I have not done it yet. Money has been tight lately. I've been reading up on it a lot though. Most are Supposed to be ok with CANBUS cars.

 

My daughter has them in her Mini. She loves them. I have driven in the car at night and they seem pretty effective. Noticed what photographers call chromatic aberration ( purple fringing ) in them which I find distracting but not particularly problematic. I like them... Only thing to worry about is cost of servicing in the event the LED fails. I don't believe they cover bulbs in warranty issues, but then again it isn't a bulb, but an electronic component. Hope not to need to go down that path in the future as I heard they are close to $1000 to replace in the event they fail. The price figure is hopefully and possibly far from correct as it is now third hand information. Check before you buy the LED headlights!

Paul

 

It's slightly less than $1000 per side, but I think it includes the whole assembly. Still way too expensive. On the other hand, they are supposed to last the lifetime of the car so we'll have to see.

Although it's probably technical limitations or poor design, I'm actually thinking the purple hue at the cut-off looks cool.

 

When you talk about failure, are you guys referring to the LED's themselves or the optional cornering-illuminating feature?

LED's are designed to last the life of the vehicle so if you have premature failure and you're still under warranty, I have to imagine that MINI would repair/replace them as part of the warranty.

 

I was referring to the failure of the LED itself. I asked the service manager who has probably not come across this yet since the LED headlights are new if the warranty covered replacement of a failed LED and he said bulbs are not covered... I didn't get into the fact that the LED is not a bulb and hopefully will not cross that bridge ever. In the event that I do, it is a failed electronic component being a diode and not a bulb. No filament, no bulb.

Paul

 

Also curious on the set you used

 

Anyone do a retrofit of the led heads. Would coding be necessary or plug-n-play...

thanks

 

I've retrofitting 2 sets of Hallo headlights and neither required coding. Plug and play would not be the word I would use for the install though. You need to pull the front bumper of the car and tap into the wiring loom and drill a hole on the steering column on the F56.

 

wooo.. i think i will forgo this. i am not good at tapping in wires. you would think they would for saving money just be remove and replace.

what is the hole in the steering column for?

 

Well the plastic surround....it's for the switch....driving lights on or off.

 

Agree with many others, LEDs are definitely worth the money! I drive a lot of dark country roads on my way back from work and they're great for spotting critters on the sides of the road.

 

2014 "New-to-me" Justa. "Right high beam needs servicing" message and no right high beam. Bought from a Dodge dealer.

As far as I can tell it's an LED system.

Can I just buy a replacement bulb and replace it? I'm pretty handy - serviced industrial laser printers before I retired.

Live in the country & hardly ever drive at night. If it costs 1,000 bucks to fix, I'll live without it

-Oly

 

Has anyone tried these LED H4 replacements for the halogens? I assume they require the CANBUS option.


http://www.xenondepot.com/H4-Xtreme-.../xt-led-h4.htm

 

It is worth a try. Yes, you want with CANBUS so you don't get any bulb errors or flickering. As the LED has all that ribbon-style heatsink behind it, you'll want to inspect your headlight assembly and plan out where you want to place the ribbon heatsink and the CANBUS module. Chances are the headlight bulbs have a dust cover that you'll either have to remove completely, or drill through to feed the wiring and use a rubber grommet of some kind to seal it back up. Use zip ties to mount the CANBUS module to whatever will hold it in place so it's not just hanging in the engine bay.

In the end, you will get more light output but since the standard MINI headlights use reflectors, you may just end up with scattering light all over the road while blinding on-coming drivers. The LED bulb upgrade from standard halogens is best suited to vehicles that come with projector lenses.