foglamps

"top gear" wrote in news:42fa7637$1 snipped-for-privacy@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com:

You don't need two. Only the offside rear has to be working to pass the MOT. AFAIK, front ones are not part of the test.

The message from "top gear" contains these words:

No, only one, but it's the old saw about whether it's fitted or not.

Many cars only have one, but visibly so from the outside. Clearly the MOT bloke understands this. Where they sometimes get a bit wobbly is when you've got a car which has the lenses for two but to which only one was fitted. Most understand - but I've met a couple who had to have it explained to 'em.

David Thornber ( snipped-for-privacy@talktalk.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I shoud have said that I spoke from experience...

My ol' CX had both front fog lights physically broken when I bought it.

I did eventually replace both, because the broken/rusty units looked shit, but I never bothered to investigate why neither worked.

No MOT probs over the years I owned it.

The message from David Thornber contains these words:

That's for sharp edges, probably.

Rear...one on the drivers side. Must be operational. In addition, there must be a warning lamp on the dashboard to indicate it is on such as an illuminated switch, and that must work too.

Front foglights are not a testable item.

You won;t. Front ones are not part of the MOT.

Conor wrote on Thu, 11 Aug 2005 17:06:13 +0100:

Well yes. That'd be why it's "confirmation"...

Did you _read_ the post you replied to (including the reply quoted in it)??

Conor ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes, Conor. Thank you, Conor. I already said that, Conor. Read the whole thread, Conor.

Does that mean my '99 car is a fail? :-)

Sidelights on & rear foglights CAN'T be switched on. Sidelights + front foglights on & rear foglights CAN be switched on.

Johnny ( snipped-for-privacy@spam.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Umm, no, because the rear fogs can't be turned on without the headlights on.

In message , Johnny writes

That's been the case on every car I've ever had that's had factory fitted front fogs. They've all had a three position switch which did off/front/front & rear.

I remember a friend having a car (a Sierra I think) that had two separate switches. Even so, the rears wouldn't work unless the fronts were on. At least that's what he reckoned.

Whenever I've done my own after-fit front fog lights, I've wired them completely independently of the rears. Not only is it much easier to do, but it means you can still use your rears for annoying the tit behind who's posing with his fronts on, without appearing to be the same sort of tit to the guy in front of you.

I think the requirement for fog lights is that they must only work when the side lights are on. It's spots that must only work when (main beam) headlights are on.

David Thornber ( snipped-for-privacy@talktalk.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Try driving non-German cars, then.

He probably had the front fogs perma-on with the sidies, so the rears wouldn't work without the fronts on...

All the non-German cars I've had with front fogs have had separate switches and have worked completely independently. It's only the Germans who insist on doing those silly three-position switches.

I've had front fogs that work with dip or dip/main only, and had others that work with side/dip. Side/dip is the most sensible for fog - if the fog's severe enough that you need the front fogs, you definitely don't want main, and dip might be a problem, too.

Front fogs can be useful for "filling in" under main beam, though.

Adrian wrote in news:Xns96B0727E8C3CDadrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:

My non-German Primera has this set-up. The switch is on the column stalk.

Wrong. I can testify that it applies to Jap cars, too. Can't see what the problem is - if it's bad enough fog to require the rear light, then nobody's gonna get dazzled by the fronts. I do think that the switch should work rear first, front second though. Rears are for bad fog, fronts are only for extremely bad fog.

Mine is like this, but I think they should work with dipped headlights only. Never ceases to amaze me how many idiots use just sidelights on foggy winter mornings! What possible use are sidelights in fog ?! They don't even help other road users see you any sooner! Perhaps it comes from the days when nobody ever used headlights because they were considered 'cissys' if they did.

Front fogs with sidelights are best, but only if you have front fogs. Sidelights and no fogs is dangerous, IMHO, because nobody can see you coming!

Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Fairy muff. I've never had a Japanese car.

You're at the back of a string of vehicles. You want the rears on, not the fronts.

You've obviously never driven in REALLY bad fog, then - when even dip beam just bounces straight back at you. That's when front fogs *really* score.

Absolutely.

In message , Adrian writes

I've only ever had the one German car. I scrapped it in 1989. Yes, it did have the three position switch.

Nope, his stance on muppet use of fog lights has always been much the same as mine. I didn't get to see it with my own eyes, but he reckoned the rears wouldn't work unless the fronts were on.

The French do it too. Well Renault at least. Our 95, 98, 02 Lagunas and 02 Clio have all had a 3 position collar on the indicator stalk, just inboard of the one that does the side and headlights. It has the added bonus of automatically clicking off the rear fogs when you turn off the side lights (so they don't automatically come back on again next time you use normal lights.) On the 02 Laguna, clicking the side/head lights back to off clicks off both rear and front fogs. I'm not sure if the Clio is the same.

Apart from when you're supposed to use them (when they can be bloody handy if they're decent ones) I do occasionally find them useful on dark, wet roads with very poor road markings.

I first fitted fog lights to my Astra, after getting stuck in a real pea-souper on the A66. They were Hella Comet 550s, and they actually did a pretty good job the next time I got stuck in fog. I stuck a cheap pair of Radyots on the Mazda (because they were the only ones I could find that looked right on it) and they were crap. The factory fit Renault ones appear to be every bit as good as the Hellas, if not better.

Adrian wrote in news:Xns96B07BB8FDE4Eadrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:

I agree, but the fronts aren't hurting anything if it's foggy enough for rears, are they? There wouldn't be enough visibility for anyone to get dazzled.

Sorry, I said that without thinking. I was thinking about visibility to others, but if you're front fogs are on, you *will* be visible :-) Must admit, I haven't driving in extremely bad fog, at least not for any significant amount of time. We don't seem to get it as much, these days. Certainly have never had any genuine need of front fogs.

Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You may not have a car behind you, but you may very well have a car immediately in front of you.

How would you like it if they thought "Ah, it's really foggy - I need my front fogs, so I'll lob my rears on too"?

I have a couple of times. Of course, neither time was while I was driving a car WITH them...

MM (kylix snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Bit of gaffer tape should sort any slight risk of the tester taking exception to sharp edges.