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I think they would fit the design of the R53 quite well.

I have them on my R56... and they are pretty darn good... (not as good as say the Baja Designs tho) ... but a heck of a lot less costly !!

Very similar looks to the Cibie.




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I have these on my R50.

 

shrevemini....How do they work... do they throw light down the road pretty well?

Any links to the turn/DRL lights?

Any other R53 owners have setups they'd like to share here... Photos are great too !!



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So Heres my dilemma... looking at aux driving lights.

The MINI R53 was designed very well by Frank Stephenson... I'm a design 'nerd'... and the iteration of the R53 and the following r56 designs were very well executed in a sea of 'blah' designs of the time... he was instrumental in so many other cars etc... and just bolt on some lights, regardless of performance just won't do for me.

I absolutely love the performance of the Baja designs lamps, Clearwater, and other true high output LED designs... BUT... the style is just too "Digital' for the lines and intent of the design of the R53 JCW... Even though there are lots of 'circles' in the designs... I feel that it doesn't integrate well with the look of the car...which is important to me. Just have a look at the video at the bottom... all of this was intentional on Franks part.

So... I'm back to some more "Analog' looking designs... BUT.... And its a big "but".... the driving lights for my car will still have to be excellent lighting 'devices' as well...
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1) The PIAA LP56, without the grill

2) The Cibie Mini LED OSCAR in chrome.

3) The MINI-factory R56 LED kit in chrome (easy to adapt to R53)


All of them have, to me, a "Modern Classic" look... All are priced about the same... and all have a good rep of being a good lighting device... they all have the "wings" look to the light.... The MINI-factory LED's have the genuine-mini thing going for them... but have not been able to compare them as lighting devices... and the Cibie must be sourced from the UK or EU.


What do you people think?

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PIAA LP560

Cibie OSCAR Mini

MINI Factory LED Auxillary lights for R56/60 etc.

Heck... I don't even like the "bolt on" John Cooper Garage Aero body kit that was an afterthought to the original design... but thats another topic all-together.




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Which do you like most?

I really don't like the stock aux light look, myself. I think they just look too minute. Mini's had a very strong rally heritage - google 'old Mini ralley' and look at the images. Note that the rally lamps used on those cars were as big as the headlights. Now compare that with the stock look for the new MINIs. This is the ONE area where I have always thought the gen1 cars got the design wrong - the MINI add on accessory lights just look too tiny. Anyhow, that's my take. My personal opinion would be to go with the biggest ones (and the brightest) so they don't look 'lost' on the front end. Those all look good to me though.

EDIT: What's the color like on the Osram CBB H9 high beams? They're supposed to be around 7000k and the stock xenons are around 5500k. Just curious if they are too blue to go with the stock xenons... (mine are still *plenty* bright).

P.s. I strongly dislike the PIAA guards - but the lights themselves look good.

 

+1 on the factory rally lights looking a little on the small side. I also think the look of regular reflectors fits the look of the car more vs a cluster of individual LED’s.

I keep picturing the MINI wings logo when looking at the Cibiē’s and I would customize them with “MINI” if I had a set. MINI should have used that as the OEM R56 design instead of the thin bar and MINI lettering.

 

Thank you, sincerely, for the input ... great discussion points...

That original MC Mini does set a standard for looks ... those 7” Marchal lights matched the size of the main beams well.... and is a great design reference.

I’ve seen larger lights mounts in the factory rally-bracket locations (like the factory or VIP mounts) .. and for me ... they stick up a little high in relation to the hood for my aesthetics.

in that location, above the bumper, in front of the grille...for me...I’d be inclined to stick with a 5”-ish size.

BUT...

As you point out so well ... the larger lights ... (for me meaning 7” lights) ...still look very balanced if mounted a bit lower on the Detroit brackets mentioned above... and they would have a bit better range though the LED emitters are the same on the 5” and the 7” oscars... the 9” Super-Oscars have a higher output emitter...but I think may push the design interaction to the extreme at 9” though lighting performance would benefit.

I do like that the full range of Cibie Oscar lighting is a shallow light while still being a great lighting device with good optics..

I could easily mask/etch/dye the mini logo onto the lights ... though the Cibie brand is iconic in its own right... and gives me more to ponder

hmm 🤔





I looked at the PIAA lights with the grill off ... and they have a very tall plastic lens that doesn’t match well for me with original design intent of the R53 🧐












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I like the Cibie the most ... and pondering it ... the 7” on the DT brackets feels good


as for the CBB bulbs ... Osram has their own rating ... I looked into it a bit before buying for my other Mini also ... as 7000k would be almost violet-blue ... but not the case .... I’d say they were more of a 5500k white with just a hint of blue that matches the factory HID’s

I looked around the web before I bought them for info and signed pointed to them being 5000-5500 in reality







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2x Hella 500 halogen driving lights on OEM brackets.
I would like to find brackets that clamp in front of & behind the grille so that the lamps could be 'rear-mounted' rather than 'bottom-mounted'. They would be slightly lower & slightly closer together. They work extremely well as they are, though.
Note: OEM brackets can be fitted on either side.


Hella 500s

 

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Do these run at significantly lower temps than standard bulbs?

I’m thinking about going with LED’s with the thought that they run cooler and might eliminate off gassing from the plastic taillight housing which puts a film on the lens.

At least that’s what I think happened to my original taillights because the car was always garaged and only had about 30K miles. It wasn’t terrible, but you could definitely see a slight haze on the lenses. Now I’m trying to keep some new Euro taillights as clear as possible.

 

I doubt they run 'significantly' lower temps.

I have multiple 53's... some have the hazy rear lights some don't... all have stock bulbs... funny thing is... the one with the worst haze is a one owner car... only garaged... friends dad had it since new... stock bulbs.

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