Good morning,

As I approach the delivery of my MCS in January, I am seriously considering
getting high-beam HID's too. Are their any aftermarket-kits that allow for both low-beam and high-beam HIDs? $400 for the driving lights seems high, when I can get highbeam HIDs for around $500. Tho I must admit, the driving lights look cool...

Or... Driving light HID's? Would have to wire an alarm to those badboys, tho. People I'm sure would love to rip em off! When I drive to northern MI for summer weekends or ski-trips, my goal is to see far- quite far :smile:

Thanks in advance,

-Matt

 

I think HID's are very slick and wish that I would have ponied up for them when I got my car...

 

Hella offers some nice Xenon driving lights

 

I would not recommend xenon for your high beam.

Xenons require a lengthy warm-up time. Their life is also determined by how many cycles (turn on and off) they go through. It becomes a problem when you try to "flash" your high beam. It is sort of like turning your engine on and then quickly off without warming up your car. It is not good.

BMW's bi-xenon is totallly different. When they converted from xenon to bi-xenon, they kept the halogen high beam bulbs for flashing and DRL. They use the low-beam xenon for high beam by moving the light pattern, so you are not getting any more light. It is just angled up further.

Finally, MINI halogen high beams are very very good.

 

>>Finally, MINI halogen high beams are very very good.

It's interesting that you say that because I've been thinking how much I'm NOT impressed by the high beams on my MINI (or the low beam xenons either for that matter). I've already adjusted the lights once to raise them up a bit but I still feel like my old E36 BMW has better lighting and it doesn't even have xenons.

 

Hmmm Robyn this is very interesting.... My old E36 had by far the worst headlights I have ever seen. One time I picked up a friend at the airport and his first comment was "did you forget to turn on your headlight?" E36s did have awesome high beams though.

How far did you adjust your xenons? How close is your "cutoff" from the horizon? I wish that our xenons would throw more light toward the center, but I already think it is a million times better than my E36. I guess it is hard to compare without having two cars next to each other. Maybe you can find another MINI owner in Jersey and park side by side to compare?

 

DID- Thanks for the info, wow- lot's of choices! I noticed that the
Cadillac XLR has high-beam HID's- they seem to be pretty
effective? (I think their another seperate bulb)

I dropped by my dealer and drove his old car, the Xenon's
at night are ok. But having had a rental 528 (old version) in
Europe last year with Xenons- they don't measure up to that
:smile:

Caio & Thanks!

-Matt

 

>>BMW's bi-xenon is totallly different. When they converted from xenon to bi-xenon, they kept the halogen high beam bulbs for flashing and DRL. They use the low-beam xenon for high beam by moving the light pattern, so you are not getting any more light. It is just angled up further.

That's not quite right - in bi-Xenon BMW's (like our '02 325i), the same Xenon bulb is used for both high and low beams, but in the low beam setting, there is a motorized shield used as a cutoff. When high beams are turned on, the shield moves out of the way. The bulb is still in the same position, but it is no longer obstructed by the shield.

 

Interesting... I just got my friend (and MYSELF too!) a set of PIAA Platinum 1100x driving lights. Nice very compact units, all metal, with a chrome surround and sealed lamps. they are super white Xenon gas filled tungsten filament lamps. I had them on my Volvo V70 and they COOK! AMAZING light output. If you want long throw driving lights in a very effective color temperature, don't look further. They can be found for less than the $250 list price. Mine were $179 a set. (from Dirty Parts, in Culver City, CA&gt I am planning on mounting them either inside the upper grill, or in the lower grill, maybe in the blanked out areas on the edges.

Now, there is SO MUCH BS in the marketing of lighting these days, I feel the need to scoop away the BS with this long and boring piece by ME about lighting technology. Here goes. (feel free to skip it if you know this already!)

H.I.D. stands for (Hype, mis-INFORMATION for DUMMIES) . Well, actually, it stands for High Intensity Discharge. This describes only one way to make light. All the lamps and lights out there that say "HID Super White" and stuff like that are lying. HID is an Arc light. There are four states of matter in this world: Solid, Liquid, Gas, and PLASMA! Now, Plasma is really bright stuff. It happens when a material (It could be just about any element) is excited (with LOTS of extra energy) to the point where all the electrons whizzing around the nucleus of those atoms get flung off and swirl about freely. Lots of light is the result. Several thousand volts are necessary to get the Xenon gas (under VERY high pressure) to attain the state of Plasma! That explains the warning stickers on our HID headlights. Don't mess with them... These lamps will probably outlast your car, since they outlast "Halogen" lamps and THEY outlast regular lamps by a mile. Here's why: HID's have no filament. They are simply a couple of (usually tungsten) rods close enough to each other to create a nice fat arc (a long lasting spark) in a concentrated pure xenon atmosphere. That is the load of energy needed to kick the electrons loose, and once they are, the voltage can be reduced to a lower level. (maybe 3500 volts... OUCH!) Now we should talk color temperature. HID's are naturally high color temp. That's because they are frikkin' HOT. BLUE-WHITE hot. The higher the temp, the whiter, and eventually bluer, the light. That's why regular lamps look yellow: not as hot. There is no tint on HID lamps, so you get all the light they make. Don't bother with those dark blue colored lamps: you will loose much of the precious light they make. Rather: go with "Super Whit", not "Blue White". This arc is very consistent, and it does get HOT. heat is the enemy. Failures are usually the result of the envelope overheating and bursting. Watch out! Hot glass shrapnel. Envelopes burst when they get hot, usually from something cooking on the outside surface, like finger oil, dust, plastic bag etc. What happens is the oils cook, then char, and that black patch prevents heat (and light) from escaping. The area heats up even hotter and the very tough high-temp glass softens, then pops from the high internal pressure. That pressure can be 30 atmospheres! (an atmosphere is about 15 PSI) NEVER touch the bulb even with clean fingers. Use clean white paper only (not from a magazine). Same thing goes for "halogen" or Quartz halogen" lamps. They are a very different animal. They depend on an entirely different process, with the same gas, and that is the source of alot of confusion. Here's the poop: Most light bulbs use a tungsten filament in a vacuum. It gets hot because of electrical resistance, and the vacuum keeps it from burning out. In a halogen lamp, the filament can burn much hotter because the filament is constantly being repaired! When a filament lamp burns out it is because the filament has evaporated. That causes the black looking coating inside the envelope. halogen lamps use the Halogen Cycle. That is a process that makes the evaporated tungsten get re-deposited onto the filament, so it gets repaired when it gets too thin. (there's more, but even I have my boredom limits!). This process allows for a thinner and therefore more resistive filament: Hotter: Whiter light! "Quartz Halogen" refers to the fact that the glass envelope is made from quartz glass to resist the higher temps of the lamp better. It still gets too hot and soft if there is a blackened area. Halogen refers to a family of gasses that exhibit the halogen cycle. Xenon is just one member of this family. It's not arcing, and is running cooler than HID lamps, but it still is much brighter and longer lasting than regular vacuum lamps. Quality comes into play here. High quality lamps will far outlast low ones. PIAA make (or use) one of the best. They last a loooooooooooong time. I would definitely consider replacing my stock halogen high-beams with some PIAA ultra-white lamps. I use the daytime running lights, and that means my high-beams are running at a lower voltage (yellower, lower temp!). That is not great for he lifetime of the lamp since the halogen cycle works best at very high temps. We'll see how long they last.

So: Beware of HID HYPE. HID is expensive, so if you see HID for 200 bux, is is likely to be BS. Eventually, like most tech products, it will get cheaper. For now: not. BTW: Did you know that all European (not Japanese) cars with HID are required to be self-leveling systems? Minis included. That is because of the far brighter and more glaring light quality they produce. That's why you won't see leveling lights in a WRX: only adjustable.

That's all I got for now... Hope you liked it..

lekfx

 

That might not be totally true. The STi is the only WRX to come with xenons, but I'm not sure if they are auto-leveling. Point taken though.

Nice write-up.

 

lekfx, top notch writeup :smile:

Those $30 "ebay" HID look alike bulbs suck. I think I'm going to
get a set of the PIAA Platimum 1100x lights eventually. Seems
like the only way to go :smile:

caio,

-Matt

 

>>>>BMW's bi-xenon is totallly different. When they converted from xenon to bi-xenon, they kept the halogen high beam bulbs for flashing and DRL. They use the low-beam xenon for high beam by moving the light pattern, so you are not getting any more light. It is just angled up further.
>>
>>That's not quite right - in bi-Xenon BMW's (like our '02 325i), the same Xenon bulb is used for both high and low beams, but in the low beam setting, there is a motorized shield used as a cutoff. When high beams are turned on, the shield moves out of the way. The bulb is still in the same position, but it is no longer obstructed by the shield.
Andy,
I know it is a motorized shield. I was just trying to simplify my explanation :smile:
I never said the light bulb moves, I said the light pattern moves. I guess I should have said the light pattern changes. :smile:

 

Wow, thats a shocker.My e36 had the absolute worst headlights of anything i've ever owned.Even worse than the old non-halogen sealed beams my pickup came with. Unless you had euro h-1 lights in your e36, those kick butt.

 

you want to talk bad lighting?? my (now dead--thanks to little brother) volvo 760 Turbo wagon, 1986, had THE WORST headlights ever. I dont know if its because they ready to die, or if they were cheap replacements done by the original owner, etc.

but i swear, I would have been better off with a couple of candles behind the glass... Most 19th century stage coaches had better illumination.

Is this the reason why the MINI driving lights cost $400?? i thought that price seemed to be a bit expensive, but maybe not... I really like the lights for the style, and I also want lots of lighting power, especially after my volvo (which i loved dearly) but i have since decided against adding those to my eventual order, using the money to get the mfsw instead. (trying to keep my MCS around $22k). Im looking at an MCS IB/W with sport package, mfsw, and i think thats about it...

 

Right. The WRX STI comes with (real) xenon HID's and thjey are not self leveling: just adjustable (a very cool feature I wish WE had!). My friend here at work has one and we played with that.

Thanks...

lekfx

 

I paid a HUGE markup on my driving lights and are worth every penny. They come in so handy on all the dark streets by my house. I can't imagine driving without them. I know there are cheaper kits out there by respectable companies so if cost is an issue then that is the way to go. I can't recommend driving lights enough. To me they are a must-have.

 

>>Wow, thats a shocker.My e36 had the absolute worst headlights of anything i've ever owned.Even worse than the old non-halogen sealed beams my pickup came with. Unless you had euro h-1 lights in your e36, those kick butt.

Yep BMW went cheap and put the absolute worst headlights on the e36s.

Hey Robyn, do you happen to have installed the Euro headlights in your e36?
If you have plastic headlight cover/lens, then you have the US-spec lights. Also look for 3 DOT light aiming "nipples" (No, I didn't come up with that name......)
If you have glass headlight cover/lens (look for a few horizontal lines on it as well), then you have the Euro Ellipsoid lights with H-1 bulbs. Those are definitely awesome.

 

You don't need to spend a lot of money to get decent high beams to use with the Xenons. Just took delivery of a 04MCS with Xenons, and the high beams suck in comparison to the Xenons.

I have the Driving Lights also, and that helps; but here's the answer, and it won't cost $400.

PIAA just released their Extreme White Plus bulbs in H-7 configuration. They are rated at 110 watts, but only draw 55 watts, the same as the stock halogens. You want the 2 pack, PIAA part number 17655. Go to http://www.piaa.com for more info. They have a light rating of 4000K. Halogens are 3200K and HID's are 4200K.

If you have the driving lights, you can get PIAA Extreme White in H-3 configuration, in the 55 Watt model, rated at 4150K. The number for this 2 pak is 17655.

I found that http://www.autoprofection.com had the best deal. I spoke with Perry in sales, 800 810-0189 and he even knocked off a few dollars more. He will sell MINI Owners the H-7's for $64 a pair and the H-3's for $54 a pair.....plus free shipping.
Can't beat that deal anywhere. Happy (Night) Motoring!

Charlie

 

I found that http://www.autoprofection.com had the best deal. I spoke with Perry in sales, 800 810-0189 and he even knocked off a few dollars more. He will sell MINI Owners the H-7's for $64 a pair and the H-3's for $54 a pair.....plus free shipping.
>>Can't beat that deal anywhere. Happy (Night) Motoring!
_________
Why not the H7 Osram 55W Super High Efficiency Plus 50 for $17.50 each? DOT approved too. The color temperature wouldn't bother me because I'm not into fashion. Vision and safety, coupled with value is more important.

 

>>Why not the H7 Osram 55W Super High Efficiency Plus 50 for $17.50 each? DOT approved too. The color temperature wouldn't bother me because I'm not into fashion. Vision and safety, coupled with value is more important.

zgokart,
You may be right. I found the Ostrams at Daniel Stern Lighting on the Net. I've asked for some comparison's to the PIAA's. I'm interested in light too, not the color. If the Ostrams do the trick for $30 less, why not?

Charlie

 

zgokart,
>>You may be right. I found the Ostrams at Daniel Stern Lighting on the Net. I've asked for some comparison's to the PIAA's. I'm interested in light too, not the color. If the Ostrams do the trick for $30 less, why not?
_______________
Glad you found Daniel Stern's web site. It imparts a lot of common sense into this topic. Everyone should read his stuff before jumping into the fashion wagon.

 

zgokart,
You talk very much like he does. Any relation?

I've settled on buying Osram 65W H7 Rallye, $38/pr ($19/ea) based upon his recommendation, and saving some in the process. I'll also order a set for my Boxster S, which also has "underachieving" high beams.
Charlie

 

The MINI's xenons are adjustable to the left and right as well as up and down. So you could easily "throw more light toward the center" if you're finding this to be an issue. :smile:

 

Where do you adjust them?

 

The MINI's Xenons ARE adjustable! Open the bonnet and look at the back of the headlights on the underside of the bonnet. There will be TWO screws - one says U D and the other says L R. With a screwdriver, just turn the screw towards the desired direction. Be careful and don't turn them too much, however! It's good to do in the early evening with your car facing a wall such as your garage. Make sure to fully close the bonnet so you can see with the lights are lined up with each other when you are finished.