Thinking of installing some day time running lights on my coupe, what do you think, has anybody got them on, any photos, which ones to buy.

Just use the side lights, less chavy IMO.

Please dont.

Just don't. Simple.

It's been done before with strips just above the fog/indicator units. Didn't look good.

You could open up the headlights and place in the front of the lights following the curve of the lens, but IMO don't think it will suit a coupe.

Your car, your choice, "BUT" you've asked for advice... Absolutely not As pointed out this looks chavvy on the Coop. I'm certainly not a 100% purist all things Coop, but of late there have been quite a few shall we say ideas not in keeping with the Coops image....

Can someone please tell me the point of the self-titled "Daytime" running lights? (other than their positive effect on the fairy light industry)

This is just annoying:

"European Union Directive 2008/89/EC requires all passenger cars and small delivery vans first type approved on or after 7 February 2011 in the EU to come equipped with daytime running lights.[12] The mandate will extend to trucks and buses in August 2012.[13] "

Especially when:

"The daytime running light was first mandated, and safety benefits first perceived, in Scandinavian countries where it is frequently and persistently dark during daytime hours in winter time. As ambient light levels increase, the potential safety benefit decreases while the DRL intensity required for a safety improvement increases. The safety benefit produced by DRLs in relatively dark Nordic countries is roughly triple the benefit observed in relatively bright Israel and America.[1]"

"A 2008 study by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration analysed the effect of DRLs on frontal and side-on crashes between two vehicles and on vehicle collisions with pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. The analysis determined that DRLs offer no statistically-significant reduction in the frequency or severity of the collisions studied, except for a reduction in light trucks' and vans' involvement in two-vehicle crashes by a statistically-significant 5.7%.[4]"

(But i guess the OP wasn't adding them to his coupe for safety reasons anyway)

adding these to a coupe would be as deeply irritating as those tossers who drive around with their fog lights on when it's not foggy or visually difficult....why???

The side lights would be fine, esp if you fitted some brighter LEDs, and that would avoid the chavdom.

Those safety studies in Nordic countries would have some relevance in the UK, depending where you are - Copenhagen and Malmo are roughly the same latitude as Edinburgh or Glasgow. The Canadian Gov't deemed cars to be safer if using lights (though most cities are between Paris and Florence in terms of latitude, so not so dark).

The mentioned EU directive is for new production vehicles, BUT will extend for ALL motor vehicles passed the 2013 iirc. It´s not only to the darkness, it´s more to the light emitting characteristics: they are more alike the high beam - straight line focused intensive light, So, the do´s and dont´s won´t be very usefull then. I personally like them, if integrated correctly, in the bumper... or in the fog lights, for example. Seen Alfa GT with DLRs put where the turn&fog light, and looked just right, quite oem, any no-pistonhead wouldn´t ever suspect they are diy-ed. If done correctly give more modern look too. There´s no second opinion the led stripes are chavvy, but china never sleeps, so there´re plenty of models to look.

Sell the car mate, she's not for you

Amen to that.

Sadly, unnecessary fog light season is approaching fast

I do tend to drive with headlights on, ( I used to ride motorbikes) and believe that you are less at risk of some idiot pulling out on you. Though to be fair I think i may have over estimated the intelligence of idiots!

well it seems the opinion of every body is a big No, i like to push the boundary's a little. I was actually thinking of integrating the DRLs and glassing them into my zender bumper before having it spayed.

Too right - especially when they're now apparently demanding us to be branded criminals because we've retro-installed HIDS for better night vision and clarity

ive got an insignia with day time lights as did my saab before that

dont know why im telling you all this


shouldnt post whilst bored on the bog i suppose

They came to stay, as happened with the 3rd brake light years ago, first in every 2p grocery store, now oem. So we know what to expect, like it or not...

This thread makes me laugh. Everyone having a go at the OP because what he wants to do will look chavvy.

There's a lot of people who think the Coupe is a chavvy car as it is so let the guy do what he wants.

Day time running lights....brilliant....if you can't see 2 tons of metal heading in your direction, you not going notice afew LEDs ! !

surely in these tough times with the planet 'dying' etc etc blah blah, introducing yet another energy consuming unit onto billions of cars around the globe is not the best move...

..rant over.

So you can get a fine for having your front fog lights on and then they introduce a law that effectively forces all new cars to have permanent front fogs? Makes sense

I don't have a problem with people having their front fogs on; it's the rears that are annoying and bloody dangerous. They dazzle like a bugger, especially in the rain. Never heard of anyone getting a ticket for that though...

I would almost agree here with you, but the fact he has "ASKED" what do fellow forum users think.. merits opinions in my book.

This is absolutely true, but the reason it is not recommended is because if everyone did it, the bikes would become invisible.

So? Why should bikers be more visible than cars? Why are other road users expected to make special arrangements to look out for bikes and to "think bike"? It really annoys me that bikers seem to take no responsibility for their actions. They are at greater risk, true, but that's mostly because bikers statistically do more stupid things on the road than drivers. Even if you consider that they are less protected, well, pedestrians are even less protected, so shouldn't they be the ones with daytime running lights?

Rant over.

Something alight on a gloomy day is more visable, simple fact.

oooo wait until andrewr sees this

Errr because bikers have a much smaller frontal cross section and therefore are harder to see. Because some [cloud9] pulled straight out in front of me and claimed "I didn't see you".
And these statistics that you talk of, where are they? There are idiot bikers, but then again there are idiot car drivers (which might be the case with the COupe that crashed into the hairdressers). . As for responsibility for their actions, I can assure you that when in a car, with safety cells, airbags, ABS etc might lead to "risk compensation factor", on a bike with only helmet, leathers, boots and gloves for protection you tend to take far more "responsibility" in an accident. (Just look a the accident rates for bikers).
I have always thought that if every other road user had to ride a bike for two weeks a year, it would open their eyes.
Not many pedestrians travel at 70MPH though do they? And I believe that in the winter months pedestrians are advised to wear reflective clothing.

As for the argument about if every bike had the lights on they would become invisible.... Are you really serious? So if I crossed the road at dusk and every car had their lights on, I wouldn't see them? I am sorry mate but the human eye is very good at detecting movement and any light moving will automatically register. How often have you seen a movement out of the corner of your eye?

Some tips from IAM http://www.iam.org.uk/driving_tips/moveoverforbikers.html
http://www.iam.org.uk/driving_tips/motoristsandmotorcyclistssharetheroad.html

and this report into motorcycling accidents make for interesting reading Read this

Riding a motorcycle is a choice, you're not forced into taking a method of transport that contains no safety measures.

Either way. I would say if you are looking to make good money reselling your car then don't. If your keeping it and want to have something different then go for it.

It'll be hard to pull off but done well it'll be great.

That does make interesting reading but the statistics seem to support my thoughts: twice as many deaths on rural roads than urban, a third of those are on a bend, 75% in good weather, mostly at the weekend, higher proportion of bike accidents involve the vehicle skidding than in cars, half of all killed riders leave the carriageway, 75% of those killed are on 500cc+ bikes.

To me that all points to people riding for fun, in good weather, on fast bikes and losing control. Barring mechanical failure, in good weather you lose control if you're driving (or riding) beyond your abilities...taking risks.

I will apologise for generalising and I wouldn't judge any individual solely on the fact that they are a biker but it's my personal experience that a higher proportion of bikers do silly things on the road than car users. Maybe I've just been unlucky.

My point was that it would be silly to not increase the visibility of cars purely to maintain the relative visibility of motorbikes (even if I'm not sure I agree with the concept of permanent running lights for either vehicle). It looks like you agree on that.

Sorry for taking the thread off on a tangent; I didn't mean to start a biker debate. Truce?