Interior/Exterior R53 Headlight help
#1
R53 Headlight help
So I’m a new owner of an R53 and currently working on getting upgrades. The whole head light situation on xenon halogen ect has me confused. Trying to decide how I can get much brighter lights than my stock 05 r53. Not exactly sure what headlights I have. I saw these from esctuning https://www.ecstuning.com/b-helix-pa...ini01hl-b~hlx/. Would these be plug and play for my car. The other challenge is finding a bright bulb that actually lights up the road. Something around 6500k. My current ones are practically useless anything after dusk. I would like all bulbs to be matching(high beems,driving and so on).
#2
I had Factory Xenon's in my 03 and have had a myriad of different headlights in last 5 years including switching to Halogen style for same reasons you state.
The headlight housings in your MINI now are OEM and cost wise do provide the best lighting when aftermarket bulbs are installed. Your headlight lenses just happen to have what I call cataracts. A hazing of lens that diminishes the intensity of the bulbs. I have your halogen factory headlights ( new set ) equipped with Sylvania ZXE bulbs. They work great and provide excellent illumination down the road at any speed.
This is what I have found so far with respect to headlight housings.
The pre-face xenons (2002-2004) had poor lighting and would overdrive the lights at 70 mph.
The face-lift xenons (2005/06 ) were not much better. At this point I started researching Halogen housings as you have now.
Aftermarket projector headlight housings typically use H1 bulbs. Any unit with H1 bulbs will be just as bad as what you have now with hazed over lenses or worse.
Installing HID kits in housings that have projector lenses designed for halogen bulbs will cast unwanted shadows on the road and always where you want the most lighting. It has to do with the LENGTH of the HID Bulbs being too close to the lenses.
If you are looking for inexpensive way to fix this, I would opt for new set of headlights same as you have now, and the Sylvania bulbs.
The headlight housings in your MINI now are OEM and cost wise do provide the best lighting when aftermarket bulbs are installed. Your headlight lenses just happen to have what I call cataracts. A hazing of lens that diminishes the intensity of the bulbs. I have your halogen factory headlights ( new set ) equipped with Sylvania ZXE bulbs. They work great and provide excellent illumination down the road at any speed.
This is what I have found so far with respect to headlight housings.
The pre-face xenons (2002-2004) had poor lighting and would overdrive the lights at 70 mph.
The face-lift xenons (2005/06 ) were not much better. At this point I started researching Halogen housings as you have now.
Aftermarket projector headlight housings typically use H1 bulbs. Any unit with H1 bulbs will be just as bad as what you have now with hazed over lenses or worse.
Installing HID kits in housings that have projector lenses designed for halogen bulbs will cast unwanted shadows on the road and always where you want the most lighting. It has to do with the LENGTH of the HID Bulbs being too close to the lenses.
If you are looking for inexpensive way to fix this, I would opt for new set of headlights same as you have now, and the Sylvania bulbs.
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ECSTuning (10-16-2017)
#3
GR has is pretty much covered
There is this option with the Helix /Depo if you want to go to Xenon:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...installed.html
There is this option with the Helix /Depo if you want to go to Xenon:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...installed.html
__________________
MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
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Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
#4
I had Factory Xenon's in my 03 and have had a myriad of different headlights in last 5 years including switching to Halogen style for same reasons you state.
The headlight housings in your MINI now are OEM and cost wise do provide the best lighting when aftermarket bulbs are installed. Your headlight lenses just happen to have what I call cataracts. A hazing of lens that diminishes the intensity of the bulbs. I have your halogen factory headlights ( new set ) equipped with Sylvania ZXE bulbs. They work great and provide excellent illumination down the road at any speed.
This is what I have found so far with respect to headlight housings.
The pre-face xenons (2002-2004) had poor lighting and would overdrive the lights at 70 mph.
The face-lift xenons (2005/06 ) were not much better. At this point I started researching Halogen housings as you have now.
Aftermarket projector headlight housings typically use H1 bulbs. Any unit with H1 bulbs will be just as bad as what you have now with hazed over lenses or worse.
Installing HID kits in housings that have projector lenses designed for halogen bulbs will cast unwanted shadows on the road and always where you want the most lighting. It has to do with the LENGTH of the HID Bulbs being too close to the lenses.
If you are looking for inexpensive way to fix this, I would opt for new set of headlights same as you have now, and the Sylvania bulbs.
The headlight housings in your MINI now are OEM and cost wise do provide the best lighting when aftermarket bulbs are installed. Your headlight lenses just happen to have what I call cataracts. A hazing of lens that diminishes the intensity of the bulbs. I have your halogen factory headlights ( new set ) equipped with Sylvania ZXE bulbs. They work great and provide excellent illumination down the road at any speed.
This is what I have found so far with respect to headlight housings.
The pre-face xenons (2002-2004) had poor lighting and would overdrive the lights at 70 mph.
The face-lift xenons (2005/06 ) were not much better. At this point I started researching Halogen housings as you have now.
Aftermarket projector headlight housings typically use H1 bulbs. Any unit with H1 bulbs will be just as bad as what you have now with hazed over lenses or worse.
Installing HID kits in housings that have projector lenses designed for halogen bulbs will cast unwanted shadows on the road and always where you want the most lighting. It has to do with the LENGTH of the HID Bulbs being too close to the lenses.
If you are looking for inexpensive way to fix this, I would opt for new set of headlights same as you have now, and the Sylvania bulbs.
#5
GR has is pretty much covered
There is this option with the Helix /Depo if you want to go to Xenon:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...installed.html
There is this option with the Helix /Depo if you want to go to Xenon:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...installed.html
#6
HID ( high intensity discharge) and Xenon are the same thing pretty much. Just different terms.
The link for headlights was in that link at the top: Post #10 in this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-question.html
The link for headlights was in that link at the top: Post #10 in this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-question.html
__________________
MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
#7
HID ( high intensity discharge) and Xenon are the same thing pretty much. Just different terms.
The link for headlights was in that link at the top: Post #10 in this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-question.html
The link for headlights was in that link at the top: Post #10 in this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-question.html
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#8
Yep, the HIP/xenon kit used is also in that MAIN link that he used, we dont carry those. But we do carry three versions of the projector headlights in that link.
__________________
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Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
#9
Looks like I’ll be ordering the blackout ones from ecstunning then. I tried looking for a good HID kit but it’s difficult choosing. I saw these from Kensun https://kensun.com/products/55_w_hid_kit_h7. Any experience with these or a better option for plug and play?
#10
#11
Yes, it will. Sorry, I forgot about this new kit we added across the site.
It was just added a little bit ago.
At the very bottom: ES#: 3246014
https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Lighting/Headlights/3
__________________
MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
#12
Yes, it will. Sorry, I forgot about this new kit we added across the site.
It was just added a little bit ago.
At the very bottom: ES#: 3246014
[URL="https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Lighting/Headlights/3?salesrep=mhecking&utm_source=northamericanmotori ng&utm_medium=forum&utm_content=mhecking&utm_campa ign=postreply"]https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Lighting/Headlights/3[/URL
It was just added a little bit ago.
At the very bottom: ES#: 3246014
[URL="https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Lighting/Headlights/3?salesrep=mhecking&utm_source=northamericanmotori ng&utm_medium=forum&utm_content=mhecking&utm_campa ign=postreply"]https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Lighting/Headlights/3[/URL