I'm seeing stars now looking into headlights, looking for MINIs.

I have no idea how the shutter works on the bi-xenon.
Is the shutter a part of the bulb?

 

Nah, you can easily change xenon bulbs.....just like halogens. The xenon bulb is located within the porjector and can easily be pulled out and replaced if it burns out or you want to change the temperature bulb. The only reason you would need to replace the ballast would be if the ballast itself were bad.

 

you're correct in that they're easy to change just like a regular halogen, but I believe they have the igniter built into the base of the bulb & I believe it was Joshknot who posted that they're a D1S bulb.
They're covered under warranty, so it should be a while before you have to worry about replacing them yourself.
Aftermarket (ebay) you can pick up a pair for under $100 or oem from Mini for a small fortune ... I suspect some good quality aftermarket bulbs are going to be closer to $200/pair, but by the time you're going to have to pay for a set yourself, the prices may be even more reasonable.

 

Yah, the bulbs aren't cheap.....just wanted to point out that you don't have to replace the WHOLE xenon setup like the ballasts etc. You can find a quality set of aftermarket bulbs for 120+ if you look around for a while.

 

You're talking about the "Angel Eyes", which is infact an option on BMWs..so you'll see a few without them. But now, the Mini doesn't have that ring around the lights like BMW, and they don't offer as an option for it either. The HIDs look different than the BMW HIDs

 

Huh? lol

HID's absolutely do have bulbs, and they can be changed (I changed mine). If your light stops working, chances are your ballast or igniter needs replacing, the bulbs start turning funky colors when they're not longer working properly.

Bulbs cost about $120

 

The bulbs are D2S for the 05-06 and D2R for the 02-04. They don't really use D1 bulbs anymore.

 

Actually, I think he's talking about the curvature of the lense in the projector. The curvature of the lense and it's distance and angle from the interior reflector can lead to a 'bluish' color along the cut-off of the line. As a car approaches this is why it "twinkles" blue and white and then becomes white as the car approaches.

Different cars have different lenses...some have more or less colors at the top of the cutoff.

You can see the blue fading into white that I think he was talking about

 

R56 uses D1S bulbs which has the built-in ignitor, whereas D2S (or R) uses external ignitor. I don't know which is the older design, though I'm guess D1S is, but D1S is being used more often now on newer cars. I'm not sure why, but maybe they updated the technology or maybe it's "cleaner" package (no extra wires to connect the bulb to the ignitor). It does require bigger lamp housing due to the built-in ignitor.
The HID on my R56 is a little warmer than natural daylight; when I turn it on during the day, the light is a bit yellowish. But I live in the northwest and daylight tend to be a bit more blue. Personally I like a whiter light on my car but warmer light is better in the rain (and fog), which we get alot here in the Northwest.

 

Does anyone actually know how to remove these bulbs from the headlight assembly? I want to change my bulbs to a slightly more white version. Many thanks everyone

 

The owner's manual will give you a more detailed instruction, but basically the access port is in the wheel well (very unconventional). There are two layers of covers (or maybe three, I don't remember) to remove before you get to the bulb.

 

I thought the wheel well only gave access to the fogs and the side lights?

 

You're absolutely right. My bad. For the xenon, you access it from under the bonnet. There's a cover on the back of the housing, directly behind the bulb. Once you open the cover, you will see the back of the square igniter. The bulb and the igniter is one unit.