I have been getting conflicting reports, both here and elsewhere, on whether or not a 2014 Countryman that was delivered without Xenons can get OEM dealer-installed Xenons after the fact.

Is there a final word on that from anyone? I understand it's likely an expensive proposition. I mainly want to know whether or not it can be done while maintaining full warranty and legal compliance.

 

no.

 

If I had to do it again (and I have done this before) I would shop TRS for the stuff I needed.

 

Thanks for this.

 

I think anything is possible ... It's all about the money...

 

I looked into this last year. They have some great kits and you can even DIY it if you have the skill set. I have not done it to my CM yet since I decided I wanted to try it on a 2nd pair of lights. My CM is my daily driver and if I have an oops...I want to be back on the road for work

$300 for the kit + cost of 2nd pair of light (junk yard find would be great) should be under $700. I am quite sure I can get this done once I find the spare headlights which are in my budget. If you find some for sale and don't want them please drop me a PM.

Good luck and post a DIY if you do this mod. I'll be sure to take photos of the process I follow when I do it. There are some great resources online on how to secure the projectors to the houseing. Some are better then others so keep looking to see what your method options are.

Cheers

 

It's more than just swapping out the lights themselves, though. From what I've read it requires additional extensive wiring and coding to get them to work. Totally not worth the trouble.

 

I thought I read somewhere Mini was gonna come out with a retrofit option. Don't remember where I read and no hits when I searched. I thought I read it here in the past...maybe 3-6 months ago.

 

I remember reading that as well but I don't know if it's true or the source of the information.

 

They did, but not for the CM.

 

Here in Britain you can buy a xenon retrofit kit for R55/6/7/8/9s (ie, not Countryman).....but they are 25W units not the full 35W ones that the factory fit to new cars. It appears this allows them to be installed without retrofitting the front and rear suspension height sensors that are legally required here for xenon lights.

It seems to defeat the purpose of upgrading the headlamps to install low power versions, but I guess there are folk who are much more worried about the colour of the lights than about whether they illuminate the road ahead.

Are you sitting down and have a paramedic standing by? Then I will tell you the pre-tax dealer price of a pair of retrofit xenon headlamps, without installation - $1,000.

There, now you don't want them after all, do you?

 

Actually, I would pay that if they were available for the R60. Prices I've seen thrown around elsewhere were 4 times that.

My previous three vehicles had xenon and it really is a huge deal for me. I thought I'd be OK without them, but I'm really not. It was a stupid decision on my part to skip them.

 

I did the retrofit with factory parts. its not for the faint of heart, and I never bothered wiring in the level sensors (honestly not a big deal if you adjust them right). That being said HIGHLY recommend buying the car with the xenons already on the car..

You really dont want to bother putting them in yourself, not worth it.

 

I did the 2nd set of lights thing on my first retro as it was not as easy (used FX projectors) . I did my MINI in a few hours with my only set of lights as I too was in your same shoes but hated how bad the halogens were so I had to do somehting about it. I got the D2S kit but the H1 would work just as well, it is relatively quick to do the projector, but I had to make by shroud/bezel fit into my headlight housing and that took the most dremel work.

Maybe waiting for a spare set would be more comforting but yeah $300 was enough to spend already, last thing I needed to do was have extra car parts laying around (already have too many according to my wife). Good luck if you for a retrofit.

 

Too late for that, unfortunately.

I also don't want to be mucking up my warranty at all, which is probably a pipe dream at this point.

 

So we have a 'definitive' answer in that yes it is possible if either a) you have very deep pockets or b) you want to consider retrofitting your existing lamps ? If 'b' is there any change required to the existing wiring or is there coding changes necessary?

 

GREAT NEWS!!!! I had my 2012 CM ALL4 serviced yesterday. As always, I asked my MA service manager about any "NEW news on converting my regular headlights into Xenons. He told me that Mini just came out with a kit for the MC Coupe S, a Xenons kit which is a plug in unit. It is the whole housing unit which needs to be changed out. The unit for the MC Countryman will be out in two to four weeks. Each unit will be approximate $500.00 to 555.00 each (you will need to order two, one for each headlight). Great thing is Mini will Install and give a Warranty on this (NO CODING NEEDED to install). So there will be NO void on the warranty if the unit messes up you car! Mini will stand behind this 100 %. My CA service manager will call me as soon as they come in.

PS- They just installed a pair of these on a new 2013 MC Coupe S to see how they would work and how much time it would to take to install. I was told it is rather simple and they worked! Most important, the looked great as well! I'll keep you guys posted!!!!

 

It would be interesting to hear if they compare the lights with a car with factory xenons, to see if the drop from (factory) 35W to (retrofit) 25W has a significant effect on light output.

 

Oh Snap!!!! Thats awesome!

 

Agreed! That is great news for us Countryman owners! I am also curious to see the difference between the retrofits and the ones from the factory. The description that I've seen is brighter than the halogens, but not quite as bright as the factory xenons, whatever that means.

 

What's to stop someone from installing a 35w bulb?

 

The need for a 35w ballast.

 

for the way I did it, I also the coding is needed to run xenons at the higher wattage. The car knows the difference between xenons and halogens. Even with the modification to get the xenons to power on, If you dont code with the factory 35's, they dont work.

Since this kit doesnt require coding, the car is still operating at the voltage, etc of the halogen lights, probably why theyre using the 25 watt bulbs

 

The price is with or without installing charges ?

 

you can install these lights yourself. it would literally be 3 bolts per light and unplug, plug in new one.