Shoot at you...really? Can't say I've ever had this problem (although if I saw someone cruising around with shades at night, THEN I might be a little scared, LOL).

 

I have an 03s and need a new pass. side xenon (long story - involves a semi truck)

Think its possible to buy some ebay halogen headlights and retrofit my xenon package to it? I do not believe that I would have to flash my ecu because I am not changing anything other than the headlight. I mean that I am sticking with the xenons.

Any thoughts?

 

I have an 03s w/ xenons. My pass. side shield was broken due to a semi truck and I don't want to purchase a new headlight for $600 when I can buy some halogens for half of that.

My question to you is....do you think its possible to convert a set of halogens using the "guts" from my xenon headlights?

Just combine the two to make one headlight?

 

awesome, i have a 08 S and will be doing this next week with H13 bulbs

 

Thank you very much, this is exactly what I needed. I did my install with a kit that comprised of 35w ballasts and 6000k H7 on a 2005 mini cooper S. I had the strobe affect, flickering and sometimes an off headlight. I went to Radio Shack and got the capacitors mentioned (2200uF 50v). I installed them from red + to black - with the arrow on the capacitors facing the direction of the plug going into the ballast. Worked like a charm!

On the subject of blinding others, Mini actually puts xenons on the non-projector headlight assembly. they also make the headlight with projectors, which has xenon too. They designed the non-projector assembly in such a way that it creates the same cut-off affect at the top of the beam you see in the projectors. When following a car my lights were projecting a straight line one side of the car to the other at the license plate level. I'm comfortable in driving with these lights without affecting others. Otherwise I wouldn't have done it.

Thanks again for the info

 

That is incorrect information. It is not a matter of reflectors vs projectors. Myself I always thought projectors = hids, reflectors = halogens. Not so. Both projectors and reflectors still have a different design depending on the light source. A HID kit in a projector will stil produce glare, uneven beam spread and hotspots.
Mini does not use the same reflector or projector design for both halogens and HIDs. Part numbers are different, build is different, price is different.
I'm going to hotlink my own thread. See here for more explanations
https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/electrical/182815-some-truth-regarding-hid-kits.html

 

How is my information incorrect. You just said the same thing I said. You just picked the projected assemly angle to make your statement.

 

Because you are making is sound like it is the same assembly when it isn't. The reflectors are different thus the assebly is different. Putting hid bulbs in with a halogen reflector will give you the wrong pattern. Also, in 04 they stopped with the reflector and went with projector as it provides better control of the light pattern.

So fishbone was correct in stating what he did. If you meant that you should have said that.

 

The tone of your reply was giving the impression you were implying, like I said, that somehow reflectors = halogens and projectors = HIDs, largely by these sentences
It doesn't matter they do, Mini/BMW was not the first, nor are they only ones. My 2003 Altima had HIDs in reflector housings and Nissan has bee doing this on the Altima since late 2001. My Legacy has halogen projectors. It's not a matter of halogens vs projectors, it is a matter of proper optics designed around a specific light source. I have seen Minis with HID kits. They are blinding and they produce glare. Whether or not you get flashed is not an indicator of proper lighting. I used to get flashed in the Altima by dvmbasses all the time.

I'm not trying to preach one way or another. It is each person's car and their individual choice. HID kits are illegal. What I seek to do is inform others. When I bought a HID kit I knew nothing about proper lighting and the difference from halogen. I made a poor decision. I yanked the kit after a week of using it. Then I started reading.

 

In this specific application the pattern is not that bad. The cutoff is pretty sharp, just slightly more fuzzy than a projector. My wife has them in her car. She followed me home on a hilly route. The pattern did not trigger my auto dimming feature in my rear view mirror. That's about as non subjective as it gets on this very charged subject. There is an important step many miss after a conversion and that is to aim the lights so that you do not blind on coming drivers. This is good practice no matter what kind of lights you have.

My .02