Just got my 06 Coupe! Bi Xenons areawsome on the road and look great. My questions concern the Fog's and a funky little running light that is positioned in the side of the fog light. First question..... fog lights look terrible. Owners manual says they are H1 bulbs. What can I replace their sickly YELLOWISH glow with? Syvania Silverstars have been suggested. Are pre 06 foglights also H1 bulbs? Any info,comments and sugestions appreciated!
Second question, the previously mentioned "running lights" can be turned on seperately. They have the same bulb as the clearance or corner lights, which BTW I've changed to clearcorners with Danno's overlays. Nice. Anyhow I think the 194 type LED is ideally suited for the running light and have considered even using an amber LED since turn signals only flash and do no light otherwise. Hoing someone will2respond! Thanks.

 

Hey, I am getting my coupe in 3 weeks, but I went ahead and ordered all the bulbs so heres the deal. The fogs are H1, the 05 and prev years were H4 bulbs. H1 fogs come in as many K rating as the H4s so just look around on ebay and other online stores for H1 halogen bulbs. Theres lots of manufacturers and brands that cost from 8$ to 80$. I stumbled upon XD5 5800K H1 bulbs on ebay. They cost 10 bucks, so I figured even if they are crap I am not out much money. If they look crap or go bad, I will prolly replace them with PIAA, Raybrig or something a little more expensive. Remember just like HID bulbs the higher Kelvin rating makes it look nice cool white/blue but the light output decreases. Sylvania silverstars are aroun 3200K, they will be whiter than the OEM fogs, but not noticeably, the upshot is that they light up the road well. If you live in the country and need good light output the silverstars are pretty good. I live in a metro area and looks were a priority so I went with a higher Kelvin rating fog. As for the city light( running light as you called them), its the same wedge bulb that you run in the corners, Ive got two bulbs for this light. I got a 5 led matrix hyperwhite LED and the regular filament based hyperwhite bulb ( Polarg ). I am gonna swap both in and out and see which one lights up the housing more. The LED seems to have good directional properties and may fill the housing better, but the filament bulb may be brighter, only time will tell.Amber bulb in the city light would look striaght up ugly IMHO. Also got some cheapo stealth amber bulbs that are silver coated but light up amber. I have clear corners, but I am still debating whether I want to run hyperwhites in it or ambers. The stealths wont give the clear corners an orange tint when off. Pic 1 are the stealth/LED 194 wedges, pic 2 is the filament hyperwhite 194 wedge, and pic 3 is the cheapo 5800K H1 fogs. PIAA has some 4100K mirror coated H1 fogs, that claim to not give the housing a blue tint when off, and thats something I will prolly look into when the XD5s burn out.
Some stores where you can find these bulbs at
www.ebay.com
www.autolumination.com
www.superbrightleds.com
www.prolightstar.com
www.optionsauto.com
http://store.racinglab.com/index.html
www.suvlights.com

 

Hey, thanks for your time and help. Couple of comments. Was surprised at your assessment of the Silverstars not looking a whole lot different than the "stock" fogs. Man, the fogs just aren't "white" a all. The pics I've seen here of Silverstars SEEMED at least, much whiter....... ?
Regarding the City Lights ..... since the turn signals are only lit when flashing (unlike previous years) I was wondering about using AMBER in the city lights. Had you considered this? Bad idea???? BTW, I have clearcorners with Danno's excellent overlays. Tried themwith superwhite LED's and they screamed out "Hey,officer pull me over!" Don't need that. The overlays hide the amber stock bulbs the "clears" come with in the dytime and look fine at night with their chevrons illuminate. tter or me who wishes to avoid hassles with the law.
Asan aside to all of this you are gonna love the Coupe! Looks so nice at night with those rer LED brakelights and "bar" of 'em in spoiler. Just picked up today with clearbra and 35% tint installed. Car delivered in perfect shape w/o a single defect that I can find. Told dealer NOT even to wash it! I washed and 2 coats of Optimum car wax later it be lookin' good.YOU are gonna be soooooo HAPPY!
Meanwhile I'll be doin those lights this wekend......BTW did the interiors and license plates with LED's ,used blue in the courtesy's...... stole that idea fom someone and the blue looks very cool w/raphite interior!

 

Check out the search function next time - a WHOLE section dedicated to DIY and lighting in the tech FAQ as well.

Here is a good reference for you:
https://g35driver.com/forums/showthr...t=lights+excel

 

Thanks for the tip on the search function but I have an '06 Coupe. The lighting system is almost completely different from previous models.
I.E. Bi Xenon headlights, different bulbs in fogs, addition of "city" or runnning lights and last but not least the turn signals DON'T light except when flashing. In other words why is everyone so ready to suggest the "search function" on this site. Based on the above info. I suggest YOU search for info to familiarize yourself with the '06! I hope this helps YOU.

 

+1

Anyways, no problem, glad to be of help BigGuy! The silverstars look a lot whiter compared to regular halogens, especially when you install them on one side and leave the stock one in the other light and then compare. But put another 4000K+ bulb next to it and they will see as yellow as the stock ones. I know cuz I have the ST on my current car and they seemed such an improvement over the stock, but after a year I cant tell any difference from other halogen cars on the road. Trust me you want to get atleast a 4100K blub with blue coating to make it match with the HIDs, anything less and you are not going to be happy. About running amber bulbs in the city lights...thats a personal preference, but I would think that since you are trying to get away from the whole yellow look in the lower housing by changing the fog bulb why would you want a even darker AMBER look in there ( agreed that its just the city light, but when you have it on it looks as if the fogs are lit on a dim setting ). Also I dont know if the city light turns off when your fogs and/or HID bulbs turn on. If they turn off thats fine, but if they stay lit then you are gonna have that amber light mixing with your nice white H1 fog make it look all funky. As far as the corners go, I feel the same way about the cops and also makes it look a little civic-rice. Might just end up running stock ambers or stealth ambers. The only reason I am considering the hyperwhites in the clear corners is that since the turning light only turns on when blinking, you can essentially have just one color for all your lights ( HID, fogs, City, corners-all white) and get a more unified look, and since the corners do not blink, the cops may let it slide more than say a hyperwhite turning marker that blinks. Post some pictures this weekend of your set up. This wait is really painful, its been 5 weeks since I ordered mine, gonna take another 3 weeks. But it should be worth it, mine is a DG/G 5AT, premium / Intelli, aero, nav, sport, xm. I also got the k&N, mikes radar mount, and quick connect cable for passport hardwire from www.invisicord.com sitting at home

 

this is what i would do.

6000k phillips ultion d2s bulbs for the xenons.
6000k Xenon H1 Kit for the fogs
7440 hyper white LED Bulbs
just black out the sidemarkers and take the bulb out. much cleaner.

i already have all teh bulbs now i'm saving up for my 06 headlights.

 

I have Osram Silverstars (they don't have the blue coating like the Sylvanias) in my fogs and they really aren't too much different than stock. They are whiter, but still look a little yellow when compared to the headlights. They are brighter though. Since I don't care about the light output of the fogs/highs, I'm probably going to switch them out for the PIAA's and hope they don't burn out as quickly as others have said they do.

 

If you care anything about actual lighting performance you shouldnt go over 5000K.