So I found this here the other day Xenon Headlight Retrofit Kit R55 R56 R57 R58 R59 - Way Motor Works and I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with these? I'm looking at xenon kits from retrofitsource, but this would be significantly easier thinks. Does anyone know if the ballasts and bulbs can be easily replaced in these things? My other option of course is driving lights, but the road laws in British Columbia are really really sticky on driving lights, so that would be more difficult with local law enforcement, although possible.
I think the opposite, that aftermarket would be easier. An OEM retrofit will change it to the equivalent of factory installed, which may involve changing wiring harnesses and programming. You should ask Way Motor Works for the official retrofit instruction pdf so you can assess the difficulty. If you search around, you can find some discussions on the web: R56 Retrofit OEM Bi-Xenon - North American Motoring
The one the OP posted is a plug and play kit and it will work without any wire cutting. Nothing to code it's a simple plug in with power, switch and ground in a OEM unit. I have done a few of these and have also converted fog to HID's. No high current draw since everything is done at the ballast after the plug and play connections. Also the kit WMW is selling is almost a grand not the cheap eBay crap NAM people buy. And you don't need to hook up that auto leveling crap unless you are hauling a ton of rocks.
HID's in the fog lights you say? Like driving light grade HID's? I like the sound of this idea! The hardest part to swallow about the WMW kit is the price tag. Though the same kit on ebay is going for $1200+
Yes I have HID fogs in the factory housings. They are controlled off all the factory wiring and switches. Since they are low in the bumper you can't really drive with only them on since I have them adjust down to the area in front of my car. If I am just moving the car around at night at home or at the Dragon they are all I turn on. I don't drive on roads at night with just them since they are not HID projectors like our low beams. The factory fogs in the R53 are mostly for looks but the bulbs (color) did not match the factory HIDs. This bothered me so I installed an HID fog light kit with the same color HID bulbs as the OEM HIDs. (4300 k / 5000k) Now when all the lights are on they match. 35 watt kit http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-HID-Kit-Slim-Ballast-35W-or-55W
Okay that makes sense. I was more thinking of those as a cool placement for driving lights, since I don't have factory xenons (it was a $2000 option since the car didn't have them and I bought pre-owned) So right now I'm kinda leaning towards a driving light mount kit and some killer piaas maybe...
I had the 25w bi-xenons installed on my 2009 R56 today. The lights work just fine. However, I am getting a fault code (I believe from the passenger footwell module) that the lights are not operating even though they are. An attempt to clear the fault was made but it returned. I must need magic pixie dust to make the fault code go away and stay gone.
GREAT NEWS, Today we installed and programmed a set of the 25w Retrofit Xenons in a 2008 MINI. We were able to make them work perfect. If anyone wants these we will be able to install them at MOTD if you pre order the lights from us.
On my 2013 mini cooper I installed in BMW original xenon retrofit kit. Part no. light left 63102345956 $ 509.09 Part no. light right 63102345957 $ 509.09 Part no. Xenon bulbs 63102348891 $ 636.36 BMW work 6312027 $ 80.00 Total approx. $ 1,734.54 They work perfectly because when it comes to electronics in the BMW you have to change the settings for lights.Most important part after connecting you have to select the xenon retro fit measures plan in ISTA-P to decode for the lights and the JBE and FRM modules all this is done by authorized BMW service.