Add fog lights to JSW? Y or N

[matty]

Just registered with this forum and making my first post here. I'm taking delivery of a 2012 TDI Sportwagen next week and debating whether or not I should shell out an extra $748+tax for the dealership to add front fog lights to the vehicle before I pick it up.

I've never owned a car equipped with fog lights, so I have no idea how beneficial they are when driving in coastal fog, which is pretty common in my neighborhood. I'm not interested in paying extra for cosmetic enhancements. I can only justify the expense if they will significantly improve visibility.

Thanks for sharing your opinions.

[chittychittybangbang]

If you search Toeball, you can find pictures of a JSW with foglights, I don't know how much he paid though. Personally, I can never tell the difference when using foglights in fog. I just slow down.

[ToeBall]

Chitty beat me to it. There are several ways to do the fogs, but it really depends on future plans and what functionality you want.

The least expensive fog light install I've seen was on TDIClub, and was about $150. They used Chinese copy parts and an eBay harness which had some splicing into the main wiring. The fogs are basically on with the ignition and that's it.

The next steps up for this are using OEM foglights, and a relay harness. ECS Tuning sells this kit for $325. You'll need a headlight switch with a fog lights position, at which point, may as well get the Euro switch ($100). You manually can toggle the fogs on and off, past that there's no really difference between the two listed so far.

Finally, there's the CECM (BCM) controlled fog lights install. OEM Plus has this kit, also for $325. In addition to the headlight switch you'll need a 3' VW repair wire (included with Euro switch), and you'll need to upgrade the CECM (BCM) to a Midline at the minimum. I'd go right to the Highline version, however, as there's some added functionality you may wind up using later. That's about $430 more. The advantage of this is that the computer controls the fog lights directly so it can detect burned out bulbs, use the fogs as DRLs, turn the inside fog light on when you're making turns to light up the inside better, and a whole slew of other nifty things in addition to giving you the ability to manual turn on the fog lights. Mine actually turns on the fog lights for a few seconds when I turn on my headlights in the morning so I can see while the HID's are warming up.

I'm betting the dealer is using the second method, at the price you're getting quoted. The CECM route is not doable at the dealer. The harness has to be purchased from OEM Plus, Kufatec, or maloosheck (don't know if he's on this forum, but he is on TDIClub and VWVortex), as far as I know. As an added bonus, the front looks a whole lot better with fogs.


CRW_5613 by Toe_Ball, on Flickr

[wimpog]

Originally Posted by chittychittybangbang

If you search Toeball, you can find pictures of a JSW with foglights, I don't know how much he paid though. Personally, I can never tell the difference when using foglights in fog. I just slow down.

One dealer told me the foglights can be installed for $350, another - they can't be installed, and JSWs don't come w/them.

[cwescapexlt4x4]

To me there are multiple reasons to say Yes:

- To me the car just looks better and more complete with them.

- They do add some lower/wider light (don't expect to be blown away by them) but i can tell you they fill in for the headlights and nice wide extra lighting.

[leroyal]

Originally Posted by cwescapexlt4x4

To me there are multiple reasons to say Yes:

- To me the car just looks better and more complete with them.

- They do add some lower/wider light (don't expect to be blown away by them) but i can tell you they fill in for the headlights and nice wide extra lighting.

X2, a JSW looks like crap without them!

[RTEREMI]

Here in west Michigan this time of year it's foggy every morning. As mentioned earlier, they do add some lower light that can be useful, they do make the car look more complete. On the other hand, I think I've used fog lights only a handful of times in 25years. They don't make enough of a difference to make you want to turn them on.

There are those people who drive with them 24/7: I assume they are experiencing their own personal fog.

[Keithuk]

Welcome to the forum matty.

Me personally I never use the front fog lamps they are just a gimmick. I don't know why you are bothering with front fog lamps when you don't have rear fog lamps in the US which are more useful?

[ToeBall]

Originally Posted by Keithuk

Welcome to the forum matty.

Me personally I never use the front fog lamps they are just a gimmick. I don't know why you are bothering with front fog lamps when you don't have rear fog lamps in the US which are more useful?

First, because they work as cornering lights, which is useful and not a gimmick.
Second, because it's better to have and not need than the opposite.
And third, because to add rear fog light to the car, you just replace the white bulb in your left backup light for a red one and change one setting in VCDS (change byte 18 of module 9 to Golf RoW).