hey all, i have a question that i'm hoping someone here can answer.

i like these headlights...


now i'm getting a 2009 convertible, and i had started calling up a few of the places that sell these things hoping to find versions of these lights for the 2009 model.

to my surprise, the answer i keep getting is.. "these will fit just fine"
despite them obviously not being labeled as such. but if different stores are giving me the same answer, i'm starting to think theres some truth there.

does anyone know definitively whether or not these lights fit on later models? housing, harnesses, and so on?

thanks all.

 

I would think that they WILL NOT fit the same. Just the fact that the original MINI lights mount to the hood, and the second generation car lights stay put and don't mount to the hood. I hate shady sales people.

 

yeah, no go there

 

wait... you mean second gen headlight DO or DON'T mount to the hood??

because i had an 08 cooper convertible until 2 weeks ago, and if i remember properly, those headlights WERE mounted to the hood.


edit:
have a look...
http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...eIndexID=67312

 

yeah, because it was still the older model mini convert.

 

Gen 1 cars.

Cooper from 2002 to 2006 head lights mounted to hood

Convertable from 2002 to 2008 Headlights mounted to hood.

*******************************************

Gen 2 cars

Cooper 2007 to present

Clubman Feb 2008 to present (US and Canada) Earlier for Europe

Convertable mid year 2009 to present

Lights on the gen two cars are mounted to the body not the hood.

 

ohhhhhhhhhh... i seeeeee...
(i google some pictures)

and then i bought them anyway.
it was $130 on ebay... i'm willing to pay that much for the chance that i might be able to modify them to fit.
it'd be cool if i pull it off, but won't really bug me if it doesn't work.

thanks for the input all.

 

Good luck! Hope it works for ya, would be cool to see halos on there.

 

The differences go well beyond hood mount vs body mount. The headlights are different size and shape. The headlight won't match in the hole in the hood, but even if it did, its curve and slope won't match the hood shape.

 

Thats why they call it custom fabrication!

If I told you I could fit a TV in the spot where the Headlight goes, would you believe me?

 

good luck with getting those to fit. If you decide to sell them let me know.

 

well my plan of attack is not to "swap" headlights. since i learned that these lights mount in different places, i was sure that the housing wouldn't be very similar.

i'm going to see about swapping the internal housing, changing the 'guts' of the headlight so to speak.

the problem that i'm expecting is, i'm sure the headlight architecture on the inside won't be exactly the same. But for the most part, the bulbs seem to be in the same place.
I'm not looking to screw around too much with the Mini headlights, i wouldn't want to risk damaging them. So i'll be working to make the angel eyes fit the stock housing, not the other way around.


edit.
on that note... anyone know of somewhere i can't buy a set of stock cooper headlights?
obviously i considered the dealer... but isn't that everyone's last resort

 

Yes, last resort is always dealer unless you have a very good relationship with them. If you do, ask you MA or service department parts guy That sounds like a *gutsy* mod I hope it works out for you, would be the first I've seen on a R56!

 

Hey Minibluecabrio - same one from NEMINI.org I'm assuming? - it's me, 0dtmini7, nice to see you on here!

 

stock mini headlights, NOT the xenons, bought from the dealer...

$362... per headLIGHT... and thats WITHOUT shipping costs

i expected they'd be expensive, but that has to be the most shocking thing i've ever heard.
adding the entire xenon package to your mini is $750, how can a pair of regular headlights cost the same...

incredible.

 

That type of reasoning made me add the Canadian sport pkg. to my MINI build. I was pricing 17" aftermarket rims and tires and they were more than the $900 cost of the sport package which adds the stiffer sport suspension and the 17" Flame spoke alloy wheels. I had a feeling if I didn't add the package I would be kicking myself buying rims down the road.

The price of the standard headlights is criminal. Nothing special about them. Love the Halo's though!

 

umm...

does anyone has any headlights they don't want?

one or both, either side, working or non-working.
obviously i'd love to get a working pair... but a single non-working headlight would help too.

i'll pay for the shipping, the packaging... hell, i'll pay for the gas you burn driving it to the UPS or post office. As long as you don't live like a hundred miles from a post office of course.

 

this is an absolutely horrible idea.

just re-sell those e-gay lights.

search around on the internet, you can get diy halo kits that you can fit into the R56 headlights.

The light output will be horrendous compared to the stock output if you keep those e-gay ones.

 

see... that was my original idea. just grab a halo kit and joey mod the housing. (black headlights with angel eyes, and cheaper too)

i've been photoshopping up concepts, and i just can't find a place to put the halo strip that looks good on the factory lights.
the only reasonable placement would be to line the cylinder that houses the indicator. but then the light from the halos would definitely illuminate some of the orange glass of the indicator. and thats just going to look wierd... unless they're orange halos... no thank you.

i'm not really concerned with light output. i live in NYC, theres street lamps everywhere. if i needed that kind of visibility, i would have added the xenon package. so as long as its not an obviously huge difference in light output, i'm ok with it. also my experience with halogen projectors versus halogen reflectors is that the difference is mostly in light dispersion, not intensity.

but anyway... its a work in progress, we'll see how it goes. one thing's for sure... I Will have halos on my cooper

 

okay, if that's really how you want it.

i thought you might have had the factory xenons.

Adding halos to the halogen headlights would be tough. You're right, the only area you could do it is around the turnsignal....

well, i guess good luck.

 

If your going to change the internals, dont change the original for the cheap crap in those headlights. Go and buy a proper BMW Angel eye conversion kit and go from there. The stuff that comes in those lights you bought is FISHER PRICE!