Fog bulbs upgrade

[scapie4]

I own a 2002 Boxster with xenon lights and want to upgrade the fog lights (which are conventional ones) top xenon-type bulbs that match the color of lighting to those of the xenon and are also for better vision and lighting. Has anyone done that? If so what type of bulbs do I need? Has anyone used PIAA? Any instructions on doing so on my own? Thanks

Thomas

[pecivil]

I have thought about doing the same thing, but I think it may be very difficult.

Here are the problems as I see them:

1) There is very little room for the 2nd ballast. As you can see, the ballast for the main light sticks to the back of the light housing, and it pretty much takes up all the avaliable room. I am not sure where you could fit another ballast. Maybe you could mount it somewhere inside the fender or in the front trunk.

2) The power supply for the ballast comes internally from the housing itself I think. There is a plug in the housing that slides in to a receptacle as you slide the housing into the fender. To power the 2nd ballast, you would need to get power from somewhere, but I am not sure how you would tap into the housing to get it. perhaps you could run power directly from the battery or some other place to avoid messing up the housing.

Of course I am no electrical wiz, so maybe the problems I mention are really no big deal to solve. I agree it would be a nice mod to have HID fogs that match the main lights. There has to be some electrical genius on this board who has somoe ideas.

[Boxster02]

I would rather use PIAA H7 as it would be a simple install and look really good against the Xenon. . :D

http://www.piaa.com/Bulbs/Bulbs-H7.html

[scapie4]

Thanks for the reply. Are you familiar with the new PIAA H7 in 8000K. The guy on eBay claims perfect match for the Boxster's Xenon. There is also 6000K and ofcourse the more conventional 4100K adn 4000K found on PIAA US website. LAstly do you know whether Porsche's Xenons are 8000K?

[986Jim]

OEM HID's are ALWAYS 4300k in every car. The color difference between cars is in the housing/projector design. NO car has EVER come with anything other than 4300k from the factory, ever.

With that said it may take a differently colored bulb to match upto the look of your HID's. Because halogen lights at 4300k may emit a different light than oem HID's will you may need to get the Piaa bulbs in 6000k or 8000k to match it, however you will not know until you put them in and have a look at whats up.

[Cassiebox]

For the money, I'd give the Silverstar H7 a shot - about $20 at local parts store. I've upgraded all my cars to them and they really are whiter/brighter. I do not have any vehicles w/ HID to compare to, but the light is much brighter than standard halogen bulbs.

[Boxster02]

Using the 8000K Piaa will give a white/purple tint, but will look dim compared to the factory xenon.Closes you will get to factory HID is to use an HID conversion kit. Probably 6000K is the closes to factory hue. Should not be too hard to convert since it is basically the same as converting an H7 low beam. Only difficulty I see is mounting the ballast in the trunk or front fender/bumper area. I've seen the Ebay lights, sold as "Premium Xenon", they are close to factory hue , but are so dim you will see no additional lighting on the road. I would not buy them.

[mee]

D2S xenon bulbs are 4100K (D2R bulbs are 4000K). That single number does not in any way represent the total spectrum of light output from a conventional xenon bulb. Halogen will never be able to match it independent of whatever fakey coatings they put on the bulb to give it a blue or purple tint.

I had some PIAA 4500K bulbs in mine, and they looked absolutely stupid. The light output is less than the standard bulb, and it made everything look blue. It was like you were wearing some kind of weird blue sunglasses (at night). I wound up putting in some Philips (import) bulbs which were a little better than stock -- 5 to 10% brighter and a little whiter -- but still nowhere near matching my Litronics. Avoid anything that physically has a blue or purple tint on it.

[pecivil]

That is pretty much my understanding as well, no bulb tint will in any way be able to match a HID. It just looks like a blue or purple halogen.

To get a "matching" xenon look from the fogs, they need to upgrade to a HID system. Now how to do that is the real question.....

[scapie4]

Guys,

Thanks so much for all your replies. I spoke to an authorized PIAA dealer in the UK and ordered two sets of PIAA Xtreme Force H7 4700K to replace the fog and the high beams. Will take some pictures before and after and post them on the forum. If they do not work well I will go back to the OEM ones.

Thomas

[986Jim]

I have seen the PIAA and they are acctually pretty good. They won't look like HID next to HID but will look better than yellow bulbs.

Honestly I like having the yellow stock bulbs next to the hid. It makes the HID stand out more as you can really compare it to the HID when it's that close. I think it looks pretty cool. I always liked how the Audi A4's (Saab's etc) looked with the Hid light and halogen fogs comin down the road...

[scapie4]

I finally changed both the high beams and the fog lights with PIAA H7 in Extreme White 4700K. I have attached a picture of the Boxster with the PIAA bulbs on. The left hand side of the car the fog lights are the stock ones and on the right hand side of the car (passenger's side) the fog lights have been changed to PIAA. You can tell the difference (although not so clear in the picture) where the new fog lights are not yellowish.

Thanks all for the help.

Thomas

[986fan]

I would rather use PIAA H7 as it would be a simple install and look really good against the Xenon. . :D

http://www.piaa.com/Bulbs/Bulbs-H7.html

I too, would like to do this to match my xenon-upgrade headlamps. Is there a heat/lens discoloration

problem using these bulbs? The true xenons burn cooler but what about these?