Fog Lights (H8 To H11 Mod) - Drive Accord Honda Forums

Menu Log in Sign up

• Home
• Forums
• Honda Accord Forums
• The 9th Generation
• Audio, Electronics & Lighting

Fog lights (H8 to H11 mod) Jump to Latest

• Podcast: What I Learned at The World's Best Car Show

BTNTX I had an extra set of H11 Siverstar Ultra's laying around so decided to see if I could modify them to replace the H8's in the fog light housings. This ended up being easier than I expected. They fit perfectly with only a slight modification -- and the difference in brightness was well worth the small effort. The H8 bulbs are 35 watts with an unimpressive 712 lumen rating. The H11s are 55 watts with a 1250 lumen rating. Initially I was concerned about the wattage difference possibly causing the wiring or the fixtures to over heat. So I did a very low-tech test of running the lights for 30 minutes and then feeling around the back of one of the fixtures for hot spots. It was warm, but by no means hot. I now feel comfortable running these as I don't believe they will cause any harm to the vehicle. However, I'm open to advice from people who know more about automotive lighting than I do. Below are a few pics that illustrate the process. I'll try to keep it short & sweet. The top tab on the H11 needs to be ground down to match the width of the H8. The plug ends are identical so no mods needed there. Use a crescent wrench to gauge the width of the top tab on the H8 bulb. I used a vice with urethane jaw inserts to hold the H11 bulb. A Dremel with a small grind stone makes quick work of the tab alteration. Remove the rubber gasket to avoid damaging it, but remember to put it back on before installing the bulb! Use the crescent wrench that you set earlier to confirm the width. As usual the picture does not do it justice -- but you can tell that the H11 is quite a bit brighter. 1 - 16 of 16 Posts

BTNTX

· Registered Joined Dec 31, 2012 · 100 Posts Reaction score 7 Location Houston, Texas I had an extra set of H11 Siverstar Ultra's laying around so decided to see if I could modify them to replace the H8's in the fog light housings. This ended up being easier than I expected. They fit perfectly with only a slight modification -- and the difference in brightness was well worth the small effort. The H8 bulbs are 35 watts with an unimpressive 712 lumen rating. The H11s are 55 watts with a 1250 lumen rating. Initially I was concerned about the wattage difference possibly causing the wiring or the fixtures to over heat. So I did a very low-tech test of running the lights for 30 minutes and then feeling around the back of one of the fixtures for hot spots. It was warm, but by no means hot. I now feel comfortable running these as I don't believe they will cause any harm to the vehicle. However, I'm open to advice from people who know more about automotive lighting than I do. Below are a few pics that illustrate the process. I'll try to keep it short & sweet. The top tab on the H11 needs to be ground down to match the width of the H8. The plug ends are identical so no mods needed there. Use a crescent wrench to gauge the width of the top tab on the H8 bulb. I used a vice with urethane jaw inserts to hold the H11 bulb. A Dremel with a small grind stone makes quick work of the tab alteration. Remove the rubber gasket to avoid damaging it, but remember to put it back on before installing the bulb! Use the crescent wrench that you set earlier to confirm the width. As usual the picture does not do it justice -- but you can tell that the H11 is quite a bit brighter.

on2

· Banned Joined Nov 22, 2012 · 6,590 Posts Reaction score 66 Location Atlanta, GA You can also perform a similar modification to a HIR bulb if you want to upgrade your high beams and stay with halogen. http://hirheadlights.com/

Graycar

· 2013 Accord V6-6MT Joined Jan 24, 2013 · 2,878 Posts Reaction score 634 Location Dayton, OH Two safety concerns with your increased fog lamp output: 1. When using the fog lamps in normal night driving (e.g., no fog), the increased light in the foreground causes your pupils to constrict, which limits your distance vision. 2. The increased glare from higher output fog lamps (particularly if not properly aimed) adversely impacts oncoming drivers' vision. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/lights/fog_lamps/fog_lamps.html

on2

· Banned Joined Nov 22, 2012 · 6,590 Posts Reaction score 66 Location Atlanta, GA

Graycar said: 2. The increased glare from higher output fog lamps (particularly if not properly aimed) adversely impacts oncoming drivers' vision. Click to expand...

Except for these fog lights (sedan) and others due to optics. Many on here have tried HID kits which of course have light coming from a different point on the bulb/capsule and yet there is no glare. Not to mention the much higher lumen rating. So needless to say, the halogen mod the OP did will not cause glare. The coupe is a different story and will cause glare.

II Kings 9:20

· Registered Joined Sep 21, 2012 · 5,432 Posts Reaction score 449 55W is the same as the low beam. My MDX fog is 51W stock and a huge improvement over the 35W Honda Fogs. Nice mod. My question is was the additional 20W socket warmer than the stock socket? If taking a road trip for 8 hours would it get hot enough to be an issue-some air cooling while in motion would help.

BTNTX

· Registered Joined Dec 31, 2012 · 100 Posts Reaction score 7 Location Houston, Texas

on2 said: You can also perform a similar modification to a HIR bulb if you want to upgrade your high beams and stay with halogen. http://hirheadlights.com/ Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I've been curious about the HIR bulbs for a while. I may try this mod soon.

II Kings 9:20 said: 55W is the same as the low beam. My MDX fog is 51W stock and a huge improvement over the 35W Honda Fogs. Nice mod. My question is was the additional 20W socket warmer than the stock socket? If taking a road trip for 8 hours would it get hot enough to be an issue-some air cooling while in motion would help. Click to expand...

Good question. I don't think there is a way to compare the two once the driver's side fog light is reassembled. As you well know, getting to the lamp on that side is a major operation. However I did compare the wiring to that on our Pilot, which uses H11 fogs. The wire gauge and connections appeared to be identical. I'll keep monitoring the connections and post an update in a few months.

Graycar said: Two safety concerns with your increased fog lamp output: 1. When using the fog lamps in normal night driving (e.g., no fog), the increased light in the foreground causes your pupils to constrict, which limits your distance vision. 2. The increased glare from higher output fog lamps (particularly if not properly aimed) adversely impacts oncoming drivers' vision. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/lights/fog_lamps/fog_lamps.html Click to expand...

The gospel of Daniel Stern. :notworthy Lots of good info there. This mod will not increase the light output to the point of being dangerous or obnoxious. In my opinion it just corrects a bad call by Honda and makes the fog lights more usable. There are also more bulb options for H11 than there are for H8. A

AznSupastar

· Registered Joined Mar 19, 2013 · 53 Posts Reaction score 1 can i ask what is the easiest way to replace ur fog bulb? both from the wheel well? i've serach and read the air box gets in the way from driver side, how u overcome that? thanks

BTNTX

· Registered Joined Dec 31, 2012 · 100 Posts Reaction score 7 Location Houston, Texas

AznSupastar said: can i ask what is the easiest way to replace ur fog bulb? both from the wheel well? i've serach and read the air box gets in the way from driver side, how u overcome that? thanks Click to expand...

It can be a little intimidating the first time you do it. After you learn how the things are put together and held in place it's easy breezy. The passenger side is no problem. There are a couple of plastic pop rivets directly below the fixture on the underside of the bumper that hold a little flap shut. Remove them and just reach up and grab it. The drivers side (where the air box obstruction is) is a little more complicated. I did it exactly as the manual states and loosened the screw that holds the trim piece in place, then removed the assembly. This requires raising the front end a little via ramps or jack stands so you can get under the car to see what you are doing. I've heard of other people partially removing the front clip to get to them. I wasn't comfortable doing that for fear of breaking something. Hope this helps. A

AznSupastar

· Registered Joined Mar 19, 2013 · 53 Posts Reaction score 1 thx i will give that a try. i miss the good old days like my 1990 accord where u don't need a 3 years old's hand to squeeze in to change a light bulb! M

Maddman

· Registered Joined Apr 24, 2013 · 212 Posts Reaction score 5

BTNTX said: I'll keep monitoring the connections and post an update in a few months. Click to expand...

Any updates? I plan to convert the H8 fog lamps to amber H11 lamps on my 13 LX. I am curious to see how things worked out for others before I pull the trigger on this mod.

Watthepho

· Registered Joined May 31, 2013 · 507 Posts Reaction score 2 Location Houston, Tx damn .. i really want to do this now. im trying to put some phillips extreme vision in my fogs. H

hardluk1

· Registered Joined Jun 1, 2013 · 24 Posts Reaction score 0 If you really want to improve what you see in fog dump the white and go to a yellow bulb. The yellow color may drive the people in front of you crazy as they can be seen in day light at a very long distance but they light the road better than any white light with out all the glare you get from a white light bulb. I have run a set of piaa h8 plasma ion yellow in some add-on fog lights for years on my motorcycle. can't be beet when you turn a corner and run into fog. Not cheap but work well and get your 70 watts output rateing from a h8.

BTNTX

· Registered Joined Dec 31, 2012 · 100 Posts Reaction score 7 Location Houston, Texas

Maddman said: Any updates? I plan to convert the H8 fog lamps to amber H11 lamps on my 13 LX. I am curious to see how things worked out for others before I pull the trigger on this mod. Click to expand...

I have had no issues at all. I put in a set of LEDs for a few days to match the HID low beams. They made the fogs absolutely useless. I switched back to the H11s and with will be ordering a set of yellow PIAAs soon.

Watthepho

· Registered Joined May 31, 2013 · 507 Posts Reaction score 2 Location Houston, Tx i hear PIAAs were a POS though :/ i thought about going this route as well with the yellow fogs. but i just ordered my yellow overlays.

BLouIsGod

· 2014 CBP CR2 6MT Joined Dec 9, 2013 · 135 Posts Reaction score 6 Nice. I have some h11s laying around that I'll swap in. Thank you.

'14BlkGld

· Registered Joined Sep 23, 2022 · 121 Posts Reaction score 26

BTNTX said: I have had no issues at all. I put in a set of LEDs for a few days to match the HID low beams. They made the fogs absolutely useless. I switched back to the H11s and with will be ordering a set of yellow PIAAs soon. Click to expand...

LEDs are only good for highbeams in my opinion. No oncoming traffic and you just need light spewed everywhere, LEDS are good there but I went back to halogen in my 14 coupe. I live in the Sierras and 2800k h8 LEDs with 6000k h11 lows.....they "LED" me to seeing deer on dark dark mountain roads not until the last second causing me to spinout and go off road. Not to mention I felt like everyone coming toward me was cursing me for having glaring, gaudy, God awful LED headlights. I am running PIAA H9 Xtreme White Plus in my lows and PIAA H11 Solar Yellow in my fogs now. The switch to the "correct" halogens is a WAAAAYYYY better upgrade than LEDs! Being able to actually see everything with depth and being able to have preception of that depth! Without everything being washed out because of how the led light scatters and diminishes shadowing. Shadow and shading is a huge part of sight in three dimentiinal imaging (sight). I am PIAA halogen all the way and probably going to get a pair of the PIAA LED for my highbeams because the spew of light around the nice super vision of the XW+ is a perfect combo on the dark mountain roads. This is just my situation and what works best for me out of a tackle box full of other bulbs i have bought and, well, now they sit in a tackle box. PIAA PLASMA ION BULBS!!!! Where can they be found and purchased???? 1 - 16 of 16 Posts Insert Quotes Post Reply

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?
13. ?
14. ?
15. ?
16. ?
17. ?
18. ?
19. ?
20. ?

About this Discussion 15 Replies 10 Participants Last post: '14BlkGld Jan 15, 2024 posts 2.1M members 147K Since 2003 Drive Accord forum, a community where Honda Accord owners can discuss reviews, service, parts, and share mods. Show Less Full Forum Listing Explore Our Forums The 8th Generation The 7th Generation The 9th Generation The 10th Generation Audio, Electronics & Lighting

Our Vendors

View All

• H Hondata, Inc View profile
• Xtryfun (Touch Up Paint Kit) Website

Top Contributors this Month

View All C commodorenut 128 Replies xtryfun 105 Replies mtts60 94 Replies

Recommended Communities

Toyota Nation Forum 724K members The Honda Prologue 2K members Acura Integra Forum 2K members

• Home
• Forums
• Honda Accord Forums
• The 9th Generation
• Audio, Electronics & Lighting