own a 2008 S/F gls awd w/o factory fog lights have checked hmaservice site unable to find what i need to remove to access fog light openings. hmaservice site shows how the fog lights are mounted with 4 screws. When i checked behind the bumper there is a plastic part blocking access to fog light area.
If anyone has installed fog lights and is interested in passing some how to info. to a newbie S/F owner much appreciated.

I've fitted fog lights. You need to remove the inner guard liner to access the fog lights. Actually, I got away with not completely removing the liner, just the front plastic pins and then peeled it back to access the 4 scres in question

Bob

Did you ever get this figured out for an '08?

I just replaced my 05 Santy GLS with a new 09 Santy limited. I wanted to use my fog lamps as DRL on the 05 but never did.
But I did it on my 09 after reading this topic. It works just like you guys said it would, grounding the org/brn wire. They can be turned off & on as long as the key is in.

Except now my head lights are on all the time, like they are DRL. They go off if the key is removed or I turn on the high beam switch but the high beams don't turn on. The tail & dash lights are off unless I turn the headlight switch to on or it is dark so the light sensor turns them on.

This is not really a problem as I could use the head lamps instead of the fog lamps for DRL. I checked the wire I grounded to make sure it was the org/brn wire, not the org/blk wire next to it. I may check that again. When I remove the ground wire, the lights operate as before the mod.

My question is why is this happening as no one else said anything about it. Something to do with the auto light sensor?

I can live with it. Just thought I could use the fog lamps as we very seldom have fog or need them.

Bruce

ps: this is an early 09, purchased in the US.

I am just finishing up a 6000 km road trip - first trip out since I made the mod. I too noticed that with my headlights switched too off and my hi/lo selector in the low beam position, my low beams are on. If I flick the hi/lo selector to high beams, the lows turn off and my DRLs come on as normal. The fogs act as a toggle and work independently of anything else - just as you described. Not an issue for me either but it would be for me if the high beams didnt function as you described. i suspect the difference is the Canada/US wiring.

On a side note, after driving thousands of kms in the dark, I am now convinced the Santa Fe stock high beams are the worst of any vehicle i have driven. Useless comes to mind and thats not an exaggeration. Drove 6 hours one night with them left on and less than a dozen people flashed me. Fogs are little better.

It's 3am and we just got home from a party. I drove the new Santy. I had a person flash his lights at me JUST after I was remarking how dim the lights were to my husband who agreed. This might be my first project. Bad night time visibility IMO.

Sylvania Ultras in the uppers and lowers, solved the crappy Santa Fe lighting for me. I live in a very rural area, so need good lighting.

David <<

This post has been edited by david-paul-1: Sep 13 2009, 03:53 PM

I heard about sylvania silverstar also. I might look into hids. Xenon? I think I'd leave the brights alone.

You may wish to look into "Philips X-tremePower" Headlight bulbs instead? Here

And / Or read my write up on my Tucson over in the Tucson forum as I have fallen in love with them (used to use Silverstar Ultra bulbs) Here

HTH

I really cannot figure out why these lights are so bad. My speculation is the aiming. The reflector dish for the high beams are average or better than as far as size is concerned (it's accepted that the bigger the better). Yet, except in circumstances where there is zero outside light sources, I can barely tell when I throw my highs on. I think this is also due to the fact that the low beams do not go off when the highs are turned on so there is no a big contrast so it's harder to notice. But my opinion that the lights are poor is based solely on how hard it is to see things far away.

Ironically, I've driven past a few oncoming Santa Fe'ers that were a little slow to drop their high beams and although at one point the lights seemed average to any other vehicle, it was only if I was in a left hand curve with their lights pointed right at me. As soon as it's off axis it seems not be so bright.
Again, I think the beams are aimed on a converging angle instead of parallel or diverging. Have you ever noticed how street signs are almost blinding sometimes (like in a curve)? The high beams also seem to be aimed to close to the lows, elevation wise.

I am definately ordering some HIDs. I cannot continue with these unacceptable OEMs.

As far as Silverstars and Xtreme bulbs go...do not buy these! My remark about no one flashing me is based on Philips Extreme lights that are installed in my vehicle.

I have purchased all three brands/versions of high intensity bulbs and compared them to factory both for highs and lows. I compared them inside a building on a wall at 30 feet and in real night time conditions, (the bulbs are so quick and easy to change it doesn't take long to accomplish this).
The Philips bulbs are BARELY noticeabley brighter, and this is only on the high beams (where the glass isn't frosted). However, they appear SLIGHTLY more focused with less throw so the overall light may be the same. With the Silverstars (we tried two kinds), neither myself nor a friend could see a difference. We thought the skeptic in us might be influencing our judgement so we actually mixed up a half dozen bulbs in a bag so we couldn't tell what we were looking at. In the end, the OEMs actually got highest rating ( I sound like a Consumer Reports article now-sheesh ) except for on one trial when the Philips were in the high beams. But, after only a week, the glass bulbs on the Philips have turned milky. So much for any benefit. Fortunately, the hardware store here took back all the bulbs I bought. I'd have sent the Philips back to but I bought them on-line from a UK store.

In a nutshell, the only difference you will notice in aftermarket bulbs is a placebo one. And I do not consider that a humble opinion. Anyone who does own a set of Silverstars, I defy you to go out and change one side to an OEM and ask a spouse which one is brighter.

Many people screw up and thiink the Sylvania Silver Stars are the same as the Ultras. Too bad for them.

I have had Silver Stars on just about every one of my vehicles the past few years and truly appreciated the longevity of these bulbs. But.........when the new Ultras were introduced not too long ago, I thought I would give them a go. Wow, what a difference.

These bulbs, for the price, are fantastic. They may not be quite as bright as the HID lighting systems, but they are close and do not have the typical problems as the HIDs such as taking a while to fully warm up before they are 100% effective, not to mention the huge price difference.

Most of us have our own opinions based on personal experience. This has been mine, based on my personal experience.

One thing for sure, the benefit of having so many people on this site trying different mods and giving us a lot of ideas, makes for some very interesting reading.

David <><

This post has been edited by david-paul-1: Sep 13 2009, 11:48 PM

Yes, the Ultras were the third kind I was referring to (the name escaped me earlier). One of the two Sylvanias appeared to throw to the sides a bit more than OEMs, but again it's one of those things you wouldn't have noticed (I wouldn't have noticed) unless someone pointed it out to me. I think this is advertised on the package too. I doubt I would have kept with the Silverstars either had I noticed a difference due to all the people on-line that have stated they burn out so quickly; that isn't just opinion.

But interesting reading aside, go reinstall one of your OEMs and see if you can have someone point out to you which one it is or see the difference yourself when driving. When I first put in the Silverstars, I was impressed - I think I even posted that somewhere in these forums. Then I took back that statement when I the Phillips arrived in the mail and I tried comparing them to the two Sylvanias. When I didn't see a difference there, i compared them to OEM and then realized I got suckered.

Thought you'd be interested in an update:

I threw in a pair of 894s tonight. Thanks to you, I still have a lens to put it in seeing as I accidentally place 50W in there when I thought they were 37.5W.

Anyway, I still wasn't happy with my fog lights. My complaint? Too bright and too low immediately in front and too dim and too low to the sides.
Well, the 894s cures all these problems. Basically, they are just a 37.5 W bulb without the frosting on the tip. I immediately noticed the bulb threw the light much higher - almost too high requiring adjustment. Why this is I don't know but it certainly solved the light being too low problem ( I had my fogs adjusted as high as they would go and it wasn't enough for my liking).
The other noticeable difference was a lot of light thrown to the sides - and bright too.
I had bough several pairs of aftermarket low profile fogs last time down south in hopes of finding a pair I liked cosmetically and functionally (I need lights that throw to the sides a little to see deer in the treeline). I knew that a pair of fogs would look like overkill but it was a necessity in my book. I recently inquired in this forum on how to run wires into the engine compartment and didn't like the response that it required drilling.
With these new fog light bulbs, I dont think I will need to install aftermarkets after all. I am happy with them.

OKAY, so do i cut the brown and orange wire, splice into the cut part that is connected to the switch and ground it?

Don't cut the wire, just tap into it. the original connection into that plug has to remain.

This happened to me until I cut the wire I spliced into. Pretty much explained as cutting the brown and orange wire (vs splicing into it) and running it to a ground. Now it will work as the MOD states

FOR 2007-2009 USA SANTA FE (CM) MODELS, THE WIRE HAS TO BE CUT. US MODELS DO NOT HAVE THE DRL FEATURE LIKE CANADIAN MODELS SO THE ORIGINAL MOD DESCRIPTION WILL NOT WORK. IF THE WIRE ISNT CUT, THEN HEADLAMPS COME ON AND STAY ON ALL THE TIME. I DID NOTICE IF YOU PUT THE TURN SIGNAL STALK IN THE HI BEAM POSITION W/O THE HEADLIGHTS BEING ON, THEN THE MOD WORKS...BUT THATS NON-SENSE. YOU DONT WANT TO ALWAYS HAVE TO MOVE THE STALK FORWARD TO MAKE FOGS COME ON AS DRL'S.

SO BY CUTTING THE WIRE AFTER SPLICING INTO IT, WHEN I PERFORMED MY MOD YESTERDAY AND EVERYTHING WORKS FINE. HEADLIGHTS WORK. HI BEAMS WORK. FOGLIGHTS WORK USING THE SWITCH AS A TOGGLE. CAN BE ON WITH OR WITHOUT PARKING LIGHTS SWITCH ON AS WELL AS HEADLIGHT SWITCH ON. CAN ALSO WORK WITH OR WITHOUT HI BEAMS. BEST OF ALL, ITS ALL STILL IGNITION CONTROLLED. LIGHTS GO OFF WITH IGNITION.

(IMG:http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/5787/fogs.th.jpg)



This post has been edited by Jeff M: Nov 12 2009, 01:05 PM

Made the modification yesterday on my 07 ltd santy, splicing and connecting to the ground the orange/brown wire in the foglight switch. I accessed it from the interior fuse panel, not very comfortable but doable ;-)
the foglight switch works as a toggle now. I love it and have no idea why hyundai decided to have it constrained to the low beam.
Thanks to the Forum!

This post has been edited by angelo: Nov 16 2009, 01:04 PM

Can you turn the fogs on while you also have the high beams on? That may be the reason why Hyundai doesn't allow it. Most provinces/states have a law where you can't have more than 4 front mounted lights on at a time when on a public road. In the SF, the lows are still on while the highs are on.

I will check if I can turn on the fogs + high beam. I am pretty sure I can.
Sorry, I do not get it. Why cannot you have 4 front mounted lights in Canada? There must be a good reason but I cannot think of any right now.