I was wondering if anyone has upgraded from the OEM 35w HID's to an aftermarket 55w HID kit. It did this in my S2000 and had much better light output. Wanting to do it with the MINI as well but would like a walk through on just how to do it. I don't want to attempt it blindly and end up screwing something up.

 

i read a post where someone did it and he melted the housings

try searching, but it may have been on another board

scott

 

interested!

 

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Does anyone have or know how the factory HID's are wired? It looks like everything comes through one main wiring harness and then splits inside the headlight assemble. Has anyone tackled upgrading the HID's. I have noticed lately that my headlights are not nearly as bright on the road as some of the newer Acuras and Caddys. Is that because of the age of my bulbs or just the differnce in manufacturer?

 

I am not too sure on the wiring of the factory HIDs as, like you said, it comes into the housing and splits into different stuff. I know when I did my retofit of D2S projectors into my halogen housings it was easy as the PNP kit is set up to plug into my factory bulb plug and take care of the HID stuff form there.

IMHO be glad you have HIDs as the factory halogens are crap and don't mess with going to 55w as it will be brighter than really necessary and I believe legal. In fact, some manufacturers are going to a 25w HID setup to be the same brightness as halogens on European cars but no so bright that then need headlamp washer...thus they are trying to cut car costs by getting rid of the washer system on cheaper cars.

 

I upgraded from OEM halogen to a custom 55W HID setup as I do with every one of my cars.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...on-11-r56.html

My last car I had done a retrofit and originally used 35W HID bulbs/ballasts but then upgraded to the 55W and it's awesome! I'll have to post some output shots sometime, the new bulbs make a huge difference!

Just to be clear, I didn't put the 55W bulbs or ballasts into the factory housings but I would assume that if you are able to wire them correctly, they would work just fine.

Also, as long as your projectors are self-leveling or properly adjusted, you won't have any problem with blinding oncoming traffic, especially in a car as low as the MINI. I've never been flashed in my MINI and I've been running the 55W setup since May.

 

I just took a look at your build thread, it looks great. Man, that was a lot of work!

 

Thanks! I love building things like this so it was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun. And I like looking at my car and thinking "I did that all by myself" not thinking "Man, the guys at BlackFlameCustoms do great work".

And not to continue the threadjack but check out my other thread HERE. I re-painted the silver part to match my new paint and they look even better