55W in for my Fog Lights?
 

Has anyone put in 55W bulbs into their fog lights? Any problems with them blowing out or getting too hot? I ask because my 2 month old car has 2 blown out fog light housings? No surrounding damage to the bumber which leads me to believe that the lights blew out. Any suggestions cause I'm trying to decide vs. 35W and 55W bulbs to replace the bulbs. Just got the new fog light housings in the mail.

I would want to compare the size of wiring going to the fog lights and that going to the high beams. What I fear is that the fog lights are going to be using a slightly lighter gauge wire which is going to potentially result in putting your car at risk of an electrical fire. Most car manufacturers use the minimum gauge wire for the factory load to minimize total car weight (a given car can save as much as 100 pounds in weight with minimal gauge wiring used vice going with a heavier gauge wire for longevity). In some cases, it can be argued that the factory used under sized wiring. As long as you have 18 gauge wiring going to the fogs, you should be good if you are using a 55W halogen bulb. If you are looking at installing 50W HIDs, then the factory wiring will be undersized (this has to do with the initial current draw associated with HID bulbs).

The wiring leading up to the fuse box and the relay that selects between the fog lights and high beams is more than adequate (uses a 30 amp relay when the lights are only going to pull 10 amp, assuming halogen bulb use).

The only other unknown I really have is the headlight switch. Since you are only stepping up to 55W bulbs, the headlight switch should handle it just fine. I would say to put in the new bulbs and the first time you use the higher wattage bulbs, rest your hand over the headlight switch and if you can feel heat coming off of the headlight switch, you need to drop back to the lower wattage bulbs.

Hope this gives you the information that you need. On a related note, I work around wiring as a profession. The normal "rule of thumb" for wiring is not having more than a 1 volt drop between the source and the load for what we would be wiring (there's always exceptions to any rule given unique circumstances). Using 18 gauge wiring and a 10 amp load (two 55W bulbs), there is roughly 10 feet of wiring between the fuse box and the fog lights. This voltage drop is 1.3 VDC. So, this puts the wiring just over the recommended loading. It is not horrible, but it is pushing the limits. Hence why I recommend checking the headlight switch. If you are going to have an issue, it will be there.

If this helps any I plan on using halogen bulbs.

I believe that H1/H11 halogens are all rated 55w@12v. Where did you find 35w?

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If it helps any, I had 80w Sportzblue in mine when I upgraded the headlight bulbs all at the same time.

They were in the car for around a little over a year before I sold it with no issuews, just bright white usable light

@ PreJag on a quick search all i was able to find were the 55W bulbs. So that is why i raised the question. I had read plenty of threads on here about people replacing the OEM headlights with 55W bulbs or any other brand other than Jaguar and them blowing all the time. I'm really considering installing the 55W yellow bulbs in my car. What do you guys think about yellow in the fog lights....I got HID 6000k in my dip beams.