I have seen a lot of retrofits on other vehicles. The Acura TSX headlight was one of the most popular donor light to use for it. after you do it, you might end up spending as much as you would if you bought the oem housings

 

Here's the DIY I was telling you about. Complete with a price list

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4196278

 

I found this website that sells the OEM Lights For about $400 i think. Check out this website and it may help you a little bit.http://www.bimmerspecialist.com/usa/parts/index/mini.
Or if you are cool with your parts guy at MINI they may be able to help you on the price for the parts because i no the Parts guy for the MINI dealer by me will give me all Parts for 10 over cost on all parts which could bring down the cost of parts by quite a bit.

 

Also i forgot you could try this website also http://www.realoem.com/bmw/
i no they have all the parts to.

 

I did. I got quoted $615 per side. That's a lot. Can't do that with a child on the way. I will just have to put this one to the side.

 

can you guys confirm for someone looking to purchase a new R56, that if you want xenon lights its easier and cheaper just to add it as an option?


thanks guys.

 

Yup. if you want oem parts, Adding the xenon as an option is cheaper than retrofit. You could go the illegal way and put xenon bulbs in, but YMMV. Most bulb kits are cheap, crappy and give out less light due to being in a housing not designed for xenon. Retrofittting the MINI will be for the lights, ballasts, and the autoleveling sensors too.

 

Because I did not have the luxury of time to purchase my R56 MCS, I had the option of taking a new/used off the lot, none of which had all specs I wanted. I found one that had many, but did not have the Xenon. I do not regret the car I purchased, but I WISH I had them. If I was ordering to build, there is no way I would not order them. For anyone else looking, both eBay sites (US and UK) have had full sets, ballasts, and sensors. I have read countless threads, and no one I know of has successfully made the swap, especially since you have to account for the washers, and get custom headlight rings to cover the fact you do not have the washers. Either way, never have seen a cheap retro. Best to hold out for some aftermarket replacements for lights.

 

im really considering retrofitting my R56. I did it to my sentra spec v before with tsx projectors and it looked awesome, not to mention the light output was very well dispersed. i just need to scope out a cheaper headlight set so i dont mess up with the originals.

btw 1st post and dont mind the screen name..i wanted to buy a clubman but i bought my brothers R56

 

Hello,
Well I have an 09 Clubman that I well... installed factory HID and well....you need a wire kit from the dealer and it comes with most of the parts I bought mine from a wreaking yard two differant cars and it cost me 700. for light ballasts and lamps...but still need to instal wiring kit to make it work compelte

 

This is going to be a noob question, but how much difference is there between HIDs and the Xenons that come stock?

 

The headlight assemblies are only part of the equation. You need the whole retrofit kit to make it work like OEM.

The R56 retrofit Pn is 63120422185.

If it anything like the R53 kit, it includes everything, new harness, leveling sensors, complete headlights and the washer setup. If I remember right, the R53 kit is about $2000.

 

Well I ordered the retro kit from Mini and after 10 days they told me, Nope not going to happen BMW says kit only for UK and they don't plan one for the US add the kit is priced at $ 345 US but I am going to try to order on from Canada as they (per Mini USA) are not excluded from buying the kit ???? I have tried to order it from London (they said I could buy it but would have to pick it up in person won't ship it ???)

my two cents here:
Why when it's Mini's histroy to sell you any upgrade as long as you are willing to pay for it [350 hp JCW engine (but don't tell you to upgrade the brakes if you don't want to)] but when we want to upgrade a safety item like being able to see better we are told nope your in the US and you can't but the rest of the world Okay here you go ???

 

Well that is not really true there are a lot of items that can be purchased in Europe that are not for sale here or in Canada due to federal regulations.

Some i can think of right off the bat.

Three passenger seat option for clubman
HID retro fit kit
cargo safety net for clubman
Front Euro plate mount (although it can be purchased at other than dealer)
right hand drive

 

I can order the cargo net and get it from the dealer and one more is the Frist aid kit but yet it can be bought.... If it is a problem for Mini why not MAKE a retro kit for the US market ???? (I don't think it's a federal regulation to NOT MAKE A RETRO KIT) so why does Mini say it's a avaible on the order system then wait till you the customer get's upset then say it is not why not just say up front they can't sell and not show it on the system

 

A kit from the UK will not work.

The headlights will be set up in favor of a car thats supposed to be driven on the left side of the road. You will blind other drivers.

The harness may be different for a UK market car as well, seeing as its for a RHD harness.

 

The kit from the UK of you order it by the part number is for LHD and is for Europe, not the UK the part number is different for RHD. The problem is BMW won't let the UK ship to the US and Canada, But Canada can get the part but want's almost twice as much for the kit and is willing to ship to the US

 

The cargo safety net that I am talking about is one that fits from the floor of the car to the roof of the car just behind the front seats. The US/Canadian spec cars DO NOT have the mounting points in them for this cargo safety net. There is also a different head liner if this safety net is to be installed.

 

Okay, Thanks for clearing that up for me my mistake.....one more thing not offered here the third seat belt for the back seat in clubmans

 

Um... Has anyone here ever even held an HID.. I have HID's up and down in our R50 and they cause no glare, no pencil shaped glare and are very visibly brighter. Everything has more contrast. The housing we're developed to be halogen and HID. There was no separate housings. Its a very simple (very well made) kit using a typical h7 bulb base and an HID bulb powered by a creditcard sized ballast which is powered off your factory harness. Ive got pics galore. I installed myself and I spent less than $100!!

One problem leads me here, our 2007 convertible flickers when the motor runs. The HIDs install the same way but only work before the engine runs. So how do any of these ebay kits work with your R56's? They will ultimately do the same thing. I know I can run separate power using relays but I wanna know how the factory did it. Any thoughts? If I can get past this flickering then I will bust all the rumors about HIDs in a 07'.

 

Just order an H4 Bi-Xenon kit. I know you want the whole kit etc but at the end of the day you would be better off selling your car and buying another one that has the xenons for the same money. Putting a HID kit in you headlights isn't as bad as everyone is making out. A friend of mine drive a mini like mine without Xenons. We fitted a HID kit and they are no different to mine in light outout, colour or glare. Buy fromHIDSDIRECT as they aren't cheap crap that dazzle people.

 

can someone confirm what is required to get a set of take-off factory hids to work on a standard halogen equipped car? i understand the housings are different and the ballasts/control module is required. but i believe the wiring harness is the same. is an ECM reprogram required?

 

Is anyone able to provide pictures of the xenon light housing and if possible the socket which the original bulb fits into. As i don't think the ballast with the xenon housing could be powered up with the original halogen plugs, maybe an aftermarket hid kit could be installed into the xenon housing? It might come up with a heap of warning lights, but at least it works?..the washers and the auto leveling is not that really important in my opinion, better than running hid in reflectors yeh?

 

I can provide some photo's of my install in a 02' R50 if that is any help?

 

02'r50, not so sure if the r56 housing are the same with the r50's, they seem to have changed the housing a bit, for instance the headlights no longer mounted on the bonnet..but you got to install an aftermarkt hid fitted into a xenon housing?or just to the reflectors?...