That's all I did as well. As illustrated in the manual, it's very easy to change. Just pop the bonnet, and open the back of the headlight cover. Twist and it's out if I remember correctly.

 

lacning,

Once again, thank you very much. I didn't even bother with the manual and figured it out as it was quite simple. Took me all of 5 Min's if that. Only caveat was my big hands and getting them in the right position to unscrew the bulb from the light housing.

I didn't really mean to sound like a total duffus, just wanted to know if there were any biggies to watch out for. I can't really say that things are super bright, but they appear to be a bit brighter. I especially notice it from side to side as I drove last night. Might have to try raising the lights a bit and see if that makes any difference.

 

The hoen site doesn't have h13's. But I did order the fog lights !!

 

Are these two bulbs the same? Just want to make sure before I just go with the cheaper of the two.

http://www.bulbs.com/eSpec.aspx?ID=1...tive%2c+%26+RV

http://aid-auto.stores.yahoo.net/phviplrebu90.html

Also, if anyone has any suggestions of a better replacement bulb for my 2007 R56S, by all means, share. I'm just looking to make driving on small country roads with lots of hills not as scary. Thanks.

 

different. the x-treme is brighter than the vision-plus. bulb life probably shorter. either way, i have a new pair of the x-treme's that i haven't had time to install yet. i couldn't resist.

 

Hoen bulbs are Made-in-Korea overpriced junk with a German-sounding name. Ask Daniel Stern about them if you want an earful.

Also, here is the skinny on the blue bulbs: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...blue/blue.html

 

Wow, what an awesome post. I was just thinking about this too. So, Anybody ever use the lightbulb grease. I just switched out a set of fog light bulbs and, i think it was autozone, they said you should really use this grease bulb, as it was like $1, I went with it. Any opinions? Also, anybody know what fog light bulb goes on an 08 S?

 

The Autozone guy is full of ..... grease. All he is doing is selling a penny's worth of grease for $1.

All the grease will do is make a mess in a very hard to clean area. The lights in a MINI are pretty well weatherproofed unless you drive through a flood, so there is not really any need to add grease to seal them.

 

I'm a little confused, you're saying that we should only buy products made in caucasian countries w/ appropriately caucasian sounding names? or are products made in asian countries junk in general, in your (or mr stern's) opinion.

Should I dump my Made-in-Korea overpriced junk cellphone and buy a Nokia phone?

Also, should I tell my friend, Ho-En Lai, that his name is too german sounding, and that he should change it something more asian sounding?

 

me thinks you took him a bit too seriously - and put a lot of words in his mouth.

no matter where a bulb was made i'd trust daniel stern over just about anyone else. The guy knows lighting.

 

My experience with Hoen H-4 headlight bulbs was that in a few weeks they became noticeably dimmer, and on inspection, there was a lot of blackish junk deposited on the inside of the envelopes (the glass bulb).

This is not supposed to happen with halogens, as the idea is that they have a pinch of a halogen metal in the vacuum, and the quartz envelope heats up enough that a chemical reaction removes deposited tungsten vapor from the envelope, and returns it to the filament, where it breaks down into tungsten again, renewing the filament. That is why halogen bulbs are brighter than simple incandescents, and why they stay brighter longer.

With the Hoen bulbs, this didn't happen, and that's why I call them JUNK.

BTW, they are made in Korea, and they are poor quality. The name "Hoen" (with an umlaut used only in Germanic languages) is an obvious attempt to conceal their origin and make them sound like German TUV quality, which they are not. Your friend doesn't pretend to be German by adding an umlaut to his name.

So krim, don't try to make me sound racist when I make a comment about a product quality issue, or you sound pretty racist yourself.

Hoen bulbs are indeed junk, as confirmed by the only real authority that I've ever found on the topic of auto lighting. If that doesn't suit you, tough, and I don't care where you put your cellphone.

 

I responded to a post targeting a specific ethnicity (korean products) with no proof of experience, data or anything of the like. Which I will admit that he has provided limited amounts in the above post.


OldRick, unfortunately everyone is racist to a degree, knowning or unknowning. But that is beside the point and unrelated to my earlier post.

I personally have no experience with this daniel stern, and after looking thru his website yesterday, i had found no mention of Heon or junk "made in korea". He does mention other brands and it was odd that he didn't mention this specific manufacturer or country of origin if they were indeed junk. He may be super-lighting specialist god or something (i have no experience), but if there is indeed junk out there and no one should buy, then it'd be nice if he said so. I have no intention of paying him a consulting fee to find out if a pair or $20 bulbs are indeed "made in korea junk".

eta: i just went to the hoen website and i see the two dots now and you are completely correct about that. i had not seen it typed w/ them before.

 

Plainly.

If I had said the the Chevy Malibu is cheap American junk, would that make me a racist? Korean means something or someone that originated in the COUNTRY of Korea. Period.

Get over yourself and stop seeing racism in others when it isn't there.

 

Not necessarily, the BMW lights are quite a bit brighter.

 

New member here - just wanted to add my two cents worth. I've had my 09 MCS for exactly one month and last night changed the original halogens to the Philips X-treme bulbs. I'm pretty happy with the change. The difference is not dramatic but definitely noticeable; I'd estimate maybe a 15-20% increase in brightness. Didn't detect much of a change in color. Very much worth the $35 I paid on eBay.

 

thanks for the info. I think I'm going with the Vision Plus ones.

 

Let us know how you like them. I am too thinking of getting the Vision Plus. I figure a 50% light increase with a 1-2 year lifespan is better than an 80% increase with a 3-6 month lifespan (X-Treme Power).

 

2nd gen owner here; switched to Silverstars and found them to be a waste of money. Instead I just keep my Hella fogs on at night these days. Passed multiple cops and none pulled me over. In fact I drove a friend's car in front of my Mini with them on and they were not blinding. Good stuff.

 

Where did you come across the lifespan information?

 

As a matter of fact, where did you get the increase in lighting numbers? Those number seem way inflated.

 

I wanted my MCS with HID lights but did not want to wait for them to build me one. I have installed aftermarket hids for http://www.mobilehid.com/. I have used there product in different cars and i am very happy. There H13 kit has a HID low beam and a HID high beam. (VERY BRIGHT)Very little mods to do the converison. I did have a problem with a ballast in another car but i sent the ballast back and i recieved a new kit in two days with no questions asked.

I will also be ordering HIDs for the fog lights. I am just waiting for the weather to get warmer so i can work on it in comfort.

 

Don't mean to answer for someone else but I can tell you where the claimed "80% brighter" came from for the Philips X-treme Power - it's printed right on the packaging. Now, what baseline Philips used to make that claim is anyone's guess. As for the bulb life, I did read somewhere online (sorry but can't remember exactly where) that the expected life of the Philips is about 350 hours. That's why I've turned off the daytime running light function and I'm carrying the OEM bulbs in my MINI just in case one of the new bulbs fail at an inopportune time.

 

We have an Oxygen Blue Cooper automatic with regular headlights. I'm older, 65, which means that I don't see as well at night as you younger motorers. On top of that we are in Tucson, which for the most part means no streetlights - it can be dark here gang.

Anyway, I think the stock lights are fine.

 

350 hours is ridiculous -that's what the silverstars last. I have yet to see data on both Philips X-treme and Vision Plus. I'll try calling them on Monday.

Don't take this the wrong way but does it rain in Tucson? Then again I'm coming from a previous car with much bigger headlamp assembly.

 

toolazy, I hope you find out from Philips that the bulb life is a lot longer. I've owned many cars in my lifetime and I've rarely had a bulb burn out. Please let us know what you find out.