Good morning. I'm fairly new to this forum (however have quickly become addicted to all the great knowledge in here) and was hoping that someone wiser could let me know if there is an answer. I have a 2006 550i (w/xenons) and every time my lights automatically come on, I have to manually push the fog light button to turn the fogs on? I prefer to drive with my fogs on at night to help me see a little better and in my '95 325 they would just come on every time the lights came on.

Also, when it starts raining....I have to manually push the rain sensor to start it sensing! Seems like it kind of defeats the purpose of the rain sensing technology if I have to keep turning it on when it starts raining.
Anyway to get both of these things to stay on all the time?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Uh-oh, here we go again...

Watch out for:

 

These are actually better this way than always on. You wouldnt want your wipers to turn on when passing through a car wash or your fogs to come on even though there is no fog. If you are someone who always drives with their fog lights on then shame on you.
BMW however did change this in one of the CIP in that these features now stay on for a while even after the car is turned off, say at a gas station etc.

 

I was in Miami, Florida two weeks ago, an I'm really happy with the fact that BMW NA didn't activate the rear fog light option.. During the night almost every Audi and some Mercedes I saw, was cruising with their front AND rear foglights on But why??

Front foglights + angeleyes (parking light) is OK in daylight, as DRL, but during night the only right thing to do is to turn off the foglights and only drive with the Xenon lights on.

I remember the old Volvo V70, back in 1997 when it came in Sweden, while we lived there. In that car you could press the front foglight buttom, so they were activated 24-7. 75% of all the V70 owners drove with low beams + front foglights ON all the time... In the new Volvo V70 they changed that mistake

 

Oh man, don't get me started...

When I get behind one of those Audis or M-Bs with their rear fog light on, I feel like I'm going to have an



moment!

 

ok, thanks for the feedback and good points. I never thought about the issue of them coming on in the car wash. As far as the fog lights I have mine pointed down on the road and they just add a lot of peripheral light, which helps becuase I am driving on deer infested back roads in the burbs.

But again thanks for your honest feedback!

 

And can they make the radio stay on full volume every time I start my car as well?

 

Sorry am I missing something in the whole front fog lamps (when there is no fog) story/debate? I can understand the rear fog lights are incredibly annoying as they are quite bright (almost as bright as the brake lights), but are the front fog lights that big of a deal?

It seems that they're quite a bit dimmer than xenons (on US) models, don't point upwards (again can only speak for US models) and do aid with peripheral lighting, especially in rural/poorly lit areas.

What is the negative impact of having them on?

Thanks.

 

negative impact is it distract drivers behind you. Its like if I drove a truck and I was behind you with my high beams pointed directly at your car.

 

Take a look at the following to see why this issue is such a controversial one:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=2770
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=45904