How much for the front spots in U.S.?

[rei00]

I hate Xenon lights (especially when it's coming at me!) and I think $500 is too much. I am thinking of putting 4 PIAA spots on the front since I have bad eyesight at night. What would be the difference between the two? How much would it cost? How much for installation? Is it easy enough to do it myself?

[normalizer]

Might not answer your question directly but will point you in the right direction. www.piaa.com

good website and shows most of their products. Several kits that I think would look killer on a MINI.

I have driving lights installed on my motorcycle, installation was fairly straightforward electricaly but unless you are experienced with this sort of thing I'd reccomend having a professional do it. One wrong splice and you can seriously screw some stuff up.

[rei00]

Which kit, do you think, would be best looking if I am going for 4 spots?

[normalizer]

personally, I like the look some of the smaller ones as shown on miniusa website. go to cooper exterior shots and then look towards the rightside of the pics. there are two black coopers with white bonnet stripes and roof graphics. Both have small driving lights attached to the grill on the bonnet.

As far as the piaa lights go, of the ones shown I think the best looking for the mini might be the 520 series.

http://www.piaa.com/displayLamp.php3?inc=520.html

They might be too big, would have to see them on the car.

Might be best to wait and see what the rally racers do with the car, surely somebody will race it. I could imagine a nice Hella setup, though it would be mega expensive.

For now I am gonna wait and see how the Xenon lamps and foglights work. If that proves inadequate (unlikely) or I just want to spruce the looks up some I'll probably try some of the piaa 520's or a similar lamp. Saw some at kmart tonight that look just like the 520's for under $50 a set. Might be worth it just for the aesthetics.

[smiffy]

If you didnt want to add spots (although some in the corners of the mesh grille would look ) couldnt you just change the bulbs for brighter ones

[normalizer]

while poking around searching for the piaa website I saw some replacement lamps that Hella makes. Granted these were for a suburu imprezza but whose to say they don't make something that would work - anyway, the headlights replaced the stock units and were rated at 130w! BOOM!

Of course these were meant for rally racing, not for interstates, autobahn, or major carriageways.... but still the effect would be blinding. har!

(I've always wanted some kind of bright light facing backwards with which to turn blind people behind me using their high beams.)