If I wanted to swap out my non xenon headlamps for new xenon ones, would it be as simple as a removal of the whole unit, and replace with the xenon unit, or is there more to it. Anyone done this care to elaborate, or help a man out.

cheers, jason

 

My suggestion....Replace your stock halogens with a pair of quality PIAA bulbs first. I think you will be impressed enough to spend your saved money on a different modification. Check with NAM sponsor Dan at PILO RACING. He carries the one you should try. Good luck! Post some before and after photos and share your headlamp upgrade with others

 

There's more to it than that. There's some contraption that helps "aim" the lights while turning, different wiring, and some other gizmo-wacko stuff that I don't know anything about. A buddy wants to do it too, but it looks like more work than he want's to do for Xenons. I'd take speltzer's suggestion. Just change the bulbs.


David
-V--V-

 

Yeah that seems like my best bet, I am just obsessed with lighting. I have the Osram silverstar bulbs in my car now, they are great lights, just thought I would try the xenon route, ah well maybe down the road. thanks for the info

cheers, jason

 

MINI xenons do no turn when the car turns, they are fixed horizontally just like most xenons are.

my bet is retrofitting xenons is about a $2000 proposition by the time you get done with the lights, the ballasts, the leveling motors, and the washers. Plus you may need different wireharness.

 

Jason, do a thread search on "xenon" and you'll see that someone asks about just this thing every couple of weeks. Bottom line is sort of what David says...i.e., there's a lot more to the MINI xenon system than bulbs or the lamp unit (ballasts, etc.) itself. The system requires the leveling motors and washers...and by the time you were to add all of that after-the-fact, you'd be looking at much, much more than the xenon option cost originally. There's another thread running right now where someone says that it cost about $700 buy an OEM MINI xenon headlamp unit. So, my guess is that if you were to try to install the OEM system in your car, you'd be looking at $1500 to $2000 in parts and labor. I have the xenons in my MCS and they're great...but I wouldn't pay $1500 to add them on now if I didn't already have them.

 

A friend of mine tried to replace his non-xenon lights with xenons on his new BMW and ran into huge problems. He's pretty good with car stuff, so i thought he would have an easy time with it. Bottom line is....his car ended up in the shop for 2 weeks and BMW did it for him at the BMW-not-covered-under-warranty cost.

 

The OEM Xenon requires replacement of the entire headlight assembly and moreover, adding washer fluid tank and accessories. This would be quite costly to do. However, there're aftermarket alternatives beside replacing with white/blue bulbs.

I successfully upgraded my light to HID, which consists of ballast, relay, & H7 Xenon bulb. The entire kit cost under $300. The installation was straight forward (< 1 hr time). The only difference is that it doesn't have auto-leveling capability like OEM unit. :smile:
_________________
04 IB/W JCW MCS

 

Have you compared your aftermarket xenons with the oem ones in terms of intensity and light pattern? Just wondering if there´s a noticeable difference.

Anybody know at what temperature do the oem xenons run?

I´ve been thinking about installing Hella H7 xenons but my two concerns are a void warranty (the most valuable thing in my cooper) and spoiling what already is an excellent headlight system (the regular halogens are quite good)

 

>>Have you compared your aftermarket xenons with the oem ones in terms of intensity and light pattern?

Becuase I like whiter bulbs, I decided on 8000k color temp. As a result, it definitely stands out in a crowd of OEM Xenon. I have a friend who switched out the factory bulbs to whiter ones, which now look very similar to mine. In any case, if you like to have one similar to OEM, just choose the same color temp bulbs.

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>>...my two concerns are a void warranty

The one I installed is a direct plug-and-play mod without any wire splicing. In case of any problem, it's easily reversable to the factory bulbs. Hence, it's not a major concern for me.

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>>...spoiling what already is an excellent headlight system (the regular halogens are quite good)

While that is true, the Xenon (HID) will be even better. Mini's excellent headlight system is a direct result of its light dispersion pattern, which is inherently the same after HID upgrade.

I've installed 8 HID systems and now I cannot live without it.


_________________
04 IB/W JCW MCS

 

Also be aware that the Xenon's from MINI are about 25 lbs. heavier and I read that even the spring rates are higher on a car with Xenon's versus non-Xenon's. You're probably much better off with aftermarket than trying to upgrade with MINI. I frankly don't care for Xenon's, and they sure are annoying when blinded by those that have them or the flickering you see as well.

 

Thanks Dave,

hope you could post a picture to see how it looks. I thought the higher the temperature the more "purple" the light, with 5500 the closest to sunlight.

What brand are your xenons?

 

I really would prefer the whole factory xenon unit, but I cant justify spending $2000 on such a non performance upgrade. I really like the silverstars, they have a temp of 4000k, and they are very white and crisp, with a good cutoff on the sides. I just hope they last me a while.

cheers, jason