Fog lights aimed like crap

[KartRacer25]

Thanks. About how many turns did you folks turn them counterclockwise? I cant see the road with mine either. Just went out and did a 1/4 turn each for now, will check tonight.

Sponsored

 

[PB2021]

Just did mine tonight. They are likely still low but will try them for a bit. At least now I get about 15feet of light and I'm aware when either is functioning as a turning light vs not perceiving they were on. Took several turns just to get them up to that level.

 

[NH_Leadfoot]

I got under my truck a few months ago and aimed up my fogs about as high as they would go. They actually throw light to the foreground in front of the truck and are now useful at night. Huge improvement over the factory settings, they were useless.

 

[KartRacer25]

Yep. I just went back tonight and cranked them about 5 more full turns counter clockwise and I can see them from driving position now. Only time they would have been useful in the down position is as rock lights with a spotter, no help to the driver. Yeh they are both off in auto mode with wheel at center turn slightly either way and left or right come on in cornering mode. But now I can see them come on/off. In manual you can turn them both on with center button. Also I can run my mirror side spots(ditch lights?) at slow speeds then they turn off automatically. Using dash switches or I think zone lighting screen. Will test it all this weekend on desert night run. Great thread !!

PS I grew up on and Island across from a place called Fogland Beach and I don't think the settings they were at would do any good in the fog and where they are now still doesn't point anywhere close to oncoming traffic.

 

[FORDHOSTAGE]

THIS is exactly why I paid the extra measly fifty bucks and ordered the "Snow Plow Option".

For fifty bucks I have a factory switch on my dash wired through the factory fuse box delivering a 50amp wiring harness to the front of my truck.

Since "when" did factory fog lights ever work worth a shit?


FORD is AWESOME!

 

[Don B.]

I want to thank everyone for the information on this thread. I purchased a new F150 in April 2021 and the fog lights were horrible. Found this thread and now they are working great. Took me around 30 minutes to adjust them. I wanted to add some information that may help others with the fog light problem. I don’t have a good place to do the adjustment so I just pulled the truck into my garage and stopped approximately 5 or 6 feet from the wall. My fog lights are roughly 23 inches from ground to center. I put markers on the wall roughly 21 inches up from the floor and used these marks as I adjusted the fog lights. You can see the light beam great on the wall. Adjust the lights until the top of the beam is at the 21 inch mark. This is what I did and they work great. When I started adjusting, the fog lights were about 6 inches off the floor at 6 feet from the wall. That’s how bad mine were. So I adjusted them up around 15 inches. Hopefully this will be helpful and thanks again to everyone on this thread for the information.

 

[Blueshound]

The first time I did, just to get a good look around.
You can just take out a 7mm screw or two on the felt wheel liner and pull it back a bit. That will get you enough room. I used a 1/4” ratchet with a short 2” extension and 10mm socket. It worked good. Aim them on a garage door or something and watch the alignment.

Thanks ? I just used this exact setup.

 

[WDWFordGuy]

This worked great, did this today, lights up the road between the front of the truck and where the low beams hit perfectly!!

 

[skierd]

Adding to the low fog pile, my halogen fogs barely shine past the bumper. Plan on making the adjustment in a couple days using the shop bag at work.

 

[skierd]

So some test photos on my drive home, taken from my road.

Fogs only:

lows only:

fogs and lows:

My take is both the headlights and the fog lights are aimed far too low from the factory, similar to my Tacoma. I’m hoping to do some aiming and measuring at lunch today. If my experience with the Tacoma carries over, I should have a somewhat usable fog pattern and much better distance projection on the low beams with them aimed up. The hot spot for the fogs is basically invisible from the drivers seat and the low beams are clearly aggressively aimed low, judging by the lighting pattern on the ground with both.

The high beams are acceptable thankfully, and upgrading to 9011 bulbs will only make them better.

I won’t be doing any bulb upgrades until the fall, as we are nearing the end of headlight season in Alaska.

 

[skierd]

Please, whatever you do to your trucks, aim your fog lights. I did this on my lunch break, only took about 30 minutes.

As delivered,vs drivers side adjusted.

The fogs on my STX are 24” off the ground at center. At 15 feet the pattern was on the floor. Generally fogs should be aimed to be 2-3” low at 25 feet. I raised the aim on mine up to 22” from the floor.
Here’s the adjuster, I used a 1/2” wrench and didn’t have to remove anything to get to it, just had to pull back the fender liner.

Headlights were also low, but not this bad. Aiming them is even easier as the adjusters are on top of the housing.

The headlights needed to come up 1.5” to meet the specs in the manual.

 

[imnuts]

I want to check my fogs out later when it gets dark but removing the two 7mm screws made it fairly simple to adjust them. I couldn't completely see the adjustment nut, but I saw enough that I could get the socket on it to adjust them up. I didn't need a ratchet to adjust them, and I was able to easily turn the adjustment screw by hand with a 3" extension and universal on the 10mm socket.

I brought them up until I was at the end of adjustment, then turned it down approximately one turn as I was off of the end of the adjustment screw. This was enough to get them to just start to lower again. Measuring just in front of them with a tape measure, I brought both sides up nearly an inch, so they are still aimed down (I think), but much closer to level. Given that it is still fairly bright out, I want to just check to make sure that they are relatively even once it gets dark. I rarely use my fogs anyway, so it isn't something I need to check immediately though.

 

[blind56]

Slightly related, but does anyone know what the conditions are for the fog lights to turn on? I have headlights set to auto. Occasionally when I hit the fog light button, they'll turn on. Other times, they won't. Last night when it was foggy, I noticed that the fogs would turn on by themselves when I was in a street-lit area, however in un-lit areas they would turn off which seems really counter-intuitive???

 

[williams]

FYI- fog lights are called ”fog” lights because they are intentionally adjusted down to shine under and not be reflected by fog, snow, and rain when driving at night. If you adjust these lights up too far they are no longer fog lights and become driving lights that can cause excessive glare for oncoming traffic.

they literally light up 3 feet and less under the truck. from the driver seat 5 feet from my garage door they do not even hit the garage door. if you dont have one then you dont know.

 

[imnuts]

Slightly related, but does anyone know what the conditions are for the fog lights to turn on? I have headlights set to auto. Occasionally when I hit the fog light button, they'll turn on. Other times, they won't. Last night when it was foggy, I noticed that the fogs would turn on by themselves when I was in a street-lit area, however in un-lit areas they would turn off which seems really counter-intuitive???

You have to push the fog button for them to be on. They'll also turn off if your high beams are on unless you enabled "Bambi Mode" with ForScan. I'm not sure if it's all models, but they can also turn on/off as cornering lights as well.

Sponsored