I purchased (yesterday) a lightly used 05 MCS with JCW, and drove it 400 miles back home. Awesome car, but then you all know that. This is a very lightly optioned vehicle - basically no options other than LSD. The original dealer installed the Aero kit & JCW. Very light - the acceleration is phenomenal. Chili Red with black roof and mirrors. The purchase and tracking down the history of the vehicle as I was considering it was an interesting exercise.

At any rate, I found while driving home last night that the halogens are marginal - very easy to overdrive on the highway. I see reference to some Philips bulbs here on the site - any positive thoughts on those? I'd also like to add some driving lights. Are there options for the Aero grille? Most of the setups I've seen have the standard. There also appears to be mixed reviews of the Mini driving lights, in favor of a PIAA or Alta solution?

What is the G2 on an IPOD hookup? I know that Mini has one, are there others?

Thanks for any insight.

 

For replacement H7s, see http://danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

For driving lights, see http://www.hellausa.com or http://www.piaa.com Both sell driving light kits along with the usual vendors (eg.., madness, alta, etc). It depends upon where you want to place the driving lights. Proper driving light placement is as HIGH as possible (which usually means on the upper grille where the MINI lights go)

 

THe Xenon headlights can be retrofitted, but unless you get them really cheap from a junkyard the price is astounding. Get the 65W CLEAR H7 bulbs from Daniel Stern. They will help but don't expect a night and day difference.

Driving lights can be great. The MINI OEM lights are a joke. The control circuit looks and works grear. The lights however are pitiful. I replaced mine with Cibie Tangos from Daniel Stern. They look the same but they have a much brighter and usable beam pattern.

Also, take the MINI out to a suitable place and aim the headlights. My Xenons were aimed too low. After a few minutes with a screwdriver mine are great. I'm pretty sure that yours will see some improvement also.

Rawhyde