I just got my car back from the body shop and noticed that the housing is somewhat different. Most especially where the hoses for the vacuum operated things enter the housing. The new one enters on the bottom and seems to rub on whatever is below the housing when the hood is closed.

Was there a change in the light housings for the 1st gen HID equipped Mini's.

Were there any other changes to accommodate the change in the hose routing?

Thanks much!

 

What year car?
There are two different xenon housings....the 05+ are projector beam style, and use a different bulb compared to the older xenon's.
Check the bill...most shops use aftermarket parts unless oem parts are required/specified to save $$.

 

Ah, should'a mentioned the year. It's an 06 with full factory JCW package. Cabriolet. All the parts were sourced from Mini. No aftermarket parts. The body shop is owned by the same outfit that owns the Mini dealership (and BMW, Infinity, Mercedes, etc.)

 

I think it is safe to assume that the 06 got the last incarnation of the gen1 headlights. You could put you car+ production date in at realoem.com, and it will give you the current and the orgional part #'s...that way you can see if there was indeed a part # change.

 

I did that and checked not only my year but the 08 cabriolet as well. Same microfiche picture. Though I forgot to check the actual part number.

I've got the original housing, so if I'm picky, I may swap out the plastic bit to make them look the same. Probably not a big deal, but if someone were looking under the hood, say if I ever sell it, they might notice the difference.

I just got the car back from the body shop and it looks great. They made a mistake and ordered the right rear inner fender liner and replaced that when it should have been the right front, so I have to take it back for them to correct that. But not a big deal as I need to return in a month (after the paint fully cures) to have the clear bra replaced/added. The car looks great, though. I stripped the chrome from the door handles and had them paint them body color. And I bought some plain-jane black side marker grills for the standard Mini and had them painted body color as well. And the emblem just under the hood scoop is gone and they painted the headlight trim rings to match the black 18" JCW wheels. Overall it's looking really sharp. When the weather drys up and I can wipe the car down, I'll be taking some pix and posting them in the dark silver section as well as the interior/exterios section in my door handle thread.

 

I'll try to get some pix by tomorrow. What I'm looking at is the very bottom of the entire housing. There's a rectangular/squarish black plastic cover that seems to hold a cast alloy part in place. (HID control unit? Vacuum device?) and that black plastic cover is different. I'm going to continue to look into it. Maybe I can get my insurance to change out the left one if I squawk enough.

 

You have to look at the part numbers. You can't go by the picture. They use whatever picture is available to compile the catalog, and the picture doesn't always match the actual part.

Look at the part numbers for 2005 and 2008. A part could change and they might keep the same number if they consider the parts to be 100% interchangeable.

 

Well, the other problem is that I can't find any number for the entire assembly on realoem. I think I'll have to go to the dealer to figure this one out.