I hope this is the right forum for this. 1.)For those of you with the OEM driving lights, does anyone know what brand (Hella, PIAA, KC, etc.) they are, and what the diameter is? 2.) For those of you who added aftermarket driving lights, how much difference in visibility did you notice and what brand did you go with? TIA

 

All I know is now that I have the Bi Xenons, I will never have anything else

 

I'm glad you like your Bi-Xenons, I intend to order them too. But you didn't really answer either of my questions did you?

 

No, sorry. I wish I could have been more of a help. Just wanted to bump it up to the top and hope someone might be able to

 

I pretty sure the driving lamps are completely MINI designed in-house. I recently changed the bulbs on my OEM driving lamps and didn't see any labels other than MINI. I haven't measured the diameter of the lamps (it's cold outside ) but can tell you that if you want you can change the bulbs, they're standard H3 12V55w (same as Hella 500 or 700 lights.) Some aftermarket driving lamps may be stronger or have better bulbs (e.g. PIAA 520 uses 85w H3 lamps and the PIAA 540 uses H7s!) If I had the chance again, I'd go with one of the PIAA lamps rather than the OEM. The OEM are expensive and although I do notice a difference with my low-beam Xenons (I've got an 06) and halogen highs, the bi-Xenons on the 07+ might negate some of benefits of the driving lamps.

I've noticed that the driving lamps don't project much farther (the Xenons already have a great projection) than high-beams but they do help a decent amount at the periphery (e.g. the side of a dark road). It's not a substantial improvement for the price MINI charges and as I said would suggest aftermarket if you have the inclination to save money and DIY.

 

I don't have the OEM lights or the Xenons but my PIA lights are much brighter than the Halogen high beams.