HID's and snow/fog driving?

[svxash]

For those of you that have HID's and have driven while it's snowing or in fog is it hard to see while it's snowing or in fog? Is there glare or reflection off of the falling snow?

[SoCal LS-L]

It depends mainly on the temperature of the HID lights. HID's are more effective in normal driving conditions because of their high secondary reflectivity off of objects in front of them. However this is a bad thing when driving in snow because it reflects off of the snow itself which is blocking visibility. The lower temp ones can throw out a yellower light which is better since it does not reflect back as much visible light.

[redlightningsvx]

Mine were ok in the snow. I have the 6000k. I need to upgrade my fogs so I can cut through that stuff better.

[svxash]

I'm thinking of installing 4500k HID's.

[redlightningsvx]

I think if I put in pure yellow hid fogs it will cut the glare down a good bit.

[Crazy_pilot]

I also have 6000K HID's and have no problem in blizzards. Not any more than I did with regular halogens anyway. There may be a bit more reflection and the colour is more blue, but it's nothing I can't deal with.

[siceclipse]

Originally Posted by svxash

I'm thinking of installing 4500k HID's.

i have them and i like them a lot.

[svxcess]

I have the 5000K HIDs in both my projector low beams AND my fog lights. I was wondering how they would be in bad weather, since they were not auto leveling and thought about being able to disable ONLY the headlight circuit at will

[COLOR="Red"]REASONING:[/COLOR]

I did not know how the new HID system would operate in snowy weather from a standpoint of reflected glare from the snow back into my eyes or those of oncoming traffic. Since I drive quite a bit slower during these times, my need to see very far down the road with the headlights is decreased.


Putting H-3 HIDs into the fog lights, I would be able to use them as auxiliary headlights to still shine on the road adequately and not bother other drivers. I would turn these on with only the parking lights, leaving the main headlights off. They should be bright enough to adequately see, while also being bright enough to be seen by oncoming traffic.



I did a test last winter when there was snow on the ground and light snow falling.

I parked my SVX on a straight, deserted road with only my low-beam headlights on and walked about 500 ft. from the car and looked back at my car. I also sat in my car and looked out at the road to see what kind of visibility I had.

I then repeated the same tests, by disconnecting my headlights and using ONLY my HID fog lights.


CONCLUSION: I had better visibility using only the fog lights than using the headlights.

Using only the fog lights, I had more useful illumination on the ground before me and a good distance and no glare from the falling snow. In fact, all I could see was the road ahead of me and hardly any falling snow. You tend to drive slower during snow, so I never out-drove the distance I was illuminating.

Looking back at the SVX from 500 feet away There was a lot more noticeable glare, (from both the scattering of the light pattern in the falling snow and from the reflection from the snow-covered road, when I used the headlights by themselves.

When I used ONLY the fog lights, I could still see them more clearly, but the glare was greatly reduced.


So when driving at night in bad winter weather, I use only my fogs. I can see more efficiently and be seen as well by oncoming drivers, without distracting glare to them, or me from reflected snowfall. They look like normal headlights from the front (only closer together) With the headlights disconnected, I also lose high-beam capabilities, which is something you do not need in this kind of weather anyway.

So I can see and be seen, without the threat of blinding glare. Once we get snow here this winter, I will take comparison photos to show you what I mean.

.