My car has the dealer installed driving lights. They were chrome and I painted them with Plastic Dip to match the rest of my de-chromed trim. Does anyone know of an aftermarket light such as PIAA, Hella, or IPF that makes a light that will work with the light brackets I have now? I know I need to keep the wattage the same (55?) if I want to use my current harness.

 

Id be curious of this too Harness wise i wonder if you could adapt the factory harness to the new light. With correct wattage you should be ok, wonder if resistance would matter.

 

On my 2009 Jeep Wrangler which has the CAN-BUS electrical system similar to the MINI, I was able to change the lights without a problem. My Jeep came with factory 35 watt fog lights in the bumper. I replaced the lights with 35 watt HID's and I used the factory wiring harness. I just cut the plug off the harness and wired them up. No problems at all. The lights were made by Lightforce and are some of the best out there. They have an adjustable beam like a Mag light. I think I will be fine with any light that is 35 watts on the MINI. I'm just not sure what will fit in my factory brackets. I guess I will buy a set and find out.

 

If you're just looking for black ones without the need to paint them, you can get OEM lights in black.

 

Yea I saw that but can I just get the lights and not the $500-$600 kit?

 

From Real OEM it looks like you can.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...63&fg=95&hl=18

schwarz is "black"

Pelican Parts or Penske Parts are a couple place you can put in the part number and get a price/order.

 

Cool. Thanks for the info. I will order them tonight. Here are what my Plasti Dipped lights look like

 

i have the factory black ones, can you run hellas off of them? harness and mount?

 

I would like to know too. The Hella Black Magic lights would look sharp on our cars.

 

i was just thinking that those or the piaa 520's in black smr clear lens

 

I've installed Hella Piaa and factory for folks on various GEN1 cars

easiest way to mount hella and piaa is to buy the factory brackets so yes they'll fit. All you need is the right size hole!

Ditto the wiring harness - at the light end all you have is a 12 volt power wire and a ground wire. Simple stuff.

 

I have 520s on my Mini. I used the OEM wiring harness and switches (the one that goes into the dash board on the left side of the steering column.

Everything worked perfectly except that I had to file the mounting ears on the OEM mounting brackets a bit. The 520s were just slightly too wide to fit into the mounts without filing them (the OEM brackets) a bit. I cut the ends of the OEM wiring harnes and soldered the PIAA "plugs" on. That way I didn't have to cut the polugs off of the light and I did not have a set of OEM plugs to use (I bought only the harness and the interior parts from Mini.

In my mind, the PIAAs are a better light than the OEM type. They are slightly larger and a bit thinner. Unfortunately they are also a bit heavier and I get a bit of light beam "jiggle" as a result. I don't know if the OEM lights have a similar jiggle.

I'm quite happy with this setup.

 

Was just researching it, you are right so i will have some piaas or hellas coming my way