I have this kit on a 2011 R56....

They are not "better" than performance of the factory H13 halogen headlights.


This "kit" runs a 25-watt HID bulb/balast ... which is noticeably dimmer than both the factory HID with 35-watt bulbs... or the factory halogen bulb...

Factory halogen equipped R56’s ... I got a better quality, DOT/SAE H13 bulb like the Sylvania Silverstar Ultras… light as well, or slightly better, than the HID 25w kits IMO

If the lenses on your Headlights are clear (easy to polish and protect if not).... and you have good bulbs in there that are aimed correctly.... you will have a great setup.... I don't recommend LED bulb replacements either... most have poor beam patterns... and really not ‘better’ ... and are costly

Most people buy this kit for the 'looks' ... not because of the lighting ability or lack thereof.

I have seen this HID kit equipped with the 35-watt Morimoto D5S bulb/ballast upgrade... but that cost is around $350 for the bulb/ballast assemblies for both sides.
https://www.headlightrevolution.com/...S_2?quantity=1
There are cheaper 35w D5S bulbs out there... but they are just that ... cheap.

Are they cool looking ... sure.
Worth the money in terms of lighting.... Not in my opinion.

For looks, this kit is definitely an upgrade.
And…
If you invest in full 35w D5S assemblies… they will come close to the performance of the factory MINI 35w HID Xenons


My 2¢


Halogen:



Bi/Xenon darker retrofit ‘Titanium’





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I had the halogens and upgraded to this kit --- they are MUCH BRIGHTER!!!

Sorry, that's just BS that the guy above says they are not as bright as the halogen....he's just looking at the numbers (25 watt), not the actual light output.

 

I have the same experience. The difference in the light output was very noticeable in my case.

 

I too am surprised by Mountainhorse's post. The effective light output is twice as good at least compared to the Halogens but it's not just the brightness, it's also the much improved light distribution. It's very close to the factory Xenons regardless it's 'just' 25 Watts instead of 35 Watts. The D8 bulb ist a much more modern design compared to the older D1S standard. Hope 'niceducatigirl' is reading this as she'd vastly benefit from retrofitting this kit.

 

I can understand where people may see "greatly improved"

But I stick by my evaluation.... Side by side... both same year cars... Halogen vs this upgrade HID kit.

I found the beam pattern to be improved, especially in terms of crisp cutoff... but overall lighting down a dark mountain road with low beams... not so much "improvement" as detailed above.

The halogen high beams with with nice clear OEM housings and the DOT/SAE-legal upgraded capsules.... I found much more effective lighting than the upgrade HID kit on "high beam" .

Again... I am comparing fresh upgraded off the rack DOT-approved Silverstar Ultra halogen capsules in near new (clear, not fogged) OEM halogen light housings. .... and NOT 'tired' stock halogen capsules with fogged lenses. Many people upgrade to this kit after their stockers have some serious age on the capsules and fogged lenses... and I can see where a vast improvement would be seen.

This is my take...and only one of many valuable opinions out there.

Other vehicles that use the 25 watt D5S bulb, like Silverado pickups have many wanting better performance out of their lights.

A couple of big reasons that MINI went with a sub-industry-standard (for USA) 25 watt D5S...
-Easier integration
-Meets the Euro standards for headlights.

After seeing just how much better the 35watt Morimoto HID upgrades were in my friends Silverado... I'll be upgrading to them for next summer with other maint/upgrade items planned.

On the other hand.... the 2011 MCS with MINI-factory 35W HID's, and housings that are a little different... have MUCH better overall lighting performance than this kit, IMO, and/or the factory halogens in my opinion.... side by side. I wish that MINI offered an upgrade to the factory housings.... but understand that would probably have been a nightmare with install (levelers etc)


This IS a very nice quality kit with great projector looks though... the car does look better IMO with the kit.

ECS's price on this kit is PHENOMENAL!
I will probably be buying a spare set to have in case I loose one on my car from rock or other impact as they will not be available as spares in the future since this kit is being phased out. The kit in my R56... LOVE the looks and the beam cutoff ... looking forward to bringing the light output and performance to near that of the factory HID-projectors as installed by MINI with the same-as-factory-wattage (35w) modules.




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Ttt

 

Is the xenon retrofit kit suitable for replacing factory xenon lights or are the units different in some way? I want to swap my chrome housing factory lights for the black or gray versions, and the retrofit kit is a lot less expensive. I'm thinking there has to be a catch?

 

It is possible, yes… but you will downgrading the lighting performance of your car using this kit compared to your factory HID projectors

It will not be plug/play.. you will still need to recode the car at a dealer or someone with coding skills..

You will loose the washer function of your stock lights and this ‘kit’ does not function with the auto leveling feature (another reason that these are only 25w compared to factory auto-leveling 35w)

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^What he said. The retrofit kit uses 25w HID bulbs, which are only rated at 2000 max lumens, because that is the limit of output in Europe whiteout adding some kind of headlight washing system. The OEM Xenon kit uses 35w HID bulbs, which can give upwards of almost double that output.

 

Yep thats how MINI got around the headlight washers needed, it had to have a lower 25w system. Otherwise they would have to have a washer retrofit also.

But when xenon headlights get old ( color temp changes ) or the lens fades it (oxidization from sunlight) (make the output less). Then it may be worth it.

 

THIS bub/balast assembly is the KEY to get as close to OEM HID performance out of this kit... the 25W it comes with PALES in comparison to the factory installed HID's on these Gen2's...

I saw similar before and after results on my friends silverado when going from the 25watt D5S to the 35watt D5S.

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ECS… I see you are an authorized MoriMoto vendor … can you offer the D5S 35W upgrade assemblies … if so … what price?



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Thanks for posting this @smeagol . I had the same issue where the lights would subtly flicker only when the engine was running, on my 2007 R56. I also could only get it to see the nice on setting once. Your post was what I needed. In the end the setting that needed to be changed was PWM_AL. Setting that to wert_01 did it.

 

Sorry just saw this: these ? https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/D5S/

 

I think I found my answer.......

 

Those are the ones!! I just wonder if they're worth it. Lots of $$$ - funny the high beam intensity is about the same somehow.

 

I have ran morimoto (good stuff), but have not ran the D5S bulbs.


Update** For people that have factory Xenon or the genuine retrofit and they are faded:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...lacements.html

 

I replaced the stock HID bulbs on an Acura TSX with Morimoto HID bulbs, wasn't at ALL happy with them; output was crap --- swapped them back and they went into the trash....so I don't want that to happen here.