Some new pics whilst out for a drive!

That colour looks pretty fab on a clean example like yours. Interior great too.

You should do the 21w mod to the Parking Lights though, makes them less yellow and weak and more white and bright (and useful as DRLs).

Zitat von violetduck;69081

I did think about that, however im always a bit worried about tinkering electrically with it. There are threads about aren't there on how to do it?

Not that I saw, its just mentioned in a few threads.
Just take out the bulb socket for the Parking lights and look behind it, there are 2 connectors, one of them connected already (5w) and the other just sitting there (which goes to the 21w filament). If your car has a push on type fitting for the 5w spade type connector used then just move it to the other connector, if not get a female spade connector (from like Maplin or Halfords or something) and Crimper and crimp a new spade and piece of wire, then cut the wire going to the old 5w connector and put it onto the 21w connector. Its just a "dumb" 12v power line so its merely a matter of powering it the 21w connector.. I covered the connectors with a sealant afterwards (once I tested it was ok) to prevent moisture getting in.
I got no OBC errors and looks so much better, while also being useful as a DRL (I always like to have some lights on, but on the 8 that would mean popups or puny 5w without this mod).

Note, on my car the back of the bulb sockets were covered in old glue to insulate them, so I had to pick away at the 21w connector, I left the 5w covered and just cut the wire further back as above.

DRLs

Any help to you?
http://www.8er.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8294

I started out with the idea of using LED's....nope, not a good idea (see thread).

Do what Matt suggests as I did in the end, just swap over the wires!

Result - excellent and BRIGHT too.

No MOT probs either (not that there should be).

Good luck

The BMW engineers actually put this bulb in by design in order to meet the legal requirements wrt daytime running lights that already existed in some northern countries during the Nineties.
The E31 had a so called "Northland option" on the order sheets where a different light switch, a few relais and a slightly altered wiring loom was used.
Martin & Christoph designed a kit that makes use of this switch and has a proper electronics box attached which allows for a fully legal (of course 21W parking lights are illegal here :D) use of the 21W filament and without impairing the function of the original 5W parking light.
A bit of tinkering in the car (1 addtnl. wire in the FTP lights, 1 addtnl wire in the cabin going to the new switch) is required - maybe a little more so in RHD cars since the switch there is in a pretty remote location

Read some details here.

It does cost a pretty penny (at least a lot more than the solution posted above) but it is safe and well thought out and works according to road safety rules.

Cheers
Reinhard

EU rules say: DRL must be lit in front only and NOT in the back. Parking lights must be lit in front and back. The kit mentioned above takes care of all this.

Zitat von reinhard;69238

The BMW engineers actually put this bulb in by design in order to meet the legal requirements wrt daytime running lights that already existed in some northern countries during the Nineties.
The E31 had a so called "Northland option" on the order sheets where a different light switch, a few relais and a slightly altered wiring loom was used.
Martin & Christoph designed a kit that makes use of this switch and has a proper electronics box attached which allows for a fully legal (of course 21W parking lights are illegal here :D) use of the 21W filament and without impairing the function of the original 5W parking light.
A bit of tinkering in the car (1 addtnl. wire in the FTP lights, 1 addtnl wire in the cabin going to the new switch) is required - maybe a little more so in RHD cars since the switch there is in a pretty remote location

Read some details here.

It does cost a pretty penny (at least a lot more than the solution posted above) but it is safe and well thought out and works according to road safety rules.

Cheers
Reinhard

EU rules say: DRL must be lit in front only and NOT in the back. Parking lights must be lit in front and back. The kit mentioned above takes care of all this.

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Just to add to Reinhard's comments, I am currently finishing a translation of the Installation Handbook that accompanies the DRL module/modification, should be finished shortly.
Cheers

Zitat von reinhard;69238

EU rules say: DRL must be lit in front only and NOT in the back. Parking lights must be lit in front and back. The kit mentioned above takes care of all this.

How bizarre.... I wonder if the EU commissioned some research (at a cost of several million euro) that revealed how driving with tail lights switched on during the day has the potential under certain circumstances to increase the accident rate by 2.364%

They likely did.
I´d also not be overly surprised if someone had calculated that NOT using the tail lights would at least save a couple billion grand give or take one or the other dimension in petrol and hence carbon dioxide and all the other bad things.
There have been investigations in Austria where DRL was compulsory until Jan 2007 that road safety seemingly decreased because other traffic participants like pedestrians and bicyclists chose to not wear DRL suits and were hence run over.
The facts as I remember them were such that for some reason they had more accidents in 2006 (their 1st or 2nd year with comp. DRL) and spent a good few bucks to find out whether DRL may have been responsible.
The conclusion was that in left turns (bear in mind that we drive on the other side of the road) the eye of the driver spends more time on oncoming traffic than in right turns and hence less time on that side where pedestrians and cyclists linger.
Hence they decided to blame DRL for this but to my knowledge did not evaluate how many pedestrians had been run over in what kind of curve
As a result Austria abolished compulsory DRL, so did Australia.
Within the EU there exist at least as many national DRL rules as there are countries and basically none is the same like the one across the border.
From what I read BMW nowadays uses DRL setups where the tail lights are dimmed - go figure
Cheers
Reinhard