foglights

[jonmatar]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anybody knows how to make it so when you have your foglights on and you switch to the highbeams the foglights stay on..anybody ever done it??? Thanks!

[stupenal]

well i think the reasoning from the factory as to why the foggies are off when the high beams are on is the following - fog lights are used supposedly only when there is heavy fog. And fog lights are effective because they are mounted low and aim light below the fog. If you were to have high beams on during fog - you would be blinded by the reflection of the light aimed directly into the fog. Thus - if you really did need ur high beams, you wouldnt be in a foggy situation thus the fogs go off. This is all speculation of course.....

[Larry F.]

Here in Washington State, there is a legal dimension as well: it is illegal to have more than 4 forward-facing, high-wattage (more than 21w) lamps going at one time on public roads. (Sorry for that run-on sentence!). Off-road, rock-and-roll.

The point being that you don't want to be blinded by a rack of Cibie's coming down the road.

[supertack]

I saw a tech article on how to modify the fog lights to regular headlight brightness. The idea behind this was that you could just leave your parking lights on (showing off angel eyes if applicable), & use the lower mounted fogs as your primary illumination source. Lemme see If i can find that article.

Yah, here we go.
http://www.apexcone.com/JimPowellHomepage/Lighting/H7Fogs/H7Fogs.html

[jonmatar]

Yeah I am in North Carolina and I think it is also illegal to have more than 4 forword lights...thanks for the article supertrack!

[Larry F.]

At the risk of coming off as a wet blanket, let me point out that headlights, foglights and driving lights have different designs to meet different requirements.

A prime requirement for a headlight is that it not dazzle oncoming drivers. The use of driving lights - intended to be used without oncoming traffic - or fogs converted to look like driving lights, puts other motorists at risk. If you take a look at the design of your stock E36 low beam and high beam reflectors, one of the big differences that will jump out at you is that the bulb is not visible in the low beam assembly - which means that light cannot go directly from the lamp to the eyes of oncoming traffic. This is one of the jobs of the "diffuser" that was removed during the fog mod described.

*I* can see the angel-eyes of a stock installation just fine, thank-you-very-much!

[jonmatar]

Yeah I definatly dont want to pose a risk to other drivers but like i said I live in a fairly rual part of North Carolina so its not really much of an issue especial late at night...probably wont do it though...thanks for your help guys!

[stupenal]

the H7 foglight mod, so I've heard, actually makes foggy driving WORSE. When you remove the diffuser inside the fog lights, the light does not aim towards the ground anymore, it just "scatters" the light all over the place. It gives off the illusion that it is brighter when in reality it just has light going all over. And when in fog.....thats not good! However, since you do live in a rural area, i'd assume that you want as much light as possible so i'd give it a go!

Another thing you can do for brighter lights is the 9005 to 9006 conversion.

http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Upgrade/More_light.htm

I purchased some aftermarket sylvania 9005 bulbs and modified it to fit the 9006 socket. A VERY VERY nice white, bright light which illuminates the road MUCH MUCH better. The 9005 bulbs have 1700 lumens, 9006 have 1000.

Or, just go with HID. Once you go HID, there's no turning back. Its best to purchase european projector headlights, best brands being Hella and ZKW, Depo and DJAuto and Inpro are all inferior but still can do the job. Then all you need are HIDs and you're set. But that runs around $700.

[jonmatar]

Yeah..I was thinking of getting some of those silvania bulbs in lue of the whole foglight thing...thanks stupenal!