DIY: H9 Bulbs in H11 Fogs
 

As most of you may know H11 is the OEM bulb size for our fog lights, but not many know that there's another brighter option. H9 bulbs are usually used for low beams, but no one told me I can't use it in my fog lights. :p I chose not to use HIDs (even though I have spares) because that's just way too bright and defeat the purpose of its function.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/P9050733.jpg

Info

H11 55w, painted tip, 1350 lumens
H9 65w, clear tip, 2100 lumens

I used Nokya Hyper Yellow 2500k H9 Bulbs with HD Ceramic Harness

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/P9050734.jpg
H11
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/P9050767.jpg
H9
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/P9050760.jpg
H11
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/P9050769.jpg
H9 Cut/shave the shorter tab off to convert the plug to H11.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...768EforLGT.jpg

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/P9060770.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/P9060817.jpg

Conclusion

H9 is brighter than H11 on paper, but in real life comparisons I don't think H9 makes that big of a difference for all this trouble, so it's really up to you if you want to do all this for the small but noticeable benefit. It is a bit brighter and if you opt to use yellow bulbs it actually looks really good (maybe because it doesn't have the painted tip). About the increased heat, I've read temperature tests and H9 creates about the same amount of heat as H11 so I'm sure the OEM wires will be fine. As a precaution, I used heavy duty ceramic harness anyway. I'm also using HD ceramic harness for my 55w Nokya Hyper Yellow 9005 high beam bulbs.

Not to be a debbie downer or anything but this doesn't look right to me.

Looks like the light is refracting all over the place or they are aimed too low which doesn't make sense since they are mounted in a fixed position.

I think that's because I haven't installed those black fog light covers yet. The floor in that parking garage is also angled up. I can assure you the pattern is pretty even.

Just took these with my phone.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...ogs/front2.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...ogs/front1.jpg

How so is the H9 brighter? Your info shows H11 with more watts and more lumens than H9. I've been considering yellow Nokias for our winter months in ND!
(edited)
WWAAAIIITTT a minute..... after checking, is it because H9 has no colored tip?

I'm confused...

Hella H9's are 65W and their H11's are 55W. H11's have the painted tips.

*Fixed*
My bad guys, I made this thread 2am in the morning. So it's actually H9 the one with the clear tip and higher lumens. Sorry for the confusion. :p

The painted tip is to lower the glare for other drivers.

But you can get stronger H11 bulbs too. Over here I found 80W H11 bulbs.

Did this mod in my 2008 impreza headlights as they use h11 for the low beams

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Yeah, it actually really looks good in our foglights, compliments the low beams very well.

Great Info!

So you really think that the benefits are negligible?

I was looking for a improvement in lane visibility in heavy rain at night....

I feel H11 can get the job done and it took me a long time to cut that tab off on the H9 bulb with a blade :lol:. I can see everything in the front of me at night and my overall light pattern is very even now. I'm pretty happy with it so its up to you. ;)

couldn't do it with a pair of angled cutters?

Most of my tools were back in LA, so I just used what I got. :p

If I recall I just used a pair of small dikes to cut the tab off when I did it on my Impreza

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