obsidian05e55

So after roughly two months. My Lamin-X fog film is burning. I started noticing it one night when smoke was coming up off the lights. I maybe drive 1 hour a night with fogs on. Here is the driver side, i already peeled off the pass side which was severly burnt. Bulbs are Phiilips Crystal Visions. Same watts as OEM.

bhamg

It must get hot in the C63 foglight housing. The blue coating on some Hoen Xenonmatch bulbs I was using peeled off due to heat issues, and that as a result only of the OE turn illumination feature...I've never had the fogs on continuously, ever. The same bulbs in my similarly-sized M5 fogs have lasted for years, and I frequently use them as driving lights for several hours on late-night highway trips. Go figure...

Mort

Do you think the CV run hotter than the stock bulbs? I have the DV. Do you suppose they run even hotter? Not sure if they do or if the same thing would happen with the stock bulbs. Is it possible that the blue tint on the bulb holds in more heat and allows higher temps to be reached. They are all rated at the same wattage and the blue tint would seem to be the only differing factor in the bulbs.

The Lamin-x seems to be a good idea to help reduce the lens cracking from stone damage but seems to have other limitations in the fog light application. Seems too bad.

aznkuja328

hid will run cooler

obsidian05e55

I dont know if they run hotter than the OEM, as i installed the bulbs same time as the film. The Blue coating is still intact, no peeling. I have an extra set of film, im going to install again. Dont want to have chipped, or even cracked fogs.

As far as HID's, I dont know how much cooler they will run in such a small housing.

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

This has me worried as I just had my fogs lamin-x'd.

obsidian05e55

Sky, you have the OEM bulbs? Maybe it won't happen. Wish i had the pic of the other side. It was completely burnt, almost melted.

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I have OEM bulbs, sticking with those. I just had the entire front end of my car Ventureshield'ed and Lamin-X'd and the Lamin/X is the only part that I can't pick out issues with. Not entirely happy with the Ventureshield as some of the cuts look a tad sloppy.

bhamg

I'm Lamin-X'd also on the fogs...seems to be the common denominator. My guess is that the LX material interferes with the normal heat transfer from the glass lens.

VividRacing

That's the installers fault, unfortunately.

As for the lights getting hot... I'm thinking it has something to do with the bulbs being so close to the lens. The overall size of the housing is of course contributing.

aznkuja328

philips cv has a blue tint and it uses 55w. that means the quartz glass surface on the bulb can hold up some heat. with the size of the fog bulb housing (less light being reflected on the road, thus more heat energy being built up inside the light housing), theoretically cv can get very hot with 55w, especially the blue tint, and the lamin-x might work as a barrier.

on the other hand, hid runs from 35w, it consumes less energy and dispense more usable light energy. heat is a lot less, especially the igniter is outside of the bulb, and there's no tungsten filament to generate heat.

MNL ICE

My fogs are always on at night but my lamin-x are still good like brand new and I have an after-market HIDs I guess the CV runs hotter

obsidian05e55

What HID kit are you running?

MNL ICE

Sorry no idea ///HMS in Orange County in CA installed it for me.

itsLoonie

Though I do have a C300, the fog lights should be similar. I also have HIDs in my fogs with the clear lamin-x. I run my fog lights whenever I get the chance even in the daytime (I just like the look ). Been running with them for about 3 weeks and so far, I still don't have any burn marks. Running 35W 3000k DDM HIDs if you were wondering.

obsidian05e55

So its safe to assume the Phillips CV run very hot. Going to look into an HID kit now. Other than the heat issue, the bulbs are one of the best I've ever had as far as color, and brightness.

_AMG_

The OEM fog lights get VERY HOT!!
I would switch over to HID's since they don't get hot.