Ok Guys - I need advice. I have an 04 MC and I live in a rural area. At night my MINI's lights are just not enough! When an on-coming car approaches and I have to put my dims on, I can't see past him.

This really freaks me out. About a month ago someone in a large PU truck hit THREE cows that were in the road at night. Now THAT's a scary thought in a MINI .

I know there are a lot of options out there...I need one that GIVES ME MORE LIGHT ALL THE TIME but PARTICULARLY WITH DIMS. I feel its only a matter of time...Last night I almost hit a large black dog. LOVE my MINI, but the the lights SUCK! Any advice is appreciated.

 

There's a reason your low beams cast the amount of light that they do. The only modification I'd suggest is going to Xenons if you don't have them already. Either that or something whiter.

Other than that, while you may be getting more light, you'll also be a hazard to other drivers as you'll be blinding them...

Make sure your lights are properly aimed as well...

 

Yeah, I don't want to blind other drivers (or be illegal). Will retro fitting the xenons make enough of a difference? Wonder how much that costs? Would changing the bulbs to one of these aftermarket bulbs be a viable short term fix?

 

get driving lights aka rally lights, replace your bulbs with whiter PIAA (they will burn quicker, but they have great warranty), or look for xenon kits(they are everywhere as cheap as $250), you should be fine. Real simple deal, I wish we had the Euro spec headlights, never would have this conversation. If more help needed, will gladly provide you with some sources.

Good Luck

 

Wrong... You only use driving lights when you would use high beams... NEVER with low beams.

 

Do you run with any or all of these? Any sources you've already done business would be great. Oh, I didn't know the Euro headlights were different. can they be fitted on ours?

Thanks again

P.S. Its all about NOT being killed by cows!

 

I have driving lights, they are extremely bright and WILL blind oncoming drivers.

 

Where? are these the OEM xenons? I would deffinantly do this upgrade for that price.

 

I would suggest changing your high beams to PIAA's amber colored Ion Crystal bulbs.

The amber colored light is much easier on the eyes for both you and oncoming traffic.

Of course, you still want to dim them for oncoming traffic, but on the few occasions when I have forgotten, I have not been flashed by other motorists.

Here is a thread I started about some of my lighting mods. All of my upgraded bulbs are more powerful than stock, so you may want to get ones that do not go beyond the limits of your local laws. . .

 

no those are aftermarket, for example www.xenondepot.com is a good source to start with.

 

correct, it is the right way to use rally lights with high beams, in a rural area or a country road should not be a problem to use your high beams and rally lights.

 

No, I run with my xenons(original) and fog lights most of the time, when I drive in the country twisties, at dark, I use high beams when needed. I believe the best rally lights are PIAAs.

 

Silvania Silverstar bulbs are a NICE step up in output for stock systems. Walmart has them cheap.

 

DO THEY LAST?

 

Thanks so much for the advice. I may start with some up-graded bulbs. That seems a good short term solution.

Any thoughts on the setup Alta offers (rally lights down low)? I don't particularly like the look but I'm interested in anything that works and is high quality. :smile:

 

That's right, however the OP said they were looking for a way to get more light with low beams on, not with the highs... That's why I posted that driving lights were a bad plan.

 

Xeons are awesome.. try some sylvania silver star bulbs... same wattage, direct replacement bulb.. A nice improvement over stock halogens.

Halogens loose about 10% of brightness per year on average... so try to replace if they are a few years old....

 

Not sure what to say about your low beams, but for more light when NO ONE is in front of you, I love my IPF lights on my Alta bar. Now, if I use just my high beams by themselves, it still feels really dark. These lights are incredibly bright and I'm using the lower wattage bulb (55W, they also supplied 100W ) I can't even fathom how bright it would be with the other bulbs. You can see everything, but you have to be careful to turn them off the moment someone is in front of you as they will blind them. My lights are hooked up the "proper" way and are activated by an in cab switch, but are turned on with my high beams

 

got it

 

the only thing that is holding me off is the the fact that they are located at a very vulnerable place, any problems so far? Did you replace any? I am so close to put them on, need a little bit encouragement I guess

 

I've only had them since the beginning of May, but no problems so far. If I'm going to be driving on the interstate, I try to keep the caps on though. I have been known to pull over and pop them on or off depending on where I've been & where I'm going. I had thought about putting some of the clear rock guard film on them but 1) I don't know how that would do as they are vertical and 2) I'm afraid it would melt on the lense. If you don't spend alot of time on an interstate or the like, I really wouldn't worry too much about the covers, but I would keep them in the car in case you feel the need to pop them on

 

I went to Walmart to see what kind of price we're talking about here. They had different ones for about $39 and change, BUT Walmart didn't have a book to tell someone what bulb number you need.
They had a book for GE bulbs but not for Silvania. In the GE book it only went to 04 and I didn't see any numbers that were close to the Silvania numbers.
Could you pass along the bulb number please so I know what one to get since Walmart isn't interested in telling people what numbers people need?

Thanks,

 

I went and got the silverstar bulbs at walmart ($35). MUCH better than stock (non xenon). Only now when you turn brights off you can hardly tell you have lights at all!

As far as the ref. number, i dont remember - there was a sylvania ref book there. It was H7 something. Wish I could be more help.

 

I went to the local Walmart to get some of these bulbs but they don't have a guide to tell what number replaces what light. I have an 05 S and need to know if someone can tell me the stock number of the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. Thanks. Local Walmart only had a GE reference guide and that didn't have the any cross-reference guide for the Silverstars.

 

Go to Sylvania's website and look it up in their replacement guide

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...de/default.htm