Ok… we wanted white turn signal lenses but the dealer screwed us out of the chance to make the change so what follows is a bit of modification. If you have Xenon headlights and amber turn signal lenses, you can’t get the amber lens out of the headlamp without removing the turn signal reflector.

This was the case on the wife’s 2013 Cooper S Roadster.

You’ll need to remove the headlamp via four 10mm bolts (2 facing up and 2 facing forward).


Three have a tri-wing spring washers that kept getting stuck on the threads, so I held them closed with some pliers.

Do not rotate the fat grey nuts the bolts pass through. They aim your lights and keep them centered in the hood opening.

 

Now the headlight will lift slightly and pull forward. There is one wiring harness (pinch top and bottom and wiggle back to remove) and one hose for the headlamp washer (push the button on top of the clamp, and it’ll unclip towards the engine)

Got it out, now set it upside-down on a pillow or something so the lens doesn’t scratch.

 

Twist off and remove the access cover from the back and then twist and remove the bulb holder underneath.

You should now see the black plate on the back of the reflector dish, held in by two T25 Torx screws (it’s wired for the bulb holder). The top one is a tight fit but doable.

 

Once the screws are out, the black plate slides off 2 posts. It’s a tight fit, but carefully rock it back and forth while pulling straight back. One of the posts is keyed so it only fits one way.

You’ll now see the white back of the reflector dish held in by 4 T10 Torx screws. The top two are the problem. They are right against the curved plastic and blocked by the (power adjusting) Xenon mount. My T10 driver would barely grab them and fit at a 15 degree angle. You’ll need a new good quality T10 driver (or even a T10 ball driver). It has to be narrow and pretty long to get in there. Either way, these 4 screws come out (and eventually have to go back in).

 

Once the four screws are out, the reflector and lens come out together. There is a tab on either side that you can press in slightly and push the lens forward.

Always push from the back to avoid scratching the mirrored plastic. The orange lens will pop off and you're about there.

 

Reassembly is pretty straightforward. Be sure the keyed reflector post is on the bottom. 4 screws go back into the reflector dish. Two T25 screws into the mounting plate (again, only fits one way).

When putting screws back into plastic, it helps to turn them backwards with light pressure until they click into the threads. That way you don't have to cut new threads and they start easily.

Last shot is with the original clear bulb (didn't take the Dremel to the mirrored one yet).

 

Now another hitch; the lamp holder seems to be based on the lens color. Ours came with clear P21W (also 1057 or BA15s) bulbs behind the amber lenses. The tabs on a P21W bulb are 180 degrees apart. All the mirrored amber bulbs we could find out here are PY21W (also 1056 or BAU15s) (see http://www.donsbulbs.com).

That “Y” means the tabs are 150 degrees apart and the lamp will not fit. I Dremel’d one tab off and the lamp fit fine. The tabs are not part of the electrical contact, so the car doesn’t care. If you can find mirrored amber P21W lamps, you’ll be fine.

Best bet: pull your lamps out now, see what they are and order that. If you get LED lamps, be sure they have LEDs on the sides as well. It’ll show in the reflector.

Cheers,
Vince L.

 

Thnks a good set of instruction and the photo really help explain the process.

 

This is great. helped me on my R56 doing egg yolk removal.

Thanks for the write-up and photos!

 

Glad to hear it helped out.

Cheers,
Vince L.

 

any pics of the car?

 

Huh... I only have one from before I pulled the lenses out. The miss' has more but I'm not about to dig into her computer. Here's her ride on the side of an mountain road in Slovenia. I'll get a current one in a bit.

 

Alright, snapped one. The miss' would pitch a fit if she knew I snapped a pic between details, but here it is anyway...

Your turn Bolton.

Cheers,
Vince L.

 

LOL... Looks great, well done Vince!

 

heres mine before and after

 

Sweet. No idea who would prefer those garish lenses, but we're set.

 

Good to know... when I order my Roadster with Xenons I will be sure to add the $100.00 for the White Turn Signals option.

 

That would be BMW - because they can get customers to pay $100 to fit clear lenses and amber bulbs, which cost them no more.

$100 per car over, what?, a quarter of the two million Minis so far is a number you wouldn't turn down, even if you're as big as BMW.

 

Once upon a time... on a typical assembly line, yea it takes a premium to change something. But these things are each (essentially) a custom build with all components added at just the right moment to come together at the right spot... I hear you.

But given the time and effort after the fact, I would have dropped the $100 if the dealer had given us a chance.

 

Bingo. We paid more for a MINI because of the vast list of custom options. Which really is a nightmare for an assembly line that needs to pump out tons of cars.

 

It was impossible to economically customize cars like this... Now they can change models without stopping the line... Probably the only way you can get a car like the roadster without spending a (bigger) fortune. Did they even break 3K sold yet? Honda probably moved that many Civics in the time it took me to write this...