Are there any DRL options that are not angel eyes/halo styled?

[scubastove]

I'm always driving with my car's headlights on and use them as DRL's. I was never really a fan of the angel eyes setups for e46's, especially having to tie into the main headlight wiring. I was wondering if there were any aftermarket options out there that aren't angel eyes styled?

[liam821]

You can code the center set of lights (not the xenons) to be on all the time. Generally, they're only used to flash people but can be programmed to be on all the time. They still function to flash people with this programming.

[heinzboehmer]

Yeah what Liam said. Looks like this:




(The dimmed turn signals can also be enabled or disabled with the DRLs)

[M3_CJ]

I like that idea, do we just go to any BMW dealership to get this coded in (for a price of course)?

[old///MFanatic]

I'm not sure if the above are talking about the same thing. But a factory setting for DRL in the US was to light up the center two lamps. It did this when key on, and no corner marker or others lights are on. BMW I read in articles picked the best spectrum color to be seen in the daylight. To do this they ran the bulb about 1/2 power to achieve it.
Now the above photo looks pretty bright, and has the corner lights on. So not sure if that's the usa DRL on.

Another option is to hook up "city lights". These are a small (5w?) bulb and socket that light up the headlamp reflector. It's a euro spec thing and the lamp has the hole for it already.

[Speed Monkey]

I'm not sure if the above are talking about the same thing. But a factory setting for DRL in the US was to light up the center two lamps. It did this when key on, and no corner marker or others lights are on. BMW I read in articles picked the best spectrum color to be seen in the daylight. To do this they ran the bulb about 1/2 power to achieve it.
Now the above photo looks pretty bright, and has the corner lights on. So not sure if that's the usa DRL on.

Another option is to hook up "city lights". These are a small (5w?) bulb and socket that light up the headlamp reflector. It's a euro spec thing and the lamp has the hole for it already.

For anyone interested in retrofitting the Euro city light set up, the following website by “Bimmer Brothers” provides a step by step procedure for accomplishing this. I saved this from a dated thread from the old M3F site.😁

http://www.bimmerbrothers.com/e46-m3-city-light-retrofit/

Here is a screen shot:

[heinzboehmer]

I'm not sure if the above are talking about the same thing. But a factory setting for DRL in the US was to light up the center two lamps. It did this when key on, and no corner marker or others lights are on. BMW I read in articles picked the best spectrum color to be seen in the daylight. To do this they ran the bulb about 1/2 power to achieve it.
Now the above photo looks pretty bright, and has the corner lights on. So not sure if that's the usa DRL on.

It's probably just the picture. I've coded both dimmed high beams and dimmed turn signals to act as daytime running lights. So yes those are the factory DRLs (minus thr turn signals of course).

I like that idea, do we just go to any BMW dealership to get this coded in (for a price of course)?

BMW dealer is an option, but they'll probably charge you the minimum labor rate. You could also get NCSExpert running on a laptop and do it yourself. There's a bunch of tutorials online about how to do this, including one in the coding section of this forum.