[soheil]

Originally Posted by ggalanis

There are very detailed versions of the answer somewhere in the forums that I am too lazy to lookup.

In a nutshell, very simple, it is an extra adjustment to the temperature of the air vent that you typically aim towards your face, relative to the temperature setting that you have set for the climate control zone in question. So if you want your zone to be a certain temp, but would prefer slightly cooler/warmer air to be hitting your face, then set the wheel accordingly in the direction you need. The system will still try to keep the overall zone temp to what you have the system set at, but will be sending slightly cooler/warmer air to your face. Older cars I think (that's what I remember from my previous ones) had one wheel for both driver and passenger sides, newer ones like my 2019 X5 have separate settings for both the driver and front passenger.

So an an example of my particular case, I have my climate control zone set to 21C(about 70F) all year long. When it is -40 outside, the car obviously needs to send pretty warm air to heat the cabin... but once this has settled and reached the 21C temp I have set and we start getting comfortable, I don't like getting hot air sent towards my face as this ends up making me feel too warm. I set the wheel to the blue side and the air vented directly to my face is a few degrees cooler and makes it much more pleasant for me, without having to make my entire side of the cabin less comfortable overall since it will still be around 21C.

Now, if you bought the car new, tell your dealer to send me my cut of the commission your salesman didn't fully earn.

Amazing, thank you so much kind stranger for teaching me something new! Yes, both our bimmers were bought new but no one explained this simple yet crucial function! My salesman said be on look out for a nice check in your mail