Morimoto Elite HID Kit Installed

[EffYoCouch]

Installed my first mod after picking up my new '13 XSport only 2 days ago.

I previously had an '08 Range Rover Sport Supercharged that came with HIDs from the factory so HIDs are a must have in my book. After doing night driving in the XSport I knew I needed the HIDs again, so I called up my buddy about an HID kit. I went down to his shop during my lunch break and installed the Morimoto Elite HID Kit. This made a world of a difference from the dull factory bulbs. I went with the 5000k system as it has a pure white color. This kit is OK i guess but, nothing compares to a good set retrofit projectors in the headlamp housing. My other car is an e46 BMW M3 which has s2000 projectors and its pure bliss how it spread a blanket of light on the ground.

Well enough talk and on to the pics...

http://shop.lightwerkz.net/Morimoto-Elite-HID-Systems

Here are a few old shots when i first installed the s2000 projectors on my M3...HUGE difference! Notice the lack of hot spots and a sharp cutoff.

 

[dgr6853]

I just put HID's in mine tonight. I agree with you in that HID's are a must. I have been upgrading the headlamps on my cars for years and just cant go without anymore. I got mine on Sunday and now its friday.

 

[Harley#356]

Nice pics. I got the same exact kit in 5000k. Can't wait to install it. I also got H11 LED foglight bulbs. I know LED fogs aren't as bright for light output as HID, but I was concerned about the heat in the small fog housing, and using the fogs more for DRLs than light output.

 

[The Cheat]

I know there is a way to change out the projectors on these headlights, but I haven't seen the technical write up yet on how to do it. I'd love to find a vendor that you could send your lights to in order to have it done for a reasonable price.

 

[Harley#356]

any place that does HID retrofits can do it, but they aren't cheap. I definitely recommend that route for vehicles with factory halogen style reflectors, but aftermarket HIDs actually project half decent with factory projectors, so it's hard to beat the $150 for quality HID P&P kits, vs $700-$800 to crack 'em open and do full projector swaps. The performance will certainly be better, but that's a toss up for mod money. Too many other mods to do too lol

 

[Harley#356]

So I just opened the box and I'm really disappointed.

1st, no directions, and there's at least 10-12 plugs on the harness, half of which will plug into one another. I'm sure I can figure it out, but pretty lame they can't spend the 0.02 cents on a sheet of paper and directions to toss in the box.

2nd, I didn't even realize till now, you lose the high beams with these? That sucks too. I thought all kits now incorporated either a dual filament setup, or a moving bulb/shield to allow the highbeam functionality to still work.

3rd, their wiring job is total chit for as much as they brag about how the harness looks OEM. All of the loom sheathing is too short for the wires, it'll be a few inches of exposed wire on either end because the loom relaxed back from when they stretched it to put it on. The shrink tubing holding the sheathing on is popped off on the ends of a few pieces. It's all nice quality feeling stuff, but total garbage on the execution.

Guess I'm sucking up the added cost to return it, and buy one of those "cheap ebay kits" that they trash talk.

 

[vteckiller2000]

So I just opened the box and I'm really disappointed.

1st, no directions, and there's at least 10-12 plugs on the harness, half of which will plug into one another. I'm sure I can figure it out, but pretty lame they can't spend the 0.02 cents on a sheet of paper and directions to toss in the box.

2nd, I didn't even realize till now, you lose the high beams with these? That sucks too. I thought all kits now incorporated either a dual filament setup, or a moving bulb/shield to allow the highbeam functionality to still work.

3rd, their wiring job is total chit for as much as they brag about how the harness looks OEM. All of the loom sheathing is too short for the wires, it'll be a few inches of exposed wire on either end because the loom relaxed back from when they stretched it to put it on. The shrink tubing holding the sheathing on is popped off on the ends of a few pieces. It's all nice quality feeling stuff, but total garbage on the execution.

Guess I'm sucking up the added cost to return it, and buy one of those "cheap ebay kits" that they trash talk.

Mine was completely different and perfect. Email them, TRS makes it right if they screw up.

 

[Harley#356]

I called and they quickly sent me an email with addtiional instructions, but they stopped right at the part I was confused at, the relay harness. By plugging the plugs into things that fit with one another, there was no way the relay would have functioned. I then ignored all the directions, traced the wires out for what needed to go where for the relays to function (their crappy loom job made that easy with 6" of leads hanging out past the loom on every wire), and figured out how it needed to hook up.

Can't wait to go for a drive tonight, the parts seemed like high quality stuff, their execution just seemed to suck, so hopefully they perform well. They certainly look 1000x's nicer than the factory bulbs!

Heres' the rest of my review I just posted up in another thread.....

Mine was perfect. The stock headlight housings have a movable cutoff shield for the high beams (Bi-Halogen). They have instructions on their site if you need them IIRC.

Okay just installed them. Didn't realize the factory headlights had the cutoff shield to accomplish the high/low action, thought it was the bulbs that needed it. So that part is fine.

Took me a few mins to figure out the wiring. The extra pigtail tossed in threw me off the most. A simple label saying test leads would have saved some unnecessary confusion. I would have been better off never reading the directions on their site. They sucked. I called TRS, they sent me another set of newer instructions, and they were slightly better but stopped half way. Since I've got knowledge of doing past HIDs and knowing how relays actually work I was able to figure it out on my own, but I view these types of mods like even my wife should be able to do it following a few simple instructions. The TRS instructions were garbage and I can easily see people getting screwed up and frustrated doing it if they didn't have any past experience.

The variability on the bulbs suck too. My drivers side one was loose as chit, and the passenger side one was so tight I almost couldn't get it twisted in. My factory bulbs both twisted out with the same tension, so that tells me it's probably not the housings.

And lastly, the female connectors with the male pins to plug the factory plug into to trigger the relays was terrible. Took me longer to get those little pins lined up than to do the whole install. They should spend the extra 5 cents to use the proper connector with guides that line up with the factory connector, rather than some universal one that kinda-sorta fits after 10 minutes trying to line the pins up. Good thing you only need to hook one up with the relay kit, I never could get the passenger side plugged in.

All in all, they look great, the balasts and parts feel like high quality stuff, but their looming skills are on a kindergarden level, half the shrink tubing wasn't fully shrank, and their instructions are so bad I see why they don't include them in the box. For all their trash talking of ebay products, they've got some work to do themselves for easy stuff that they shouldn't be screwing up.


Long story short, I wouldn't recommend my business to them again. For $150 I'd rather buy one of the ebay kits and upgrade whatever is needed myself for 1/3rd the cost and 3 times the attention to detail.

 

[lraia]

Check out this thread:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=380190

 

[Harley#356]

Yeah I had read that thread. Really shouldn't have to make spacers/washer to fit the bulbs in. If they weren't such a PITA to get the connector hooked up to the factory harness I would have swapped drivers and passenger bulbs since one fit super tight and other fit super loose, it's clearly a large variability in their bulb housing, and not the OEM light.

 

[EffYoCouch]

I just chuckled at a lot of your comments as I had similar issues with my setup. The bulb housing is a hit or miss and we had to use a washer to get the bulbs to fit tightly so they would shake around in the headlamp housing while driving. As you mentioned, a lot of the wires arent necessary and I can easily see how it would be confusing when doing the install. Luckily, my buddy lightwerkz is a wiz at doing retrofits and working with lights that he know exactly what was needed. You already figured out the low/high beam issues as its built in and has nothing to do with the bulbs.

 

[EffYoCouch]

any place that does HID retrofits can do it, but they aren't cheap. I definitely recommend that route for vehicles with factory halogen style reflectors, but aftermarket HIDs actually project half decent with factory projectors, so it's hard to beat the $150 for quality HID P&P kits, vs $700-$800 to crack 'em open and do full projector swaps. The performance will certainly be better, but that's a toss up for mod money. Too many other mods to do too lol

There is a HUGE difference between just upgrading to an HID kit vs a full projector retrofit swap. Bang for buck is just doing the HID kit install but, if you are used to having the best then it becomes questionable.

 

[Harley#356]

yeah after driving it last night, there are a couple spots where I wish the light shined a bit more, and a couple areas with a bit of a hot spot or a void spot just immediately in front of the vehicle, but 95% of the output is a hugeeeeee improvement over the stock halogen bulbs. I know full HID projector swaps would fine tune in that last 5%, but I can live with not quite perfect but a zillion times better than factory lol.

Now HIDs in full halogen reflectors (non-projector) that I won't do. My Raptor has stock headlights and I'm just sucking it up with the crappy factory lights till I can afford OEM 2013 HID projector headlights for that.

 

[treatcg]

yeah after driving it last night, there are a couple spots where I wish the light shined a bit more, and a couple areas with a bit of a hot spot or a void spot just immediately in front of the vehicle, but 95% of the output is a hugeeeeee improvement over the stock halogen bulbs. I know full HID projector swaps would fine tune in that last 5%, but I can live with not quite perfect but a zillion times better than factory lol.

Now HIDs in full halogen reflectors (non-projector) that I won't do. My Raptor has stock headlights and I'm just sucking it up with the crappy factory lights till I can afford OEM 2013 HID projector headlights for that.

I agree the factor halogen lights for the Raptor suck. You should check into getting your current lights modified. http://www.raptorretrofit.com/

 

[Harley#356]

I agree the factor halogen lights for the Raptor suck. You should check into getting your current lights modified. http://www.raptorretrofit.com/

Yeah I've spoken with Dawson about it before, but for the money I'd rather just put it towards the 2013 F150 factory HID headlights. I prefer more of an OEM look, and the 2013 lights will make my truck look like a '13-'14 rather than a '12 lol. The retrofit lights will just make it look aftermarket.