1990 Reatta fog lights

[Guest tonypowell]

The Reatta fog? lights are not very bright. I also noticed that the lenses are plastic instead of glass. has anyone retrofitted "good" fog lights into their Reatta and how much of a light should that circut handle?

[Guest Corvanti]

i had some #894 8500K bulbs on hand for some project i never got around to in the last 2 or 3 years that i picked up on ebay. they are much less yellowish and seem brighter than the originals.

probably almost as important, i cleaned the plastic lenses with some "headlight restorer" cleaner i had, then buffed them with a "Mother's Power Ball". i didn't have to take the lenses off, since the "chrome" was good - just spritzed some windex in where the light socket goes and cleaned the interior up.

when one goes out, i'll probably go with led's...

[handmedownreatta]

i changed my bulbs to 50 watt bulbs.

[Guest Mc_Reatta]

The Reatta fog? lights are not very bright. I also noticed that the lenses are plastic instead of glass. has anyone retrofitted "good" fog lights into their Reatta and how much of a light should that circut handle?

There were some year Cameros that had foglights that will fit perfectly and are made of real metal and glass. Then you can go hog wild with the wattage if you want. Just match the fuse to the wattage if you go real high.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

The years would be helpful if anyone knows.

[Guest Mc_Reatta]

Have to refer to Jon for that info. Here's the thread I remembered:

(not quite plug and play)

http://forums.aaca.org/f116/front-end-done-292008.html#post812067

Daves89 once commented that ones from 92 Regals (GS) and 96 Barettas looked like a match, but not what they were made from

Edited January 29, 2013 by Mc_Reatta (see edit history)

[wws944]

The thing about fog lights is that, ignoring 'style', they are designed for use in fog. They are intended to emit a pancake-like pattern that is wide in the horizontal plane, very narrow in the vertical plane, and short range. This is because in fog, much of the light emitted above the horizontal plane gets reflected back in your eyes - causing glare. Same reason you don't turn on your brights in fog. For the same reason, fog lights are mounted low - to help avoid glare. A low mounting point is also desirable because sometimes in fog, when the road is still a bit warm, they can illuminate the road *under* the fog layer.

Note that these design goals are contrary to what 'driving' lights do, and what a lot of folks seem to want - illuminate distant objects in normal weather. The reflector design, optics, and mounting position are simply different. Installing a brighter bulb in an attempt to convert a fog light into a driving light is somewhat pointless. If it is simply a brighter halogen bulb that 'fits', you'll still have the wide/thin fog light pattern - rather than a 'pencil' beam that you are really after. And if you plug in one of those "HID kits", the reflector and optics won't be matched to the light source, and light will be emitted in lots of directions that are also useless (and cause glare to oncoming drivers).

That said, I would also be interested to know which Camaro fog lights use metal/glass and are a direct fit. Would be a nice upgrade, since the ones on our Reattas are more for style than substance.

Edited January 29, 2013 by wws944 (see edit history)

[DAVES89]

The '92 Regal's were made with glass lens and were pretty nice. I just never followed through with it as the sockets were rusted and too many of the lens were broke or cracked. The neat thing about the lens is that it has the Buick logo on them...

[Guest Corvanti]

The thing about fog lights is that, ignoring 'style', they are designed for use in fog.

i leave my fog lights on all the time to use as a substitute for DRL's. (yeah, i know the rear lights are on, too). but mainly, because it looks "cool" going down the street!!! :cool:

[Bushwack]

i leave my fog lights on all the time to use as a substitute for DRL's. (yeah, i know the rear lights are on, too). but mainly, because it looks "cool" going down the street!!! :cool:

I think you can program your fog lights to act as DRLs w/o the rear lights being on. I think the code is 144 or 145 but not sure (can someone chime in).

[handmedownreatta]

I think you can program your fog lights to act as DRLs w/o the rear lights being on. I think the code is 144 or 145 but not sure (can someone chime in).

what about on an 89?i was thinking of rewiring the switch.

[Blue90]

See January 20, 2012 thread by Bushwack on disabling/abling DRLs.