Do I have to buy the $550 OEM Headlamps for the Xenon lights or can I just buy the bulbs somewhere else?

 

it's more than just bulbs. There are ballasts, leveling motors, and the headlight washing system. If you tried to install all that stuff after the fact it would easily run you over $1200. The $550 for the xenons is a bargain.

 

Do you know if there are any bulbs I could get that would look really nice but not expensive?

 

Check out this link.
Charles

Sylvania SilverStar

 

Ditto on the Silverstars, they rocked in my halogen-equipped 3-series. Nice bright white light, not "look at me" fake HID.

 

If I wanted to do the Silverstar's , what is the replacement number?

 

The Mini uses H7 bulbs, four of them, but I would say that I have compared the headlights on my Mini and the Silverstar equiped headlights of my Frontier. Side-by-side, I couldn't tell the difference. All in all the halogens on the mini are quite good.

 

at 550 for xenons, it is a bargain! they will also help the resale value of your mini, even though they do hold value quite well, look at any used bimmer for comparision, the xenon ones are always selling for more, they are bright, safe, and look great!

 

LOVE the Xenons. Best $500 I spent on the car. You can see to the end of the planet with those things. Accept no substitutes.

 

So I can actually buy the Xenons as a dealer atfer market deal? I had no idea you could do that...

My driver's side lamp and assembly need to be totally replaced, so if this is possible....

 

Totally worth the money for xenons IMO. Love the way they flicker when you first turn them on. Even if you were to buy an aftermarket set, they would still be about the same price, and then you would have to install them yourself.

 

Love my xenons too. BWT the highbeams are halogen bulbs even on the xenon rig. Can we upgrade to the Sylvania Silverstars for high beams without causing any problems to the xenon units?

 

yes, the high beam bulbs are totally independent of the xenons.

 

one option i must have is zenon light. $500.00 is very cheap for an oem item. the "fake" ones don't work at well. i put a set of fake ones with the same wattage (55w) in my old 2000 mercedes wagon and found out that it is not as bright as the original light bulbs. sure they are whiter but seemed to wash out with the street lighting. i then put in a 100w with upgraded harness and they are as bright as the original and didn't wash out with street lighting. however they are still not as white as the real zenon lights on my friend mercedes. furthermore, the light pattern is different on the real zenon lamps. i found out that mercedes used different housing and pattern for their zenon than the halogen ones. i wonder if mini did the same with their?

 

I have had a bad experience with Sylvania Silverstars.
They do look whiter than OEM halogens, but I honestly cannot say they are any brighter. However I found the biggest downside was that they burn out after only about half a year. I installed them in my friend's CRV back in March. Around September, one side burned out, and I thought maybe we just got a bad bulb. Within a week, the other one burned out too. I did some search on one of the CRV websites, and apparently it is a very common complaint. Sylvania's answer is that in order to be brighter, they run at a slightly higher wattage/hotter temperature. Therefore, their life span is less than regular halogens.

I forgot how much we paid for them, but they are not cheap. Since they only last for half a year, you might as well pay $550 and get xenons. When you do sell your car, the xenons will still be worth something, so your net cost will actually be a bit less than $550.

 

From what I understand you can't buy aftermarket xenons any more in the U.S. When you were able to the cost was around the same as purchasing factory hids. But they were only the bulbs, ballasts, and wiring harness. I don't know if that covers buying the factory components because they have the computer and motor to level out the hids.

 

>>I have had a bad experience with Sylvania Silverstars.<<
I've never liked Sylvania, even for household bulbs. They just don't last.

 

An alternative to Silverstars comes from my good friend Chief Charlie. He sent this info after visiting the SEMA show in vegas.

"high beams are rather "yellow" when compared to the
Xenons

Here's the replacement bulb information:

You'll want to purchase a pair of PIAA Xtreme White Plus in the H-7
configuration. The twin pack number is 17655. The single bulb number
is 17155.

Xtreme White Plus bulbs are rated at 110 watts, but only consume 55
watts of power, which is the same as the halogen hi beam bulbs in your
MINI. Take a look at
http://www.piaa.com/Bulbs/Bulbs-H7.html

This page shows the comparison between incandescent (what all bulbs
used to be) halogens, and the state of the art extreme white
plus.http://www.piaa.com/Bulbs/BulbsAbout.html

Check out any of the MINI retailers or the bulb retailers you find
doing a Google Search for PIAA Bulbs."