Has anybody installed the OEM lights themselves? How hard is this? What kind of switch do you get for the lights and where does it go??

 

I have seen the original Rally Lights for the Mini Cooper, the only problem is that they only work when you turn on the high beam lights, I would recommend the Rally Lights sold by http://www.mini-madness.com they are a pair of Piaa lights and come with an external switch, so you can turn on you’re lights at any moment.

 

I got the OEM rallys, and they look good. I am annoyed that I have to have my high beams on the have them light up. How big a deal would it be to bypass the high-beam circuit and have them come on any time I hit the switch?

 

>>Has anybody installed the OEM lights themselves? How hard is this? What kind of switch do you get for the lights and where does it go??

I bought the light kit from the parts department and installed them myself. Not for the faint of heart - it's about a four hour job. The kit is very nice and comes with it's own switch and a template to cut the panel under the steering wheel which is where it goes. It also comes with a wiring harness and all necessary connections.

You have to pull the trim panel around the speedo, it pops out after you remove two screws underneath. You then have to remove the "rally" bars on either side of the radio and then remove the radio, as the wiring harness splices into the radio harness. You also have to remove the kick panel on the passenger side to gain access to the control module on the pax lower right side that the harness also splices into.

You also have to punch through the rubber grommet under and behind the steering wheel that carries the car's harness to feed the light harness through into the engine compartment. You mount a fuse box with a supplied bracket behind the inertia switch. You also tap into the positive in the factory fuse box. Then it's just a matter of running the wires up through the bonnet and out to the brackets (which must be riveted into place with some precise measuring).

You will need torx bits to remove the rally bars and the radio, I think #25 and #15, you may need a #20 as well.

It is a lot of work, but it can save you anywhere from $200 to $600 depending on what dealer you use.

Good luck!!


Randy

 

Randy,
thanks for the info, looks like I'm in for a little work this weekend. My
dealer wants $400 for the installation and since thats more than I ended up
paying for them I was like, duh I don't think so.

 

I called up a dealer the other day about the lights and the girl there told me that they got "floppy" after a while since they were just mounted to the grill. Has anyone noticed this? I assume by floppy, she meant that they didnt appear to be fastened very well or something....

 

>>I called up a dealer the other day about the lights and the girl there told me that they got "floppy" after a while since they were just mounted to the grill. Has anyone noticed this? I assume by floppy, she meant that they didnt appear to be fastened very well or something....

I have heard this complaint from some people too. Is it poor placement, poor installation, or a poor product?

I'm starting to worry because I going to have the driving lights installed too.

 

I'm getting the rally lights too and I want to be able to use them without the high beams. Does anyone know if the dealer wiil make it so they are independent of the the rest of the lights?

 

>>I have seen the original Rally Lights for the Mini Cooper, the only problem is that they only work when you turn on the high beam lights, I would recommend the Rally Lights sold by... so you can turn on you’re lights at any moment.
>>

Rally Lights have a TRUE function, not just to "look sweet as you drive down the street".

They ONLY come on when you have the high beams engaged, because no other traffic should be coming towards you. They are for better sight during the dark hours. Not to blind on coming traffic.

Have a deer attack your car on a non-lighted road and you have a reason to want them on.

To drive down Maple, 17th Street or Main Ave in Podunk wherever, is not a reason to have your Rally Lights "ON" when the headlights come on.

 

Point well taken, sndwave. Thanks. After thinking a lot about this today, I realized that it makes sense to have them on when the brights come on. The only reson I would like them to be independent of the rest of the lighting system is because I was thinking they would make cool daytime running lights. But, I would actually prefer them with the brights on.

 

actually the reason the come on with only the high beams is a USDOT standard. Ever notice your fog lights turn off when you turn on the highbeams? Exactly the same reason, USDOT regulations state you can only have a maximum number of lights on at any given time. Highbeams +rally lights + turnsignal running lights = 6 bulbs. Low beams + turnsignal running lights + fog lights = 6 bulbs. Add rally lights into the latter equation and you'd be screwed....don't ask me how i know.....
alex

 

Anyone that would pay $400 for a set of fog lamps and then pay $600 to get them installed should have their head examined.

You can get a very high quality set of Hella or similar fog/driving lamps for about $75 and then get them installed by a local auto electrical shop for about an hour's labor with the switch connected or linked to anything you want or by itself.

I am going to have a nice set of yellow colored Hellas or similar that I can turn on or off as I please with a hidden switch. I will spend less than $125 for the whole thing, have auxillary lights that are the color I want and operate exactly how I want, and will just shake my head and keep my mouth shut when I see people running around with the MINI brand lights that are likely the same Hella or Piaa or similar lights with MINI plastic covers on them.

 

>>Anyone that would pay $400 for a set of fog lamps and then pay $600 to get them installed should have their head examined.

Not sure where you got your figures from. If your dealer is going to charge you $600 for installation, you should have your head examined. My lights and installation by the dealer was less than half your $1000 quote.

The price of something is not always the dollar amount. Being my only car to use, I have lights that give better vision at night where I do half of my driving, and I didn't void any warranty to my electrical system.

 

>>The price of something is not always the dollar amount. Being my only car to use, I have lights that give better vision at night where I do half of my driving, and I didn't void any warranty to my electrical system.
>>

Unless an an aftermarket part is responsible for the damage, you warranty is as good as when you drove off the lot...

Rocketboy_X

 

Aftermarket lights that are connected to the battery and a single isolated switch simply are not going to void any sort of warranty.

My local dealer's list price is $400 for the lights and $432 for installation. I took a good look at the Mini lights and although I did not take the time to figure out the exact manufacturer that made them, there is only a short list of what they are likely to actually be. The $400 price tag is for a $50 pair of generic lights and a set of $350 plastic covers with the MINI logo on them.

I'm not saying that they are not nice, but I just don't think that they are worth $832 when I know that I can get something nicer and custom for a tiny fraction of the cost with the added benefit of having something that is not just a standard dealer add-on accessory.

Give me a couple weeks to take delivery of my MCS and do this first custom mod and then I can give full details of what I did and how much money it cost me. I will likely use a top-notch lighting system such as Hella or PIAA and still save hundreds.



_________________
~Yucca Patrol~


"Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement."

 

When I first found out about how the rally lights work, I was a little upset, but now I think it is great. I can have the lights come on with my brights and dim at the same time. If they didn't dim with the regular headlights, it would be a lot more complicated to turn off the rally lights and dim the brights at the same time. Also any time I would want to use the rally lights, I would also want to use the high beams. It is a bit more expensive, even with installing yourself, but I think that the added functionality is worth it, now that I have them.

 

Hi. I just got the Mini-Madness PIAA light kit for Xmas :smile: and am planning on doing the install this weekend. A couple of questions for those who have done this before:

1) The factory mounts attached with 5/32 pop rivets. Do these hold up? I'm very skeptical, especially given the Mini's stiff ride and the weight of the PIAAs. I'm going to see if I have enough clearance to use some 1/2'' ss bolts and aircraft nuts intead. Any reason why this would be a bad idea?

2) I'd like to wire mine into the highbeam circuit. Where do I tap in? Unless I missed it, I don't think the factory manual includes a complete wiring diagram, which seems like a major omission.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hey guys (& gals), do you know you can buy these products from the UK including shipping for significantly less $$$$? For example, Minispares has the OEM light kit for 120 pounds! (=$192.42 USD) Add shipping and you are still nowhere near what MINI dealer or aftermarket suppliers want here. Price around. Its a global market.

 

That's where I got mine from, total with two day shipping was $247 US

 

Does anone know if these lights can be wired direct (off battery with relay & separate switch) without utilizing the factory wiring & ECU? They would then be independent of the high beams. What possible problems would arise? Other than violationm of some obscure DOT regulation?

 

I'm about to wire up a set of PIAAs into my high beam circuit, but I've now read quite a few posts on MCO from people who do NOT want their driving lights to switch with the high beams. I've had driving lights on 3 different cars now and have always wired them into the high beams. Seems sub-optimal and unsafe to have to dim the high beams THEN fumble around for a switch every time another car approaches.

Am I missing something? Only thing I can come up with is that these folks are setting up their lights for rallying/endurance competition, not street use. Is that the case?

 

XAlfa, are you wiring with the factory harness or are you wiring it independently? If the latter, would you share your install method? Did you use the factory brackets?

 

My site has a bunch of "How Tos" on it including the official driving light directions.

http://www.bridger.us/mini/howto/

 

Thanks Gabe. I was aware of your site. It has a lot of valuable info. I was looking for an alternative installation method though. I'll probably use the factory brackets but wire differently if possible.

XAlfa, which PIAA lamps are you installing? Where'd you get them?

 

Hi. I'm using the Mini-Madness kit, which includes PIAA 520s and the factory mounts. I've already got them mounted and think they look very nice, although the mounts seem a bit flimsy for the weight of these lights. I'll probably do the wiring this weekend.

I'll use the PIAA harness and switch, and a combination of the PIAA instructions and Mini-Madness 'custom' instructions for the MC/S. I now that both Acetonic and CMinigo have posted on their experiences with the install of this kit, but niether wired theirs into the highbeams.

What I've done in the past is just identify the hot lead to the highbeam on one side, then tap into it for the switching circuit power. The PIAA kit includes a side-by-side connector for this purpose.