it says 100 Watts right on the bulb. Fits and works fine. I can feel no temp difference (I switched one first) between the stock 55 watt & the new 100 watt. Am I in risk of melting the Headlight assembly? Melting any wiring? They are a brighter white / blue tint and the box says for "Off Road use only"... which of course the eBay listing didn't say. Am I ok or in risk of a melt down? Legal?

Part two -- I haven't received the 880 replacements yet for the fog assembly's... Same question. It seems stock is 27 watts; don't know what the new ones will be. IF they are 55 watts... melt down risk? Wiring risk?

So what does everyone recommend for the brightest possible WITHOUT: being illegal; melting anything; blinding oncoming traffic? Or is the best option to leave 9006 & 880 alone and switch out 9005 Highbeams only?

Thanks

If you have the larger round fog lamps, you should have 9140 or 9145 bulbs. You can use a 9005 bulb in those and it makes a huge difference. I've been running mine for over a year with no issues. They now work like fog lamps should - providing a nice blanket of light that is low and wide and extends out nicely on the shoulders.

I wouldn't run the 100 w bulbs. The wiring, harness, and housings are designed for the current or heat they produce. For your 9006 & 9005, your best bet is to go with the HIR (NOT HID) bulbs. I've got them in both lamps in both my 04 Sierra and the wife's 04 burb and they make a nice difference.

http://www.hirheadlights.com/