[size=2]Has anyone added OEM driving lights and hanged the bulb and rewired them so that they work in conjunction with the regular lights and not the brights? I thought it would be neat to have them on all the time. 4 lights instead of two. I have 3 questions about doing this:

1. Would it be too bright for street and highway use?
2. How would you do it?
3. How would it look?

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Yes it would be too bright and may get you tickets for improper lights. To on-coming motorists it would look like hi-beams.

 

Well damm! That would be rather unsporting of me. I guess they will just have to look cool during the day.

 

I agree that they are too bright. But... if you aimed them down... might have to be aimed so far down that they would look weird.

At first I was disapointed about them only being on with the brights, but I soon got comfortable with it. Now it seems logical.

And they really do look great during the day. When I see a MCS without them it looks unfinished!

Dogspeed.

 

But they don't have to be on with the lows...you can wire them that way, but only use them when you feel like it.

 

Trust even having somebody behind you during the day turning on their driving lights isn't very comfortable...

 

yes, it is possible to wire the driving lights so that they work whenever you turn them on regardless of high or low beams. pm me if you would like an explanation of how to wire them. :smile:

 

If you wanted lights on with the low beams, why did you get the OEM units? You could just as easily, and probably cheaper, gotten some fog or cornering lights which would work with your low beams, be legal, and actually function.

 

Also keep in mind, the MINI driving lights are illegal to use on public roads in all 50 states anyway.... they are for "off-road use only" - I actually called the DOT in Washington DC about this when I had my second set installed. If memory serves me, the lady on the phone said you were only allowed to have 4 lights on the front of a car on at any given time - So highbeams plus low beams hits the max right there, unless of course the low-beams go off when the high beams come on - which I don't remember if they do on the MINI or not. The dealership initially refused to do the install, I had to promise not to try and put responsibility on them for installing them if I ever got into trouble with them.

Having said that, as long as you use them like you would normal highbeams you should be fine. The only problem I have ever had was while running them at night just on the outskirts of BFE somewhere in Louisiana - between Baton Rouge and Natchez, MS. Local PD pulled me over and gave me a warning, telling me to be especially careful in MS and to conisder not only leaving them off but putting the covers on them.

I keep mine activated at all times regardless, you never know when you will need them at night and during the day they are great for getting people's attention by flashing your lights.

 

[QUOTE=Normalizer]Also keep in mind, the MINI driving lights are illegal to use on public roads in all 50 states anyway.... they are for "off-road use only" - I actually called the DOT in Washington DC about this when I had my second set installed. If memory serves me, the lady on the phone said you were only allowed to have 4 lights on the front of a car on at any given time - So highbeams plus low beams hits the max right there, unless of course the low-beams go off when the high beams come on - which I don't remember if they do on the MINI or not. The dealership initially refused to do the install, I had to promise not to try and put responsibility on them for installing them if I ever got into trouble with them.

This statement is not true in California. California vehicle code 24405 states that you may not have more than 4 lights facing forward (each pair of lamps is considered one lamp) to include headlamps, driving lamp, spot lamps etc.

driving lamps are to be used in conjunction with high beams (why our lamps are connected to high beam) and cannot be used with low beams. So our lights are classified as driving lights and do not need to be covered.

 

I was thinking that MINI blurred that line with the combination lights. True you can argue either side, but I think it's generally safe with them on as highs anyways because nobody should really see them as you ought to turn them off when there are cars in front of you, and with those I reccomend you give the oncoming cars even more distance as they can be a bit bright.

Besides it can be argued that the new '05 Xenon lights are like 10 points of light no?