EddyM

You should always use a separately fused and relayed circuit to power driving lights. There are two reasons: 1) The switch and fuse on your headlight circuit probably aren't beefy enough to handle the extra amps (two 55-watt bulbs = a bit over 9 amps in a 12-volt circuit), so you'd likely blow fuses or a regular basis or melt your switch. Triggering a relay adds only a miniscule amount of extra power draw to the headlight circuit; 2) QI bulbs work best and last longest when they run at full voltage - wiring them through a relay makes sure they get full voltage all the time.

I can't see the lenses well enough to know if they're fog or driving lights. You see a lot of lights mounted like yours on '02s because, in most cases, they are driving lights. When the cars were sold new in this country, they came with sealed-beam headlights that were not all that great - but it was federal regulation. Some people purchased after-market Hella, Cibie, Marchal, or Carello H-4 headlights and swapped them out; others simply added a pair of driving lights. Fog and driving lights ARE NOT interchangeable - fog lights have a very wide beam, not much penetration (distance), are usually mounted below bumper level to get the beam under as much of the fog as possible, and in modern vehicles are generally wired so that they are turned off when you hit your high beam lights. When properly mounted and aimed, fog lights rarely annoy on-coming traffic. Driving lights, on the other hand, generally have a beam that's much narrower and either round or oval (though Marchal used to have one that was bowtie shaped - wasn't worth a damn imho), provide greater penetration than all low beams and most high beams, are usually mounted above the bumper and close to headlight level, and on my MINI they're wired so they can be turned on only when the high beam lights are on. When properly mounted and aimed, driving lights will totally blind on-coming traffic on an undivided highway - and often will do so on the Interstate as well. Here's a link to a web page that illustrates the difference between fog, driving, and spot beams - in this case for the legendary Cibie Super Oscar. http://www.talbotco.com/cibie_aux_lighting.htm Notice that the fog beam has 45-meter spread and only 50-meter penetration, while the driving beam has 28-meter spread and 370-meter penetration. Also, notice that the widest part of the fog beam is very close to the front of the car, while the widest part of the driving beam is some distance from the front of the car. If, indeed, you have fog lights (the beam will tell you), and you intend to use them as such, they should be hung under the bumper. Some lights are not intended for inverted mounting (I don't know why, but I've seen caveats about not mounting in a suspended manner), so you may or may not create some kind of problem by hanging them under the bumper. They don't turn off with the high/low switch because they aren't wired to do so - whether you elect to change that or not is up to you. If they're really driving lights (again, the beam will tell you), you can leave them where they are and again, whether you wire them to come on only when you've selected high beam is up to you. No matter how they are wired, though, I suggest you make sure they are running through a relay.

Fog lights aren't intended to provide the distance penetration that even your low beams provide. They're intended to be mounted low and aimed low so they get under the fog and reduce backscatter, which is what makes you pretty much blind in fog. The beam is very wide (75 to 90 degrees or even more) and very narrow top to bottom - projected on a wall it looks like a thin horizontal bar of light. If the fog is thick enough you can't really see very well with your low beams, then it's time to turn on your fog lights instead - and back off the speed as well. In terms of aiming, I'm not sure just where the beam should be when projected on a wall or garage door, but maybe a good starting point would be to have the top of the beam about halfway between the top of your low beams and the ground when the car is 20 - 25 feet from the wall. If you encounter fog, use them, and if you feel they're too high or too low, you can make appropriate adjustments. If properly aimed, fog lights shouldn't create a problem for on-coming traffic. What I all too commonly see, however, is an SUV with fog lights integrated in the bumper (which sits pretty high off the road relative to an '02 bumper or the '02 driver's eyes) running the fog lights on a perfectly clear night. I don't know if people think this is cool or are just ignorant of the real purpose of fog lights, but many are either poorly aimed (too high) or mounted way too high (on an SUV it's likely for lack of lower mounting points) and the darned things glare like the devil. Hope this helps.