Followup question to those of you with factory fog lights 2017 model year

So I ordered,received and installed my fog light kit with auto on stalk. I put the laminex yellow lense light filter on the lense of the light. It gives it a distinct yellow/green color of light. My question is about the aiming of the beam pattern, post install on a 2017 CX5 Touring that does not come with fogs.

My mechanic did the install, we talked about the aiming aspect prior to me leaving. He indicated that the fogs should land the light slightly ahead of the vehicle and towards the ground. We did not play with adjustment during the install as we both agreed that the fogs might be set from the factory so no need to adjust. What i see is that the beam pattern from the lights is perfect both left and right, height wise the beams match for left and right. These new LED fog and headlights, the beam pattern is a very crisp line to where the beam shines and with the laminex film on the fogs, there are 2 very distinct colors of light and beam pattern between the headlights on low beam with fogs on. The fogs with the yellow light, the pattern is a rectangle about 6 inches wide and extends all the way across the front of the car about a foot or so wider than the car if the car is parked about 3 yards from a wall. Think of it like a long rectangular box. The top line/edge of the beam of the yellow fog does not touch the lower bottom edge of light from the low white beam, there is a gap. Up until this point of this discussion, my observations and comments are based upon the car being parked, lights shining towards a wall, and me outside walking around and observing.

So now, lets consider what I see while seated in the driver seat. I can see a slight amount of yellow fog light right at about the front of the hood line and some yellow fog light to my left and right. If I sit up with my back away from the seat, I see a lot more yellow light. I am thinking that I should see more yellow in my driving position than what I am seeing, meaning my fogs are aimed too low and need micro adjusted up ward until the bottom of the low beam and the top of the fog beam are touching, IOW no dark gap between the 2 distinct colors of light like I have now.

I re read my post after writing, I know, it sounds like something a tech weenie would write and complain about. But since I spent close to $400 getting the lights/switch/install, these had better be perfect. I am amazed that the LED light has such crisp lines in the beam patterns. So anyone with some insight on what I should be seeing from my seated driving position with fogs on, please let me know before I go in and start playing with settings.

My experience with CX-5's fog light is that it is useless. Since the LED headlights are really bright already I don't see the difference when I turn on the fog lights. You won't notice any change. In my case maybe because the fog lights color output is the same with the headlight and no hue color like yours. My previous SUV you can clearly notice when you put on the fog lights. It lluminates more around 3 feet ahead of the car.

I can easily tell when my dogs are on on the 16. There's more light below where the headlights show.

Yabut, when you have your fogs on, do you see sort of a dark space between where the fog light stops and the headlight starts horizontally? I am thinking that aiming the fogs upward/forward will aim them further forward of the car and will also fill that dark space. I have re read the directions several times and am still not sure of their aiming method. I see where the adjustment point of the light is located and there is only one adjustment point that looks like it moves them vertically only or in other words it does tilt only.

On my previous SUV the fog lights fill up the DARK SPACE.

How does the auto stalk work? Can you please post pictures of the yellow lens cover? Id love that on my CX-5.

The stalk has the auto on option IF your car has that as part of the lighting system to begin with, MUST HAVE LED lights to begin with. when set to the auto position, as soon as you start the car, the lights come on and will turn off automatically upon shut down after a few seconds.

The lense cover film is by a company called Lamin-x, www.lamin-x.com and the lense cover material comes in a variety of colors (red blue green orange yellow) and is a thick tape that is pre cut for your specific vehicle so they fit perfect. The cost for a set of 2 covers for my car was $5, I ordered 2 sets.

SixPackABS said:

On my previous SUV the fog lights fill up the DARK SPACE.

Click to expand...

But, were your previous lights LED? My last 2 vehicles had fogs, you could see a small amount of difference, however they were not LED and they were not adjustable. These new LED lights are adjustable and the beam is crisp with a definite focused edge to where they start and stop. It's the only reason I'm trying to get the focus right. As it stands, with the fogs off and low beams on, I can see the bottom edge of the light beam of the low beam. With fogs on and low beam I see the lower edge of the low beam, a dark space and then the upper edge of the fog beam. I am thinking that I should raise the beam of the fogs so that the lower edge of low beams is touched by the upper edge of the fog beam. I am also thinking that the slight adjustment will make the fogs more effective for my driving position.

Supposedly, regardless of what the headlight yields are, fog lights are to be aimed: "top of the fog light beam 4 inches below the lamp center (on a vertical wall) at 25 feet with the lamp facing straight forward."

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=130
http://knowhow.napaonline.com/aim-fog-lights-3-basic-tips
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html (also takes mounting height into consideration)

Our old Subaru had fairly large 7" diameter fog lights. They lit up the immediate foreground quite well, especially as the headlights weren't that great. Compared to the 2017 CX5 we have now, the CX5 fog lights don't make much of a difference (probably because the LED headlights are already fairly bright). Although, if it is foggy and you need fog lamps, you're not going 65mph anyways -- so it's supposed to light up the immediate area in front of the car at a reasonable speed. It's like illuminating from the ground up, through the fog.

We live in NY, and on urban streets, many people drive with their fog lights and/or high beams on. Totally unnecessary and dangerous (I'm not sure if they think it's better, or don't know what that blue light on the dash means).

More light is not necessarily better -- high beams cause glare for other drivers, and fog lights without fog actually creates less visual distance... The area directly in front of the car is illuminated brightly with fog lights, and although the headlights are on too, your eyes are instinctively drawn to this closer, brightly lit area. The fog lamps have the effect of "washing out" the relatively less illuminated area further in front of your car lit by the low beams. All this means reduced ability to spot issues further up the road, especially the faster you go.

Thanks!

We tried to adjust the fogs today. My mechanic does not have the space in his garage to do the job properly so we are doing it by sight. Since I felt the lights were too low, we adjusted them up using his garage door as a reflector to figure out where I thought they should be. So we adjusted them upward and it turns out that was too high and they just wash out with the low beam light, could not tell one way or the other if they were on or not. The left light, I can reach down with the hood up and adjust it, which is what I did in my driveway when dark. I was able to adjust the left light so that it successfully lights up the area at about a 30 degree angle to my left and driving with them like that makes a big difference. Now I just have to get the right one matched up with the left, involves a bit of unbuttoning of the splash guard underneath.

The yellow lamin-x film really gives off a distinctive light color.