How useful are the 2017 GT fogs?

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Mazda CX5 Touring with PEP
They do not come on the 2017 Touring, but you can buy the turn signal stalk with the control switch for $50 ish and the lights were retailing at $327. Just wondering if they are worth the money to buy, going to consider post purchase buy and install. Saw nothing on Youtube about the install.
 
They came standard on my 16 Touring. I turned them on once and didn't notice any difference. Think they're more for show then anything else.
 
I have fogs on my Xterra and MX5. No, they do not produce a large amount of light, they sort of flood a small area to the right and left of the front of your car, they project out perhaps 10 feet. On my Xterra, I have a set of Hella 500 driving lamps. They project out like aircraft landing lights. They have saved my bacon countless times from potential animal(deer) strikes. I would be more inclined to do a set of drivers as opposed to fogs. I leave my fogs on all the time, both are properly wired into dimmer switch, and then run my drivers on high beam.
 
The fogs are nothing special, I've seen better performing fogs. I do like the look with the fogs on tho, they match the low beams perfectly but they don't project light out very far and that's to be expected. However, comparing to the halogen fogs on my 2014 mazda 3, these LED fogs have a wider beam pattern and they do a good job filling in the dark area in front of the car. It's really up to you if you want to spend the $$$ on it, I do drive with them on all the time but even without fogs on, the LED low beams are very good already.
 
They actually behave like fog lights should. You cant drive on them as they are too low and close to the car but well designed fog lights act to fill in the area just in front of the car in proper thick fog (some locations never get it) or completely replace the headlights when fog is so thick that headlights just reflect back into the windscreen. They do make quite a nice alternative to the dipped headlight DRLs when used in combination with the sidelights and are incapable of dazzling anybody.
 
Something I thought about today. On my Xterra before I bought my Westin Safari bar which is a nice bar for lights to ride on, I owned a product called a light wing. Made by Carr, it is a cast aluminum plate that is the size of a license plate bracket, with 2 arms that extend out of the top of the plate left and right. You attach your aftermarket lights to the arms. The plate attaches to your front bumper where the license plate is located. Plate runs about $120.

2 of the Dealerships I'm negotiating with gave me a price of $500 installed..........that is the price of a set of tires! I would not do $500 on a set of factory lights.
 
The problem you have when you start attaching clutter to the front of the car is that you cancel out the pedestrian impact protection that has been designed into the front of the car. Fine until you pulverise somebody's legs and then the law courts hang you out to dry. There is acres of space in the grille. I would see about putting driving lights into that grille flush mounted so it didn’t look like a cobbled up Christmas tree. Fog lights are fog lights and the ones fitted on the CX-5 are perfect.
 
The plate actually looks like it belongs on the front and not like an after thought.

I have managed to drive for 40 years without any type of collision avoidance systems. Not going to rely on one now.

Might wait a bit to see what options might work. Also need to see if something after market might work better.
 
The fog lights on my 2017 GT are practically useless. In every other car I have had, they light up well low and wide, and are very nice for rain. These ones don't help at all in the rain, and I almost can't see any additional light from them in addition to the low beams.
 
The fog lights on my 2017 GT are practically useless. In every other car I have had, they light up well low and wide, and are very nice for rain. These ones don't help at all in the rain, and I almost can't see any additional light from them in addition to the low beams.

It's seems they are more for show owing to the fact the led headlights do such a great job illuminating the way ahead.
 
A lot of car manufacturers going with white LED fog lights now because the look good. They don't work well in rain as well as halogen fogs do. I haven't tried in heavy fog yet but I think they will be okay in fog, just not in rain. White color gets absorbed by the wet road so it becomes useless. I still prefer good o' yellow halogen fogs in wet weather conditions. I feel these are more for looks rather than function.
 
A lot of car manufacturers going with white LED fog lights now because the look good. They don't work well in rain as well as halogen fogs do. I haven't tried in heavy fog yet but I think they will be okay in fog, just not in rain. White color gets absorbed by the wet road so it becomes useless. I still prefer good o' yellow halogen fogs in wet weather conditions. I feel these are more for looks rather than function.

The ones on Mazda's might actually work better if the bulbs weren't so small.
 
A lot of car manufacturers going with white LED fog lights now because the look good. They don't work well in rain as well as halogen fogs do. I haven't tried in heavy fog yet but I think they will be okay in fog, just not in rain. White color gets absorbed by the wet road so it becomes useless. I still prefer good o' yellow halogen fogs in wet weather conditions. I feel these are more for looks rather than function.
We need the "all weather" color around 3,800k for the rain and fog. Unfortunately the efficiency of LED Bulbs are around 5,000 - 8,000k hence the common white color. I fitted my van with XHP-70 aftermarket Cree bulbs that's 5,000k and it works best for me for everyday driving. Its a very light yellow near white color has also good C.R.I.
 
The fog lights on my 2017 GT are practically useless. In every other car I have had, they light up well low and wide, and are very nice for rain. These ones don't help at all in the rain, and I almost can't see any additional light from them in addition to the low beams.

Agreed, I have a touring with no fogs. But my last Enterprise rental turned out to be a GT with factory fogs, that are about the size of a dime each. I flipped the switch on and off and you would be hard pressed to know if they are even on at all. At that point I realized that spending around $500 for a set would be a waste of time and most importantly money.
 
I'll try and get better pics but I installed the aftermarket LEDs that go across the area where the fogs are mounted. They do a good job of lighting up everything. I also installed LEDs above the headlights (Touring version).
 

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Ive never been in a situation where I was like these fog lights really helped me out! But the led fogs on the Cx5 do noticeably light up the lower part of the road close to your vehicle but the difference is really negligible. However, they look badass at night
 
I’ve never been in a situation where I was like “these fog lights really helped me out!” But the led fogs on the Cx5 do noticeably light up the lower part of the road close to your vehicle but the difference is really negligible. However, they look badass at night

The regular fog light bulbs on our Mazda 3 light up the lower part of the road much more than the led fog lights of the Mazda 6 I owned
 
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