I also foudn out that my foggies were H11's today - kind of pissed about it as we I know I am now limited as to what I can put in there now (hard to find any H11's from many of the reputable manufacturers).

To get to your fogs, you can do it fairly simple - my instructions are not as detailed, but then again, I am ready for bed:

To get to your fog lamp bulbs out, do the following.

1) Jack you car up.
2) Remove one of the front wheels to gain access into your wheel liner splash guard.
3) Remove the 3 plastic philips anchor stunds from the front part (inside) of the liner.
4) Now swing around to the front part of your Mini - you will see 3 metal philips screws under your factory chin spoiler - remove these.
5) You now have access to get your hand from inside the wheel well and into your fog light assembly.
6) Carefully rotate your H11 90-degree bulb clockwise (if memmory serves me correctly) to unclock from fog light housing and *carefully* remove with your hand - making sure NOT to touch the bulb filament.

Keep in mind that I am assuming that you have H11's in there.

-Peter/Rspeed

 

DeMinimus, glad it worked out and glad I could help. I need to replace my fog bulbs with some whites as well. Oh well, gives me a future project!

 

I'd recommend you go to http://www.europeanautosport.com/optik.htm It is a very good page about the Advanced Optik brand H11 bulbs I just installed. That's where I got them, $39 per pair, shipped. They have a nice before and after photo of a BMW with these installed in its fogs, and I have to say it is a good representation. They also have close-up photos of this bulb and a competitor to show the build quality of the bulb itself, fairly impressive. This was the only high quality H11 bulb I could find in the 4100k (Kelvin) color range, and as I said earlier, it is MUCH better than the stock yellowish bulb and pretty darn close to the Xenon HID output.
And $39 shipped ain't bad at all.

Regarding me posting pics, well, I own a nice digital camera, but I'm still something of a ludite, or is it luddite. Don't know what to do with the digital images once I have captured them. I can report that I paused after installing the first of the new bulbs so I could look at the old and the new illuminated simultaneously. Quite a difference. Like the photos at the europeanautosport site.

Finally, about the PIAA Xtreme White H7 bulbs. I bought mine at
http://www.hitechimportlighting.com/piaa.htm There are so many bulbs out there, even just in the PIAA line, it's hard to know what's best. I went by the kelvin rating of the light output. I had read that earlier Xenon HID headlights were at about 4500 to 5000k, but newer systems were at about 4100 to 4200k. The PIAA Xtreme Whites are advertised as being 4150k, and they are a pretty close match with the Xenon low beam, with no trace of blue. I'm happy with them. They ran about $78 per pair, plus shipping. Cost more at other websites.

To quote Randy, "Hope that helps!" :smile:

 

Forgot to mention, I think when you get much past 4100 or 4200k you start to get the blue and then the purple color. I'm not saying this in a derrogatory way, i.e some Mercedes Xenon HID systems do put out a purplish color. I think that's because they engineered them to run at a very high kelvin level. But I think the engineers in general have decided to scale back a bit on that to get back to the white white instead of the bluish white or the purplish white. That's why I didn't go with the 5000k PIAA Plasma bulbs. I've never seen those bulbs in action, and the 4150k PIAA Xtreme Whites might not be QUITE as white as the Xenon low beams, but at the same time there is no blue (let alone purple) tint to them.

 

OK, one more thing (I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself here). I just got an email from imotorgear.com They have the PIAA H7 Xtreme White 4150k bulbs for $57.50/pair, and a sale going on with free shipping.

 

>>OK, one more thing (I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself here). I just got an email from imotorgear.com They have the PIAA H7 Xtreme White 4150k bulbs for $57.50/pair, and a sale going on with free shipping.

deminimus ... i was considering bidding on some xenons i saw on ebay but,
right after reading your post, i bought the xtreme whites from imotorgear! thanks for the link, for saving me $$$ .. (and for talking to yourself )!



_________________
<a href="http://www.mymini.us"><img src="http://www.geocities.com/be_mini/sig...></a>

 

I just put in a pair of the PIAA LED "side lights" (indicator lights or parking lights) from mini-design.com. They look great. For more detail use the search function to find the Sylvania Silverstar thread and read my recent post.

 

Those will fit high beams on my MCSwxenon???

Thanks




>>OK, one more thing (I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself here). I just got an email from imotorgear.com They have the PIAA H7 Xtreme White 4150k bulbs for $57.50/pair, and a sale going on with free shipping.

 

DeMinimus....
can you take some pictures?
we'd all like to see those lights!

 

1.) jcs, yes. The PIAA Xtreme White H7s WILL fit the high beams in your MSC w/ Xenon. That's just what I'm running and I like them a lot. They are a very close match with the color of the light output from the Xenon low beams.

2.) nfo, well, I have a digital camera but I don't know how to post photos. If you could explain that procedure to me I'd sure give it a try.

 

can some one post a list of each bulb posisition, and what buld will go there..

Like

Main Beam --- H7
High Beam.....

It would help people out for an at a glance view.

Thanks

 

Thanks, Deminimus,
just went to the garage to check my MCs.
This is great help, did not like my high H7 since day one. The fogs don't seem so bad, but for $39 I will be happy to upgrade,too.
The parking lights will come sometime soon.

Do you have feeling of more light with modified Hights??

Thanks, J.


>>1.) jcs, yes. The PIAA Xtreme White H7s WILL fit the high beams in your MSC w/ Xenon. That's just what I'm running and I like them a lot. They are a very close match with the color of the light output from the Xenon low beams.
>>

 

Deminimus.....
you should just upload the pic's to the member gallery on mco, when you've got them there,
send me a PM or post and i'll give you instructions

 

1.) MiniPilo, that info is in the thread, but basically:
Low Beam: H7 (unless you have Xenons, of course)
High Beam: H7
Fog Lights: H11, unless you have any early build car with H7s

2.) jcs, it seems I get a bit more light out of the PIAA Xtreme White high beams.
Can't really say about the fog lights. Certainly no less light output, but on the
other hand I'd always heard yellow or amber light somehow penetrated fog well.
So, the functional improvement is probably slight, but the cosmetic
improvement is LARGE.

3.) nfo, easy for you to say... I don't know how to upload the pics at all...

 

Sylvania or Osram Silverstars are now available in H7 size!
I think I'll give them a try. Philips Vision Plus are also available
in H7's and are said to be pretty similar.

 

here's a link to some informal testing of the Silverstar H7's

Replacement Headlamp Bulbs

 

thought I'd repeat the post here so you don't have to wade through the whole thread.

Hmm, always thought my stock halogen H7's on Bliksem were adequate,
but time to find out.
OK, got some H7 Sylvania (Osram) Silverstars, US version (a little bluer and
not quite as bright as the Euro version, they say).
I could only find 3 at the store so far, so one of the high beams is still stock.
I also wired them up to a 12.6 V transformer in my darkroom for some bare
bulb measurements.
Measuring the bare bulbs at 90 degrees to the axis of the bulb about a meter
away with incident metering and a gossen luna-pro F, I got the same reading
(accuracy about +/- 1/10 stop) for stock (GE) vs. silverstars.
Measuring the output from a meter in front of the headlights on the high
beams, the output at the sweet spot was also exactly the same. It looks like
the filaments are about exactly in the same spot and same size as the stocks,
but the cap is silver instead of black (inside and out), which should reflect a smidge
more light foreward.
The Silverstars do look a little brighter, however (comparing L and R high beams).
I guess a whiter bulb looks brighter than a yellower bulb with the same lumens.
To be fair, some of the "blue" bulbs actually have lower light output than stock
to acheive the desired colour temp, and people claim better visibility. Maybe this
has to do with more energy at the green part of the spectrum where rods in the eye
have maximum sensitivity.
Anywhoo, not too expensive, and seems like an improvement in visibility.



_________________
Cristo ---- my brg/brg mc is: BLIKSEM

 

Did some more research on the Sylvania and Osram US and UK websites and on
some other sites and ordered a few pair of the European Osram SilverStars from
http://www.powerbulbs.com .
Apparently a standard H7 can put out about 1350 lumens, the US Silverstars
put out about 1200, and the Euro Silverstars (clear glass bulb, not tinted blue),
put out about 1500 lumens.

More to follow after I get them and test them. Sounds promising!

 

Did some more research on the Sylvania and Osram US and UK websites and on
some other sites and ordered a few pair of the European Osram SilverStars from
http://www.powerbulbs.com .
Apparently a standard H7 can put out about 1350 lumens, the US Silverstars
put out about 1200, and the Euro Silverstars (clear glass bulb, not tinted blue),
put out about 1500 lumens.

More to follow after I get them and test them. Sounds promising!

 

got some german made Osram Silverstar H7's from http://www.powerbulb.com .
these have clear glass and are marked as 50% brighter than standard.
testing their output compared to the stock GE (made in hungary) h7's
show (4 bulbs tested) one - same as stock, two - 1/6 stop brighter (+12%
brighter) and one - 1/3 stop brighter (+26% brighter). this is measuring
the bare bulb at 90 degrees to axis at one meter with an incident light
meter. They do seem a little brighter in the car as well.

 

Everyone should pay attention to what cristo wrote:

There are 2 types of Silverstars.
The European version has the label "Osram Silverstar", and is probably the brightest light you can get without going to xenons. This is the bulb to buy if you want more light output.
The US version has the label "Sylvania Silverstar"; this light bulb is blue tinted, and actually has lower lumens than your ordinary halogen bulb. This version is targeted toward ricers who wants the white look. This is also the version you find at Autozone.

Both versions do appear to burn brighter. The US version has less light output because of the blue tint. The result of burning brighter is that filament life is greatly reduced. (nothing is free right?! something's got to give when you want more light output) I have tried the US version on a CRV, and they both burned out within 6 months. When the left one went out I thought I just got a bad light bulb, but then the right one burned out within a week. That's when I went to the internet and found out that these lamps only have a useful life of about 6 months with regular use. The US version bulbs do appear whiter, but I felt they were less bright than stock.

In conculsion, if you want to buy Silverstars, make sure you buy the European version. If you get more than 6 months out of them, you are lucky. I decided that it wasn't worth the price premium. I put the stock halogens back on the CRV.

 

Thanks, KatanaPilot, for the pat on the back....however
the real credit goes to Daniel Stern Lighting. They also have a 65W modified H7
(I think it's an H9 on a H7 base) that's a little better yet.
check out the site and call him. I'm very satisfied with the
Euro Osram H7's.

 

I take it that the H7 in highbeam form will work in a Xenon equipped MINI, as the highs are halogen lighting. Anyone done the Xenon / Sylvania Silverstar route yet?