Roof rack mounted lights: "fog" or "driving" style?

[Andy G]

Just installed the Gobi Ranger rack on our 2010 JKU. What an awesome rack. Now getting ready to order 2 (or 4) offroad lights to mount on the front of it.

The Heep already has (crappy) stock fog lights on the bumper. Just trying to decide if we should go for driving lights (pencil beam-ish) or fog (wide beam) for up top?

Or two of each? Maybe fogs on the outside and driving in the middle?

Thanks!
Spicy

 

[Hilldweller]

Foglights will surely be useless up there since they're designed to be mounted as low as possible.

You need something that won't wash the hood with light; as tight a beam as possible.

 

[chasingdreams]

Something to think about adding as well......

At the rear of the rack put 2 small fog lamps pointed downward..... helps out tremendously when you have to reverse manuvers on a tight trail in total darkness.:smiley_drive:

By the way.... congrats on the Gobi rack!!!,.... a Gobi stealth is on my list after I get the expedition trailer finished up

 

[Skratch]

Having done this on a few vehicles I concur with the previous response.
If they are forward facing up high they should be pencil beams, down below the headlights you can get away with euro beams or fogs as they won't blind you with additional reflection off the hood.

I tried a set of Hella Rally 4000 Euro beams up on the roof rack of my suburban once, but the additional spread of the beams made them almost useless up there. Moved them to the bumper and put some cheap pencil beams up there and it made a world of difference.

 

[dirty Bakers]

Cool thhis is good info as a have recently purchased a rack also.

 

[saveitforsunrise]

i took my KC daylighters off 3 days ago, they were the 4 inch model, and are the brightest daylighters you can get, i had them on the roof of my tahoe, i had the stock rack with the slider all the way foword, so the lights were at the very rear of the driver door, they worked amazingly, the only reason i took em off was to get rid of the mickey mouse look cause i have a 103 inch whip on my rear bumper

 

[saveitforsunrise]

you can kinda see in this pic

 

[Andy G]

Something to think about adding as well......

At the rear of the rack put 2 small fog lamps pointed downward..... helps out tremendously when you have to reverse manuvers on a tight trail in total darkness.:smiley_drive:

By the way.... congrats on the Gobi rack!!!,.... a Gobi stealth is on my list after I get the expedition trailer finished up

Thanks everyone for the replies and insight. I had read where someone put fogs on the outsides to help provide side lighting. I'm gonna go ahead and try two of the driving lights first, see how that works.

Also, as suggested above, gonna throw a "utility" light up top on the pass. side rear mount. Drivers side is where the ladder comes up and I don't want to risk breaking it off while loading/unloading.

Thanks!

 

[Explorer 1]

light choices??????

I went with the fog's down low and on top I first tried a pencil beam in the center two postitions but found that with the roads I travel and with any speed their beam vibrated too much and provided too narrow of a field. I then opted for a driving light which broadened the field and the vibration affect wasn't noticed. On the rack the two outside light at 15 degrees outward are floods which greatly improve the peripheral vision.

As you can see in the pictures, By painting the hood a flat color I have removed the windshield reflection.

 

[ccarm]

What's the largest diameter light that you can put on the front of the Gobi rack. I'm just about to pull the trigger to order one, but I need to know how big of a light I should buy to go with it. Congrats on the purchase. KC Daylighters are fantastic! I have two mounted on the bottom of the windshield, and they are so stinkin' bright. Best of luck.

 

[mustangwarrior]

I went with the fog's down low and on top I first tried a pencil beam in the center two postitions but found that with the roads I travel and with any speed their beam vibrated too much and provided too narrow of a field.

I am having the same issue, the lights have a good beam pattern, but with them mounted to the brushguard, they vibrate too much and almost look like a strobe, they are ok when slow going off road, but down the road they are no good

 

[Andy G]

What's the largest diameter light that you can put on the front of the Gobi rack. I'm just about to pull the trigger to order one, but I need to know how big of a light I should buy to go with it. Congrats on the purchase. KC Daylighters are fantastic! I have two mounted on the bottom of the windshield, and they are so stinkin' bright. Best of luck.

Not sure yet...gonna make a template and see. I'm either going with Hella 500's, or the 700's. I really like the Hella lights.

 

[TeriAnn]

I went with two driving lights and two Euro beams up top.

The driving lights are in the centre and are aimed to give the best light with my headlamp high beams. The Euro lights have a horizontally wide, vertically narrow beam. They are my outer lights and aimed slightly to the side to give me a maximum width of lighting to illuminate the sides of the trail that I am approaching.

My lights are suspended from the underside of my roof rack and are slightly behind the front of the hard top. The hard top front acts as a light shield to keep the light off my bonnet.

 

[StumpXJ]

I can tell you from my experience that FOG lights SUCK when they are mounted up high, pointed down or not.

I made the mistake of getting fogs to mount on my rack pointing backwards for reversing duties.. they are not made for that. The pattern is extremely wide, which is what you want, but they are also extremely short, top to bottom. So, no matter which way you point them, you will only have a foot or two at best of light shown (top to bottom). This is a quality fog light (with a true fog pattern), not chinese junk.

On the front I went with two euro lights on the outside, and two pencil beams on the inside. I also have a set of driving lights on the bumper.

If I would do it all again, it would be two euros on the outside (just because the pilot light looks cool...) and the rest would be all driving lamps, even for the reverse lights. The spread on a driving lamp is MUCH more usable.

The pencils are great if you need to see a mile ahead of you at speed, and are in a wide open area (desert...)

All of my lights on the front are converted to HID.

Here you can see the rear fogs... no good except for looks.

Up top are Hella 4000's, on the bumper are Hella 700FF's, and the rear lights are Hella 550's.

 

[ccarm]

Not sure yet...gonna make a template and see. I'm either going with Hella 500's, or the 700's. I really like the Hella lights.

I'll be curious to see what you end up with. Cheers.