Making Your MINI's Foglights Yellow

Sections: Uncategorized Aug 21st, 2003 12 Comments

p> #0037

Scott over at the Madison MINI Group has detailed instructions on how to make your foglights yellow – as they should be according to some:

“Yellow fog lights work better than white in most weather circumstances. We don't know why most auto makers insist on using clear lenses. So, how do you fix the clear lenses on your Mini? MMG has searched the world for you, and found that RSpeed sells protective light film kits for headlights, turn signals, and fog lights. You can get these kits in clear or blue for the headlights, and clear or yellow for the fogs. MMG invested in the yellows. RSpeed is very accomodating, and shipped the laminating kit immediately. They are a snap to install – literally all you need to do is to clean your lens, spray the usual soapy water on both the lens and the cover, and slide into place. Fifteen seconds, tops. Once the covers “cure”, they are good to go. Presto – yellow lights AND protection against stones and ugly bugs. Granted, they aren't as yellow as amber lenses might be, but they work fine.”

You can check this mod out in more detail here.

Written By: MF Staff

http://revorg.org/mini.html Scott

Wow, Gabe. Fast work there. Thanks for the link!
skaboo

I was disappointed when I found the fog lights were white. I ordered these!
Cletus

I'm afraid I don't find a laminate a great substitute for a yellow lamp. I dug up a source of yellow H11 lamps (the type that are in 2003 and later builds … I can't be sure about 2002 builds) here: http://www.supremepower.com/category/spr/spplight.html

I just received the pair I ordered today and they appear to have a dichroic coating that only hints at their yellow color much the way the popular Osram silver lamps for turn signals do. The downside is that replacing the fog lamps requires dropping the front bumper to reach them, so I can't yet report how they look.

The standard disclaimer applies: I'm not affiliated with this company or product in any way.
http://revorg.org/mini.html Scott

Of course, changing the lamp itself is the best solution. But removing the front bumper (see this page) is a lot of work. The laminate is less expensive and much quicker. To each his own.
Steve Rosenblum

Thanks Scott, I have one of the few MINIs without foglights so I can't use this tip, but I appreciate you documenting the mods that you have done..

I have used your info to seal up the bonnet and inner fender area (which has worked great), and to assist in my recent purchase of a Glove Box Organizer from GoMiniGo (on MCO).
http://revorg.org/mini.html Scott

Steve, thanks go to Gabe for “airing” my contributions. The goal is to share information.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/sjbartnik/ Sean Bartnik

You don't have to remove the front bumper cover to change the fog lamp or the bulb. All you need to remove is the inner fender liner and you can easily remove the whole fog lamp assembly or simply just change the bulb itself.

That said, it is easier to remove the front bumper cover than I thought it would be. It sounds like a lot on my site but in reality it doesn't take very long at all, especially the second time around :-)
Ed

Does anyone know if it's possible to wire the fog lamps so they can come on WITHOUT the headlights? When I learned to drive (the dinosaur age) they worked that way so the regular headlights didn't reflect back in your eyes. Fog lamps were mounted lower. Also, couldnt get to the page on removing the bumper. Does it have to be done to replace the standard horns?
http://www.geocities.com/gstumpff/Glenns_Page.html Glenn

The reason that most manufacturers use clear lenses might be that the notion that there's some advantage to yellow in regard to penetration through “weather” (e.g., fog, rain, etc.) is an example of the dopeler effect (stupid ideas seem smarter than they are when they come at you fast). There just isn't any scientific basis, “theoretical” or experimental, for the idea.
Kris

Fog lights don’t work. No color, including white, does ay better at penetrating fog than any other. There is no such thing as fog lights.
http://www.geocities.com/gstumpff/Glenns_Page.html Glenn

Thanks, Kris. (But I suspect the “snipe hunting” will continue ad nauseum.) :)
http://www.autosavant.net Brendan Moore

You might find an article on http://www.autosavant.net (or follow the link attached to my name)informative – I ran a short blurb in Autosavant. net months ago about how many people in CA were replacing their OEM clear fog/driving lights with yellow lights. Then I was hammered with questions about the same subject. I compiled those as FAQ and answers in this column. I am not an automotive lighting engineer, but I tracked down answers to the FAQs I was getting. Might be helpful to some people considering the swap.

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