Hey all, proud new owner of a Cooper 4DR Hatchback. Love it to death, but would love to upgrade the parking/DRLs and rear turn signals to LED bulbs. Anyone have any experience as such or recommendations for bulbs that are canbus compliant?

Would also love to upgrade the front amber signal lights (I have the white signals). Any advice is appreciated!

(Posting here cause the mods section seems kinda blank on this topic.)

 

Been using JDM Astar off eBay.

Like 12-14 bucks.

They're solid. Be sure you get CANBUS. HAS TO SAY CANBUS OR ERROR

FREE (this site will probably knock down my ALL CAPS )

But you get the point. Also check their vehicle list to make sure it matches. Basically there's one kind for the dome and another for the other lights (map, glove, footwell).

Just ordered for the footwell this morning.

JDM ASTAR 2x T10 Red CANBUS Error Free PX SMD LED License Map Light Bulb 194 168
Item# 231454500924

 

I did order from ECS for the LED first position exterior lights. More expensive. Not sure of my rationale for that. They vouched specifically for that light. Guess it's harder to replace if it's a screwup light so I paid more to make sure it wasn't.

 

I would also recommend CREE bulbs if can find them as well. Much brighter than most out there. The problem is on eBay, a seller may advertise as CREE, but they are not.

 

Is there any type of "list" available that shows what bulb to use in each location?
I E: license plate bulb P5W

Thanks in advance

 

I know some vendors on here should be able to help (ECS comes to mind), but if you want to venture out on your own, here is a place I have had good luck with:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/

Upgraded all my Mustang's lights to LED's and they work great. No CANBUS on that ride though, but I know SBL has CANBUS compliant listings. I am sure there are good places out on Ebay, but there is just so much junk out there it can make your head spin. Been meaning to upgrade my F54's bulbs to LED at some point here.

 

If you do decide with our Ziza LED's they are code free canbus and are here:

Here are all the models so far in the Gen 3 MINI.

https://www.ecstuning.com/News/Mini_F54_F57_Ziza_LED_24034/

 

ECSTuning (Sorry, I don't know your name):

Cool stuff!

Why is there a trim removal kit on your list? Is it needed for any light bulb replacement?

Why is the back-up light kit so expensive? Does it include bulbs for the license plate?

Thanks,

Conrad

 

Its Mike.

Welcome. We include it as some locations you have to snap out the lens to get to the bulb like the glovebox and trunk light. Also great for removing the trim to access other bulbs.

Backup lights are a pair on most MINIs and they take special bulbs that more focused and very bright. They are priced the same across the board unless the bulb type changes. We also free ship those.

The plate lights on all F56+ MINI are now LED. There are very few thing non LED on the Gen 3+ MINIs. We created kits to cover those and the first I know of for most newer MINIs. No bulb out errors either as we test each one in house also.

 

Hey Mike. Thanks for the info. I have bookmarked the Ziza page and will be ordering a set of the backup lights soon. Have to finish paying for the Dragon trip first.

 

I just put regular cheap $2 led bulbs for my parking lights on my F56. (2 x on front bumper) It used to have a yellowish color old school bulb that didn't match with the factory led headlights.

I want to avoid canbus compatible ones because that'll just waste up energy and heat up the bulb. If I get an error tomorrow I'll try coding it to not check the parking lights.

 

Welcome. Yes, the dragon trips are worth it and so much fun.

 

Got it working after esys-coding with non-CANBUS LEDs for my parking lights. I used a cheap LED (probably paid $2 for two T10 wedge type) that I bought couple years ago.

This is for the front parking lights on the front bumper.
BDC_BODY

POL_L_KALTUEBERWACHUNG = nicht_aktiv
POL_L_WARMUEBERWACHUNG = nicht_aktiv
POL_L_IS_LED = aktiv

POL_R_KALTUEBERWACHUNG = nicht_aktiv
POL_R_WARMUEBERWACHUNG = nicht_aktiv
POL_R_IS_LED = aktiv

Again, I don't like using CANBUS compatible LEDs because it'll just waste power and generate unessessary heat. I mean it's just an LED with extra resistors to use up more power.

 

I upgraded my rear parking lights (which also works as extra safety day time running lights) to LED.

LED bulbs were shipped from China couple weeks ago in a loose plastic bag.
It was $1.30 shipped for 4x BA15S P21W 1156 3014 6000K 22SMD bulbs on ebay.

These are non-CANBUS stuff so they don't burn up extra power, but you do need to have your car coded so that the car knows it's not regular bulbs.

I tried replacing the right ones first and didn't see any difference from the regular bulb. I'm satisfied that it uses much less power now because these four bulbs are always on. Attached is before and after photos of the actual part. I won't be replacing the turn signals and reverse light since it's not on most of the time. Maybe if it burns out, I'll replace it with LED since it's so cheap.

The first picture is before the replacement, second is after replacing the bulb. Third picture shows just after replacing the right two bulbs to LED. I didn't take any more pictures after finishing both sides.

 

For me, one of my biggest mistake when building the Mini from the dealership was not getting the LED light package.. :(

Just incase anyone here is like me who wants the LED headlamps.. I found a 3rd party headlamps which looks exactly (well almost) the OEM LED headlamps with halo DRLs and projectors

I also changed the bottom DRLs and parking lamps to LEDs.. so far I only got the light error code on the parking lights. Planning to to change the fog lamps to a yellow LED and the rear lights to LEDs as well..

Here's some before and after pics after I got it installed.

Before:



AFTER:

 

Where did you get the lights? Are they plug and play? How much?

 

I got it from Aliexpress.com and these were shipped to me from China. There's a bunch of these in that site you just need to pick the cheapest one and offers free EMS shipping. I got mine I think around $600 (shipped).

These are indeed plug and play and very easy to install. BUT.. Ok here comes the BUT.. like I said, they are ALMOST the same as OEM ones except with some minor (i guess???) differences.

1. The projectors are using HIDs instead of LEDs.
2. This is probably the one that will make people cringed.. :D
The small logo inside the headlamps.. instead of MINI... it's NIMI.. :D

Other than that, these seem to be a good alternative for those who really wants the projectors with LED halo DRLs.

 

Interesting. I see them for $639 with free shipping on the site. I also noticed the backward MINI thing, but I can live with that. What color temp did you go with (what is factory)? I'm surprised that there is no strobing and no coding required,
Since they are apparently Xenon.

 

I went for the 6000K 35W Xenons which ares super bright and white.. don't want to get the 8000K since I think it would be more bluish than white.

The LED halo DRLs are also bright even in broad daylight and it doesn't have any flickering or error codes.

 

Can you post a picture of them on?

 

Which one? On both the after pics, the LED halo DRLs are already switched on.

 

I got LEDs for the interior from JDM Astar off eBay. They work. Cheap. for R56. Have to be CANBUS

 

Like a nighttime shot of the lights turned on.

Can you post the link to the ones you got? Or PM it?