Installing Auxiliary Lights

You've just selected a set of nifty auxiliary lights for your 4x4 or sport compact car. Now, where do you put them, and what's the best approach to installation?


The guideline for auxiliary light placement is not necessarily to put them where everybody else puts them, especially when it comes to off-road vehicles. The best guideline is common sense: install the lights where they will do the most good. Unfortunately, your vehicle's manufacturer already identified the best spot, but there's still plenty of room to install the auxiliary lights where they can do even more for you.

Fog Lamps
First, fog lights. These are basically an improvement over your vehicle's low beams, with a few bad-weather specific differences. Good fog lights have a narrow vertical beam; that is, they illuminate the roadbed in front of the vehicle. A wider vertical beam would just reflect glare off the fog, rain or snow back into the eyes of the driver.


Logically, then, fog lights should be mounted as low on the bumper as is practical. Often you'll see fog lights mounted below the bumper. This is fine as long as the driver has some guarantee the vehicle will never be in a situation where the unprotected lights are smashed against a curb or other obstacle.


Take into consideration the ride height of the vehicle. If your sports compact has been lowered, installation below the bumper is a risk. But a 4x4 with a lifted suspension or an oversized wheel/tire package that rarely sees severe off-road conditions may be able to get away with tucking a set of fog lights below the bumper. The best spot, obviously, is to mount fog lights as low on the bumper as possible, but where they will be protected as well.