Yes, you read it right. I am asking if anyone knows if I can convert my HIDs to Halogen. I know I would have to swap the entire assembly, but will it work with the wiring and CPU?

I ask because I think I have a bad ballast and at $250 new and $125 used, I am leery of doing the work. I bought my mini to be a cheap commuter car. I would gladly swap in two new Halogen assemblies ($200 for two complete assemblies) and sell the parts for my HID lights and actually make money on the swap.

If anyone knows, I would appreciate it. AS you can guess, when I search for any iteration of Xenon Halogen swap, I get all sorts of threads and hits for Halogen to Xenon, not the other way around.

And before anyone asks why I would switch, again, please remember this is a commuter car for me. 90% of driving during the day, and Halogen worked just fine for about 100 years before we got on this Xenon kick.

Thanks

 

First, to swap the ballast is about a 30 second job. It basically consists of unscrewing 2 bolts, and unplugging, replugging, re-screw. You can find them used for under $100 (look at HIDPLANET.com) Ballasts don't typically burn out very often.. its pretty rare. I'd feel safe buying used.

That said, if you still want to take them out, they should be plug and play with 02-04. I had halogens and swapped to 02-04 xenons w/ no problems. I would stick to a set of 02-04 halogens just to be safe. They should be cheaper as well.

With a busted ballast, I wouldn't sell the xenons for more than $150-200 max. They sell for $200-250 in working condition quite often. Soooo, crunch some numbers and see if its really worth it to sell them, considering you'll be spending $100 on a set of halogens. So either spend $50-100 to keep xenons (think of car's resale value) or sell them for $50-100 profit.

 

Side note...

Are you sure the ballast is the culprit? If its an igniter then you have to actually open the headlight up to replace it. Its possible, but a HUGE pain in the *** to open 02-04 xenons. The glue is like cement, not like 05+ which used a soft rubber sealant. The igniter is a cheap part (maybe $40) and is easy to replace once the headlight is opened. If the igniter is busted, and you want to sell it, you're not going to get much for the headlight, but you could sell the ballast for $80-100. Try swapping the ballasts to test if thats the issue.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

Yeah, I swapped bulbs and it is not that. I will swap the ballast and see if it is that.

My thoughts were this, if it is the ballast:
$100 to replace ballast and have Xenon

or

$200 to buy new Halogen (two sides)
Sell one working ballast for $100
Sell two headlights, without ballast, for $300 to $400.

Balance is $200 to $300 on my side.

I am just considering this because if something else goes wrong with the Xenon, then it just keeps getting more expensive, and this thing is my commuter car, not my primary ride.

But, will see if it is the ballast, my laziness may win and I might just replace that.

 

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but your not going to get $3-400 w/out ballasts. I've seen them sell for $250-300 max on average... w/ ballasts and bulbs.. shipping included. I've seen the facelift xenons fetch $4-500, but since your tag says 03mcs, I'm assuming you have gen 1 xenons.

You're better off selling the xenons intact. You can try for $250-300, and see if you get any bites. I sold my halogens on NAM for $100, and there were a few others for that price back in the day. Best case scenario is that you knock off $100 (from $300) from your price of the xenons and swap with a NAMer who has hals, profit $200.

If an extra $100-200 or so is worth it for you, and you're not worried about resale value of your car then go for it. Remember xenons add way more than $100 to your car's value. Its like trying to sell a MCS w/out a sunroof.. No one wants one - Unless you motor x of course

 

Yeah, well, I guess my Mini ignorance is showing.

Hopefully it is just the ballast. Will find out this evening.

I am not too worried about resale, as I expect to drive this thing to its grave, but probably not worth two hours of my time for $200.

Thanks for the info. It is appreciated.

 

I'd really like to know the answer to the original question here. I have a R53 with the factory HID headlights on it and I think they look cheesy.
I'd like to buy some black housing projector headlights and put them on my car which would be halogen lights, but look way better. Then...I will buy an HID kit on ebay for the projector lights. So...anyone know the answer to this???

 

our head lights in first gens are pretty simple. Plug and play for the most part between aftermarkets, HID's and halogens. Only feature that may have to be programmed in and a sensor bought would be if upgrading to the HID from halogen and obtaining a leveling sensor for the auto-level feature. (do the halogens have this as well?)

 

I've joined this forum just to watch this thread and, I hope, get an answer to this. My situation is pretty much exactly like Michita's. I've got a 2005 R53 with xenon lights and I don't like them. I want to buy some lights I like from xtralight.com, but they're halo lights and I'm told they won't work.

 

So, I took my 2005 MCS, with original Xenon HIDs, to a MINI mechanic, and he was able to swap out my original headlights for my new halo projectors with no problem. Of course, I have no washers or levellers anymore, but I don't care. I think the new lights look fantastic.

 

It seems the levelers are just an uneeded, technical complication that has very little benefit. After all, how often do we drive with just the driver and two heavies in the back seat.

 

Thanks for talking this one out everybody - nothing worse than finding a thread with your exact question only to have it fall apart before the question is answered! I'm doing it because I love the smooth headlight rings (non washer). To the OP's point, I won't miss the complexity/accessory price when things start to fail on my daily!

 

Barenada - which halo projectors did you go with?

 

I went with these:

http://www.xtralights.com/02-06minic...blackpair.aspx

They look like this:



Funny (to me) thing was that the seller swore up and down that these would never ever ever work in my car because it came with xenon. They work just fine. Also, the seller swore up and down that the taillights I also bought were a simple drop-in replacement for my stock lights, but I actually had to go to a junkyard and pick up new circuit boards to get them to work.

 

Looks good! I really like the halo style...just can't stand squirters! Yeah I kept hearing all sorts of stories about not being able to swap...I'm glad people have done it with success!

 

Xtralights didn't even want to sell me the things. I told them I'd buy them and find somebody smart to install them. I found Aaron at Mike Johns' imports in Jeffersonville, Indiana.