Philips Crystal Vision Fog Light Bulb Upgrade

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I've been harping on about how lights make a huge difference to the exterior aesthetics of a car for a number of years now, most recently when upgrading my BMW E92 335i's angel eye day time running lights and number plate lights to LEDs.


It was understandable on the 335i to have to upgrade the bulbs as it's a 2006 model, but my Audi is a 2010 model. So, quite frankly, I was disappointed when I noticed the S5's fog lights were very definitely halogen yellow, a stark contrast to the ice white of the xenon projectors and the DRLs. You can't even use the reasoning of the fog lights not being used very often, as they are illuminated as part of the Coming Home light function, which during the winter, is triggered every time I get out of the car.

Much the same story as every other time I've set out to buy some bulbs, there are a multitude of options to chose from of varying prices. I sharn't labour the point, other than saying it's a mine field.

For the B8 pre facelift S5 Sportback the OEM for the fog light bulbs is Osram, and the bulb type is H11 12V 55W. 

I read a handful of positive reviews for the Philips Crystal Vision bulbs, which claim to emit a bright white light up to 4300K and last for up to 400 hours. Taking the plunge I picked up a set of 2 bulbs. A fair whack for a couple of bulbs, compared to what I'd paid in the past, but they had all blown within the month. Buy cheap buy twice...

If you want to pick up a set, you can buy them from Amazon here*.

It's at this point a lot of people will ask, why didn't you get LEDs?! It's a fair point, as they would much more closely match the 6000K colour of the xenons. Here's why I didn't.

Fog lights are functional, used in dangerous conditions, compromising their functionality was not an option for me, it's fine for number plate lights or side lights etc. but not safety critical illumination. The light collectors / reflectors in a halogen bulb light are designed specifically for halogen bulbs, simply placing LED bulbs in the same reflector does not give the same functional light output.

Enough waffle, moving swiftly on to fitting. There are three ways you can replace the fog light bulbs, by pulling back the wheel arch liner, removing the front under tray and by removing the front grille. I chose the latter method.

Using a plastic trim removal tool, starting at the inboard side I gradually worked around the grille releasing the clipping features and finally sliding the grille away from the bumper. I've shown the reverse of the grille so you can see where all the clips and location tabs are.

As you might expect, the bumper surface behind the grille was pretty dirty, so whilst the grille was off I took the opportunity to clean the surface and apply a couple of layers of Dodo Juice Purple Haze wax.

To actually replace the bulb, you need to unscrew the fog light unit to get access to the bulb holder. It's held in place with 2x T25 Torx head screws.

The bulbs were a like for like swap, no messing around with securing ballasts or heat sinks not clearing the bulb aperture. Here's a comparison of new with old, clearly the biggest difference being the blue coating of the Philips bulbs.

I only changed one bulb at first so I can see for myself the difference side by side of old vs new.

Osram (OEM) left vs Philips Crystal Vision right

Happily, I was pleasantly surprised with how close a match the bulbs are to the xenons, not 100% but easily 90% there. The bulbs appear to be very high quality and haven't faltered yet after 4 months of use. I'd definitely recommend them to anyone looking to upgrade their Audi's fog light bulbs and wouldn't hesitate to order them again should they reach their 400 hour life expectancy.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, have you tried other bulbs you think are a better match? Are there any you've tried that you would definitely say to avoid?

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