MINI is now offering a retrofit xenon headlamp kit for MINI owners to retrofit to their cars. This is perhaps the first such program offered officially in the world – we’ve never heard of an official aftermarket retrofit accessory to replace halogen headlamps with xenon headlamps before.
The xenon headlamp uses projectors instead of reflector bulbs. A set of projector lenses and the whiter light beam of a xenon bulb can do wonders to uplift the outlook of a car and give it a more premium feel, so this would be one option for owners of the Malaysian spec MINI One and MINI Cooper to splurge on. The retrofit xenon headlamps have a 4,500K colour temperature.
Difference between the factory-fitted xenon headlamps and the retrofit xenon headlamps are 25 watt power for the retrofit pair compared to 35 watt for the factory pair. They are also manually adjustable, with no automatic levelling system. The retrofit lights have a reduced light flux of 2,000 lumens, which makes it legally possible to install the headlamps without retrofitting the headlamp cleaning system and automatic headlamp height control. Other differences are Titanium Grey trim cover finishing by default, though black versions that look technically identical to the factory-fitted headlamps are also available.
I say legally possible because those are the rules in Europe – 35 watt xenon headlamps need levelling systems and headlamp washers because they are so bright and must always be properly aligned in case they blind other road users. In Malaysia, cars such as the lower range F10 5-er have the xenon headlamps installed without any headlamp cleaning system, so it’s either a cost saving measure because there are no rules here or we’re getting 25W headlamps instead of the more powerful ones.
MINI have also introduced retrofit LED daytime running lights, which also act as fog lamps and are installed into the fog lamp housing. As you can see from the image above, the LED foglamp is constructed with a similiar look as BMW’s LED headlamps – the ‘bulb’ is a horizontal bar and has a colour temperature of 6,000K, which is bright white.
The LED daytime running light illuminates around the LED foglamp. The light is produced in a ring shape by means of full-circle light conductors fed by 15 LED units. When the side lights are switched on, only five LED units are active in the upper third of the ring.
No prices have been mentioned as of now, but once these kits are available in Malaysia with a price tag we’ll update this story.
The post MINI now offering retrofit 25W xenon headlamp kit appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.
via Paul Tan's Automotive News http://paultan.org/2013/09/04/mini-now-offering-retrofit-xenon-headlamp-kit/
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