Coding E46 Cornering Lights

[Overboost]

Just curious if anyone has attempted a cornering lights on an E46. I think I would like to play with this feature and see if it can be done. The video link below shows success but he did have adaptive lights. He doesn't share any other info on coding or wiring but I think I like it. Terra?

https://youtu.be/JgA-quC0Eng

[az3579]

A bit of a rant about cornering lights:

I honestly never understood the point of cornering lights on the newer BMWs. They don't light up any better than headlights do at night and during the day, you can't see any of the light they output anyway. All they do is make it look like the car has a bulb out when you are turning. Totally useless 'feature', IMO.


P.S. - not to be confused with Adaptive headlights, which are awesome.

[derbo]

Sounds like you need to build a module to activate the fogs like that.

[Overboost]

A bit of a rant about cornering lights:

I honestly never understood the point of cornering lights on the newer BMWs. They don't light up any better than headlights do at night and during the day, you can't see any of the light they output anyway. All they do is make it look like the car has a bulb out when you are turning. Totally useless 'feature', IMO.


P.S. - not to be confused with Adaptive headlights, which are awesome.

Yeah, I agree that daylight operation is useless but there is a bit more light in the dark but I usually have my fogs on anyway. It is just one of those things that I want to try to learn if it's possible.

[terraphantm]

Just curious if anyone has attempted a cornering lights on an E46. I think I would like to play with this feature and see if it can be done. The video link below shows success but he did have adaptive lights. He doesn't share any other info on coding or wiring but I think I like it. Terra?

https://youtu.be/JgA-quC0Eng

Well if he's activating fog lights individually, there's definitely some wiring involved since normally on E46s both foglights are wired in parallel and activated by a single relay. And based on his little light show at the end, I'm guessing he's using a custom module (that maybe he made) rather than using any native module/coding.

I don't think the E46 LCM supports the functionality. BMW used to sell a cornering light retrofit kit which included a set of headlamps that had another set of bulbs on the inside corners. Seems like it came with a relay along with a bunch of wiring (so I'm guessing it isn't as sophisticated as what the newer cars do based on there being no microprocessor controlled stuff). I've never actually seen anyone install it, and I think it's NLA. Also not sure if they ever made a xenon version.

[Overboost]

Well if he's activating fog lights individually, there's definitely some wiring involved since normally on E46s both foglights are wired in parallel and activated by a single relay. And based on his little light show at the end, I'm guessing he's using a custom module (that maybe he made) rather than using any native module/coding.

I don't think the E46 LCM supports the functionality. BMW used to sell a cornering light retrofit kit which included a set of headlamps that had another set of bulbs on the inside corners. Seems like it came with a relay along with a bunch of wiring (so I'm guessing it isn't as sophisticated as what the newer cars do based on there being no microprocessor controlled stuff). I've never actually seen anyone install it, and I think it's NLA. Also not sure if they ever made a xenon version.

Thank you Terra, there's my answer. I spent some time in my LSZ trace file and found no reference to anything close to fogs as cornering lights but I knew I could find out the real story by posting here. It is just not an option.

[Overboost]

I was able to make it work on my 2004 X5 using the Modlight2 module. But it is triggered on turn signal activation, not steering input. Stays on for a few seconds after turn signal is cancelled. (disregard the door beeping from my E46, smdh...)