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Cabriolet rear foglight rewire

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Hi,
 I've got a 1993 golf mk1 cabriolet, and want to know if its possible to re-wire the bolt on rear foglight and put it inside one of the rear light clusters. There's 2 reverse lights, and I'm thinking I could use one as a rear foglight.

Cheers
Ross

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Cabriolet rear foglight rewire

It can be done as I looked into this. I did find a how to online somewhere


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The rear light cluster uses a common ground, the Central Panel that the Bulbs rest on.

They have different wires going to the center of the bulbs….

It you be very easy to move one bulb out, and replace it with the fog. It would also be easy to move the wires from low to the Backup light.

The issues that I see is the brightness of the fog bulb may exceed the temp specs of the plastic on the lens assembly. When this happens the lens gets really warm and usually cracks.

Picture of the back side of the ground plate.  The yellow square is the Ground pins, you can see the single attachment point for the bulbs power wires.



You would want to use a RED colored Bulb, as white lights in someones face isn't a good idea.

Typical wiring of the rear lights…. since the left is tied to the right the right side would be easiest to remove and have functionality of the rear backup light….



Personally I don't see much difference between a backup light being turned in to a Fog light, as the rear tail lights anyways….  Actually more of a distraction as the person coming up on your rear may think your braking since the fog light has now been turned in to a "running" light area, then as stated the increase in the temperature of the hot bulb and the lens, you may get a unwanted crack, or an unwanted distorted lens assembly that leaks. IMHO.

My wife drove my 81 Golf Diesel to see her mother, my brother in-law replaced a burned out brake light,,,, Wrong bulb type and by the time the wife drove the 350 miles home, I had a warped cracked lens.

 

What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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Thank you for the replys. I appreicate the advise Brian01234, and also the thinking that the fog light would be higher up. I might try and source one the rear fog lights that fits flush on the rear bumper, as mine came with a proper bolt-on and looks awful.

Cheers
Ross

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Or see if you can get a USA spec boot lid as they have a 3rd brake light at the top.

"Making Cabbies More Beautiful One Roof at a Time" 

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chortle said

Or see if you can get a USA spec boot lid as they have a 3rd brake light at the top.


I suspect you could use that……. But I can remember finding a 84 Cabriolet in the "Yard" and I took the plain trunk lid to do away with that 3rd light.  :)


What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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The golf is from America, and has the 3rd brake light. But I think that would be too high up for a fog light and would confuse people. Would an LED bulb in the light cluster reduce the heat generate, and minimise the risk of cracking the cluster ?

Thanks Ross

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YES, But some LEDS put out quite a lot of heat, you have to test it to be sure.

The higher the light is counter productive to fog.
The reason why VW placed it low is that on ground fog the movement of the car swirls the fog away close to the ground.  It is a warning lamp for others and the low position is to discount it from being a Brake/ Stop/ running light.

Shoot I had a lady rear end me on a Rainy Night.  Her excuse, and she told the Cop this, "I thought he was going to run the yellow…"  The Cop just looked like he had been hit in the head with a Stupid Stick…..

So it really doesn't matter what kind of lights that you have hanging off the rear, an ID-10-T driver don't care, and they are too busy chatting on their smart phone,  they get to meet you by Accident.

What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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I did this on my mk1 cab, really easy find the grey/white wire that used to go to the fog, and pop it on the driver side rear lamp where the black wire used to be, done.

dont worry about the height of it, most if not all modern VW have the fog lights in the rear lamp clusters now. mk2 golf for example, and also the later mk1 golf with the larger rear lamps ;)

the hardest part of the job is finding a red bulb which is bright enough, it doesnt seem to be a common fit (or wasnt waaaaay back when I had my cab)

you could paint the lens red or find a post-golf/swallowtail cluster these have red lenses instead of clear reverse lens

Hello my name is John and I'm a dub addict.



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