Properly installing and adjusting fog lights

Updated Oct 30, 2013
Aiming-Fog_Driving-Lights-Illo
Fog light aiming diagram

By Bruce Smith

Installing fog and/or driving lights on your pickup can be a safer supplement to factory lamps that are often more cosmetic than functional.

However, if the lights aren’t properly aimed, you’ll not reap their benefits. 

According to our sister site, ProPickup, fog lights work best mounted in, on or below the bumper – 10 to 24 inches above the road surface – or anywhere below the center of the headlights where their beam can cut just under that of the low-beam headlights.

Fog lights should be positioned approximately 24 inches apart and aimed so the cut-off line of the beams is about the middle of the low-beam headlights’ pattern. The best way to aim the lights is to park the truck on a level surface 25 feet from a wall, ProPickup says. 

Measure the distance between the center of the fog light and the ground. Place a horizontal mark on the wall at that height and adjust the lights so the top of the fog beam pattern is about 4 inches below the lamp center at 25 feet with the lamp facing straight forward. Adjusting driving lights much the same way. But use their “hot spot” as the adjusting guide. The driving light’s hot spot should be adjusted so it’s about 1.5 inches below the light’s centerline mark on the wall.